Don Snider reflects on his experiences in the drafting of the 1988 National Security Strategy (NSS) and what purpose that document serves. With Matt Scalia interviewing, Don describes the...
Criminal groups turn to warlike tactics to keep themselves in business and to expand their power. Low-intensity conflict may be high-intensity crime; meaning that one person’s gangster may be...
How do action officers (or anyone below the executive level) get their principal’s priorities on a final list of recommendations for the Secretary of Defense’s approval? Faithfully, even forcefully,...
Participants in workplace mentoring relationships must be wary of bad practices, and should be aware of how such practices can harm both mentors and protégés. I’m going to mentor...
The real challenge with black swan events is not accurate anticipation, but timely recognition. It is useful to remind ourselves regularly of the capacity of human beings to persist...
The current U.S. strategy … offers no long-term, viable alternative to ISIL or its potential successors. The U.S.’s strategy for Iraq is therefore no more than a return to...
The failure to address water problems through diplomacy will lead to new and growing security risks, including for the U.S. Around 2500 BC, Urlama, the King of the city-state...
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the “One Belt, One Road” strategy as a national effort ostensibly to improve the economic integration and regional security of the Eurasian...
The Air Force’s approach to developing unmanned aviation falls well short of the potential of autonomous systems. Its programs still struggle for resources amidst massive investment in modernization of...
Review: Motion picture, “Tunes of Glory” (Theatrical Release: Criterion, 1960; DVD Release: Criterion Collection, 2004). The film’s battalion is beset by a multitude of timeless and familiar challenges: unexpected...
Indian civil-military relations enjoy the paradox of being applauded for robust civilian control in a region where that is not common, while being condemned for an absence of a...
General Milley has repeatedly declared that ‘Readiness is #1, and there is no other #1.’ And yet, a self-imposed cultural problem is inhibiting the sustainment of unit readiness over...
The defense acquisition system has been the subject of much controversy and criticism. From the “Sisyphus Paradox” to more recent studies on defense acquisition reform, critics have complained about...
DoD strategy development and risk assessment cannot afford to rest exclusively on war plans that are never executed, scenarios that reinforce service biases, or nostalgia for competition as it once...
Latin America is an important and appealing strategic partner for Iran – with its 626 million people and 33 sovereign nations, many with a strong anti-American foreign policy orientation....
In a complex and dangerous world, the U.S. Army struggles with a persistent, strategic challenge: how to allocate limited financial resources to provide an effective ground force. Instead of...
In this War Room Podcast, Jamaican Defense Force Colonel Jaimie Ogilvie discusses with U.S. Army War College faculty member Dr. Paul Kan the challenges of foreign fighters operating within...
cyber deterrence is bad strategy and merely provides a false sense of security. The U.S. needs to focus on cyber defense, not deterrence. Recent events have led U.S. leaders...
cost-consciousness is not simply about cutting spending. Rather, it is about reducing excess and being a good steward of taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, the Department of Defense is not cost-conscious....
We need to encourage all officers to engage more directly in the generation of expert knowledge, and remove barriers to doing so based on rank or position. I have...