Strategic Studies Institute

Global Strategy Studies

Added March 21, 2011

Type: Student (Carlisle) Papers

An Evaluation of Counterinsurgency as a Strategy for Fighting the Long War. Authored by LTC Baucum Fulk.

Counterterrorism, support to insurgency, and antiterrorism are each both efficient and sustainable from a military and economic perspective, and each have inherent political concerns, hazards, or constraints. The author maintains that an overall strategy combining counterterrorism and antiterrorism is the best means of employing military forces to counter violent extremism.

Added October 26, 2010

Type: Letort Papers

Some of the Best Weapons for Counterinsurgents Do Not Shoot. Authored by Eric T. Olson.

Reconstruction, defined in U.S. Army Field Manual 3-07 as “the process of rebuilding degraded, damaged, or destroyed political, socioeconomic, and physical infrastructure of a country or territory to create the foundation for long-term development” has leapt to the forefront of Army priorities, measured by the important role that it plays in today’s counterinsurgency operations and its prominence in the latest doctrine. This paper examines the history of reconstruction as a part of Army operations, assesses the capabilities of today’s forces to conduct successful reconstruction operations in support of a counterinsurgency campaign, and makes recommendations to build a capability that is commensurate with the demands of our doctrine and the imperatives of the modern battlefield.

Added May 06, 2010

Type: Monograph

Decisionmaking In Operation IRAQI FREEDOM: The Strategic Shift of 2007. Authored by Dr. Steven Metz.

Was the 2007 decision to surge forces into Iraq effective in turning the war from a potential disaster to a possible success?

Added March 22, 2010

Type: Monograph

Decisionmaking in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM: Removing Saddam Hussein by Force. Authored by Dr. Steven Metz. Edited by Professor John R. Martin.

The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) is pleased to initiate its latest monograph series, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM Key Decisions. SSI started this project in an effort to give leaders of the U.S. Armed Forces some important insights into how military advice was provided to the Nation’s civilian leadership during the many years—including the months before the invasion—of the war in Iraq. Dr. Metz starts this series with an impressive review of the decision to remove Saddam Hussein by force. The Strategic Studies Institute hopes that this and the succeeding monographs will generate debate on just how the United States made decisions—some of them disastrous—about Iraq. The resulting better understanding of the decisions should lead to strengthening of the processes—where appropriate—so that the military and civilian leadership forge better decisions in the future.

Added January 22, 2010

Type: Letort Papers

Security and Stability in Africa: A Development Approach. Authored by Lieutenant Colonel Clarence J. Bouchat (USAF, Ret.).

The security and stability of Africa has recently become an important national issue. However, to be effective this growing interest must be rooted in the desire to overcome centuries of ignorance and misunderstanding about the conditions and people of Africa.

Added September 25, 2009

Type: Letort Papers

A Comprehensive Approach to Improving U.S. Security Force Assistance Efforts. Authored by Lieutenant Colonel Theresa Baginski, Colonel Brian J. Clark, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Donovan, Ms. Karma Job, Lieutenant Colonel John S. Kolasheski, Colonel Richard A. Lacquement, Jr., Brigadier Simon "Don" Roach, Colonel Sean P. Swindell, Colonel Curt A. Van De Walle, Colonel Michael J. McMahon.

Security Force Assistance may be a new term but the activities are familiar and are related to how the Department of Defense trains, advises, and assists foreign partners' security establishments to accomplish common objectives. Recommendations to improve U.S. performance are provided.

Added September 16, 2009

Type: Monograph

Escalation and Intrawar Deterrence During Limited Wars in the Middle East. Authored by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill.

This monograph seeks to analyze military escalation and intrawar deterrence by examining two key wars where these concepts became especially relevant—the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. A central conclusion of this monograph is that intrawar deterrence is an inherently fragile concept, and that the nonuse of weapons of mass destruction in both wars was the result of a number of positive factors that may not be repeated in future conflicts.

Added August 11, 2009

Type: PKSOI Papers

Toward a Risk Management Defense Strategy. Authored by Mr. Nathan P. Freier.

The author outlines eight principles for a risk management defense strategy. He argues that these principles provide “measures of merit” for evaluating the new administration’s defense choices.

Added September 25, 2008

Type: Monograph

The 2006 Lebanon Campaign and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy. Authored by Dr. Stephen D. Biddle, Mr. Jeffrey A. Friedman.

Critics of irregular-warfare transformation often cite the 2006 Lebanon campaign as evidence that modern nonstate actors can wage conventional warfare in state-like ways. This analysis assesses this claim via a detailed analysis of Hezbollah’s conduct of the campaign at the tactical through theater-strategic levels of war.

Added June 03, 2008

Type: Monograph

From the New Middle Ages to a New Dark Age: The Decline of the State and U.S. Strategy. Authored by Dr. Phil Williams.

The author contends that the long-term decline of the state will move the world into a New Dark Age in which the forces of chaos and disorder will be almost overwhelming. Alternative options for the U.S. response to the security challenges posed by such an environment are examined.

Added April 14, 2008

Type: Book

The Evolution of U.S. Turkish Relations in a Transatlantic Context. Edited by Dr. Frances G. Burwell.

Since World War II, the relationship between Turkey and the United States has been characterized by periods of remarkable cooperation, even when significant disagreements existed.

Added March 20, 2008

Type: Monograph

The Political Context Behind Successful Revolutionary Movements, Three Case Studies: Vietnam (1955-63), Algeria (1945-62), and Nicaragua (1967-79). Authored by LTC Raymond A. Millen.

The author examines the extent to which some states create the conditions for revolutionary movements to flourish. He explores how the governments in Vietnam (1955-63), Algeria (1945-62), and Nicaragua (1967-79) unintentionally empowered revolutionary movements, resulting in these governments’ demise.

Added March 14, 2008

Type: Monograph

Security Sector Reform in Liberia: Mixed Results from Humble Beginnings. Authored by Mr. Mark Malan.

The author describes the state of the armed forces and the police in post-war Liberia, evaluates the ongoing process of security sector reform, and makes recommendations to the United Nations and the U.S. Government on consolidating military and police transformation

Added March 04, 2008

Type: Monograph

Towards a New Russia Policy. Authored by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.

Russia presents an ever greater challenge to American policy and interests. This monograph analyzes the dimensions of Russian threat perception, the mainsprings and goals of contemporary Russian foreign policy, and the requirements for a coherent U.S. strategy to meet that challenge across the entire agenda of Russo-American and East-West relations.

Added January 15, 2008

Type: Monograph

A Contemporary Challenge to State Sovereignty: Gangs and Other Illicit Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) in Central America, El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil. Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.

Building on his 2005 monograph, Street Gangs: The New Urban Insurgency, the author answers questions regarding “What are the implications of the gang and other Transnational Criminal Organizations’ assault on stability in the Western Hemisphere?” and “What are the implications of the clash of values between liberal democracy and criminal anarchy?”

Added December 28, 2007

Type: Monograph

Jordanian National Security and the Future of Middle East Stability. Authored by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill.

The United States and Jordan have maintained a valuable mutually-supportive relationship for decades as a result of shared interests in a moderate, prosperous, and stable Middle East. In this monograph, the author highlights Jordan’s ongoing value as a U.S. ally and considers ways that the U.S.-Jordanian alliance might be used to contain and minimize problems of concern to both countries.

Added November 20, 2007

Type: Monograph

Regional Threats and Security Strategy: The Troubling Case of Today's Middle East. Authored by James A. Russell.

The United States confronts an altered distribution of regional power in the aftermath of its invasion of Iraq. That distribution of power features new internal political dynamics that are shaping the ways that states are responding to the security environment. The United States needs to come to grips with these emerging dynamics if it is to successfully continue in its role of guarantor of regional security and stability.

Added October 29, 2007

Type: Student (Carlisle) Papers

"Making Riflemen from Mud: Restoring the Army's Culture of Irregular Warfare. Authored by Lieutenant Colonel James D. Campbell.

The culture of irregular warfare was attributable to nearly 300 years of American military tradition from the colonial period until 1941, including extensive experience in cooperating with Native American tribes and individual scouts during the expansion of the western frontier. Since World War II, the wider military has lost this expertise. Given the variety of political environments in which today’s conventional soldiers may find themselves and the current nature of conflicts ongoing and likely to occur in the world, the Army culture as a whole can and must readapt itself to the new old realities of irregular war.

Added October 25, 2007

Type: Student (Carlisle) Papers

The Military Strategy of Global Jihad. Authored by Lieutenant Colonel Sarah E. Zabel.

Al-Qaeda has declared war on the United States and the rest of the civilized world, but how does the organization plan to win that war? The author draws on sources from within the broader global jihad movement to explain the movement’s goals and the mechanisms it proposes to enact a revolution.

Added October 04, 2007

Type: Monograph

American Grand Strategy for Latin America in the Age of Resentment. Authored by Dr. Gabriel Marcella.

A healthy Latin America is of critical value to the United States as a global power. It is besieged by a powerful force of resentment engendered by a combination of weak states, social exclusion, criminal violence, and corruption. The United States needs a new grand strategy that addresses the causes rather than the symptoms of the malaise.

Added October 01, 2007

Type: Monograph

Egypt: Security, Political, and Islamist Challenges. Authored by Dr. Sherifa D. Zuhur.

Contemporary Egypt evidences severe failures of governance and political and economic development. Along with the continued strength of moderate Islamists and violent outbursts of radical Islamists, the pressing need for democratization has been set back by the "emergency" procedures used by the government to control security.

Added September 28, 2007

Type: Monograph

Turkmenistan and Central Asia after Niyazov. Authored by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.

Turkmenistan, a key natural gas producer in Central Asia is undergoing a transition from the sultanistic regime of President Sapirmurat Niyazov to some other form of rule. It also is being courted by all the major powers in Central Asian politics. This monograph examines the domestic dynamics of succession here and in Central Asia and the entwined international rivalry or great game for energy access and influence over regional security in Central Asia.

Added September 26, 2007

Type: Letort Papers

The Emerging Pattern of Geopolitics. Authored by Dr. Peter W. Rodman.

This keynote address given at the XVIII Annual Strategy Conference of the U.S. Army War College represented an effort to look beyond Iraq and Afghanistan and grasp contemporary global security dynamics.

Added September 19, 2007

Type: Monograph

ASEAN and Its Security Offspring: Facing New Challenges. Authored by Dr. Sheldon W. Simon.

The author argues that ASEAN and its offspring organizations such as the ASEAN Regional Forum work best when dealing with external powers and are less effective in resolving disputes within Southeast Asia.

Added February 20, 2007

Type: Monograph

Understanding Indian Insurgencies: Implications for Counterinsurgency Operations in the Third World. Authored by Deputy Inspector General Durga Madhab (John) Mitra.

The term insurgency has been used broadly to include all violent struggles against the state by any group or section of the population of an area trying to establish its independent political control over that area and its population. India has been containing Islamic terrorism for years, with the second largest Muslim population in the world, about 12 percent of India’s total population.

Added February 09, 2007

Type: Monograph

The New Totalitarians: Social Identities and Radical islamist Political Grand Strategy. Authored by Dr. Douglas J. Macdonald.

While controversial, the “clash of civilizations” thesis has had a large influence in the debate over the causes of, and possible remedies for, the spread of terrorist activity.

Added February 05, 2007

Type: Book

A Nation at War. Authored by Professor John R. Martin.

One of the basics of strategy is understanding the foe and the type of war in which a nation is involved. The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) does not fit easily into the mold of war, but that is because of too much comparison with conventional wars; the Cold War may provide a better model. This report chronicles the panels and resulting papers from the Seventeenth Annual U.S. Army War College Strategy Conference, held at Carlisle Barracks, PA, in April 2006.

Added September 26, 2006

Type: Book

Strategic Challenges for Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terrorism. Edited by Dr. Williamson Murray.

This collection of essays written by students enrolled in the U.S. Army War College Advanced Strategic Art Program (ASAP) reflects the development of their strategic thought applied to a wide range of contemporary issues based in theory, doctrine, strategy and history.

Added April 01, 2006

Type: Monograph

Counterterrorism in African Failed States: Challenges and Potential Solutions. Authored by Colonel Thomas A Dempsey.

How serious is the threat posed by terrorist groups operating from failed states in Africa? This monograph asserts that the threat is very serious indeed, and presents alternative U.S. strategies to confront terrorist groups using failed states as sanctuaries and platforms for attacks on America and its partners.

Added March 01, 2006

Type: Monograph

Training Indigenous Forces in Counterinsurgency: A Tale of Two Insurgencies. Authored by LTC James S. Corum.

The Malaya and Cyprus insurgencies provide a dramatic contrast to the issue of training local security forces. In Malaya, the British developed a very successful strategy for training the Malayan Police and army. In Cyprus, the British strategy for building and training local security forces generally was ineffective.

Added April 01, 2005

Type: Monograph

American Grand Strategy After 9/11: An Assessment. Authored by Dr. Stephen D. Biddle.

Three years after 9-11, some of the most important choices for American grand strategy have yet to be made. Heretofore, the costs of pursuing ambitious but ill-defined goals have been high but tolerable; the Iraqi insurgency, however, is raising the costs to the point where choices must be made. The two natural alternatives, rollback and containment, each have strengths. But they also have real drawbacks--and the choice between them rests on some basic, and inherently subjective, value judgments.

Added June 01, 2004

Type: Student (Carlisle) Papers

Female Suicide Bombers. Authored by Ms Debra D Zedalis.

Female suicide bombers have been used in the past, but the spate of these type bombings in different venues, in different countries, and for different terrorist organizations encourages closer examination of this phenomenon. The author looks at the history, characteristics, and changes, and also provides within a strategic assessment the implications of change in future female suicide bombings.

Added February 01, 2004

Type: Monograph

Countering Global Terrorism: Developing the Antiterrorist Capabilities of the Central Asian Militaries. Authored by Mr. Roger N. McDermott.

The author offers a framework for improving the antiterrorist capabilities of the Central Asian militaries, including increased and focused military training with a special emphasis on Special Forces units.

Added December 01, 2003

Type: Monograph

Bounding the Global War on Terrorism. Authored by Dr. Jeffrey Record.

The author examines three features of the war on terrorism as currently defined and conducted: (1) the administration's postulation of the terrorist threat, (2) the scope and feasibility of U.S. war aims, and (3) the war's political, fiscal, and military sustainability. He believes that the war on terrorism--as opposed to the campaign against al-Qaeda--lacks strategic clarity, embraces unrealistic objectives, and may not be sustainable over the long haul.

Added February 01, 2003

Type: Monograph

Waging Ancient War: Limits on Preemptive Force. Authored by Dr. D. Robert Worley.

The author addresses the ways that the age of terrorism is affecting American grand strategy. He contends that terrorism has made many of the basic concepts of international relations and national security obsolete. Declaring war on a tactic—terrorism—erodes the clarity necessary for coherent strategy.

Added October 01, 2002

Type: Monograph

Dragon on Terrorism: Assessing China's Tactical Gains and Strategic Losses Post-September 11. Authored by Dr. Mohan Malik.

The U.S. relationship with China and the global war on terrorism are the two most significant strategic challenges faced by the Bush administration. The author assesses how the war on terrorism has affected China. He concludes that the war on terrorism radically altered the Asian strategic environment in ways that negated China's foreign policy gains of the last decade.

Added May 01, 2002

Type: Monograph

Facing the Hydra: Maintaining Strategic Balance while Pursuing a Global War against Terrorism. Authored by Dr. Conrad C. Crane.

The author analyzes the impact of the war on terrorism and the requirements of the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review on the many essential missions conducted by the U.S. Armed Forces. Focusing primarily on the Army, he highlights the requirements associated with combat operations against terrorists, accelerating transformation and the new emphasis on homeland security and force protection.

Added April 01, 2002

Type: Monograph

Defining and Achieving Decisive Victory. Authored by Dr. Colin S. Gray.

The author explores the concept of victory in the war in terrorism, but he does so by placing it within the larger currents of change that are sweeping the global security environment. He contends that the time-tested idea of decisive victory is still an important one, but must be designed very carefully in this dangerous new world.

Added April 01, 2002

Type: Monograph

The Inescapable Global Security Arena. Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.

The author outlines the violent characteristics of the new security-stability environment and briefly examines the problem of terrorism and the related problem of governance. Finally, he enumerates some civil-military implications for playing effectively in the contemporary global security arena.

Added February 01, 2002

Type: Monograph

The New Craft of Intelligence: Achieving Asymmetric Advantage in the Face of Nontraditional Threats. Authored by Mr. Robert D. Steele.

This monograph is the third in the Strategic Studies Institute's "Studies in Asymmetry" Series. In it, the author examines two paradigm shifts--one in relation to the threat and a second in relation to intelligence methods-- while offering a new model for threat analysis and a new model for intelligence operations in support to policy, acquisition, and command engaged in nontraditional asymmetric

Added September 01, 2001

Type: Monograph

Internal Wars: Rethinking Problem and Response. Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.

Asymmetric guerrilla war--insurgencies, internal wars, and other small-scale contingencies (SSCs)--are the most pervasive and likely type of conflict in the post-Cold War era. The author draws from the lessons of the recent past to better prepare today's civilian and military leaders to meet the unconventional and asymmetric warfare challenges that face the United States and the rest of the intern

Added September 01, 2001

Type: Monograph

The Hart-Rudman Commission and the Homeland Defense. Authored by Dr. Ian Roxborough.

With the exception of attacks by ballistic missiles, the continental United States was long held to be virtually immune from attack. For Americans, wars were something that took place in other countries. In the future, that may not hold. But while strategic thinkers agree that homeland defense needs greater attention, there is less consensus on the precise nature of the threat.

Added November 01, 2000

Type: Book

Transnational Threats: Blending Law Enforcement and Military Strategies. Edited by Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey.

On February 2-3, 2000, the U.S. Army War College, the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, and the Duke University Center for Law, Ethics, and National Security co-sponsored a conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The conference examined transnational threats, including terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, cyber threats to the national infrastructure, and international organized crime.

Added September 01, 1995

Type: Book

A Theory of Fundamentalism: An Inquiry into the Origin and Development of the Movement. Authored by Dr. Stephen C. Pelletiere.

Islamic fundamentalism is growing at such a rapid rate that many believe it threatens to take over the Middle East. To prevent this, enormous resources have been summoned, not only from within the region, but in the West as well. The author concludes by building a theory about fundamentalism, which implies a need to redirect policy for coping with it. Dr. Pelletiere maintains that the solution is not to try to crush the movement--that has been attempted numerous times and consistently has failed.

Added May 01, 1995

Type: Book

Terrorism: National Security Policy and the Home Front. Authored by Dr. Stephen C. Pelletiere.

The recent bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma has highlighted the complexity of the phenomenon of political extremism. Until this occurred, inside the United States foreign terrorists were the focus of attention, particularly the so-called Islamic fundamentalists. Undue emphasis on the "foreign connection" can make it appear that only Middle Eastern terror is of consequence. The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) has long resisted this approach.