Monthly Newsletter

Who is SSI?

The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College publishes national security and strategic research and analysis which serves to influence policy debate and bridge the gap between Military and Academia.

Military Strategy and Policy - Recent

Security strategy and policy are among the most important issues any state confronts, especially in a time of war. At SSI, research on these issues focuses on three primary areas: military and strategic theory; grand strategy; and the assessment and critique of critical national strategic documents:

National Security Strategy 2010 (NSS)
National Defense Strategy 2008(NDS)
Quadrennial Defense Review 2010(QDR)
National Strategy on Combating Terrorism 2006.

Dr. Robin Dorff is our Security Strategy and Policy specialist.

New References from the Military Education Research Library Network

Strategy and Policy

(10/16/06) Two new items have been added to the National Security Strategy MiPAL: an article on revitalizing public diplomacy from the Heritage Foundation, and a monograph from the Strategic Studies Institute containing essays on the U.S. response to the strategic challenges it faces in the 21st century. Please see the Recently Added Documents section for the latest on this topic - the newest updates are in bold. (View it at NDU)

Strategy and Policy

(10/11/06) Three new items have been added to the National Security Strategy MiPAL: articles from on a preemptive strategy for the 21st century, and on counterinsurgency strategies. Please see the Recently Added Documents section for the latest on this topic - the newest updates are in bold. (View it at NDU)

Strategy and Policy

(10/6/06) Four new items have been added to the National Security Strategy MiPAL: a report from the Congressional Budget Office on military recruiting, a Congressional hearing on the Defense Department's irregular warfare map, a Congressional Research Service report on information operations and cyberwar, and a Council on Foreign Relations report on foreign investment and national security. Please see the Recently Added Documents section for the latest on this topic - the newest updates are in bold. (View it at NDU)

Strategy and Policy

(10/4/06) Two new items have been added to the National Security Strategy MiPAL: a RAND report on the importance of air power in counterinsurgencies, and a report from the Stanley Foundation on U.S. strategy in response to failing states. Please see the Recently Added Documents section for the latest on this topic - the newest updates are in bold. (View it at NDU)

Added May 17, 2013

The Challenge of Drug Trafficking to Democratic Governance and Human Security in West Africa

Authored by David E. Brown.
View the Executive Summary

International criminal networks—some with links to terrorism—both represent an existential threat to democratic governance of already fragile states in West Africa, and are using drugs to buy political power, fray West Africa’s traditional social fabric, and create a public health crisis. Drug trafficking represents the most serious challenge to human security in the region since resource conflicts rocked several West African countries in the early 1990s; international aid to the sub-region’s “war on drugs” is only in an initial stage, and progress will be have to be measured in decades, not years.
Added May 13, 2013

War and Insurgency in the Western Sahara

Authored by Dr. Geoffrey Jensen.
View the Executive Summary

Home to the largest functional military barrier in the world, the Western Sahara has a long history of colonial conquest and resistance, guerrilla warfare and counterinsurgency, and evolving strategic thought. This monograph explores the past, present, and future of the region, including its relationship to developments in Morocco, Algeria, and elsewhere in North Africa.
Added May 03, 2013

Cyber Infrastructure Protection: Vol. II

Edited by Dr. Tarek N. Saadawi, COL Louis H. Jordan, Jr, Dr. Vincent Boudreau.
View the Executive Summary

This book is a follow-on to our earlier book published in 2011 and represents a detailed look at various aspects of cyber security. The chapters herein provide an integrated framework and a comprehensive view of the various forms of cyber infrastructure protection.
Added April 26, 2013

Sharing Power? Prospects for a U.S. Concert-Balance Strategy

Authored by Dr. Patrick Porter.
View the Executive Summary

Sharing Power examines alternative U.S. grand strategies. It argues that, while retrenchment is prudent, new strategies will also have to cope with dilemmas that can be mitigated but cannot be avoided.
Added April 11, 2013

Egypt's New Regime and the Future of the U.S.-Egyptian Strategic Relationship

Authored by Gregory Aftandilian.
View the Executive Summary

This monograph, completed in August 2012, analyzes the developments in Egypt from January 2011 to August 2012 and addresses the following questions that are pertinent to U.S. policymakers: How does the United States maintain good relations and preserve its strategic partnership with Egypt under Cairo’s new political leadership and the changing political environment in the country? How does it do so while adhering to American values such as supporting democracy even when those coming to power do not share U.S. strategic goals?
Added April 04, 2013

Making Strategic Sense of Cyber Power: Why the Sky Is Not Falling

Authored by Dr. Colin S. Gray.
View the Executive Summary

Cyber is now recognized as an operational domain, but the theory that should explain it strategically is very largely missing. As the military establishment accepted the revolution in military affairs as the big organizing idea of the 1990s, then moved on to transformation in the early-2000s, so the third really big idea of the post-Cold War Era began to secure traction—cyber. However, it is one thing to know how to digitize; it is quite another to understand what digitization means strategically. With respect to cyber power, Dr. Colin Gray poses and seeks to answer the most basic of the strategist’s questions, “So what?”
Added April 01, 2013

From Chaos to Cohesion: A Regional Approach to Security, Stability, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Authored by Diane E. Chido.
View the Executive Summary

African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are increasingly proving their ability and willingness to unite to halt and prevent conflict and to further regional economic and political objectives. USAFRICOM is uniquely positioned to strengthen REC capacity as a first step in a longer-term Pan-African integration process for enhanced continental stability and security.
Added March 20, 2013

Governance, Identity, and Counterinsurgency: Evidence from Ramadi and Tal Afar

Authored by Dr. Michael Fitzsimmons.
View the Executive Summary

Western thinking on counterinsurgency seems to be that success in countering insurgencies depends on a perception of legitimacy among local populations. However, it may be more correct to consider the identity of who governs, rather than on how whoever governs governs.
Added February 05, 2013

Strategic Stability: Contending Interpretations

Edited by Elbridge A. Colby, Michael S. Gerson.
This edited volume offers the most current authoritative contemporary survey of the concept of strategic stability, a central plank in U.S. policy on nuclear weapons and great power relations.
Added January 31, 2013

Talking Past Each Other? How Views of U.S. Power Vary between U.S. and International Military Personnel

Authored by Colonel Richard H. M. Outzen.
View the Executive Summary

The gap between the U.S. military’s self-image and its image in the eyes of an international military audience is examined. When considering U.S. power, do response patterns indicate great difference between how U.S. military officers view themselves and how they are viewed by their international peers? If so, is there anything that the United States can do about it, or does a fundamental and pathological anti-Americanism predetermine outcomes?
Added December 27, 2012

Insanity: Four Decades of U.S. Counterdrug Strategy

Authored by Lieutenant Colonel Michael F. Walther.
The author provides context to the former DOJ Drug Intelligence Chief’s declaration that the U.S. 40-year national drug strategy is a failure. He argues that the expensive and largely-ineffective supply-reduction strategy should be abandoned in favor of a new, science-based, demand-reduction model.
Added December 19, 2012

Venezuela as an Exporter of 4th Generation Warfare Instability

Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.
We must adapt our approach to the overwhelming reality that just as the world has evolved from an industrial society to an information-based society, so has warfare. The reality of this evolution demonstrates the need for a new paradigm of conflict based on the fact that information—not firepower—is the currency upon which war is now conducted. The new primary center of gravity is public opinion and political leadership. The “new” instruments of power are intelligence, public diplomacy, media, time, and flexibility. The one thing that remains the same is that one level or another of compulsion still defines war.
Added December 13, 2012

A National Security Staff for the 21st Century

Authored by Dr. Jack A. LeCuyer.
View the Executive Summary

This monograph offers a new model for the management of the national security system—at the strategic level—which is the first step in transforming our national security system to meet the challenges and opportunities of the global security environment of the 21st century. This monograph provides a proposed response to Section 1072 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which requires the President to report to Congress on the organizational changes required to implement the National Security Strategy of May 2010.
Added November 30, 2012

Learning by Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad

Edited by Mr. Roy Kamphausen, Dr. David Lai, Mr. Travis Tanner.
The papers presented in this latest volume in a series on the PLA are a timely and critical look at an evolving and expanding Chinese military and provide context for the changes we may see as the PLA continues to modernize.
Added November 23, 2012

The Energy and Security Nexus: A Strategic Dilemma

Edited by Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey.
It is hard to overstate the importance of energy. Energy literally drives the global economy. Without question, the links between energy and security are significant, but how so? This book explores the connections between energy and security (human, national, and international) and provides considerable discussion on how best to resolve this strategic dilemma.
Added October 31, 2012

State-Building Challenges in a Post-Revolution Libya

Authored by Dr. Mohammed El-Katiri.
Following the overthrow of Muammar Qadhafi, Libya’s National Transitional Council inherited a difficult and volatile domestic situation. The new leadership faces serious challenges in all areas of statehood. Libya’s immediate future is of critical importance, consequently, it is especially important for Libya's interim government to build the political institutions for a functioning modern democratic state.
Added October 29, 2012

How Nation-States Craft National Security Strategy Documents

Authored by Dr. Alan G. Stolberg.
This monograph compares and contrasts how different countries craft their national security strategy documents. It highlights similarities as well as differences, and provides lessons learned that all national strategy makers can apply.
Added October 12, 2012

A "Hollow Army" Reappraised: President Carter, Defense Budgets, and the Politics of Military Readiness

Authored by Professor Frank L. Jones.
For more than 30 years, the term “hollow army” has represented President Carter’s alleged willingness to allow American military capability to deteriorate in the face of growing Soviet capability. The true story is more complicated than the metaphor suggests.
Added October 09, 2012

The Future of American Landpower: Does Forward Presence Still Matter? The Case of the Army in Europe

Authored by Dr. John R. Deni.
View the Executive Summary

The January 2012 announcement that the United States would reduce the number of Brigade Combat Teams in Europe captured media, popular, and scholarly attention, prompting many to ask: Is the United States turning its back on Europe as it pivots to Asia? Do the Europeans have the wherewithal to defend themselves? Are forward-based U.S. land forces necessary at all? Given the necessity of capable, interoperable coalition partners for the future security threats Washington most expects to encounter, the role of America’s forward military presence in Europe remains as vital as it was at the dawn of the Cold War, but for different reasons. Dr. Deni’s monograph forms a critical datapoint in the ongoing dialogue regarding the future of American Landpower.
Added September 25, 2012

Lead Me, Follow Me, Or Get Out of My Way: Rethinking and Refining the Civil-Military Relationship

Authored by Dr. Mark R. Shulman.
Troubled relations between the armed forces and civil society sap the vitality of the republic and undermine the effectiveness of the military. This timely monograph launches a discussion about what kind of civil-military relationship we have and how to improve it.
Added September 25, 2012

Key Strategic Issues List Update No. 2

Edited by Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria, II.
This is an update to the 2012-13 Key Strategic Issues List. It includes topics from U.S. Army Pacific G-5, Plans and U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE).
Added September 21, 2012

Russia and the Current State of Arms Control

Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.
The chapters in this volume focus on Russian developments in arms control in the light of the so-called New Start Treaty signed and ratified in 2010 by Russia and the United States in Prague, Czech Republic.
Added September 19, 2012

The Prospects for Security Sector Reform in Tunisia: A Year After the Revolution

Authored by Dr. Querine Hanlon.
The Arab Spring began in Tunisia, and in the year since the revolution, Tunisia has undergone a remarkable transition to democratic rule. The legacy of the previous regime looms large, however, as Tunisia’s new government faces major challenges implementing Security Sector Reform.
Added September 12, 2012

Perspectives on Russian Foreign Policy

Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.
Charles de Gaulle said that states are cold monsters. To see how perhaps one of the coldest of these monsters thinks about and acts in world politics take a look at these essays from SSI’s annual Russia conference of September 26-27, 2011.
Added August 30, 2012

The Promise and Pitfalls of Grand Strategy

Authored by Dr. Hal Brands.
This monograph offers a critical analysis of the idea of “grand strategy.” It explains why grand strategy is simultaneously so important and so difficult to do, and offers suggestions for how U.S. officials might approach the challenges of grand strategy in the 21st century.
Added August 30, 2012

2012-13 KSIL Update No. 01

Edited by Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria, II.
This is an update to the 2012-13 Key Strategic Issues List. It includes topics from I Corps, USACE, UNC/CFC/USFK, and U.S. Army South (ARSOUTH).
Added August 16, 2012

Transnational Organized Crime, Terrorism, and Criminalized States in Latin America: An Emerging Tier-One National Security Priority

Authored by Douglas Farah.
The emergence of new hybrid (state and nonstate) transnational criminal/terrorist franchises in Latin America operating under broad state protection now pose a tier-one security threat for the United States. Similar hybrid franchise models are developing in other parts of the world, making understanding the new dynamics an important factor in a broader national security context.
Added August 10, 2012

Arms Control and European Security

Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank, COL Louis H. Jordan, Jr.
Is the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty dead, or waiting to be reborn? These three papers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia illuminate the complexities and dilemmas facing any attempt to raise the vexed issue of conventional arms control in Europe.
Added August 08, 2012

Culture, Identity, and Information Technology in the 21st Century: Implications for U.S. National Security

Authored by Dr. Pauline Kusiak.
The author describes strategic trends in cultural change and identity formation in the 21st century and suggests that the beliefs and values of foreign societies may increasingly, and more directly, impact our own national security in a future dominated by information technology.
Added August 01, 2012

Against All Odds: Relations between NATO and the MENA Region

Authored by Dr. Florence Gaub.
Whereas NATO had no relationships with the Middle East and North Africa at all until 1994, it has expanded now to an extent where the League of Arab States mandated its Libya mission in 2011. This monograph explains this unlikely development.
Added August 01, 2012

2012-13 Key Strategic Issues List

Edited by Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria, II.
The purpose of the Key Strategic Issues List is to provide military and civilian researchers a ready reference for issues of special interest to the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense.
Added July 25, 2012

The Next Arms Race

Edited by Mr. Henry D. Sokolski.
As the United States and Russia negotiate to bring their number of deployed nuclear weapons down, China, India, Pakistan, and Israel continue to bump their numbers up while a growing number of smaller states develop “peaceful” nuclear programs that will bring them closer to getting bombs if they choose. Welcome to the brave new world of tighter, more opaque nuclear competitions, the focus of The Next Arms Race—a must read for policy analysts and planners eager to understand and prevent the worst.
Added July 05, 2012

U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues, Vol 2: National Security Policy and Strategy, 5th Ed.

Edited by Dr. J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr.
This edition of the U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues reflects both the method and manner that the U.S. Army War College uses to teach strategy formulation to America’s future senior leaders. It contains essays on the general security environment, strategic thought and formulation, the elements of national power, the national security policymaking process in the United States, and selected strategic issues.
Added July 03, 2012

End Game Strategies: Winning the Peace

Authored by Lieutenant Colonel William L. Peace, Sr.
What lessons can be learned from the occupation of Germany after World War II and from Iraq after Operation IRAQI FREEDOM? This Carlisle Paper analyzes both the similarities and differences between the occupations of both countries and suggests how lessons learned from both can be applied to the future.
Added June 22, 2012

U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues, Vol. 1: Theory of War and Strategy, 5th Ed.

Edited by Dr. J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr.
This edition of the U.S. Army War College Guide to National Security Issues reflects both the method and manner that the U.S. Army War College uses to teach strategy formulation to America’s future senior leaders. It contains essays on the general security environment, strategic thought and formulation, the elements of national power, the national security policymaking process in the United States, and selected strategic issues.
Added June 07, 2012

Can Russia Reform? Economic, Political, and Military Perspectives

Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.
Can or will Russia reform its state, economy, and armed forces at the same time? These papers provide an answer to those questions.
Added May 22, 2012

The Role of Small States in the Post-Cold War Era: The Case of Belarus

Authored by Dr. Dmitry Shlapentokh.
The absence of a single center of power or a few centers of power — as was the case during the Cold War — provides the opportunity even for small states, sandwiched between much stronger states, to move with comparative ease from one center of power to another. Even when small states become finally attached to one of these centers, their attachment is not absolute, and freedom of action is still preserved. This provides the opportunity for small states, such as Belarus, to move from one center of power to another or to engage in a sort of geopolitical gamesmanship.
Added May 10, 2012

Disjointed Ways, Disunified Means: Learning from America's Struggle to Build an Afghan Nation

Authored by Colonel Lewis G. Irwin.
Remarkably ambitious in its audacity and scope, NATO’s irregular warfare and nation-building mission in Afghanistan has struggled to meet its nonmilitary objectives by most tangible measures. This book explores shortfalls in the U.S. Government’s strategic planning processes and the mechanisms for interagency coordination of effort that have contributed to this situation, as well as reforms needed to meet emerging 21st century national security challenges.
Added April 27, 2012

Ambassador Stephen Krasner's Orienting Principle for Foreign Policy (and Military Management)—Responsible Sovereignty

Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.
This monograph takes the logic of the contemporary security dilemma to another level. The intent is to operationalize and elaborate Ambassador Stephen Krasner’s "Responsible Sovereignty" orienting principle for foreign policy and military management.
Added April 17, 2012

Conflict Management and "Whole of Government": Useful Tools for U.S. National Security Strategy?

Edited by Dr. Volker C. Franke, Dr. Robert H. Dorff.
Intended to facilitate dialogue between academic experts, military leaders, policymakers, and civilian practitioners, this edited volume provides a state of the art analysis of current whole of government (WoG) approaches and their effectiveness for coordinating stabilization and peacebuilding efforts. It explores the question: Can “smart power”—using the right tool for each operational context—successfully shift the burden of stability operations to civilian actors and enable the timely scaling-down of military deployments?
Added April 12, 2012

Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO

Edited by Dr. Tom Nichols, Dr. Douglas Stuart, Dr. Jeffrey D. McCausland.
What is the role that tactical or non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs) play in NATO defense policy and strategy? This book examines the key issues surrounding this question as the Alliance seeks to redefine itself in the 21st century and meet the requirements in the Defense and Deterrence Policy Review.
Added March 29, 2012

Project on National Security Reform - Vol. 2: Case Studies Working Group Report

Authored by Dr. Richard Weitz.
The case studies in this volume confirm that flawed responses recur in issue areas as diverse as biodefense, public diplomacy, and military intervention as well as across presidential administrations. The piecemeal national security organizational reforms enacted to date have not fostered improved policy outcomes or decisionmaking, while capability building, especially in the civilian national security agencies, remains less than optimal.
Added February 24, 2012

Categorical Confusion? The Strategic Implications of Recognizing Challenges Either as Irregular or Traditional

Authored by Dr. Colin S. Gray.
"First, do no harm" is a golden rule for both medicine and strategic theory. Challenges to national security are simply challenges, they are neither irregular nor traditional.
Added December 19, 2011

The United States and China in Power Transition

Authored by Dr. David Lai.
Historically, systematic power transitions were settled in war. Can China and the United States avoid a deadly contest and spare the world another catastrophe? What can we expect from China and the United States with respect to the future of international relations?
Added December 01, 2011

The Strategic Logic of the Contemporary Security Dilemma

Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.
This monograph is part of a continuing effort to inform the contemporary transnational security debate, move it to the strategic level, and support the best interests of the United States Government and peoples, and also those of the Western Hemisphere and the rest of the world.
Added August 31, 2011

National Security Reform 2010: A Midterm Assessment

Edited by Dr. Joseph R. Cerami, Dr. Robert H. Dorff, Matthew Harber.
This book includes a summary report of three panels, along with selected papers, from an April 22, 2010, colloquium in Washington, DC, on “2010: Preparing for a Mid-Term Assessment of Leadership and National Security Reform in the Obama Administration.”
Added July 13, 2011

Russia in the Arctic

Edited by Dr. Stephen J. Blank.
The Arctic is the newest sphere of international competition for energy and security access. It pits Russia against the other Arctic states. These essays fully explore and analyze what is at stake here and what Moscow has done to increase its capability and influence in the Arctic.
Added April 08, 2011

Hard Power and Soft Power: The Utility of Military Force as an Instrument of Policy in the 21st Century

Authored by Dr. Colin S. Gray.
The concepts of "hard" and "soft" power are subjected to close critical scrutiny. The author finds the latter is significantly misunderstood and therefore inappropriately assessed as a substitute for the former, the threat or the use of military force.
Added April 06, 2011

A Colloquium on U.S. National Security Policy, Military Strategy: Understanding the Environment for Contemporary Warfare

Authored by Dr. Steve Maxner, Dr. Dennis Patterson, Mr. Dave Lewis.
No problem facing the United States is more important than national security, and no institution is more involved and more affected by this problem than the U.S. military, the U.S. Army in particular. The purpose of this collaboration is to begin a dialogue that can help bridge the gap between two worlds, one where senior U.S. military officers are educated and the other where scholars work on problems that relate to the causes and conduct of war.
Added February 11, 2011

The Role of Religion in National Security Policy Since 9/11

Authored by Chaplain (COL) Jonathan E Shaw.
Is it possible to wage war against radical Muslim terrorists if your national security policy does not consider religion as power which motivates terrorist behavior? Yes, but you risk being ineffective or inefficient, or both.