Security Affairs
Military & Defense Archive
RECRUITING MINORITIES: WHAT EXPLAINS RECENT TRENDS IN THE ARMY AND NAVY?
RAND Corporation. Beth J. Asch et al. September 8, 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 119 pages]
Since 2000, black representation among high-quality recruits in the Army has decreased, while Hispanic representation has increased; in the Navy, black representation has remained stable and Hispanic representation has increased. The authors conclude with a discussion of which policies are likely to be most effective in increasing high-quality enlistments among blacks, Hispanics, and whites.
[Note: contains copyrighted material.]
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN: BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS.
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Moshe Schwartz. August 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 23 pages]
The Department of Defense (DOD) increasingly relies upon contractors to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The critical role contractors play in supporting such military operations and the billions of dollars spent by DOD on these services requires operational forces to effectively manage contractors during contingency operations. Some analysts believe that poor contract management has also played a role in abuses and crimes committed by certain contractors against local nationals, which likely has undermined U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report reviews steps Congress has taken to exercise oversight over DOD contracting, including contracting issues that have been the focus of hearings and legislation.
DETER, DEFEND, REPEL, AND PARTNER: A DEFENSE STRATEGY FOR TAIWAN.
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy. Dan Blumenthal et al. Web posted August 3, 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 28 pages]
The report is designed to help generate serious reflections on how best to preserve the ROC's own accomplishments as a people and a government and to enable it to choose its own future as free of coercion as possible.
[Note: contains copyrighted material.]
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Treverton, Gregory, et al. FILM PIRACY, ORGANIZED CRIME, AND TERRORISM (Rand Corporation, March 2009, 182 pp.)
Link to Full Text
According to this Rand report released earlier this year, the enormous profits to be made from film piracy have attracted the attention of organized crime worldwide, and to a more limited degree, terrorist groups. Although the researchers found no evidence that terrorists are widely involved with film piracy, they did uncover three cases where film piracy supported terror groups. Criminal penalties for counterfeiting and piracy are relatively light and prosecutions sparce, yet the profits from these crimes can exceed that of drug trafficking. The danger, the authors say, is that more terrorist groups will tap into counterfeiting and piracy to underwrite their operations.
AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARMY’S TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMS AND POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES.
Congressional Budge Office. June 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 77 pages]
The Army has initiated two programs designed to transform itself from a force focused on fighting the Cold War to one better designed to face the challenges of the 21st century. Those two programs, the Modularity Initiative and the Future Combat Systems (FCS) pro- gram, would change the way the Army is organized and equipped, respectively. The study considers the near- and long-term implications of those two programs. It also examines three alternatives for modernizing the Army’s combat forces using modified versions of the FCS program and estimates the costs and savings of those options as well as their effects on the Army’s ability to introduce new technologies into its combat brigades.
LONG MARCH: BUILDING AN AFGHAN NATIONAL ARMY.
RAND Corporation. Obaid Younossi et al. May 28, 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 85 pages]
The Afghan National Army (ANA) is critical to the success of the allied efforts in Afghanistan and the ultimate stability of the national government. The monograph assesses the ANA's progress in the areas of recruitment, training, facilities, and operational capability. It draws on a variety of sources: in-country interviews with U.S., NATO, and Afghan officials; data provided by the U.S. Army; open-source literature; and a series of public opinion surveys conducted in Afghanistan over the past several years. Although the ANA has come a long way since the outset of the recent conflict in the country, the authors conclude that coalition forces, especially those of the United States, will play a crucial role in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, particularly in light of the increased threat from Taliban forces and other illegally armed criminal groups.
[Note: contains copyright material.]
ALTERNATIVES FOR MODERNIZING U.S. FIGHTER FORCES.
Congressional Budget Office. May 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 73 pages]
The United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are in the process of replacing most of today’s fighter aircraft with new F/A-18E/F, F-22, and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft. Although procurement plans call for purchasing about 2,500 aircraft over the next 25 years, the services are projecting that those purchases will be unable to keep pace with the need to retire today’s aircraft as they reach the limit of their service life. The study compares the size and capability of today’s forces with the forces that would be fielded under the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) modernization plans and several alternative plans that would offer varying levels of capability and require varying levels of budgetary commitment.
OPTIONS FOR DEPLOYING MISSILE DEFENSES IN EUROPE.
Congressional Budget Office. February 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 84 pages]
As part of ongoing efforts to protect the United States and its allies from attack by ballistic missiles, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is working to deploy a missile defense system in Europe to “defend allies and deployed forces in Europe from limited Iranian long-range threats and expand protection of [the] U.S. homeland.” As proposed, the system would be in the field by 2013 and would include interceptor missiles in silos to be built in Poland, a tracking radar in the Czech Republic, and another radar at an unspecified location near Iran.
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DeBiaso, Peppino A. MISSILE DEFENSE AND NATO SECURITY (Joint Force Quarterly, no. 51, Autumn 2008, pp. 46-51)
Full Text [PDF format, 6 pages]
DeBiaso, Director of the Office of Missile Defense Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, discusses the use of a missile defense system to provide security to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Threats to the security of America and its NATO allies have changed significantly in the past couple of decades. Not only has the number of nations possessing ballistic missiles grown, but it now includes rogue regimes, such as North Korea and Iran. The spread of ballistic missiles and missile technology has been accompanied by corresponding trends in weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The spread of both WMD technologies and missile delivery vehicles will influence the shape of future crises and conflicts.
IRAQ: U.S. CASUALTIES.
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Susan G. Chesser. Web posted February 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 2 pages]
The casualty data was compiled by the Department of Defense (DOD), as tallied from the agency’s press releases. Table 1 provides statistics on fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began on March 19, 2003, and is ongoing, as well as on the number of fatalities since May 1, 2003, plus statistics on those wounded, but not killed, since March 19, 2003.
CHINA’S MILITARY POWER.
Backgrounder, Council on Foreign Relations. Jayshree Bajoria. February 4, 2009.
Full Text [HTML format, various paging]
Since the 1990s, China has dramatically improved its military capabilities on land and sea, in the air, and in space. Recently, China has begun to project its military power beyond the Pacific Ocean by deploying a flotilla of small warships in December 2008 to the Gulf of Aden to aid in international efforts to fight Somali piracy. Historically, the United States is most concerned about the possibility of a conflict between China and Taiwan, though tensions between the two have lessened since 2008. But looking decades ahead, U.S. military planners clearly see the potential for China to develop as a “peer competitor.”
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
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Payne, Kenneth WAGING COMMUNICATION WAR (Parameters, vol. 38, no. 2, Summer 2008, pp. 37-51)
Full Text [HTML format]
The author, a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute, notes that winning wars cannot be accomplished simply by effective communications; however, it is also impossible to win wars without effective communications. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. is fighting wars where the effective communication of ideas and information is a key part of the struggle. To achieve credible communication, American messages must be grounded in verifiable fact and should be coherent and consistent. The American military should learn from the marketing industry on communicating effectively, particularly utilizing the concepts of branding and audience segmentation.
DOMESTICS TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES, CHINA, AND IRAN: IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. NAVY STRATEGIC PLANNING.
RAND Corporation. John Gordon IV et al. January 23, 2009.
Full Text [PDF format, 234 pages]
How well the U.S. Navy prepares for a high-end future conflict against a powerful, well-armed opponent versus the so-called Long War against rogue nations and terrorist organizations depends on the evolution of U.S. relations with China and Iran. The report examines emerging nonmilitary trends in each of the three countries. The authors investigate current and projected domestic developments in the areas of demographics, economics, energy consumption, the environment, and education.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
COST OF THE WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, AND OTHER MILITARY OPERATIONS THROUGH 2008 AND BEYOND.
Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Steven M. Kosiak. December 16, 2008.
Full Text [PDF format, 108 pages]
Steven Kosiak, Vice President for Budget Studies at CSBA offers a comprehensive picture of the direct budgetary costs of US military operations conducted since 2001. The report also discusses the means used to budget for and finance these operations, and includes projections of how much more these operations might cost over the coming decade.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
FOREIGN-BORN VETERANS OF THE US ARMED FORCES.
Migration Policy Institute. Web posted October 31, 2008.
Full Text [PDF format, 4 pages]
As the United States prepares to commemorate Veterans Day on Nov. 11, the report gives an analysis of a sometimes overlooked group of U.S. armed forces veterans: those born in other countries. There are over 644,000 foreign-born veterans of the U.S. armed forces, accounting for nearly 3 percent of all surviving U.S. veterans. This figure does not include those currently serving in the military. The analysis shows that most foreign-born U.S. veterans migrated from European or Latin American countries. The countries where the highest numbers of U.S. immigrant veterans were born were the Philippines, representing 12 percent of foreign-born veterans, and Mexico, birthplace to 11 percent.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
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Hammes, T.X. THE ART OF PETRAEUS (National Interest, No. 98, November-December 2008, pp. 53-59)
Full Text (EbscoHost; password required)
According to Hammes, retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, what General David Petraeus did to turn around the war in Iraq was make careful analysis of the actual situation on the ground and then have the will and judgment to carry out the military campaign based on that analysis. The wrong idea to take away is that a troop surge is a replicable, universal approach to countering an insurgency. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example, a simple solution does not exist. Despite the experience in Iraq, a number of bureaucratic and legislative reasons make unlikely that the Defense Department will focus enough attention on fighting insurgencies and too much attention on fighting conventional wars. “We need a flexible force that can organize to fight nation-states as well as nonstate actors,” Hammes writes.
THE ARMY’S GREEN WARRIORS.
RAND Corporation. September 23, 2008.
Full Text [PDF format, 5 pages]
The U.S. Army has much to gain by carefully integrating environmental considerations into operational concepts, plans, and procedures during contingency operations. Evidence from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other conflicts suggests that a shift to a comprehensive approach to environmental considerations that encompasses policy, culture, planning, training, and investment can boost overall mission success.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
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Reed, Donald BEYOND THE WAR ON TERROR: INTO THE FIFTH GENERATION OF WAR AND CONFLICT (Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 31, no. 8, August 2008, pp. 684–722)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library
The author, with the U.S. Northern Command, asserts that fifth-generation warfare has arrived and is irreversibly changing the character and nature of human conflict. This article uses four essential elements of war -- the new domains of conflict, the changing nature of adversaries, the changing nature of objectives, and the changing nature of force -- to build a generational typology of war and conflict that informs the characteristics of fifth generation warfare. The resultant model produces two outcomes: First, it demonstrates how recent events such as the rise of computer hackers, the 2001 anthrax and the 2003-2004 ricin attacks, the 2004 Madrid bombings, and the emergence of Al Qaeda demonstrate characteristics of fifth-generation warfare. Second, it illustrates the way in which these events are unique indicators of a future in which non-state entities are increasingly able to wage war on equal footing with nation-states. The author concludes that the U.S. must embrace fifth-generation warfare if it is to successfully confront these threats that have taken on new and heretofore unimagined forms in the postmodern era of war.
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Jean, Grace V. BINDING TIES (National Defense, Vol. 92, no. 655, June 2008, pp. 26-28)
Full text available from your nearest American Library
Jean, a writer who focuses on defense issues, examines the U.S. Air Force’s relationship with other air forces in the Americas as the service requests $300 million to modernize the aircraft flown by El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. Replacing outdated planes, the Air Force argues, will reduce the countries’ dependence on the already overstretched U.S. Air Force and allow them to continue and expand humanitarian and anti-drug operations. Of the fleets donated by the U.S. in the 1970s, only about one in five planes is now serviceable. The new proposal would fund four cargo planes per country, and USAF officials hope other aircraft will be added to that list. Jean goes on to discuss the cooperation between the USAF and that of Chile, which is said to be the most advanced in Central and South America. Although Chile relies on the U.S. for air-to-air refueling, the benefits of coordination and U.S training are visible in top-notch Chilean combat-medicine specialists and fighter pilots, who will soon be able to participate in larger, multinational programs, she says. Explicit connections are not drawn between Chile and the four Central American recipients, but the U.S.’s symbiosis with modern air forces seems to be preferable to the current alternative.
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Massing, Michael THE VOLUNTEER ARMY: WHO FIGHTS AND WHY? (New York Review of Books, April 3, 2008, pp. 34–36)
Full Text [html format]
After reviewing survey data and interviewing a number of soldiers at 10th Mountain Division, based at Watertown, New York, the author concludes that most volunteers come from working- and lower-middle-class families, and that they seek but are unable to achieve middle-class status in a “hypercompetitive and expensive market economy” where college, in particular, is increasingly unaffordable. The military, with its housing and employment guarantees, its health insurance and educational assistance programs, “seems the last outpost of the welfare state in America.”
CHINA NAVAL MODERNIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. NAVY CAPABILITIES — BACKGROUND AND ISSUES FOR CONGRESS.
Congressional Research Service, RL33153, Library of Congress. Ronald O'Rourke. Web posted April 7, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 118 pages]
Several elements of China’s military modernization have potential implications for future required U.S. Navy capabilities. These include theater-range ballistic missiles, land-attack cruise missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles, land-based aircraft, submarines, surface combatants, amphibious ships, naval mines, nuclear weapons, and possibly high power microwave devices. The issue for Congress addressed in this report is: How should China’s military modernization be factored into decisions about U.S. Navy programs?
THE NEXT GENERATION BOMBER: BACKGROUND, OVERSIGHT ISSUES, AND OPTIONS FOR CONGRESS.
Congressional Research Service, RL34406, Library of Congress. Anthony Murch. March 7, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 33 pages]
The Air Force is in the initial stages of formalizing a new bomber aircraft acquisition program in accordance with Department of Defense and congressional mandates. The goal is to produce a new long-range strike aircraft to be operational by 2018. Air Force plans for acquiring this new bomber have been accelerated by about 20 years from earlier projections because of a combination of the Air Force’s desire to retire a portion of its B-52 fleet and DOD’s perception of a “bridge” aircraft which would allow the Air Force to development more advanced technologies such as hypersonic (faster than Mach 5) drive engines.
UNITED STATES MILITARY CASUALTY STATISTICS: OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM AND OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM.
Congressional Research Service, RS22452, Library of Congress. Hannah Fischer. Web posted April 15, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 5 pages]
This report presents difficult-to-find statistics regarding U.S. military casualties in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF, Afghanistan). Some of these statistics are publicly available on the DOD website, while others have been obtained through contact with experts at DOD. Daily updates of total U.S. military casualties in OIF and OEF can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
.
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Williams, John Allen THE MILITARY AND SOCIETY BEYOND THE POSTMODERN ERA (Orbis, vol. 52, no. 2, Spring 2008, pp. 199-216)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library
Williams, Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago, asserts that there are new security challenges following the Sept. 11 attacks and there is a renewed focus on the military's role in defending U.S. interests and homeland. As a result, military forces in the U.S. (and perhaps in the West generally) are evolving from their Cold War and immediate post-Cold War perspectives to confront transnational and sub-national non-state dangers. These changes have significant implications for military professionalism and the relations between the military and society. The author puts these changes into a wider theoretical context of the “Postmodern Military” model evolving into the “Hybrid” model.
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DEFENSE: DOD AND VA NEED TO IMPROVE EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY AND NOTIFY INDIVIDUALS POTENTIALLY EXPOSED DURING CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL TESTS.
[Government Accountability Office; GAO-08-366. Web posted February 28, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 49 pages]
This reports examines decisions by the Department of Defense with regard to identifying individuals who may have been exposed to chemical or biological substances during various tests since World War II.
DISSENT AND STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP OF THE MILITARY PROFESSIONS.
Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. Don Snider. Web posted, March 4, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 46 pages]
In this monograph, the author explains what Vice Admiral James Stockdale once called “the (moral) boundaries to the prerogatives of leadership” within the military as derived from the roles and responsibilities of those seniors privileged to be the profession’s temporary stewards–the colonels/ captains and Flag Officers who comprise the strategic leadership. Such boundaries mean that the decision to dissent can never be a purely personal matter. Rather it will reverberate outward impinging at a minimum the three critical trust relationships of the military profession–those with the American people, those with civilian and military leaders at the highest levels of decision-making, and those with the junior corps of officers and noncommissioned officers of our armed forces.
THE PATTON OF COUNTERINSURGENCY.
American Enterprise Institute; reprint from The Weekly Standard. Frederick W. Kagan, et. al. Web posted March 3, 2008.
Full Text
AEI Resident Scholar Frederick Kagan examines the partnership between Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno in Iraq.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
DETERRENCE, MISSILE DEFENSE, AND COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN THE IRANIAN-ISRAELI STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP.
Strategic Studies Institute. Dr. W. Andrew Terrill. February, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 4 pages]
A future Iranian attack on Israel during a time of crisis is at least a remote possibility, but it is also subject to a variety of constraints, both ideological and practical, that might rule out such strikes in all but the most extreme circumstances. These are (1) collateral damage that might kill large numbers of Palestinians and other Arab/Muslim populations, (2) the possibility of massive retaliation by Israeli strategic forces, and (3) Israel’s strong and expanding system of missile defense and civil defense.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
NATURALIZATION THROUGH MILITARY SERVICE.
Office of Communications, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Updated January 28, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 2 pages]
Non-citizen members of the U.S. Armed Forces are eligible to apply for American citizenship under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). In addition, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has streamlined the application and naturalization process for military personnel serving on active-duty or recently discharged. Nearly 37,000 members of the Armed Forces have been naturalized since September 11, 2001.
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Samuels, Richard J. "NEW FIGHTING POWER!" JAPAN'S GROWING MARITIME CAPABILITIES AND EAST ASIAN SECURITY (International Security, Vol. 32, No. 3, Winter 2007, pp. 84-112)
Full Text [pdf format; 29 pages]
Following its World War II debacle, the Japanese military has been characterized as a "self-defense" force, and has never been seen as a serious military player in world affairs. In fact, pacificism was enshrined in the post-War Japanese constitution. Nonetheless, the Japanese in recent years have been quietly modernizing and strengthening their Coast Guard, and are using the words "New Fighting Power" to describe it. Describing the enhanced Coast Guard as "stealthy," the author asserts it now performs a quasi-military, quasi-police function. As well as law enforcement, the newly empowered JCG is tasked with asserting Japan's maritime sovereignty claims, and may ultimately lead to Japan playing a counter-terrorist role in South Asia. In terms of joint exercises with regional coast guards, it is already playing a wider security role in its region. So far, its neighbors have not objected, and this tactful assertion of military capability in time may bolster the Japanese public's willingness to support higher defense expenditures.
COMBAT PAIR: THE EVOLUTION OF AIR FORCE-NAVY INTEGRATION IN STRIKE WARFARE.
Benjamin S. Lambeth. RAND Project Air Force, RAND Corporation. December 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 129 pages]
Since the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy have tried to integrate their aerial strike operations. The Navy upgraded its precision-strike capabilities; and after Operation Desert Storm, it improved its command, control, and communications so that it could operate more freely. The Air Force also saw the benefits of synergism with the Navy. Consequently, the Air Force, with its land-based fighters, and the Navy, with its carrier-based fighters, are well equipped to enforce the UN’s imposed no-fly zones over Iraq.
This study also points out several areas where more integration is needed and offers recommendations to accomplish this.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
THE EASTERN DIMENSION OF AMERICA’S NEW EUROPEAN ALLIES. Janusz Bugajski. Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. Web posted November 5, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 197 pages]
“Without a realistic prospect for NATO and EU accession, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Georgia will become sources of domestic and regional instability and objects of Russia’s neo-imperialist ambitions that will undermine American and European strategic interests. The new members of NATO and the EU have sought to develop credible policies for consolidating democratic reforms among their eastern neighbors. . .” This paper provides recommendations to the U.S., NATO, and the EU to consolidate trans-Atlantic security.
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Yeager, Holly. SOLDIERING AHEAD (Wilson Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 3, Summer 2007, pp. 54-62)
Full text [html format]
Women now make up 14.4 percent of enlisted personnel and 15.9 percent of the officer corps in the 1.4-million-strong active-duty U.S. military. They serve in more than 90 percent of military occupations, but are still barred from jobs having to do with direct ground combat. Nonetheless, they are getting shot at in Iraq, where they work as convoy drivers, military police, and a variety of other jobs having to do with supply and support. How are they doing? Admirably, says Yeager, who has covered the Pentagon for the Hearst newspaper group and Defense Daily and writes extensively about women’s issues. Contrary to expectations, most women hold up emotionally in combat, and the American public has not howled in protest over the 70 female soldiers killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The increased number of women in the military has not fundamentally changed martial culture. What has changed, however, is management style, which is geared toward more family-friendliness. And this, the author says, is a plus for attracting and retaining an all-volunteer force. Even so, more women than men leave the service because of the demands of family responsibilities. And lack of combat experience will prevent most women from advancing to the highest levels of the military hierarchy.
LONG-RANGE BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE IN EUROPE. Steven A. Hildreth. Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress. June 22, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 14 pages]
Successive administrations have sought the creation of anti-missile defense systems to protect against rogue states. The Bush Administration has built long-range missile defense bases in Alaska and California, but tests on these systems have produced mixed results. The Administration has also proposed a ground-based, mid-course defense (GMD) system in Europe although this proposal has encountered resistance in some European countries. Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have made recommendations that would significantly slow down this proposal.
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Lindemann, Marc. STORMING THE IVORY TOWER: THE MILITARY'S RETURN TO AMERICAN CAMPUSES (Parameters, vol. 36, no. 4, Winter 2006-07, pp. 44-57)
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The author, a U.S. Army lieutenant, writes that the U.S. military must take full advantage of recruiting opportunities again available at the most selective university campuses, a result of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that removed remaining restrictions and opened up the possibility of reinstating Reserve Officers’ Training Corps’ (ROTC) in American colleges. The author also traces the history of ROTC at Yale University.
Eliscu, Jenny THE DEPARTED (Rolling Stone, Issue 1027, May 31, 2007, pp. 69-78)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library
"Eight heartbreaking stories of soldiers killed in Bush's meaningless war- and the families they left behind." Journalist Eliscu interviewed the family members of the dead. She provides brief profiles of the soldiers, young men and women all around 20 years of age, and reports how they died but for most part she simply portrays the family members' grief and sense of loss of their child, sibling and parent.
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Wilson, Ward THE WINNING WEAPON? RETHINKING NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN LIGHT OF HIROSHIMA (International Security, Vol. 31, No. 4, Spring 2007, pp. 162-179)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library
In this provocative article, Wilson, an independent scholar, delves into history to re-examine the Japanese surrender of 1945. That surrender has been widely attributed to President Truman's decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan, one on Hiroshima, one on Nagasaki. The author's examination of archives, however, concludes that Japan's decision to surrender was not made on the basis of its nuclear damage, but rather on the Soviet Union's late-stage entry into the war against Japan, which deprived Japan of all hopes of an alliance with the Soviets. The author posits that the Japanese leadership reacted to the nuclear bombs as a mere extension, in their minds, of an already-devastating bombing campaign. The author concludes that, in light of this insight, it is necessary to re-evaluate nuclear strategy and the importance of the nuclear weapon. Noting that all wars since World War II have been won or lost without use of nuclear weapons, he questions the primacy of the weapon both in war and in deterrence theory.
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Coonen, Stephen J. THE WIDENING GAP BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE: DOES IT MATTER? (Parameters, vol. 36, no. 3, Autumn 2006, pp. 67-84)
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The author describes the widening military capabilities gap between the United States and Europe. However, the gap should not prevent interoperability between the two forces. For example, the U.S. could play a leading role during high-intensity warfare while the Europeans become more prominent in the post-conflict phase. Americans and Europeans also perceive threats in the world today similarly. The author, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, concludes that, although a gap exists between U.S. and European military capabilities, this disparity may not be as significant as many have implied.
CONGRESSIONAL ATTITUDES ON THE FUTURE OF THE U.S.-SOUTH KOREA RELATIONSHIP: A REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES. Jason W. Forrester. International Security Program Center, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). May 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 37 pages]
This report provides an overview of the recent issues, oversight responsibilities, and the future of the U.S.-South Korea military alliance. The U.S. Congress continues to be optimistic about the future of this relationship; although recently there has been a perception of increased anti-Americanism in South Korea. In the past Congress has paid little attention to the U.S.-Republic of Korea (US-ROK) alliance; as a result, there is no central coordination of the overall relationship.
SECTION 1206 SECURITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM—FINDINGS ON CRITERIA, COORDINATION, AND IMPLEMENTATION.
U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO). February 28, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 27 pages]
The General Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed Section 1206 Security Assistance program as requested by Senator Lugar. The “Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2006 established a new program that gives the Department of Defense (DOD) the authority to spend up to $200 million of its own appropriations to train and equip foreign militaries to undertake counterterrorism or stability operations. Department of State (State) and DOD officials have cited the importance of this program in building capacity among partner nations to help fight the global war on terror.” The GAO addressed Senator Lugar’s concerns by assessing the selection criteria for Section 1206, reviewing the coordination and approval of Section 1206 programs, and examining the implementing process used by State and DOD.
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Schmidt, John R. LAST ALLIANCE STANDING? NATO AFTER 9/11
(Washington Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 1, Winter 2006-2007, pp. 93-106)
Full text [pdf format, 14 pages]
NATO's military role is changing just as the world's security landscape has transformed since the alliance was established in 1949. Schmidt, foreign service officer and senior Europe analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, discusses whether NATO is evolving or facing potential devolution. NATO’s cohesion, once attacked by the Soviet Union, now seems threatened by an emerging European Union (EU) whose 25-member states are beginning to construct a "distinctive security and defense personality of its own." Schmidt describes an uncertain road ahead for NATO, wondering if it will hold together, or gradually dissolve because of friction with the EU.
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Nasr, Vali et al. WHO WINS IN IRAQ?
(Foreign Policy, no. 159, March/April 2007, pp. 38-51)
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Ten authors identify who are the “winners” in the war in Iraq and why. Iran stands first on the list of winners, while the United States is not even mentioned. Vali Nasr, professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that “Iran has emerged as the biggest winner of the United States’ war. There is little stability or democracy in Iraq to impress Iranians.” Uprooting Baathism was good for Iran, he writes. In the political vacuum that followed Saddam Hussein’s downfall, trade and people-to-people contacts have burgeoned. Iraq’s Shiites and Kurds enjoy friendly ties with Iraq. “The war turned a large part of Iraq into an Iranian sphere of influence, and equally important, paved the way for Iranian hegemony in the Persian Gulf,” says Nasr. Even so, Iraq does face potential problems. A warring Iraq ruled by violent militias could threaten Iran’s stability as could Kurdish independence, Nasr says. Moreover, many Arab capitals see Iran as a threat.
RUSSIAN DEFENSE REFORM: CURRENT TRENDS.
Irina Isakova. Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), U.S. Army War College. November 2006.
Full Text [pdf format, 75 pages]
“This monograph attempts to describe the framework and current patterns of Russia’s defense reform.” The Russian government has given serious attention to defense reforms and to military modernization. The reforms are being implemented now and some of the key developments are:
- Setting clear parameters and timing for radical Command and Control (C&C) transformation
- Establishing a joint special purpose forces headquarters
- Reforming military intelligence
- Adjusting new nuclear posture
- Reforming the defense industry and opening it to private investments
- Establishing new forms of civil control over the military
This monograph is part of a series of studies on Russian defense and foreign policy by Strategic Studies Institute.
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OUTFITTING A BIG-WAR MILITARY WITH SMALL-WAR CAPABILITIES
Melillo, Michael. (Parameters, Vol. 36, No. 3, Autumn 2006, pp. 22-35)
Available online
“Unfortunately, it took the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks and the challenges posed by an adaptive enemy for the United States to realize it was not prepared to fight war on terms other than its own choosing.” The author, a field artillery officer in the U.S. Marines, discusses how the changing character of warfare has forced the U.S. military to adapt in order to deal with the asymmetric or irregular approaches used by enemy forces.
He describes the Iraq War as two wars -- the first, a conventional war won handily by the U.S., and the second a counterinsurgency, or “small war,” which is continuing. “The American experiences in Iraq over the past three years have spurred a progression of changes within the US military.” These changes in strategy; doctrine; roles, missions, and force structure; and training and education will lead to a shifting of the military culture, which will allow the U.S. military to be better prepared to meet the uncertain challenges it will certainly face in the future. “Only by creating a force that is just as adept at conducting small wars against irregular enemies as it is at conducting big wars against conventional foes will the United States be able to ensure security in the 21st century.”
TRANSFORMING NATO (.AGAIN): A PRIMER FOR THE NATO SUMMIT IN RIGA 2006.
Julianne Smith. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). November 14, 2006.
Full report [pdf format, 71 pages]
NATO will meet Nov. 28-29 in Riga, Latvia for its “transformation summit.” At the summit NATO allies will assess the Alliance’s ongoing political and military transformation while focusing on the current mission in Afghanistan. Some member states remain divided over NATO’s post-Cold War purpose and the extent and nature of the Alliance’s roles and missions beyond Europe. In addition, some “enlargement fatigue” has set in, slowing the pace at which the Alliance will absorb additional members. Externally, NATO now finds itself engaged in the most substantial and consequential military operations it has ever conducted.
According to this report, Riga participants will probably focus on three core areas:
- Endorsing the Comprehensive Political Guidance (CPG). This document outlines a framework and political direction for NATO's continuing transformation.
- Committing NATO to future rounds of enlargement. NATO will be careful not to close any doors but the possibility of issuing invitations even to the Adriatic Charter nations (certainly the most favored for membership at the moment) seems to have dissipated. The author argues that before its next summit in 2008, NATO should foster real debate about universal membership standards and goals while maintaining its Open Door Policy.
- Committing the Alliance to building and strengthening global partnerships (along with a possible tasking to look into the feasibility of creating a new training initiative). Smith says the summit will probably stress the importance of expanding cooperation with partner countries without committing NATO or the partner countries to any concrete initiative. She states: "In the next two years, NATO should undertake a full audit of existing partnership programs, ensure that all players understand the fundamental objectives, and seek to improve coordination among various partnership programs. NATO should not risk diluting the much-desired label of 'NATO partner' with partnerships that are heavy on rhetoric and short on substance.
THE NATO-RUSSIA PARTNERSHIP: A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE OR A TROUBLED RELATIONSHIP?
Stephen J. Blank. United States Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute (SSI). Web-posted November 14, 2006.
Full report [pdf format, 102]
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged Russian support to the U.S. campaign against terrorism. That support led to a Russian-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) rapprochement and Russian membership in a newly formed NATO-Russia Council created by the Treaty of Rome in 2002. But the subsequent history of this partnership has been a rocky and ambivalent one. East-West relations have deteriorated over the last four years, and the stresses in this partnership may begin to equal or even outweigh the benefits to the players involved. This monograph focuses on the Russian side of this relationship and seeks to illuminate the reasons for Russia's growing ambivalence toward NATO and the growing sense of estrangement between these two key actors in Eurasian security.
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Record, Jeffrey EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE: ENABLER OF INSURGENT SUCCESS
(Parameters, Vol. 36, No. 3, Autumn 2006, pp. 36-49)
Full text [html format, 12 pages]
Full text [pdf format, 14 pages]
The author, a professor of strategy at the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama, says, "Victorious insurgencies are exceptional because the strong usually beat the weak. But all power is relative, and if an insurgency has access to external assistance, such assistance can alter the insurgent-government power ratio even to the point where the insurgency becomes the stronger side." For example, French assistance to the colonists helped the Americans win the Revolution, whereas the lack of sufficient external assistance led to the defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War. He cites experts who argue that other elements can explain insurgent success -- such as political will, willingness to sacrifice, and superior strategy -- but contends, "even the most committed and cunning insurgency cannot hope to win without material resources." The author uses analyses of other conflicts, including the Chinese Communists' defeat of Chiang Kai-shek and the French defeats in Indochina and Algeria to support his contention that "External assistance can favorably, even decisively, alter the material power ratio between an insurgency and an enemy government or foreign occupier."
MISSILE DEFENSE, THE SPACE RELATIONSHIP, AND THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: 2007 REPORT.
Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Inc. (IFPA), Independent Working Group. July 2006.
Download [pdf format, 202 pages]
Formed in 2002, the Independent Working Group's (IWG's) goals were to:
- Examine the evolving threats to the United States, its overseas forces, allies, and coalition partners from the proliferation of ballistic missiles;
- Examine missile defense requirements in the twenty-first-century security setting;
- Assess current missile defense programs in light of opportunities afforded by U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty; and
- Set forth general and specific recommendations for a layered missile defense for the United States.
In the report the members of the IWG advocate a strengthened space-based missile defense system, and present the following recommendations:
- Limit Ground-based Missile Defense (GMD) Deployments.
- Expand Sea-Based Defenses.
- Develop and Deploy Space-Based Defenses.
- Reaffirm the U.S. Commitment to Space.
- Strengthen Missile Defense Collaboration with Allies.
- Develop New Organizational Structures for Space and Missile Defense.
- Create a Vigorous, Innovative, and Sustainable Science and Technology Workforce.
- Educate the American Public about Missile Threats and the Benefits of Missile Defense.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
AA06251
Kagan, Frederick W. THE U.S. MILITARY'S MANPOWER CRISIS
(Foreign Affairs, vol. 85, no. 4, July/August 2006, pp. 97-110)
View article on ProQuest (password required)
As the Bush administration continues to emphasize long-range strike capabilities over land forces, the U.S. military struggles with insufficient personnel. Kagan, an Associate Professor at West Point, reveals how the "revolution in military affairs" ideal and military quality-of-life improvements lead to a shortage in ground forces and are creating a potential disaster in Iraq. The lack of manpower increases the number of tours a soldier experiences while morale and recruitment rates plummet. While air power may achieve a temporary military victory, only troops on the ground can provide territorial control over a longer period. Kagan points out that training soldiers is a lengthy process, and the enemy is learning to exploit this vulnerability.
AA06229
Cassidy, Robert M. THE LONG SMALL WAR: INDIGENOUS FORCES FOR COUNTERINSURGENCY
(Parameters, vol. 36, no. 2, Summer 2006, pp. 15-29)
View article on publisher's website
Robert Cassidy, a major in the U.S. Army, discusses the potential use of indigenous forces in Iraq and Afghanistan today. Citing examples from past wars, Cassidy argues that properly utilizing these forces could lead to "achieved significant results." Among these results are exponential increases in the forces prosecuting counterinsurgency, better knowledge of the terrain and environment, and more actionable intelligence about the enemy. Although misuse can lead to vulnerabilities, the deliberate and early employment of indigenous forces can expand the quality and quantity of forces conducting pacification and counter-insurgency, leading to an effective method in achieving success in today's war.
U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE GUIDE TO NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY AND STRATEGY, 2ND EDITION.
J. Boone Bartholomees, Jr., Editor. United States Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute (SSI). Web-posted June 16, 2006.
Download [pdf format, 405 pages]
This edition of the U. S. Army War College Guide to National Security Policy and Strategy reflects both the method and manner the college uses to teach strategy formulation to America's future senior military 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.
GULF OF TONKIN - 11/30/2005 AND 05/30/2006. [RELEASE OF DECLASSIFIED
DOCUMENTS]. National Security Agency (NSA). Central Security Service. May 30, 2006.
Table of Contents [pdf format, various pagings]
On 30 November 2005, the National Security Agency (NSA) released the first installment of previously classified information regarding the Vietnam era, specifically the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This release includes a variety of articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, signals intelligence (SIGINT) reports and translations, and other related memoranda.
On 30 May 2006, NSA released the second and final installment of Gulf of Tonkin materials. This final release includes additional articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, and other related memoranda.
NSA note: "These historical documents are PDF images of formerly classified carbon paper and reports that have been declassified. Due to the age and poor quality of some of the PDF images, a screen reader may not be able to process the images into word documents."
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McVadon, Rear Admiral Eric A. (USN-Ret.) CHINA'S MATURING NAVY (Naval War College Review, Vol. 59, No. 2, Spring 2006, pp. 90-107)
Download the document [pdf format, 18 pages]
The author, a 35-year veteran of the navy and currently consultant on East Asia security affairs and part-time director of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, presents an interesting and thought-provoking assessment of recent developments in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. While noting the relatively relaxed current situation across the Taiwan Strait, he points out that Beijing's ongoing military modernization ensures that its "policy of intimidation continues to work." He says that Chinese officials have been stressing that their military budget is not excessive, and that the newly modernized PLA is not a threat, but a deterrent force. Although the PLA "now seems almost wholly, even obsessively, focused on the Taiwan problem," there are two other important factors in Chinese strategic thinking -- the desire to build a military appropriate to a rising economic power and the dependence of the economy on ocean commerce. Therefore, a long-term capacity to secure sea and land routes for trade must be a priority. The Chinese navy has made a great deal of progress from the days when serving on Chinese nuclear submarines was "thought by some to be as much a joke as a job." The author notes that "the PLA Navy is not fully mature, but it has established its potential for that status in the air, on the sea, and, conspicuously, under the sea."
AA06138
Vinci, Anthony THE "PROBLEMS OF MOBILIZATION" AND THE ANALYSIS OF ARMED GROUPS (Parameters, Spring 2006, pp. 49-62)
Download the document [pdf format, 14 pages]
In today's society, when dealing with non-state, armed groups, there is a set list of categories used for classification. This approach is that of poor classification and may lead to an improper and ineffective response. Some armed groups cannot be clearly defined, because globalization has opened many new doorways for them to obtain weapons and money. In this article, Vinci lays the foundation for a more rationalized system of analysis for armed groups, which takes into account the evolving and adapting nature of contemporary armed groups. His system looks at the problems of mobilization, logistics and command, control and communication and how each armed group finds the solutions to their problems. Through these solutions, he argues that one can classify an armed group more accurately, allowing for the creation of protocol that finitely assesses the group's identity. By using this method, experts will be able to effectively differentiate between tactics, hierarchical structures, strategies and motivations instead of prematurely classifying the armed group as insurgent, guerrilla or any other of the previously set classifications.
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Horowitz, Shale; Tan, Alexander. THE STRATEGIC LOGIC OF TAIWANIZATION
(World Affairs, vol. 168, no. 2, Fall 2005, pp. 87-95)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library
The authors, instructors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, respectively, assess the current strategic situation in the Taiwan Strait, weighing Taiwan's options in addressing a potential threat from China. Given China's massive economic and military expansion, the authors see trends toward an "inward" strategy, where the status quo of continued economic integration across the Strait benefits the mainland. However, the authors note that this may not preclude the adoption of an "outward strategy", where China chooses to forcibly integrate Taiwan through a rapid military intervention, particularly if future U.S. administrations choose to appease China by returning to its previous policy of "strategic ambiguity" on Taiwan's status. To augment the island's position, the authors recommend a three-point strategy they call "Taiwanization:" building military capability and domestic support to make an invasion costly (a "snarling dog posture"); increasing domestic reforms and international outreach to make Taiwan a country worth defending (the "embattled nation posture"); and continue efforts to facilitate cross-straits development of investment and trade ("economic jujitsu").
DEVELOPING IRAQ'S SECURITY SECTOR: THE COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY'S EXPERIENCE.
Andrew Rathmell, Olga Oliker, Terrence K. Kelly, David Brannan, and Keith Crane. The RAND Corporation. Web-posted January 2006.
Full report: [pdf format, 123 pages]
Following the war in Iraq, the United States and its allies have confronted three security imperatives:
- To restore order and neutralize insurgents and terrorists;
- To rebuild Iraqi security forces, which could eventually take on responsibility for Iraq's security; and
- To build security sector institutions, such as national security management institutions, the interior and defense ministries, and the justice sector, to ensure that the Iraqi security sector could be an effective bulwark for a democratic Iraq in the future.
This report, whose authors were advisors to the Coalition Provisional Authority, concerns itself with the efforts to build both forces and institutions in Iraq. It provides a historical record of the coalition's experience and seeks, insofar as is possible at this early stage, to draw lessons from the successes and failures of that experience. The authors emphasize that Iraq needs capable security forces in the near term and sustainable security institutions for the long term. They conclude that the onus must remain on the United States and its international partners to ensure that long-term institution building remains on the Iraqi agenda.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
IRAQI FORCE DEVELOPMENT: A CURRENT STATUS REPORT; JULY-DECEMBER 2005.
Anthony Cordesman. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). January 2006.
Full text: [pdf format, 121 pages]
This report is an excerpt of a book-length report on the development of Iraqi forces. It focuses on recent events and the political impact of the election on Iraqi force developments.
The author argues that in spite of the problems facing Iraqi forces, they have made major progress. Changes in the US-led Coalition advisory effort have led to steadily higher selection and training standards and better equipment and facilities. Moreover, this progress has occurred in spite of the fact that the Sunni Arab insurgents focused their attacks on fellow Iraqis and hit hard at every element of Iraqi forces.
However, he notes that such progress is not yet sufficient to guarantee either any meaningful force of Iraqi victory, or the ability of the US to make major troop withdrawals and still claim success. He identifies problems in shaping effective Iraqi forces that must still be addressed.
These include:
- Ensuring that Iraqi forces will act as national forces, and not Shi'ite and Kurdish forces
- Giving Iraqi combat battalions better balance and support
- Giving the security and police forces the same level of training and advisory support as the regular Iraqi forces
- Matching force development with political development and inclusiveness
- Supporting Iraqi forces with effective governance by civil authorities
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
EUROPEAN DEFENSE INTEGRATION: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN STRATEGY AND CAPABILITIES.
Michele A. Flournoy and Julianne Smith. Center for Strategic and International Studies. October 2005.
Download the document [pdf format, 99 pages]
This report is the culmination of the CSIS European Defense Integration project. Its foreword states that building stronger European defense capabilities is critical for the transatlantic relationship, as both sides of the Atlantic must work closely together to combat common security challenges. It calls for a greater degree of defense integration that would coordinate the efforts of individual European countries, the European Union and NATO to create an enhanced and more interdependent set of collective defense capabilities to meet Europe's future defense needs.
Each chapter of the report addresses a different part of the defense integration equation from an examination of national efforts, to the roles and responsibilities within and between NATO and the European Union for addressing priority capability shortfalls. There are also chapters on the role that the defense industry plays in driving defense integration and on a new "country cluster" methodology to address high priority capability shortfalls. Each chapter includes concrete recommendations - over 50 in all - that aim to assist policymakers, defense planners and political elites in bridging the gap between strategies and capabilities.
Note: Contains copyrighted material.
DISENTANGLING THE DETERMINANTS OF SUCCESSFUL DEMOBILIZATION AND REINTEGRATION.
Jeremy Weinstein and Macartan Humphreys. Center for Global Development. September 2005.
Download the document [pdf format, 30 pages]
Since the end of the Cold War, international efforts to end civil conflict in Africa, Latin America and Asia have included efforts on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants. Successful DDR programs have been seen as an important component of peace-building to reestablish legitimate governance and to prevent the recurrence of future conflict. This working paper analyzes what determines the success of post-conflict demobilization and reintegration.
Using the results of a large survey of ex-combatants in Sierra Leone, the authors track the progress of DDR participants and non-participants in the post-war period. They find that successful re-integration of ex-combatants into their societies depends not on the gender or age of combatants, but on their experiences of the war and the extent of their abuse. The paper recommends that development practitioners and policymakers keep this in mind when designing future demobilization and re-integration programs.
Note: Contains copyrighted material.
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Cornish, Paul; Edwards, Geoffrey. THE STRATEGIC CULTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: A PROGRESS REPORT (International Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 4, July 2005, pp. 801-821)
Full Text available from your nearest American Library
The authors assert that the European Union (EU) has established itself as what they term a "strategic culture" -- an international organization with the political confidence to manage and deploy military force. They note that the EU has gained significant experience and some credibility for ad hoc military operations in both the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Balkans. They point out that the EU has developed a closer working relationship with NATO, which was evidenced in the EU campaign in the Balkans. Cornish is head of the International Security Programme at Chatham House, and Edwards is Jean Monnet Chair in Political Science at the Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge.
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Quester, George H. DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS AND MILITARY RECRUITMENT: SURPRISING POSSIBILITIES
(Parameters, Vol. 35, No. 1, Spring 2005, pp. 27-40)
Download the document [pdf format, 14 pages]
Quester, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, notes that the "graying" of the population will diminish the available pool for military recruitment. He also points out that, since "a smaller fraction of the armed services will require youth and physical vigor, and a larger proportion may instead require maturity, experience, and technological expertise," and "military operations other than war" (MOOTW) are gaining in importance, the age of military retirement might be raised and role of women in the military expanded. Another possible source of recruits is immigrants. Quester also discusses the increased reluctance in the industrialized West to suffer casualties, due to the smaller size of families; changes in the military mission, such as increased responsibility for border control; and demographic trends in other countries, such as the shortage of women due to female infanticide, that increase threats to peace. He concludes that the US may have to make radical changes in its recruitment and retention practices if it is to maintain an all-volunteer force.
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Payne, Kenneth. THE MEDIA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF WAR (Parameters, vol. 35, no. 1, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93)
Download the document [pdf format, 14 pages]
Payne, a BBC news producer, examines the effect of the media on international conflicts. In the Iraq War, a method employed by the U.S. military to influence the media included embedding reporters in specific military units, in order to give them a small-scale view of the battlefield and encourage camaraderie between the military and journalists. Central Command briefings were also offered to give reporters a big picture of the battle, as presented by senior military personnel.
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Bryce, Robert. GAS PAINS (Atlantic Monthly, vol. 295, no. 2, May 2005)
View article on ProQuest (password required)
The author notes that the Pentagon "has 27,000 vehicles in Iraq -- and every one of them gets lousy gas mileage." The U.S. military's enormous fuel requirements in Iraq are our greatest vulnerability, and the insurgents have figured that out, as seen by the constant attacks on fuel convoys. Bryce notes that this has led to a self-reinforcing cycle: military vehicles need to be armored, which greatly increases their weight and lowers their fuel economy, which requires more fuel to be brought in by more convoys. He writes that troops and field commanders see the connection between fuel efficiency and tactical soundness; however, a recent Defense Science Board study recommending that fuel economy be taken into consideration when purchasing new weapons systems was dismissed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
BASE REALIGNMENTS AND CLOSURE [BRAC] 2005.
United States Department of Defense. May 13, 2005.
Defense Department portal
State-by-state List of Affected Military Installations [pdf format, 28 pages]
The Defense Department (DoD) has recommended closing about 180 U.S. military installations, including 33 major bases, as part of a comprehensive reshaping of the military infrastructure through the base realignment and closure process. A state-by-state list of installations affected by the DoD recommendations to the Base Realignments and Closure Commission (BRAC) is available here
.
A note on the BRAC process:
- There have been four previous BRAC rounds -- in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995. These rounds brought about 97 major closures, 55 major realignments and 235 minor actions, according to DoD figures.
- On May 13, 2005, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld forwarded the department's recommendations to the BRAC Commission. A list of the nine Commission members is available here
. - The commission will then forward its report on the recommendations to the president by Sept. 8, 2005.
- The president will have until Sept. 23, 2005, to accept or reject the recommendations in their entirety.
- If accepted, Congress will have 45 legislative days to reject the recommendations in their entirety or they become binding on the department.
Part 1 of 2 of Volume I of this report contains an overview of the process and summarizes the results. Part 2 of 2 of Volume I contains the statutory recommendations, justifications, and process summaries that the Secretary of Defense transmitted to the Commission and the Congress.
CARDBOARD CASTLE?: AN INSIDE HISTORY OF THE WARSAW PACT, 1955-1991 [SELECTED DOCUMENTS]. NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE ELECTRONIC BRIEFING BOOK NO. 154.
Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact (PHP). Web-posted May 13, 2005.
Selections [documents in pdf format, various pagings]
This new collection of documents is the first of its kind in examining the Warsaw Pact from the inside, with the benefit of materials once thought to be sealed from public scrutiny forever. It was prepared by the Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact (PHP), an international scholarly network formed to explore and disseminate documentation on the military and security aspects of contemporary history. The PHP's founders and partners are the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research organization based at The George Washington University; the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich; the Institute for Strategy and Security Policy at the Austrian Defense Academy in Vienna; the Machiavelli Center for Cold War Studies in Florence; and the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies in Oslo. The documents in the collection were obtained by numerous scholars and archivists, many of them associated with PHP and its partners, including the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. Most of the documents were translated especially for this volume and have never previously appeared in English.
According to materials in these documents, the Warsaw Pact had a long-standing strategy to attack Western Europe that included being the first to use nuclear weapons. Although the aim was apparently to preempt NATO "aggression," the Soviets clearly expected that nuclear war was likely and planned specifically to fight and win such a conflict. The documents show that Moscow's allies went along with these plans but the alliance was weakened by resentment over Soviet domination and the belief that nuclear planning was sometimes highly unrealistic. Just the opposite of Western views at the time, Pact members saw themselves increasingly at a disadvantage compared to the West in the military balance, especially with NATO's ability to incorporate high-technology weaponry and organize more effectively, beginning in the late 1970s.
The first URL below provides a link to the National Security Archive's selection of documents. Among these is a May 1961 speech by Marshal Malinovskii describing the need for Warsaw Pact offensive operations and an East German Intelligence Assessment of NATO's intelligence on the Warsaw Pact, from December 1985. The full set of 155 documents in their original languages can be found in their entirety on the Center for Security Studies website, via the second URL noted below. The documents will also be published in book form sometime in the future.
AA05151
Winik, Lyric. "DON'T ASK ME TO TAKE OFF THE UNIFORM" (Parade, April 17, 2005, pp. 4-7)
View article on publisher's website
The numbers of Arab-Americans serving in the U.S. military are tiny -- an estimated 3500 out of 2.6 million active-duty servicemen. Like soldiers of German or Japanese heritage who served in earlier wars, they are fighting in Iraq an adversary with whom they share a common culture and language. This article explores their mixed feelings about the conflict; many find more prejudice from their fellow Arab-Americans than in the military. Though many may disagree with parts of our Middle East policy, their primary emotion is loyalty and pride in serving in the U.S. armed forces. The author notes that most of them, or their families, came from countries with authoritarian governments and low standards of living, and express appreciation for the better life that the U.S. has afforded them. Many have taken on the challenging task of being "cultural ambassadors" in Iraq.