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Budget Policy and Fiscal Risk: Implications for Defense
Dennis S. Ippolito Dr.
The defense budget remains one of the central shaping features of U.S. national security and national military strategy. To understand what is possible in terms of defense transformation, one must first have a firm grasp of the budgetary context of strategic decisions. The author shows that defense will continue to compete with domestic programs for that portion of the budget allocated to discretionary spending, and argues that this is a competition in which defense needs have not fared especially well in the past and may not in the future. If accurate, this assessment will have tremendous implications for defense transformation. The leaders of the Army and the Department of Defense must therefore frame their transformation strategies within fiscal realities.
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Funding Defense: Challenges of Buying Military Capability in Sub-Saharan Africa
Martin Revayi Rupiya Dr. and Daniel W. Henk COL
Martin Rupiya, Director of the University of Zimbabwe's Centre for Defence Studies, and Daniel Henk of the Air War College provide one of the first comprehensive studies of defense budgeting practices in Africa. They assess both the problems with these practices and fruitful avenues of reform. By doing so, they provide a solid roadmap both for African leaders and for Americans concerned with the development of greater security in the region.
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Internal Wars: Rethinking Problem and Response
Max G. Manwaring Dr.
Asymmetric guerrilla war—insurgencies, internal wars, and other small-scale contingencies (SSCs)—are the most pervasive and likely type of conflict in the post-Cold War era. It is almost certain that the United States will become involved directly or indirectly in some of these conflicts. Yet, there appears to be little or no recognition and application of the strategic-level lessons of the Vietnam War and the hundreds of other smaller conflicts that have taken place over the past several years. The author draws from the lessons of the recent past to better prepare today's civilian and military leaders to meet the unconventional and asymmetric warfare challenges that face the United States and the rest of the international community. This country is in a new global security environment that involves the integration of free markets, technologies, and countries to a degree never before witnessed. It is not easy to understand and respond to the many smaller threats—and benefits—that stem from global integration. Yet, as the country that benefits most from global integration, the United States has a pressing national interest in maintaining and enhancing the new order. By coming to grips analytically with the most salient strategic lessons or rules that dominate contemporary SSCs, political and military leaders can maximize opportunities in the current and future chaos.
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Preparing for Asymmetry: As Seen Through the Lens of Joint Vision 2020
Melissa Applegate Ms.
Since the mid-1990s, the concept of strategic asymmetry has begun to receive serious attention from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review, for instance, stated, "U.S. dominance in the conventional military arena may encourage adversaries to use…asymmetric means to attack our forces and interests overseas and Americans at home." But while American strategists and defense leaders sense the importance of strategy asymmetry, much analytical work remains to be done before it is fully understood. The author assesses the revisions to Joint Vision 2020, DOD's roadmap to the future, that must be undertaken in order to prepare for asymmetric challenges.
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Preparing for Asymmetry: As Seen Through the Lens of Joint Vision 2020
Melissa Applegate Ms.
Since the mid-1990s, the concept of strategic asymmetry has begun to receive serious attention from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review, for instance, stated, "U.S. dominance in the conventional military arena may encourage adversaries to use…asymmetric means to attack our forces and interests overseas and Americans at home." But while American strategists and defense leaders sense the importance of strategy asymmetry, much analytical work remains to be done before it is fully understood. The author assesses the revisions to Joint Vision 2020, DOD's roadmap to the future, that must be undertaken in order to prepare for asymmetric challenges.
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The Hart-Rudman Commission and the Homeland Defense
Ian Roxborough Dr.
With the exception of attacks by ballistic missiles, the continental United States was long held to be virtually immune from attack. For Americans, wars were something that took place in other countries. In the future, that may not hold. But while strategic thinkers agree that homeland defense needs greater attention, there is less consensus on the precise nature of the threat. The author disagrees with the commonly-held assumption that the main threat to the American homeland will come from terrorism inspired by U.S. leadership of globalization. He contends that the architects of the American strategy for homeland defense need a broader perspective that includes a wide range of existing or potential threats.
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Toward a Strategy of Positive Ends
Antulio J. Echevarria Dr. and Huba Wass de Czege Brigadier General (Ret.)
Brigadier General (Retired) Huba Wass de Czege and Lieutenant Colonel Antulio J. Echevarria II make a case for a strategy aimed at achieving positive, rather than neutral or negative, ends. They first discuss the dynamic conditions of the new strategic environment, then explore the options the United States has available for dealing with those conditions. The options include (1) preventive defense, (2) neo-isolationism, and (3) a strategy that pursues positive ends. Only the last, the authors argue, deals with the new security environment in a proactive way. It enables the United States to define its vital interests in terms of conditions--such as peace, freedom, rule of law, and economic prosperity--rather than as the containment or defeat of inimical state or nonstate actors. The basic approach of a strategy of positive ends would be to build and enlarge a circle of stakeholders committed to creating conditions for a profitable and enduring peace--thereby reducing the potential for crises--and to preparing response mechanisms for coping successfully when crises do occur.
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Toward a Strategy of Positive Ends
Antulio J. Echevarria II and Huba Wass de Czege Brigadier General (Ret.)
Brigadier General (Retired) Huba Wass de Czege and Lieutenant Colonel Antulio J. Echevarria II make a case for a strategy aimed at achieving positive, rather than neutral or negative, ends. They first discuss the dynamic conditions of the new strategic environment, then explore the options the United States has available for dealing with those conditions. The options include (1) preventive defense, (2) neo-isolationism, and (3) a strategy that pursues positive ends. Only the last, the authors argue, deals with the new security environment in a proactive way. It enables the United States to define its vital interests in terms of conditions--such as peace, freedom, rule of law, and economic prosperity--rather than as the containment or defeat of inimical state or nonstate actors. The basic approach of a strategy of positive ends would be to build and enlarge a circle of stakeholders committed to creating conditions for a profitable and enduring peace--thereby reducing the potential for crises--and to preparing response mechanisms for coping successfully when crises do occur.
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Jihadi Groups, Nuclear Pakistan, and the New Great Game
M. Ehsan Ahrari Dr.
For the United States and other nations concerned with security in South and Central Asia, one of the most ominous trends has been the growing influence of Jihadist groups in Pakistan which feel obligated to wage holy war against everything that they perceive as non-Islamic. Their objective would be a Pakistani government similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The danger this would pose to regional stability and U.S. interests is clear. The author assesses Jihadi groups from the framework of a new "Great Game" for influence in Central Asia involving an array of states. He argues that, if this competition leads to increased violence, outside states including the United States could be drawn in. On the other hand, if the region stabilizes, it could provide solid economic and political partners for the United States. A well-designed American strategy, Ahrari contends, might help avoid crises or catastrophe.
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The Drug Scourge as a Hemispheric Problem
Barry R. McCaffrey General
Former Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey, USA (Retired) argues that Colombia s 40 million citizens must not be deserted by their neighbors. Leaving the Colombians to deal in isolation with a pervasive drug problem will deeply affect all 800 million of us in the Western Hemisphere through addiction, violence, and corruption. Moreover, he argues that the United States and the entire international community must support a long-term commitment to Plan Colombia and to building cooperative multinational approaches to the tough drug-associated problems that face us all. This is an undertaking in which we all have an equal stake and an equal responsibility.
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The Drug Scourge as a Hemispheric Problem
Barry R. McCaffrey General
Former Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey, USA (Retired) argues that Colombia s 40 million citizens must not be deserted by their neighbors. Leaving the Colombians to deal in isolation with a pervasive drug problem will deeply affect all 800 million of us in the Western Hemisphere through addiction, violence, and corruption. Moreover, he argues that the United States and the entire international community must support a long-term commitment to Plan Colombia and to building cooperative multinational approaches to the tough drug-associated problems that face us all. This is an undertaking in which we all have an equal stake and an equal responsibility.
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W(h)ither Corps?
D. Robert Worley Dr.
Army transformation has many dimensions with change in technology, operational methods, and organizations. So far, the focus of organizational transformation has been on the redesign of tactical units such as the interim brigade combat teams. But corps--the Army's operational level organizations--must also be transformed. The author provides a history of the structure and function of Army corps and discusses ways they might be redesigned to play an effective role in the 21st century security environment. He concludes that the different Army corps have such diverse functions that a "one size fits all" approach is inappropriate. After considering a number of options, he provides a blueprint for an array of corps structures that would fulfill missions from peacekeeping to major wars.
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W(h)ither Corps?
D. Robert Worley Dr.
Army transformation has many dimensions with change in technology, operational methods, and organizations. So far, the focus of organizational transformation has been on the redesign of tactical units such as the interim brigade combat teams. But corps--the Army's operational level organizations--must also be transformed. The author provides a history of the structure and function of Army corps and discusses ways they might be redesigned to play an effective role in the 21st century security environment. He concludes that the different Army corps have such diverse functions that a "one size fits all" approach is inappropriate. After considering a number of options, he provides a blueprint for an array of corps structures that would fulfill missions from peacekeeping to major wars.
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Army Transformation: A View from the U.S. Army War College
Williamson Murray Dr.
The U.S. Army is now in the process of transforming itself to meet security interests and the need for land power that span the globe, now and in the future. The following essays are representative of current thinking at the U.S. Army War College by students considering the nature and direction of this transformation. Dr. Williamson Murray s introduction sets the historical context for military transformation, comparing the modern European example with recent U.S. efforts in military innovation. The remaining essays address four themes: the nature of the transformed Army, building irreversible momentum for transformation, improving strategic responsiveness, and how to achieve transformation in key areas.
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Army Transformation: A View from the U.S. Army War College
Williamson Murray Dr.
The U.S. Army is now in the process of transforming itself to meet security interests and the need for land power that span the globe, now and in the future. The following essays are representative of current thinking at the U.S. Army War College by students considering the nature and direction of this transformation. Dr. Williamson Murray s introduction sets the historical context for military transformation, comparing the modern European example with recent U.S. efforts in military innovation. The remaining essays address four themes: the nature of the transformed Army, building irreversible momentum for transformation, improving strategic responsiveness, and how to achieve transformation in key areas.
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Educating International Security Practitioners: Preparing to Face the Demands of the 21st Century International Security Environment
Robert H. Dorff Dr., Daniel J. Kaufman Brigadier General, James M. Smith Dr., and Linda P. Brady Dr.
The authors examine the challenges of the 21st century international security environment to which future strategic leaders and policy practitioners will need to respond. More specifically, they offer the reader insights into security studies and leadership development at their respective levels (military undergraduate, civilian undergraduate, traditional and nontraditional graduate, and senior military officer) and institutions (including research centers and professional outreach programs). The goal is to inform a broader audience about what is currently being done in the way of educating strategic practitioners at these various institutions, and what might need to be done differently or better.
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Future Warfare Anthology, Revised Edition
Robert H. Scales Major General
This Revised Anthology is about the future of military operations in the opening decades of the 21st century. Its purpose is not to predict the future, but to speculate on the conduct of military operations as an instrument of national policy in a world absent massive thermonuclear and conventional superpower confrontation characteristic of the Cold War. Also absent are indirect constraints imposed by that confrontation on virtually all political-military relationships, not solely those between superpower principals. Most of these essays are attempts to define military operational concepts that might be employed to execute such an engagement strategy.
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Future Warfare Anthology, Revised Edition
Robert H. Scales Major General
This Revised Anthology is about the future of military operations in the opening decades of the 21st century. Its purpose is not to predict the future, but to speculate on the conduct of military operations as an instrument of national policy in a world absent massive thermonuclear and conventional superpower confrontation characteristic of the Cold War. Also absent are indirect constraints imposed by that confrontation on virtually all political-military relationships, not solely those between superpower principals. Most of these essays are attempts to define military operational concepts that might be employed to execute such an engagement strategy.
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Plan Colombia: Some Differing Perspectives
Gabriel Marcella Dr., Charles E. Wilhelm GEN (RET), Alvaro Valencia Tovar Colombian General, and Ricardo Arias Calderon Dr.
This monograph, with an introduction by Dr. Gabriel Marcella, includes four short, but interesting and important papers presented at a conference on Plan Colombia, sponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and the North-South Center of the University of Miami. General Charles E. Wilhelm, a former Commander-in-Chief of the United States Southern Command; General Alvaro Valencia Tovar, a former commander of the Colombian Army; Dr. Ricardo Arias Calderon, a former Vice President of Panama; and Mr. Chris Marquis, a correspondent for the New York Times, present four distinctly differing views regarding Plan Colombia. Their perspectives reflect the uncertainty and confusion expressed at the conference regarding U.S. policy in Colombia and the implementation of Plan Colombia. In that connection, there appears to be no consensus on what Plan Colombia is and what it is not. This disarray, as well as additional questions generated from it, demonstrates a pressing need to pursue the debate. This is important because, one way or another, Plan Colombia affects us all.
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Plan Colombia: Some Differing Perspectives
Gabriel Marcella Dr., Charles E. Wilhelm GEN (RET), Alvaro Valencia Tovar Colombian General, and Ricardo Arias Calderon Dr.
This monograph, with an introduction by Dr. Gabriel Marcella, includes four short, but interesting and important papers presented at a conference on Plan Colombia, sponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and the North-South Center of the University of Miami. General Charles E. Wilhelm, a former Commander-in-Chief of the United States Southern Command; General Alvaro Valencia Tovar, a former commander of the Colombian Army; Dr. Ricardo Arias Calderon, a former Vice President of Panama; and Mr. Chris Marquis, a correspondent for the New York Times, present four distinctly differing views regarding Plan Colombia. Their perspectives reflect the uncertainty and confusion expressed at the conference regarding U.S. policy in Colombia and the implementation of Plan Colombia. In that connection, there appears to be no consensus on what Plan Colombia is and what it is not. This disarray, as well as additional questions generated from it, demonstrates a pressing need to pursue the debate. This is important because, one way or another, Plan Colombia affects us all.
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The Regional Security Crisis in the Andes: Patterns of State Response
Judith A. Gentleman Dr.
The instability, corruption, displacement of people, and violence generated by Colombia's unholy trinity of narcotics traffickers, insurgents, and paramilitaries is spilling over into virtually all of northern South America and Panama. Thus, the stability and political sovereignty of the region are being compromised. And, at the same time, progress toward achieving the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the economic integration of the Western Hemisphere by 2005 is being severely threatened. The author outlines some of the detail and implications of the regional security crisis in the Andes and makes recommendations for U.S. civil-military involvement in the hemispheric security arena. She argues for the United States to lead in the articulation of strategic objectives, while designing a defensible and feasible policy that critical elements in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and Japan can understand and support. She specifically argues for the U.S. military to build stronger and more cooperative security relationships within the circle of affected states around Colombia.
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U.S. Security Policy in the Western Hemisphere: Why Colombia, Why Now, and What Is To Be Done?
Max G. Manwaring Dr.
This is one in the Special Series of monographs stemming from the February 2001 conference on Plan Colombia cosponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and The Dante B. Fascell North-South Center of the University of Miami. In substantive U.S. national security terms, the author addresses the questions, Why Colombia, Why Now, and What Is To Be Done? He explains the importance of that troubled country to the United States. He points out that the fragile democracy of Colombia is at risk, and that the violent spillover effects of three simultaneous wars pose a threat to the rest of the Western Hemisphere and the interdependent global community. Then he makes a case against continued tactical and operational approaches to the Colombian crisis and outlines what must be done. In that connection, he recommends an actionable political-military strategy to attain security, stability, democratic governance, and a sustainable peace. The proposed strategy would not be costly in monetary or military terms. It would, however, require deliberate planning, cooperation, time, and will.
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U.S. Security Policy in the Western Hemisphere: Why Colombia, Why Now, and What Is To Be Done?
Max G. Manwaring Dr.
This is one in the Special Series of monographs stemming from the February 2001 conference on Plan Colombia cosponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and The Dante B. Fascell North-South Center of the University of Miami. In substantive U.S. national security terms, the author addresses the questions, Why Colombia, Why Now, and What Is To Be Done? He explains the importance of that troubled country to the United States. He points out that the fragile democracy of Colombia is at risk, and that the violent spillover effects of three simultaneous wars pose a threat to the rest of the Western Hemisphere and the interdependent global community. Then he makes a case against continued tactical and operational approaches to the Colombian crisis and outlines what must be done. In that connection, he recommends an actionable political-military strategy to attain security, stability, democratic governance, and a sustainable peace. The proposed strategy would not be costly in monetary or military terms. It would, however, require deliberate planning, cooperation, time, and will.
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European Perceptions of Plan Colombia: A Virtual Contribution to a Virtual War and Peace Plan?
Joaquin Roy Dr.
Professor Joaquin Roy, a Spaniard with valuable sources throughout Europe, notes that Europeans apparently do not approve of the seeming U.S. emphasis on providing military equipment and training to Colombia for a counternarcotics effort in what they see as a larger strategic political conflict. At the same time, he reports that Europeans are not only concerned with the counternarcotics violence in Colombia, but also with the economic, security, and political spillover effects for neighboring countries. Finally and logically, the author reflects the European concern that whatever contribution that might be made to Plan Colombia will likely be lost in the violence of a U.S.-led counternarcotics campaign.
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Plan Colombia: The View from the Presidential Palace
Eduardo Pizano Mr.
The author, a former member of the Colombian Senate and now the General Secretary to the President of Colombia, discusses various misconceptions stemming from the uncertainty and confusion that permeated conference discussions involving U.S. policy in Colombia and the implementation of Plan Colombia. He makes several points that are both compelling and instructive. First, Colombia s sovereignty is being impinged by illegal narco-trafficking organizations and insurgent allies that threaten democratic governance from within. Second, of necessity, Plan Colombia must include strong military and counternarcotics components. Third, Colombia has the military forces necessary to deal with the violence in the country, but the armed forces and the police need training, equipment, and mobility assets. Fourth, Plan Colombia also includes a very strong social component as a matter of fact, the vast majority of the $7.5 billion being allocated for the plan is designated for social and economic development purposes. Finally, he argues that there are no cocksure short-term answers to Colombia s problems. What is certain is that these problems are being dealt with aggressively by Colombia and its friends.
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