Asian Studies Commons^™

Notes For Contributors, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Aaron F. Brantly, The Cyber Deterrence Problem (Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd. 2020), 202pp., Yen Huynh

Space and Defense

The usage of cyberwarfare has become increasingly prevalent in the global landscape, but there remains a lack of cohesive strategies and policies surrounding cyber deterrence. Aaron Brantly and a team of scholars specializing in different disciplines team up to develop the outline for a robust deterrence strategy concerning cyberspace. Brantly is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Virginia Tech. He is also a Senior Research Scientist at the Army Cyber Institute at the United States Military Academy, West Point. In his book, he proposes different approaches that can and should be utilized to enhance deterrence in cyberspace.

Deterring Terroists Organizations In Times Of A Global Pandemic: An Arguement For An Indirect Approach To Deterring Terrorism, Grant Van Robays

Space and Defense

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly every facet of life across the world. While the United States is the world's social, economic, and political powerhouse, it is no exception to the indiscriminate virus. The U.S. faces economic volatility, social unrest, political polarization, and a devastating loss of American life due to the pandemic. To make matters worse, these crises leave the U.S. vulnerable to opportunist terrorist organizations at home and abroad, who may seek to take advantage of these vulnerabilities, whether perceived or real. While the pandemic appears to be slowing down both in the U.S. and abroad, the vulnerabilities …

Hypersonic Weapons: Strategic Drivers And Policy Proposals, Jonah S. Bhide

Space and Defense

Whether it is troop movement across terrain, the performance of military aircraft, or the time required responding with national force, speed has always been a critical element in securing U.S. national security objectives. Indeed, Sun Tzu acknowledged that speed is the essence of war, and an essential component in speed is technology. Emerging technologies influence and alter strategic analyses as they are developed and deployed.

Lieutenant General Ret. H.R. Mcmaster, Usafa Assembly Keynote Adress: National Security And American Polarization: The Competition For Truth, H. R. Mcmaster

Space and Defense

Thank you for the great privilege of joining you for the Academy Assembly and thanks, especially, for your decision to serve your country and your fellow servicemen and women during what, I believe, is a time of growing danger to American security, prosperity, and influence in the world. But I am confident that you will make significant and lasting contributions across a career of service and help build a better future for generations of Americans to come.

Nuclear Planning In An Uncertain World, Brooke Mitchell

Space and Defense

...research is called for on what type of thermonuclear war might eventuate, and on the possible volume of material destruction and loss of human life that might occur in varying hypothetical attack situations.

The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) emphasizes a return to great power competition in a world that is no longer preoccupied by violent Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East and Central Asia. 2 Great power politics are back in style, as the Trump administration made clear. In the post-Cold War era, the United States Department of Defense is focused on modernizing its nuclear enterprise in the face …

Pakistan's Space Program: From Sounding Rockets To Satellite Setbacks, Sannia Abdullah

Space and Defense

Why did Pakistan struggle for 50 years to launch its satellites into Earth's orbit when it was Asia's third country to send sounding rockets into space? Four years ago, India launched 104 satellites from a single rocket to set a groundbreaking record, whereas Pakistan launched only six satellites with assistance in the design, built, launch, and even funding from China. Pakistan plans to send its first astronaut into space by 2022; India put its first astronaut into "space in 1984 as part of a Soviet-led mission." Despite a good head-start, why is Pakistan's space program decades behind when India's space …

Russian Development Of New Hypersonic Weapons: Drivers And Implications, Julia L. Diamond

Space and Defense

The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) is, at the time of writing, nearing its 5 February, 2021 expiration date. Both the U.S. and Russia have suspended their obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. A renewal of New START would be the most logical future step that aids the cause of arms control. This is the option that requires the least political will and therefore might suit the current political climate. Nevertheless, the political relationship between the two countries …

Letter From The Editor, Michelle Black

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents Vol. 12 No. 2, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Vol. 12 No. 2, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Notes For Contributors To Space And Defense, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Report Of The 62nd Air Force Academy Assembly

Space and Defense

In partnership with the Olmsted Foundation, ARDI-The Academic Excellence Foundation, United States Air Force Academy Endowment, USAFA Department of Political Science, and USAFA Association of Graduates, the United States Air Force Academy Department of Political Science hosted the 62nd Air Force Academy Assembly, 13-14 October, 2020 in Colorado Springs.

A total of 122 undergraduates from twenty-two colleges gathered virtually and in-person to engage experts from academia and civil society on American politics and national security. The event featured three plenary panel discussions and a Keynote Address by Lt. General (ret.) H.R. McMaster, published in Space & Defense Vol. 12, No. …

Review: A Fiery Peace In A Cold War: Bernard Schriever And The Ultimate Weapon By Neil Sheehan (New York: Random House, 2009), Paul Bolt

Space and Defense

A Fiery Peace in a Cold War is a fascinating book that focuses on the life of Air Force General Bernard Schriever and his competition with the Soviets to develop an ICBM that would prevent a nuclear Pearl Harbor.['􀀃] The story is wide-ranging, covering development of the bomb in both the United States and Soviet Union; the dynamics of the Cold War; Soviet and American espionage successes and failures; defense politics in the Eisenhower administration; and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Sheehan dives into the personalities, military officers and scientists, who contributed to the research and development of American weapon systems, …

Mcmaster's Master Work On Geopolitics And The Future Of America: A Review Of Battlegrounds: The Fight To Defend The Free World (Ny: Harpercollins, 2020), Noah Grady

Space and Defense

Student Voice

In his most well-known work, Vom Kriege, Carl von Clausewitz suggested war is a continuation of policy. He proposed governments primarily use warfighting to achieve political ends. Since America's independence in 1776, geopolitics have shaped the nature of America's conflicts overseas. In the last century, the U.S. endured several different geopolitical phases. Despite Woodrow Wilson's reelection slogan, "He kept us out of war," America involved itself in an eruption of imperial interests in Europe during the Great War. Two decades after the First World War, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Naval Air Service attacked Pearl Harbor. President …

Efficacy Of The National Security Innovation Network's Hacking / Designing For Defense Programs, Max Di Lalla

Space and Defense

Student Voices

The National Security Innovation Network requires further reform to achieve its hope for long-term effects on defense innovation.

The National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) was crated in 2016 after a rebranding of the MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator and is actively changed with the mission to "build networks of innovators that generated new solutions to national security problems." NSIN is just one of the plethora of government organizations tasked with some form of "innovation." As the world begins to change and the United States no longer enjoys a period of unrivaled growth and security, government, military, and private …

Climate Change As A Dangerous Accelerant Of Mass Atrocity, Jesse Jenkins

Space and Defense

Student Voices

Investigating potential connections between mass atrocity and climate change reveals that the vulnerability of food systems may be valuable predictive factor in understanding which states will respond to climate change with violence.

An ongoing study by Dr. John Riley and Lt Col. William Atkins shows that strong states tend to be able to cope well with the effects of climate change and not turn to violence. They also argue that the weakest states are already broken and on the path of committing a mass atrocity regardless of the effects of climate change. This leave a middle section of …

No Method To Madness: The Failures Of Madman Diplomacy In All Its Forms, Henry Gilchrist

Space and Defense

Student Voices

Madman diplomacy fails to work as advertised. Internal contradiction of the strategy in it s ideal form reduce the chances it will succeed in future crises.

Effective deterrence requires an actor to pair powerful capabilities with a believable will to use them. The world of United States' dominance has relegated the question of will to the periphery. However, the U.S. is emerging from its hegemony with enough self-awareness to acknowledge the painful consequences of this relegation. Democratic restraint has historically played an important role in nuclear deterrence for obvious reasons, and the issue of will deficit is not …

Boosting Space Diplomacy At State, David A. Epstein

Space and Defense

Notes from the Field:

Space diplomacy remains an esoteric specialty of State.

With ever-increasing speed, humanity is expanding the scope of its activities in outer space, thanks to private enterprise as well as via national pursuits. In the last two years alone, for example, the number of active and defunct satellites in lower Earth orbit has increase by more than 50 percent, to around 5,000, with plans to add tens of thousands more in the coming years. Equally surprising, these satellites are owned and operated by nearly 100 difference countries and organizations around the world - no just the small …

Contextualizing Russia's Hypersonic Threat: Perceptions, Motivations, And Strategic Stability., Jeffery D. Taylor

Space and Defense

Rather than specific military objectives in Europe, Russian hypersonic missile development manifests deep-rooted perceptions of the United States and NATO undermining strategic through missile defense.

Future Directions For Great Power Nuclear Arms Control, T. Justin Bronder

Space and Defense

Extending the current New START regime can help maintain traditional strategic stability; however, such an approach fails to address destabilizing trends related to non-nuclear strategic technologies and China's expanding forces.

Arms control in the nuclear age has proved a useful tool of national security, meeting ends as diverse as reducing the risks of nuclear war to channeling strategic competition. Yet recent trends indicate arms control may be at an inflection point; the suitability of this tool in general and the viability of securing new agreements specifically are both unclear. The New Strategic Arms reduction Treaty (New START) extension somewhat reverses …

Editor's Note Vol. 13 No. 1, Damon Coletta

Space and Defense

Editor's Note

Table Of Contents Vol. 13 No. 1, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Vol. 13 No. 1, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Notes For Contributors, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Spies, Lies, And Algorithms: The History And Future Of American Intelligence, Claire Benedix

Space and Defense

The security environment is entering a new threat landscape; one that must be fought in both the physical and virtual world. The seemingly instantaneous progress of digitization and the cyberspace domain threatens to destabilize traditional warfare strategies and intelligence norms. Amy Zegart, an American academic and leading national security expert, outlines the history and future of American intelligence with a specific emphasis on emerging cyber threats in the digital age. In Spies, Lies, and Algorithms, Zegart explains the roles of technological breakthroughs in a world of big data by chronicling the history of intelligence education and organizational reform, the evolution …

Communicating Deterrence Thresholds In Cyberspace Through Global Normas, Leila Yanni

Space and Defense

Student Contribution.

Cyberspace refers to a purely virtual arena that has become increasingly relevant in the past few years, as countries develop more cyber weapons and carry out more cyber attacks. The cyber domain has a large scope because of its virtual nature, and it has a high potential threat level as the full impact of cyber capabilities are not even understood yet. As the possibilities for destructive cyber weapons are virtually endless, the threats are also virtually endless. Because of the growing relevance of cyberspace and the high danger level, deterrence thresholds are a pressing issue in this domain. …

Us Blindness To Russian, Chinese Cultural Motives Risks Nuclear Escalation And Ill-Fit Response, Ryan C. Bushman

Space and Defense

Student Contribution.

This paper was authored prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the publication of the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review.

The United States has taken numerous miscalculated steps with respect to foreign and nuclear policy based on an incomplete understanding of the motives of both China and Russia. This is, in part, due to a failure to acknowledge these nations' strategic culture - an enduring system of values that influence a nation's use of military force. As the US is about to put forth its 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), it is critical that future responses to …

Keynote Address: Dr. Kori Schake, Kori Schake

Space and Defense

2022 United Sates Strategic Command Academic Alliance Conference and Workshop, Mark 30-April 1, 2022, Conducted via Zoom

Addressing The American Approach To Emerging Technologies: Utilizing The Ai Arms Race To Highlight The Need To Develop Public-Private Partnerships In C4isr And 5g, Hugh Harsono, Nicholas Ondovcsik

Space and Defense

he world of emerging technologies has changed countries' access and placement to these digital enablement tools of the future, with blockchain, decentralization, and a myriad of other compounding technologies accelerating the pace of development and growth combining the physical and the digital world. Historically, America's Silicon Valley has led the world's development of new technologies, particularly during the latter part of the digital revolution. In contrast, China focused on enhancing its manufacturing capabilities, becoming a world leader by capitalizing on the ever-connected world and leveraging its economic prowess. These roles became reversed in the early-2000s,1 when China first surpassed the …