Defense and Security Studies Commons^™

Parameters Autumn 2026, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Lessons Unlearned: Cultural Competence And The Limits Of U.S. Army Doctrine In Iraq And Afghanistan, Kylie W. Ha

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how the absence of comprehensive cultural and linguistic competence within U.S. Army doctrine contributed to operational and ethical failures during the wars in Iraq (2003–2011) and Afghanistan (2001–2021). It focuses on the gap between doctrinal recognition of culture and language and the failure to institutionalize these elements as measurable, force-wide competencies. The thesis analyzes doctrinal publications spanning the period from 2001 to 2014 and finds that, while these publications increasingly acknowledged the importance of cultural awareness, language, and local context—particularly in counterinsurgency operations—these elements were not embedded as standardized requirements across training, planning, or evaluation. Iraq and …

Book Review: Spetsnaz: A History Of The Soviet And Russian Special Forces, Chase Metcalf

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Tor Bukkvoll

Reviewed by Colonel Chase Metcalf, assistant professor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College

Tor Bukkvoll delivers an in-depth and compelling history of Soviet and Russian Spetsnaz, tracing its evolution from strategic reconnaissance units to key players in hybrid and irregular warfare. The reviewer recommends the book for scholars, military professionals, and anyone interested in Russian special operations forces.

Contracted Wars, Compromised Oversight: Private Military Companies In Iraq, Afghanistan, And The Decline Of U.S. Accountability Standards, Brianna N. Buzzell

International Studies (MA) Theses

The Global War on Terror, beginning in 2001, started U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, facilitating the expansion of Private Military Contractors (PMCs) through a combination of operational necessity, strategic policy decisions, and systemic oversight failures. Despite their growing role, PMCs operate in legal and oversight grey zones. Despite a growing body of work on PMC accountability, there remains little agreement on how U.S. military interventions created conditions for their proliferation. This paper examines how U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan facilitated the expansion of PMC influence, resulting in reduced oversight and accountability for both the U.S. government …

Book Review: Knife Fights: A Memoir Of Modern War In Theory And Practice, Brennan Deveraux

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: John A. Nagl

Reviewed by Major Brennan Deveraux, national security researcher, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College

Today’s force still has plenty to learn about counterinsurgency from Operation Desert Storm. John Nagl’s Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice “a book about counterinsurgency and its journey from the far periphery of US military doctrine to its center, for better and, some would argue, for worse.” The reviewer notes, Nagl’s work “provides a tangible example of the impact junior leaders can have on the service.”

By All Means Available: Memoirs Of A Life In Intelligence, Special Operations, And Strategy, Todd Greentree

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Todd Greentree examines By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy by Michael G. Vickers, who Greentree views as an exemplar of strategic leadership for current and future leaders.

Book Review: Unwinnable Wars: Afghanistan And The Future Of American Armed Statebuilding, Erik Goepner

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Adam Wunische

Reviewed by Dr. Erik Goepner, US government analyst, Colonel (US Air Force, retired)

Dr. Erik Goepner reviews analyst Adam Wunische’s Unwinnable Wars, which, according to Gopener, offers a “timeless reminder—American power has limits.” Goepner provides a helpful outline of Wunische’s four “major preexisting conditions that severely limit the success of armed state-building efforts.” Wunische argues that preexisting conditions are “beyond the control of the intervening power” and “often foreordain the failure of such missions” (such as Afghanistan, the book’s main case study).

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Raven Sentry: Employing Ai For Indications And Warnings In Afghanistan, Thomas W. Spahr

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines Raven Sentry, a project that employed artificial intelligence to provide advance warning of insurgent attacks in Afghanistan. During 2019 and 2020, the Resolute Support Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (J2) benefited from a command culture open to innovation, the urgency created by the US drawdown, and a uniquely talented group of personnel that, aided by commercial sector experts, built an AI system that helped predict attacks. The war’s end cut Raven Sentry short, but the experience provides important lessons on AI and the conditions necessary for successful innovation.

From The Editor In Chief, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Summer 2024 issue of Parameters. We open this issue with a special “In Memoriam” by General Charles A. Flynn, Commander US Army Pacific, honoring the life and legacies of our director and consummate colleague, Carol V. Evans. We dedicate this issue to her. General Flynn’s memoriam is followed by an In Focus commentary on China’s Belt and Road Initiative. We then feature three forums covering the Russia-Ukraine War, the Middle East, and Professional Development. This issue also contains special essays on the role of professional writing, the US Army War College’s Civil-Military Relations Center, …

Book Review: Armies In Retreat: Chaos, Cohesion, And Consequences, J.P. Clark

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Editors: Timothy G. Heck and Walker D. Mills

Reviewed by Dr. J.P. Clark, associate professor of strategy, Basic Strategic Art Program, US Army War College

Dr. J.P. Clark provides a thoughtful analysis of this anthology on retreat, an "under-studied topic in the US military." The book covers case studies spanning from the ancient world to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and even discusses retreat in the context of cyberspace. Clark employs his expertise as a strategy professor to give a valuable critique, highlighting the book’s merits (for example, the “intriguing angle” of the Gallipoli Campaign analysis) and some …

Book Review: Conflict: The Evolution Of Warfare From 1945 To Ukraine, John A. Nagl

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Authors: David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts

Reviewed by Dr. John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College

Teaser: Dr. John A. Nagl provides readers a roadmap to navigate—and a lens with which to interpret—General David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts's best-selling book, Conflict, which Nagl considers "'[t]he closest thing to a memoir" of Petraeus and "likely . . . the best first-person account in history of [Petraeus's] efforts and results in Iraq and Afghanistan that made him the most important Army officer of his generation." Nagl focuses on what he believes are Petraeus's main contributions to the …

Book Review: Number One Realist: Bernard Fall And Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare, John A. Nagl

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Nathaniel L. Moir

Reviewed by John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College

Counterinsurgency expert John A. Nagl reviews the “long-overdue” biography of the American political scientist Bernard Fall who, as Nagl writes, was “always a couple years ahead of informed US public opinion” about the Vietnam War. Author Nathaniel L. Moir’s experience as an Afghanistan War veteran informs this examination of one of the most “contentious” topics in American history, and the intersection here of Dr. Nagl’s, Moir’s, and Fall’s expertise provides powerful insights about the persistent question of how best to approach counterinsurgency.

Book Review: The Good Captain: A Personal Memoir Of America At War, Joseph J. Collins

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: R. D. Hooker Jr.

Reviewed by Joseph J. Collins, PhD, retired US Army colonel

Retired Army colonel Rich Hooker’s The Good Captain is a memoir spanning the Cold War through the Global War on Terror. Hooker’s deployments take up the bulk of the book and include Grenada with the 82nd Airborne Division, Somalia to work with legendary Ambassador Bob Oakley, Zaire to coordinate humanitarian operations in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo as a parachute infantry battalion commander, the Sinai Peninsula for peacekeeping operations, command of the Dragon Brigade in Iraq and, in his last year of service, Afghanistan with the …

Unscr 1325 Did Not Help Women, Peace, Or Security In Afghanistan: The Role Of Militarism And Hegemonic Masculinity In International Security, Sawyer Bannister

CMC Senior Theses

This paper argues that UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security exemplifies how the international security system is constructed in a way that not only preserves militarism and hegemonic masculinity, but further perpetuates gendered power disparities and exacerbates human insecurity. In this pursuit, this paper develops a theoretical framework of radical feminism to illustrate how the international arena embodies militarized hegemonic masculinity and how this power paradigm fundamentally inhibits international security organizations from successfully addressing gender issues. Additionally, this paper utilizes a case study of UNSCR 1325 and WPS implementation in Afghanistan to reveal how when international security organizations attempt …

Why America’S Army Can’T Win America’S Wars, John A. Nagl

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Since achieving victory in World War II, the United States military has a less than enviable combat record in irregular warfare. Through a detailed historical analysis, this article provides perspective on where past decisions and doctrines have led to defeat and where they may have succeeded if given more time or executed differently. In doing so, it provides lessons for future Army engagements and argues that until America becomes proficient in irregular warfare, our enemies will continue to fight us at the lower levels of the spectrum of conflict, where they have a good chance of exhausting our will to …

Parameters Autumn 2022, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

From The Editor In Chief, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Allow Them To Take The Reins: Why Central Asian States Need To Lead In Afghanistan, Brandon Angel

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

No abstract provided.

Current United States Security Strategy: Underestimation Of Afghanistan’S State Of Affairs And Resulting Impacts On American Freedom, Hannah Crosby

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

The intent of this paper is to analyze the current state of the United States Security Strategy and the volatile condition of Afghanistan. Due to the shifting focus of the current administration, the United States has been left unprepared for the cultural, social, and political impacts of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. With a critical assessment of the current security strategy and a profound shift in American political and militaristic goals, the United States can develop proper prevention and containment tactics to combat the reconstitution of Afghanistan as a terrorist haven and deter possible actions that might be taken against …

Vietnam And Afghanistan: Intelligence And Ethical Failures That Doomed Two Wars, Jamison Finnamore

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

A comparison of America's two longest wars and the similarities of the poor policy and leadership that ultimately led to failure and defeat.

The Evolution Of Hybrid Warfare: Implications For Strategy And The Military Profession, Ilmari Käihkö

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The concept of hybrid war has evolved from operational-level use of military means and methods in war toward strategic-level use of nonmilitary means in a gray zone below the threshold of war. This article considers this evolution and its implications for strategy and the military profession by contrasting past and current use of the hybrid war concept and raising critical questions for policy and military practitioners.

Coin Doctrine Is Wrong, M. Chris Mason

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Counterinsurgency does not increase the legitimacy of, or support for, central governments engaged in internal conflicts. Recent research shows quantifiable degrees of government legitimacy, national identity, and population security are necessary precursors and accurate predictors of a government’s ability to outlast a civil uprising. Because the first two predictors—government legitimacy and national identity—can be measured and do not increase during a conflict, the probability of government failure in most cases can be accurately predicted when the conflict starts.

Failure To Launch: Evaluating The Costs And Benefits Of America’S Strategy For Building Afghanistan’S Air Force, Alexander Smith

Senior Theses

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for twenty years. For eighteen of these years, it has spent precious time, money, and resources to modernize the Afghan Air Force (AAF). In my thesis, I conduct a cost-benefit analysis of this strategy to determine whether the net benefits and the overall outcome of the program justify the level of U.S. investment. I compare U.S. efforts with the AAF to those with the Iraqi Air Force while exploring the idea of path dependency. My analysis reveals that U.S. efforts to modernize the AAF have been a failure. The United States …

Afghanistan’S First Female Deminers: An Analysis Of Perception Changes Among Deminers, Families, And Communities, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

For the first time in the thirty years of mine action in Afghanistan, as part of an initiative of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), in June 2018 a mixed-gender demining team was deployed by the Danish Demining Group (DRC-DDG) to clear landmines in Bamyan Province, in the central highlands of the country. A minefield was successfully cleared in six months. Following the success of the first project, in 2019 the same demining team was deployed once again to Bamyan to clear other hazards, including the last known minefield in the province. Bamyan has since been declared the first …

Limits And Possibilities Of The United States Military In Post-Conflict Reconstruction And Stabilization, Alcir Florentino Dos Santos Neto

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

This study probes the limits and possibilities of U.S. military efforts to facilitate the transition from warfighting to nation-building. Most comparative studies conceive the complexity of this transition along a spectrum from conflict to humanitarian assistance to post-conflict stabilization. While the last two stages have often been interpreted as a coordinated act of civil-military ‘nation-building’, the spectrum, in fact, represents an ideal type simplification. At one level, outcomes depend on the players involved, including sovereign nations, national militaries, international and regional institutions, U.N. peacekeepers, private security contractors, and non-governmental humanitarian providers, among others. On the other hand, because …

Parameters Winter 2020, Usawc Parameters

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Nation-Building During Insurgency In U.S. Defense Policy Strategy, Joseph Valles

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

U.S. defense policy has often relied on a strategy of nation-building to reform the local government and address the root causes of the instability in a given nation or region. This strategy has, in recent years, been criticized for being ineffective and a wasteful drain on American resources. This paper will determine if such criticism is valid by analyzing the performance of four security environments where such a strategy was used: Vietnam, El Salvador, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The paper will determine if such a strategy was effective in these conflicts by analyzing the progress of reforms and, when possible, the …

Norway's Lessons, Harald Hoiback

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues Norway’s minor role in the Afghanistan War (2001–14) included opportunities to learn about the evolution of military deployments over the course of a prolonged counterinsurgency-focused conflict, the civilian and military dynamics, and the political challenges of contributing to such a conflict.

Educating Strategic Lieutenants At Sandhurst, An Jacobs

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines how well military education at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst delivers lieutenants capable of coping with the complexities of their operational environment and the strategic implications of their decisions.