Public Policy Commons^™

Rightsizing The Pla Air Force: Revisiting An Analytic Framework, Lauren Edson, Phillip C. Saunders

Joint Force Quarterly

This article evaluates the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) from 2007 to 2025 using the Saunders-Quam framework, which identifies four core trade-offs: changes in roles and missions, domestic versus foreign procurement, high-tech versus low-tech systems, and combat versus support aircraft. While the framework remains a useful analytical tool, it underestimated the Chinese Communist Party’s willingness to fund expensive modernization efforts and the rapid advancements in China’s defense industrial base. The article identifies key factors missing from the original framework such as doctrinal shifts, increased emphasis on counterintervention, maritime expansion, and the rise of unmanned systems. It …

Is Mobilization A Major Question?, Evan J. Ward

Joint Force Quarterly

The combination of the Supreme Court’s new Major Questions doctrine and its decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo threatens to hobble the Executive Branch’s ability to effect a major mobilization under the Defense Production Act. The Defense Production Act followed the War Powers Acts of WWII to consolidate and update the presidential powers that were so famously marshaled to mobilize the arsenal of democracy. The Department of Defense has long planned to rely on Defense Production Act authority to mobilize should the need arise, but the risk of litigation brought about by new legal developments means that the authorities the …

Executive Summary, William T. Eliason

Joint Force Quarterly

In this issue, JFQ Editor in Chief William T. Eliason reflects on the enduring value of joint professional military education (JPME) and the journal’s role in shaping informed national security leaders. He emphasizes the importance of history, critical thinking, and learning from past conflicts, principles rooted in Clausewitzian theory, as essential to preparing for future challenges. The issue’s Forum section tackles readiness for great power competition, especially with China, examining mobilization, PLA airpower, and Southeast Asia’s strategic geography. Additional features explore leadership development in special operations, civil-military relations, AI and deepfake threats, space-based logistics, Western Pacific access strategies, distributed medical …

Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 118, 3rd Quarter 2025, National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly

This issue of Joint Force Quarterly addresses key strategic, operational, and doctrinal questions shaping the future of the joint force. Articles examine mobilization as a strategic imperative, PLA Air Force modernization, Southeast Asia’s geographic role in U.S. defense strategy, and leader development for strategic lethality. Contributions also explore AI’s role in detecting deepfakes, the civil-military relationship, and innovations in military logistics and cyber force design. A retrospective on the Joint Warfighting Concept and critical reviews of recent defense literature provide context and continuity. Collectively, these pieces offer insight into how the joint force must evolve to meet emerging challenges.

Structural Racism And Mass Shooting Events In Mountain West Cities, 2015-2019, Mohit Pande, Nicole Diaz Del Valle, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet presents data on the link between social and demographic metrics of principal cities in four Mountain West metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Phoenix, AZ; Tucson, AZ; Denver, CO; and Las Vegas, NV. This fact sheet also reports the number of people affected by mass shooting events (MSEs) as originally reported in “Association Between Markers of Structural Racism and Mass Shooting Events in Major US Cities,” published by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Surgery. The original article derives data from 865 MSEs across 51 MSAs in the United States.

Plan Mano Dura: A Punctuated Political Act? Addressing Gang Violence In El Salvador, Carlos A. Arias

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

On July 23, 2003, Salvadoran President Francisco Flores introduced a punitive and militaristic gang-prevention measure, Plan Mano Dura (Plan Iron Fist), in an attempt to solve the gang phenomenon plaguing El Salvador. Although it turned out to be an abject policy failure, its future effects and significance would far outweigh its intended impact, essentially dictating how El Salvador would combat gang violence for the next 20 years and beyond. As such, it is essential to better understand how such an ineffective policy could arise as a policy approach. This paper examines whether Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) can account for the …

The German Defense-Industrial Zeitenwende: Implications For Transatlantic Security, Brett Swaney

INSS Strategic Perspectives

The Zeitenwende, or “watershed moment”—announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February 2022, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—outlined a set of policy shifts, including the development of Germany’s first-ever National Security Strategy, that appeared to signal a greater role for Germany in the defense and security of Europe. The German National Security Strategy draws a clear connection between the need for a robust defense-industrial base and the foundation for the capabilities needed to meet North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense and deterrence commitments, support Ukraine, and provide for the recapitalization of allies and partners. To date, however, there has been …

Power Asymmetry Dynamics: Assessing Interdependence In France-Cameroon Relations Through Economic And Security Cooperation (2000–2024), Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This paper examines the dynamics of power asymmetry in the interdependent relationship between Cameroon and France from 2000 – 2024 with a focus on security and economic cooperation. The main research question asks: To what extent has power asymmetry reinforced or mitigated the interdependent relationship between Cameroon and France within the realm of economic and security cooperation? Based on the hypothesis that increased interdependence between these two states during this period has strengthened existing power disparity. The paper examines how such dynamics have restrained Cameroon’s autonomy and its capacity to pursue policy goals.

The theoretical framework combines dependency theory, postcolonial …

Recent U.S. Government Policy Literature On Critical And Strategic Minerals, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Critical and strategic minerals have become increasingly important in U.S. government civilian and military policymaking in recent years. This is demonstrated by the heavy use of such minerals in many critical civilian and military infrastructures. This work will discuss how this subject has been addressed in laws, presidential documents, and works by government agencies along with congressional oversight committees and support agencies. It will stress how the United States is heavily dependent on strategic minerals from adversarial foreign countries such as China and will examine U.S. efforts to increase its ability to produce such materials in the United States by …

The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, And The Burden Of Power, Thomas F. Lynch Iii

Joint Force Quarterly

This book review assesses Robert D. Kaplan’s The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power, a reflection on leadership, war, history, and the consequences of using military force. Drawing on Kaplan’s experiences reporting from conflict zones and his engagement with classical and modern thinkers, the review highlights the book’s central argument that political and military leaders must approach the use of force with humility, prudence, and an awareness of unintended consequences. Kaplan presents the “tragic mind” as a way of thinking that recognizes the tension between order and tyranny, the limits of human control, and the danger …

War In Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, And The Return Of A Fractured World; The War For Ukraine: Strategy And Adaptation Under Fire; A Call To Action: Lessons From Ukraine For The Future Force, Frank Hoffman

Joint Force Quarterly

This book review considers three recent works on the war in Ukraine: War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World, edited by Hal Brands; The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire by Mick Ryan; and A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force, edited by John A. Nagl and Katie Crombe. The reviewer argues that the three books provide complementary perspectives on the conflict at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels while highlighting the difficulty of drawing firm lessons from an ongoing war. The review discusses strategic decisionmaking and …

Winning Without Fighting: Irregular Warfare And Strategic Competition In The 21st Century, Joseph J. Collins

Joint Force Quarterly

This book review assesses Winning Without Fighting: Irregular Warfare and Strategic Competition in the 21st Century by Rebecca Patterson and coauthors. The book presents irregular warfare as a broad form of strategic competition that relies on military, economic, informational, diplomatic, and resilience-based tools to advance national objectives short of conventional war. The review highlights the authors’ comparison of U.S. strategic culture with the more integrated approaches to competition employed by authoritarian states, particularly China and Russia, and their use of Cold War political warfare as a historical reference point. It also discusses the book’s treatment of economic statecraft, information activities, …

Movement And Maneuver At Leyte, October 1944, Michael M. Trimble, Douglas W. Burkman, Michael L. Simmons

Joint Force Quarterly

This article uses Operation King II, the October 1944 campaign to seize Leyte and begin the liberation of the Philippines, as a case study in joint movement and maneuver. The authors argue that the operation offers enduring lessons for today’s joint force, particularly in multidomain operations conducted in a maritime theater. They trace the strategic context, planning, command relationships, and execution of the Leyte operation, including the convergence of U.S. land, sea, and air forces and the challenges created by divided command arrangements. The article highlights the importance of integrated planning, clear communication between supported and supporting commanders, timely intelligence, …

Both Joint And Not: Medical Support At Okinawa, 1945, Sanders Marble

Joint Force Quarterly

In 1945, the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps invaded Okinawa. Heavy casualties were projected, and medical planning was thorough and multi-layered. Medical support was as joint as anything the period could offer, although quite different from today. In a dispersed, low-bandwidth environment, planners did not try to increase "jointness" but had services work in parallel and opted to reduce overlap.

This article looks at the medical planning and how medical support unfolded. Medical care was good, as good as possible in the period. Medical and surgical patients received plenty of care, but psychological patients could receive less care, although …

Toward A 21st-Century Medical Offset Strategy, George A. Barbee, Benjamin J. Ingram

Joint Force Quarterly

This article argues that the joint force needs a medical offset strategy designed for large-scale combat operations and contested multidomain environments, where casualty volumes, evacuation constraints, dispersed operations, and attacks on medical support may overwhelm approaches that proved effective during the post-9/11 wars. The authors propose three complementary medical offset strategies: far-forward intervention, technology and innovation, and allies and partners. Far-forward intervention emphasizes early treatment, hemorrhage control, blood administration, austere care, and flexible casualty evacuation. The technology and innovation offset focuses on artificial intelligence–assisted patient movement, predictive and additive logistics, unmanned evacuation and sustainment systems, novel therapies, and improved medical …

Developing Alternative Manning Strategies To Maintain The Combat Effectiveness Of The Joint Force, Shawn M. Cook, Andrew Hall, Todd Spanton

Joint Force Quarterly

The U.S. military faces a shrinking pool of eligible and willing recruits, driven by declining physical and mental health eligibility, lower propensity to serve, and reduced confidence in military institutions. This article considers three approaches to sustaining the combat effectiveness of the joint force under these conditions: improving the fitness and readiness of the recruit population, adapting military standards and expectations to the available population, and maintaining a smaller force augmented by advanced technology. The authors argue that broad efforts to change population health and behavior are costly and difficult to sustain, while simply lowering standards could reduce military capability. …

Protecting Ace: Air Defense And Agile Combat Employment, Ian D. Richardson

Joint Force Quarterly

The United States Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment concept intends to complicate adversary targeting through rapid maneuver between dispersed airfields. However, the concept lacks a flexible approach to implement an added layer of air defense protection at these sites. This article offers the Army’s Multi-Domain Task Force Short Range Air Defense capabilities as a viable solution to this gap, and explores the impacts to organization, doctrine, and training associated with implementing such a solution. This analysis contributes to the ongoing development of both Air Force and Army operational concepts against near-peer adversaries.

Defusing Weaponized Interdependence: A New Approach To Measuring Country Reliability, Michael F. Harsch, Shaun Lee

Joint Force Quarterly

Global supply chain disruptions, U.S.-China trade competition, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine have highlighted the risks created by economic interdependence and dependence on potentially unreliable suppliers. This article introduces the Measure of Country Reliability (MCR), a framework for assessing the reliability of prospective U.S. economic and supply chain partners. The measure combines countries’ voting behavior in the United Nations General Assembly, used as an indicator of past geopolitical alignment with the United States, with Freedom House Global Freedom Scores, used to estimate likely future reliability. The authors apply the MCR to the 1973 oil embargo and to …

Solving The Crisis: A Partnership Approach For Safe, Affordable Military Housing, Michael Kittrell, Michael Borders

Joint Force Quarterly

This article examines the critical housing shortage at Cannon Air Force Base (CAFB) and proposes a collaborative, community-driven approach to solving the crisis. It highlights the structural issues behind the shortage—ranging from military retention challenges to nationwide housing market pressures—and details the strategic formation of the “House Hunters” team to develop innovative, interim solutions. The authors advocate for leveraging intergovernmental partnerships and public-private initiatives, such as apartment leases and university collaborations, to address dormitory deficits ahead of delayed military construction. The article calls for bold policy changes and agile financing strategies to ensure safe, affordable housing for military personnel in …

America Needs Bold, Visionary, And Strategic Joint Force Leaders, James W. Browning

Joint Force Quarterly

Once selected for a Joint Force higher-level leadership position, it is imperative to have a clear action plan to ensure a smooth transition into the role. The significance of preparation cannot be overstated. The notion of a 90-day grace period for acclimatization is a myth of the past. Today’s Joint Force leaders must be prepared to hit the ground running.

Dr. Jim Browning summarizes tactical approaches, insights, and practical actions gathered from more than 100 government and military executives and senior leaders. This guidance aims to help newly selected senior leaders transition smoothly and effectively both before and during their …

Obstacles To Integrating Deterrence, Jeffrey A. Larsen, James J. Wirtz

Joint Force Quarterly

Integrated deterrence is a concept introduced by the Biden administration in 2022 that calls for a whole-of-government, whole-of-alliance approach to deterrence. It responds to an increasingly complex world with new warfare domains, new and emerging technologies, highly sophisticated weaponry, and multiple regional and global actors, including two peer nuclear competitors. Nevertheless, the concept remains vague, especially when it comes to who is responsible for its implementation. This article describes the conceptual, organizational, and operational obstacles and considerations likely to be encountered by the effort to integrate deterrence. It concludes with some recommendations for operationalizing the concept across the US government …

A New Step In China’S Military Reform, Joel Wuthnow

Joint Force Quarterly

In April 2024, Xi Jinping announced a new military restructuring focused on improving the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s ability to achieve information dominance and conduct integrated joint operations in wartime. Continuing a process of reform that Xi initiated nearly a decade ago, the latest reform included three parts: eliminating the Strategic Support Force (SSF), establishing a new Information Support Force (ISF) responsible for network defense and communications support, and placing the ISF and three other support forces under Xi’s direct control. This reform constituted the most significant structural overhaul of the PLA in the last five years, and the first …

Executive Summary, William T. Eliason

Joint Force Quarterly

Effective communication is essential to joint warfighting success, yet even basic tasks, like radio reprogramming, can fail without proper training and leadership. Editor in Chief William T. Eliason emphasizes the life-saving importance of communication and the need to instill such skills at every level of the force. He adds a tribute to Dr. John Church’s editorial and visual contributions to JFQ and gives an update on the temporary pause of the annual essay competitions due to logistical constraints. This issue of Joint Force Quarterly features timely analyses on China’s military reform, the challenges of integrated deterrence, visionary leadership development, and …

Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 117, 2nd Quarter 2025, National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly

Joint Force Quarterly 117 centers on the urgent call for bold, visionary leadership within the U.S. Joint Force. Highlighting challenges such as integrated deterrence, alternative manning strategies, and China’s military reforms, this issue provides strategic insights for future readiness. It features forward-leaning proposals on air defense, military housing, and medical innovation, alongside historical case studies from Okinawa and Leyte. Book reviews and expert commentary further enrich the discourse on contemporary military leadership and strategy.

Analysis Of Systematic Trade-Offs Between Military And Healthcare Expenditure Alongside Gdp Growth Of Select Asian And Western Exporting Economies In The 21st Century, Rahul Balamurugan, Carlos Gershenson, Preethi Nanjundan, Hiroki Sayama

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

This study explores the complexity in the trade-offs between military expenditure, healthcare expenditure, and GDP growth across select Asian nations and major weapon-exporting countries, examining how nations allocate finite resources between national security and human well-being over the past two decades. Using a systems science approach, the research integrates Granger causality testing to analyze temporal and directional relationships among GDP growth, military expenditure, and healthcare expenditure, uncovering their dynamic interdependencies. The methodology includes trend and slope analysis, Granger causality testing, outlier detection, and clustering to identify heterogeneity in resource allocation strategies. Developed, weapon-exporting nations exhibit complementary trends, with strong causality …

Researching The U.S. Senate Presidential Nominee Confirmation Process, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The beginning of 2025 has seen renewed public attention and emphasis on the constitutionally mandated U.S. Senate confirmation process. This stems from the beginning of the second Trump Administration as its nominees navigate this process. The presentation provides historical background on this process, demonstrates what nominees, Senate oversight committees, and the full Senate in administering this process and enables readers to find out how to access information resources documenting this process. The confirmation process continues throughout presidential administrations and may involve little public attention and controversy or acute public attention and controversy. The contrasting 2025 confirmation experiences of Secretary of …

Study To Understand The Effects Of Biofouling And Corrosion On Underwater Munitions: Implications For Risk Management And Resource Allocation, Center For International Stabilization And Recovery, Fenix Insight

Global CWD Repository

The project's primary objective is to understand the impacts of the underwater environment on munitions as a means to identify the residual risk these munitions pose, so people undertaking detection and clearance efforts can reliably assess operational risk and make informed decisions.

The Future Of Stealth Military Doctrine, Theodoros G. Kostis

Joint Force Quarterly

This article explores the future of stealth military doctrine and argues that conventional stealth, centered on reducing radar cross-section and other detectable signatures, faces growing limitations against advanced integrated air defense systems. The author proposes shifting from a model based primarily on high speed and low observability toward one that emphasizes surprise through obfuscation. Central to this approach is the stand-in variable speed multiple-domain (SiVSMD) offensive concept, which combines artificial intelligence, autonomous unmanned systems, swarm tactics, miniaturization, electronic warfare, cyber capabilities, deception, and mosaic warfare. Small, distributed platforms would operate across land, sea, undersea, and air domains, varying their speed …

Weapons In Space: Technology, Politics, And The Rise And Fall Of The Strategic Defense Initiative, Todd W. Pennington

Joint Force Quarterly

This book review assesses Aaron Bateman’s Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative, which uses recently declassified U.S., Soviet, and British records to reinterpret the origins, development, and legacy of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Bateman emphasizes the close relationship between political decisionmaking and space technology, particularly the technological overlap between ballistic missile defense and offensive antisatellite capabilities. The review highlights how this entanglement complicated arms control, Cold War diplomacy, U.S. relations with European allies, and efforts to build political support for SDI. It also examines the program’s dependence on costly and …

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, And The 21st Century’S Greatest Dilemma, Peter Khooshabeh, Robert Underwood

Joint Force Quarterly

This book review assesses Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar’s The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma, which surveys the rapid development of artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and other general-purpose technologies and the challenge of containing their unintended consequences. Suleyman argues that falling costs, accelerating innovation, increasing autonomy, and broad applicability are expanding the power of individuals and groups while making emerging technologies difficult to control. The reviewers highlight the book’s treatment of artificial intelligence, generative AI, synthetic biology, advanced energy, and quantum technologies, as well as its proposed containment mechanisms, including regulation, technical safety, …