The U.S. Armed Forces has a long and rich history of expeditionary operations followed by military disengagements. A historically small U.S. military is repeating this history today in two wars that are stretching it to the limits of its personnel...
The purpose of this monograph is to answer the research question: does the current process for executing mission analysis give commanders the information they need to develop timely, relevant, and constructive commander’s intent and commander’s...
Colombia's future hangs in the balance with dire implications for Latin America and U.S. national interests. After almost forty-five years of existential conflict, Colombia has the opportunity to be a peaceful and stable country, which is essential...
In January 2007, President of the United States George W. Bush announced a strategy called the New Way Forward in Iraq, a departure from the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq announced only thirteen months previous. Additionally, President Bush...
Today's Army is undergoing significant change, completing its modular transformation and adopting mission command as a war fighting function in an effort to meet the needs of a constantly adapting enemy and uncertain environment. Mission command is...
This monograph considers whether operational art and the operational level of conflict are viable constructs for Canada or other middle-powers. Like most of America's close allies, Canada quickly followed the US lead by adopting these operational...
Martin van Creveld, a noted theorist, contends that the concept of operational art did not take off in the United States (US) until after the Vietnam War. Conversely, James Schneider, a prominent military theorist, asserts that operational art...
There is a healthy debate about hybrid warfare in American military journals and publications. Much of this discussion describes hybrid threats as a nascent phenomenon, citing the Israeli Defense Force's 2006 struggle against Hezbollah militants in...
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...
Within the literature on Systemic Operational Design, discourse is generally treated as a mechanical communicative process. The monograph presents alternative ways to consider discourse, the implications of this for theory of Systemic Operational...
The United States Marine Corps developed Operational Maneuver from the Sea in the 1980s and codified it as a Marine Corps concept in 1996. In brief, Operational Maneuver from the Sea seeks to exploit the sea as maneuver space to defeat access...
Armies share one common characteristic. An Army cannot recruit its military leaders off the street. Every Army must grow its leaders from the nation's young women and men, nurture the youngsters into mature military leaders, and develop senior...
Military officials often utilize the PMESII-PT acronym (Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Environment, and Time) as an analytical start point to assess an operational environment. However, the linear...
American policy in Afghanistan has evolved since the initial engagement of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It has become increasingly clear that strategic focus must include a plan to concentrate upon and continue development of a stable and secure...
This monograph began as an investigation to determine if either Effects-Based Operations (EBO) or Systemic Operational Design (SOD) should replace the traditional Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP). It soon became clear that the approaches do...
While the outcome of the Iraq war seems to have validated the U.S. Army's counterinsurgency manual, FM 3-24, the war in Afghanistan seems to indicate there are fundamental problems associated with its historical principles and concepts. Dr....
A common perspective among U.S. interagency partners today is that any step towards more effective and coordinated responses to contemporary security challenges requires an improved and shared understanding of the nature of the conflict and the...
In an effort to explain how the military can better engage the media, this paper provides insights to the question, “How can the U.S. military proactively engage the domestic media in the planning and execution of military operations?” By...
Civil Information Management Systems (CIMS) are emerging as a resource which allows commanders to build a Common Operational Picture (COP) upon which to base their operational planning and execution. Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) are a type...
The Department of Defense emphasis on stability operations caused the United States Army to change its operational concept to Full Spectrum Operations (FSO). The acknowledgment of the importance of stability operations however, does not translate...