The question this monograph attempts to answer is whether "coercive strategies and their associated defeat mechanisms provide valid courses of action (COAs) for the US against global terrorists networks and nations that harbor terrorists?" The...
This monograph answers the question of whether operational air commanders have the necessary doctrinal tools to plan for effective airpower employment in gradually escalated, coercive warfare. It concludes that current Air Force doctrine does not...
Coercion theory centers on an actor's ability to influence the decision making of an opponent. This monograph examines military operations in Libya 2011, Operations Unified Protector and Odyssey Dawn, through the lens of coercion theory. It seeks...
The United States has significantly increased the deployment of missile defense systems, specifically Patriot and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis-BMD), to the Persian Gulf over the past six years. The increase from no missile defense assets...
This study considers the argument for a more robust space control policy and force structure, to include the argument for an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) capability. This monograph addresses the validity of space control doctrine, as well as examining...
High profile cyber attacks against Estonia and Georgia have brought the subject of cyber security from the realm of internet magazines to main stream media outlets. The cyber attacks advanced the perceptions of animosity between the Russian...
This thesis examines the possible strategies available for the prosecution of a time-critical decisive halt. The concept of a decisive halt through the rapid application of military power from the air is new to United States Air Force doctrine and...
In a time where the role of heavy mechanized units seems to play a secondary part to the rapid deployability and lightning-quick raids conducted by light forces, understanding how "shock battle " can still be waged at the operational and tactical...
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is becoming an important topic for military leaders as the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue. The diagnosis of PTSD in Soldiers returning from the battlefields is increasing at an alarming rate. Despite...
This thesis examines the intent of Iran's sea power strategy, and discovers that it is a definitive component of a coherent national security strategy of strategic deterrence designed to protect its strategic center of gravity--its oil....
The primary question of this thesis is "Does the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) armament acquisition plan support their military strategy." The four subordinate questions are: What is the PLA's military strategy? What have they purchased from...
Coercion theory is traditionally segmented into compellence and deterrence. Recently
theorists have begun to consider coercion comprehensively. This monograph continues that line
of study and defines coercion as the threat of, or use of, elements...
The purpose of this monograph is to prove that by 2015 uninhabited combat aerial vehicles will have reached a level of capability at which they will be of utility to the joint force commander. This is important to the military to understand...
Although there are credible threats to the United States Global Positioning System (GPS), sustainment of the constellation remains the greatest challenge. As GPS satellites reach the end of their operational life cycle, there is a risk the United...
The present challenge to the nation-state system broadly, and USG specifically, consists of non-state actors operating within the context of weak governance and unofficial economy. This thesis explores USG effectiveness in disrupting terrorist or...
This paper is a theoretical analysis of the changing nature of warfare at the tactical level due to the increased use in deep operations of deep-looking intelligence assets and highly lethal and precise weapons. The extension of an extremely lethal...
During World War II and the Vietnam War, the primary focus of effort for air power was on the destruction of enemy factories producing military goods and the transportation networks that brought these goods and personnel to the battlefield. In the...
The U.S. Army is in the midst of undergoing a radical transformation, adopting a “capabilities-based” and “modular-type” force structure, to combat “full spectrum” conflict for future threats. The premise behind restructuring all U.S....