Although operational level intelligence was assessed as adequate for the initial phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom, discussion about the inadequacy of tactical intelligence support for commanders continues to resonate within the Military...
Recent assertions have been made that the nature of warfare in our current operating environment has changed in such a way that phasing in military operations has outlasted its utility and become problematic, requiring it to be eliminated or...
Despite its domination of conventional warfare the United States military finds itself in a quagmire concerning the unconventional fight in Iraq. Never a strong suit of the United States military, the insurgency is testing both the patience and the...
In spite of experience that shows post-conflict stability operations are inevitable, the U.S. military places more emphasis on winning the fighting and less on the decisive post-combat phase. This has resulted in increased risk to the mission and...
In the aftermath of the air campaign that began Operation Desert Storm, the US Air Force sought to measure US success in the military-technical and organizational innovation that occurred during the Gulf War and its impact on the future evolution...
The complexity of today’s battlefield is perhaps the greatest an officer in the Army has ever witnessed in its 229 year history. The expectations of success for today’s officer are no different than those of other generations. How the Army...
The US military, as with all US government agencies, shares the responsibility for countering proliferation efforts. Although we have identified the types of threat we face, the systems through which it operates are somewhat more difficult to...
Phase III Operation Iraqi Freedom has shown our military’s propensity to focus on major combat operations (MCO) often at the expense of post-MCO security and reconstruction. Without clear doctrinal guidance of how to establish effective security...
Since the end of World War II the Army has been involved in numerous operations that dealt directly or indirectly with Nation Building as a focus or subsequent mission following major combat operations. There have been varying levels of success and...
The United States Army has predicated its ability to dominate the full spectrum of military operations on the ability to "See First, Understand First, Act First and Finish Decisively. " During recent conventional operations, including Operation...
USSOCOM’s effective execution of operational preparation of the environment (OPE) is a critical component in the strategy for winning the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). OPE is a series of activities that seek to enable future operations by...
The purpose of this monograph is to analyze the U.S. Army battlefield distribution system from a “Systems Thinking” perspective. The method involves a holistic analysis of the distribution systems as it functions within its environment. Because...
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the grip of
superpower strictures loosened resulting in an increase in complexity and dynamism that marks today's security environment. The rapidly changing and uncertain...
Operational level commanders and their staffs require relevant and current joint doctrine that articulates the critical function of operational design and its role in the Joint Operation Planning Process (JOPP). Since operational design is the...
Recent joint force thinking has espoused effects-based operations (EBO) as an evolutionary, some say revolutionary, approach to warfare. The 2003 Joint Operations Concepts document states, “The Joint Force uses an effects-based approach.” With...
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States' armed forces and its coalition of allies have become deeply entrenched in the counterinsurgencies of Iraq and Afghanistan. These struggles are not just counterinsurgencies, but they also...
Bias caused by organizational culture is a constant companion of military planning. Cognitive models dominated by Newtonian, mechanistic, and reductionist thinking, have all but entrenched bias at the operational level of war where contextual, or...
The purpose of this monograph is to provide operational commanders and staff with a glimpse of the potential of non-lethal power of culture. This monograph suggests that it maybe possible to weaponize culture, specifically through the use of...
This study examines the concept of fielding an Army aviation division as a viable options for deep attack execution in AirLand Battle Future. First the study synopsizes the key elements of AirLand Battle Future (ALB-F), then it determines the...