Defense and Security Studies Commons^™

Space And Defense – Volume Two – Number One – Winter 2008, Space And Defense Journal

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Space And Defense – Volume One – Number One – Fall 2006, Space And Defense Journal

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

How Can Presidents Properly Calibrate The Terror Threat?, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Presidential rhetoric has minimally changed from the narrative set by George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks. Bush’s policies and agenda have also largely remained. This chapter provides proposals for change given the empirical and theoretical findings made in the book. The counterterrorist policy agenda needs to be narrowed and made more precise. The public needs to educate itself about the terror threat to understand that it is not a significant risk when weighed against others. Presidents need to be more careful with what words they use when describing America’s terrorist adversaries and with who they call terrorists. Recalibrating the …

George W. Bush, Policy Selling And Agenda-Setting After 9/11, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

George W. Bush successfully set the agenda for an expansive, global war against terrorists after the 9/11 attacks. This agenda was not inevitable, it arose from an interpretation of events and of America’s adversaries that leaned on global conflict, cultural differences, and the presumption of evil intent. Bush’s speech-making successfully led to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, civil liberty-reducing legislation, and a large institutional edifice dedicated to counterterrorism. The themes Bush’s speeches evoked and the agendas and policies that these speeches set are covered in this chapter.

Integrating Aviation Technology, Emergency Services, And Human Resilience: Considerations From Social Scientists, Chelsea A. Lenoble Ph.D., Joel M. Billings Ph.D., Allison A. Kwesell Ph.D., Ray H. Chang Ph.D.

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have a range of applications within the field of disaster response. This presentation offers a novel framework of psychosocial considerations designed to advance UAS and disaster management integration. Social scientists highlight important challenges to the effective integration of three primary entities: UAS, the team of teams that responds to disasters, and populations affected by disasters.

The presentation adopts an emerging theoretical perspective on the intersection between UAS capabilities and disaster phases and extends it by bringing necessary attention to social science issues. Specifically, the framework outlines psychosocial considerations and areas of improvement for preparation (training), response …

The Effects Of Ageing On Colombian 'Shoe Polish' Mines, Colin King

Global CWD Repository

This study examines the failure mechanisms that might occur within the so-called ‘Shoe Polish’ mine, which was improvised by the FARC insurgents in Colombia. Since this device shares many of its characteristics with other mines (both manufactured and improvised), the principles are likely to be far more broadly applicable. In fact, many elements of the analysis are likely to apply to all forms of mechanically-fuzed ammunition.

Nonstate Actors And Anti-Access/Area Denial Strategies: The Coming Challenge, Jean-Loup Samaan Dr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

This monograph explores the emerging challenge of nonstate actors’ anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) strategies and their implications for the United States and its allies by looking at two regions, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, with case studies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen, and separatist groups in Ukraine. The historical monopoly of states over precision-guided munitions has eroded, and this evolution eventually challenges the ability of the most advanced militaries to operate in specific environments. As they gain greater access to advanced military technology, some nonstate actors increasingly lean toward …

Improving Knowledge In A Prison Without Walls Analysing The Effectiveness Of The Mine Risk Education Activities Of [Organisation X] In Syria, Arnaud Loman

Global CWD Repository

The extensive use of mines and explosives in Syria pose a threat on all the lives of the conflict-affected population. To ensure that the population has the necessary knowledge and skills to protect themselves from this existing threat, diverse humanitarian mine action organisations, including [organisation X], design and implement mine risk education (MRE) activities. However, the number of beneficiaries reached with MRE alone does not adequately reflect the impact of the activities. There is a lack of data whether these achievements enhance the well-being of the people in communities that are affected by explosive hazards, especially in the ongoing conflict …

Mechanical Improvised Explosive Device Removal In The Urban Environment, David Parry

Global CWD Repository

The safe removal and disposal of conventional weapons from civilian populated areas in a post conflict scenario is fraught with dangerous, complex and wide-ranging challenges. The worldwide proliferation of improvised explosive devices has added to the existing burden of landmine clearance already being undertaken by various organizations. Part of the solution to these challenges is to remove improvised explosive devices using mechanical methods to reduce the likelihood and consequence of the risks that personnel face when carrying out this extremely hazardous task.

The mechanical removal of improvised explosive devices is an emerging methodology that is based on an established model …

Patterns Of Participation In Multilateral Disarmament Forums, Npa

Global CWD Repository

Who participates in multilateral disarmament meetings? Building on recent studies, this report investigates patterns of participation in disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control forums. In addition to overall levels of participation, we look at two indicators in particular – the gender balance of meeting delegations and the development status of the states these diplomats represent. We also examine the link between those two indicators: to what extent gender balance of diplomatic forums is associated with the socioeconomic composition of the group.

Professionalizing The Iraqi Army: Us Engagement After The Islamic State, C. Anthony Pfaff Dr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The United States has spent—and continues to spend—billions of dollars building Iraq’s military capabilities. Despite that fact, Iraq’s military performance, even after wresting control of its territory from the Islamic State, remains inconsistent at best. A survey of Iraqi military history suggests a pattern of strengths, weaknesses, and performance that includes courageous soldiers, cohesive units, incompetent leaders, divided loyalties, poor combat support, and weak institutions that have, on occasion, risen to the defense challenge. If the United States is going to be more successful in developing Iraqi military capabilities, it will need to change its approach to better account for …

Congressional Committee Resources On Space Policy During The 115th Congress (2017-2018): Providing Context And Insight Into U.S. Government Space Policy, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Article 1 of the US Constitution assigns the US Congress numerous responsibilities. These include creating new laws, revising existing laws, funding government programs, and conducting oversight of these programs' performance. Oversight of US Government agency space policy programs is executed by various congressional space policy committees, including the House and Senate Science Committees, Armed Services, and Appropriations Committees. These committees conduct many public hearings on space policy which invite witnesses to testify on US space policy programs and feature debate on the strengths and weaknesses of these programs. Documentation produced by these committees is widely available to the public, except …

Turkey And The United States On The Brink: Implications For Nato And The Us-Turkish Strategic And Military Partnership, Kamal A. Beyoghlow

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

This monograph analyzes the current political tensions between the United States and Turkey and suggests ways to manage them. The two countries have been strategic allies since at least the end of World War II—Turkey became a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member and participated with its military forces in the Korea War, and during the Cold War protected NATO’s southern flank against Soviet communism, and Turkey’s military and intelligence services maintained close relationships with their Western and Israeli counterparts. These relationships were not without problems, due mostly to differences over minority and civil rights in Turkey and over Turkey’s invasion …

How Will President Trump Respond To Iranian Retaliation For The Killing Of Qasem Soleimani?, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This analysis attempts to predict the general tenor of President Donald Trump’s likely response to Iran’s anticipated retaliation for the targeted killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani, based on (1) empirical studies of Trump’s personality profile and leadership style conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics and (2) rational-intuitive inference derived from Trump’s observed behavior in office.

Political Dialogue, Intra-Afghan Stability And Regional Security Of Central Asia, I. Bobukulov

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

The current article is dedicated to the analysis of political dialogue between Washington and the Taliban, also, problems and perspectives of establishment of direct intra-afghan talks in the context of ensuring the regional security in Central Asia.

National Security Vs. Human Rights: A Game Theoretic Analysis Of The Tension Between These Objectives, Aniruddha Bagchi, Jomon Aliyas Paul

Faculty Articles

We explore why human rights violations take place in the midst of a rebellion. Authoritarian governments may not care for human rights but surprisingly several democratic governments have also condoned such violations. We show that the primary cause of such violations is faulty intelligence. There are two type of defective intelligence that can occur viz., missed alarm and false alarm. We consider each of these cases and determine the optimal human rights standard of the government. We then examine the effect of a decrease in the human rights standard on the probability of quelling the rebellion. In our theoretical model, …

Solidarity In Action: Norwegian People's Aid Annual Report 2019, Npa

Global CWD Repository

Norwegian People’s Aid is an important agency in terms of global efforts for a mine-free world, carrying out humanitarian clearance of mines and explosives in 24 countries in 2019.

In the autumn of 2019, many countries around the world, including those in Latin America and the Middle East,

were witness to mass popular demonstrations. In many places, Norwegian People’s Aid partner organisations

played a leading role. We had 221 partner organisations in 19 countries in 2019 and it becomes clearer each

day how important our partners are as agents of social change. They are at the forefront of popular mobilisation, …

A Persistent Danger: Unexploded Ordnance In Populated Areas, Npa, Mines Advisory Group, Humanity And Inclusion

Global CWD Repository

The United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Network on Explosive Weapons have convincingly documented that the use of explosive weapons (especially those with wide area effects) in populated areas (EWIPA) creates an unacceptably high risk of indiscriminate harm. As humanitarian mine action organizations working in urban environments, we see this harm being done in numerous conflict zones every day.

Discussion of the harm caused by EWIPA typically focuses on the immediate effects of these weapons when they explode, as well as reverberating effects leading to displacement; damage to vital services such as healthcare, water, …

Unmas Annual Report 2020, Unmas

Global CWD Repository

UNMAS colleagues in the field and at Headquarters drew on their reserves of resilience and empathy to deliver life-saving programmes with innovative approaches - such as the early inclusion of COVID messaging in risk education campaigns. We relied on and deepened our partnerships. Working closely with national authorities, donors and implementing partners we managed to maintain and eventually resume operations and serve communities that live with the constant threat of explosive ordnance.

Allow me to highlight some of our accomplishments of 2020:

UNMAS responded to a request from the Ethiopian government to assess the threat in parts of that country, …

Farmer And Herder Conflict Dynamics In Ghana: The Role Of Environmental Scarcity, Daniel Kofi Banini

Africa Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Systemic Methodology For Cyber Offense And Defense, C. Ariel Pinto, Matthew Zurasky

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper describes a systemic method towards standardization of a cyber weapon effectiveness and effectiveness prediction process to promote consistency and improve cyber weapon system evaluation accuracy – for both offensive and defensive postures. The approach included theoretical examination of existing effectiveness prediction processes for kinetic and directed energy weapons, complemented with technical and social aspects of cyber realm. The examination highlighted several paradigm-shifts needed to transition from purely kinetic-based processes and transition into the realm of combined kinetic and cyber weapons. Components of the new method for cyber weapons are cyber payload assessment, effects identification, and target assessment. The …

United States Department Of Defense Acquisition Of Leading-Edge Information Technology Services And The Impact Of Public Market Research On Efficiency And Effectiveness, Thomas Denning

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This dissertation examines the acquisition of leading-edge IT services (LEITS), like those associated with cyber, agile software development, and cloud migration. In an effort to build on previous research, the purpose of this dissertation is twofold: to examine how Public Market Research impacts the LEITS acquisition process in the DoD and to discover strengths and value-added components that exist in the current government acquisition process leading to greater efficiency and effectiveness. Through a mixed methods approach, this dissertation provides recommendations for how to conduct the most efficient and effective LEITS acquisitions, striving to maximize a constrained budget, minimize time to …

Cute Panda Or Evil Dragon? Market Economy, Conflict Behavior And China's Peaceful Rise, Xiongwei Cao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

China has two contrasting images in the West: a cute panda and an evil dragon. In recent years, a near-consensus seems to be forming among policy makers in Washington that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is more of an evil dragon than a cute panda, using "sharp power" to threaten U.S. interests and world peace. The PRC is regarded by the current U.S. administration as a "strategic competitor," and a new Cold War seems to be looming between the world's two largest economies. Is the rise of China destined to cause conflicts or even war? After analyzing the conflict …

Penn State’S School Of Public Affairs Security-Related Academic Programs Amid The Novel Coronavirus Catastrophe, Alexander Siedschlag

Publications

Due to its large OL student population, Penn State’s School of Public Affairs had (unintended) applicable crisis contingency protocols in place prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. With the support of our college’s Center for Teaching Excellence, many traditional F2F residential courses had already been set up on our learning management system (LMS), Canvas. As a result, many of our school’s traditional students and faculty had a handle on using Canvas and remote learning technology. The center enhanced and focused its services to faculty as COVID-19 evolved (Center for Teaching Excellence, 2020). As the COVID-19 crisis hit Penn State during the …

On Environmental Law, Climate Change, And National Security Law, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

This Article offers a new way to think about climate change. Two new climate change assessments—the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment (“NCA”) and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Climate Change— prominently highlight climate change’s multifaceted national security risks. Indeed, not only is climate change an environmental problem, it also accelerates existing national security threats, acting as both a “threat accelerant” and “catalyst for conflict.” Further, climate change increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events while threatening nations’ territorial integrity and sovereignty through rising sea levels. It causes both internal displacement within nations …

Iraq Programme Report 2020, Unmas

Global CWD Repository

In 2020, UNMAS Iraq prioritised the following areas of support:

• Support government and national mine action entities with managing, regulating, and coordinating a mine action response through Technical Support (TS) initiatives;
• Deliver Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) at the community and national level; and
• Provide Explosive Hazard Management (EHM) response in support of humanitarian and stabilization efforts.

Due to the nature of threats posed by EO, UNMAS and its implementing partners are among the first responders allowing the humanitarian community and local authorities to intervene quickly and efficiently to help civilians.

A significant mine action capacity gap remains in Iraq. …

Palestine Programme Eore Portfolion 2019-2020, Unmas

Global CWD Repository

The persistent conflict faced by the Palestinian population has resulted in large areas of the Palestine being contaminated by various ERW. The key threats differ regionally between Gaza and the West Bank Areas A, B and C. Whereas Gaza has been continually exposed to ERW including Israeli Aerial Bombs; the West Bank is contaminated with a mixture of mines. ERW and Riot Control Agents such as tear gas.

The UNMAS Palestine programme has worked hard to mitigate the impact of the Palestine Israel conflict in Gaza. Unfortunately, the presence of ERW is indiscriminate in Gaza and there is a possibility …

Landmine Monitor 2020, Icbl-Cmc

Global CWD Repository

This is the 22nd annual Landmine Monitor report. It is the sister publication to the Cluster Munition Monitor report, first published in November 2010.

Landmine Monitor 2020 provides a global overview of the landmine situation. Chapters on developments in specific countries and other areas are available in online Country Profiles at www.the-monitor.org/cp.

Landmine Monitor covers mine ban policy, use, production, trade, and stockpiling; includes information on developments and challenges in assessing and addressing the impact of mine contamination and casualties through clearance, risk education, and victim assistance; and documents international and national support for mine action. This report focuses on …

Improving Foreign Militaries -- The Effects Of U.S. Military Aid In The Form Of International Military Education And Training Programs, Sandor Fabian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Great powers have often sought to achieve their strategic goals through the allocation of military aid. The United States is no exception, as it has frequently used military aid to influence the policies and military capacity of its allies and partners. However, our understanding of the effects of US military aid on the conflict behavior of recipient states - and especially the mechanisms underlying these effects - remains poorly understood. The results of previous studies of U.S. military aid are often contradictory, and are mostly based on over-aggregated, country-level data. In this dissertation, I argue that examining the individual-level effects …

A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener

Senior Honors Theses

For Israel, terrorism has plagued the nation since its beginning. Terrorism rears its ugly head in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons; however, in both the United States and Israel, Islamic extremism has presented itself as the largest threat. Since its birth as a nation, the United States has been involved in numerous conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to World War II and beyond. These wars were fought between nation-states and traditional powers, but since the attacks on 9/11, the United States finds itself in a new kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy. …