This study investigates strategic intelligence failures of the pre-Vietnam and pre-9/11 time periods. The monograph presents PEMISI (political, economic, military, information, societal, and intelligence) environmental analyses of both time periods...
This study examines the evolution of the public affairs function within the United States federal government. The study examines in detail the development of public affairs within the Department of Defense from the time of the National Security Act...
The U. S. Army’s current operating concept of Full Spectrum Operations is nothing more than a return to an earlier concept, Flexible Response. The Army adopted Flexible Response in the early 1960s to mitigate the threat posed by Soviet nuclear,...
The work addresses the problem of the concept of national will. Present concepts are held to be inadequate because they arbitrarily separate national will from the political decision-making process and because they are psychologically unsound. As a...
The study begins with a general overview of the years following the Korean War through the Vietnam War. The overview examines the changing political landscapes, the events that helped to change doctrine, and the tactical changes that affected the...
This document is the first of two volumes that examine the Vietnam conflict from the perspective of the theater commander and his headquarters. It traces the story of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), from its establishment in...
The end of the Cold War did not bring about the grand peace that was hoped for during four decades. Instead, the world has become more dangerous, with multiple complex problems. Military institutions worldwide must learn to adapt to the...
Military writing has been criticized for being stilted, verbose, and ambiguous; such poor writing is pejoratively called "pentagonese" or "militarese." The army has made numerous attempts to improve its written communications because it recognizes...
This monograph examines the influence of population growth in the developing world on the U.S. Army's mission within the national security strategy. The U.S. military in general and the U.S. Army in particular will not be the only, or even the most...
Officer education is a major component in the preparation for the next war. The Command and General Staff College (CGSC) is the Army's principal institution for educating field grade officers. War's chameleon nature sometimes denies and frustrates...
The Mobile Assault Company (MAC) concept--the technique of employing the Marine Infantry Battalion’s Weapons Company as a fourth maneuver element--is currently being employed successfully during counterinsurgency and Stability Operations in...
Many Americans associate the fall of Rome with Alaric and the Visigoths and other warrior peoples from the north, but serious students understand that Rome’s decline was slow and from within. Ralph Peters writes, “In its confident years, the...
This paper challenges the idea that the thinkers who developed the American Theory of Limited War prior to Vietnam were grossly in error. A framework for the elements of the theory is constructed through a discussion of the historical American way...
The grand strategy of the United States is that of the Open Door. Since 1787, the END of U.S. grand strategy have remained constant--to achieve the purpose laid down in the Preamble to the Constitution. For the last two-hundred twenty years the...
Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula brought Spain, Portugal, and Britain into a close, if sometimes uneasy alliance. When an expeditionary force led by General Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the 1st Duke of Wellington, disembarked in Portugal...
Propaganda and disinformation characterized indispensable components of nineteenth and twentieth century warfare. Examples such as Leni Riefenstahl's “Triumph of the Will” or Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series made no attempt to honestly...
Homeland security was restored as America’s number one goal of national security strategy following 9/11. The evolution of American national security strategy, from the Cold War years into the post-9/11 years, demonstrated a historical reliance...
The primary question this thesis aims to answer is--did the Studies and Observation Group (SOG) covert and clandestine operations contribute significantly to the Vietnam War effort? The scope of research is an examination of SOG operations...
This monograph analyzes the effectiveness of operational campaign design during the initial US ground combat in the Vietnam War. The focus is on the linkage of national strategic ends with military means and ways from the Spring of 1965 through the...