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Allies, Partners, or Puppets?: American and Chilean Armies, 1961–69
Get PDFThis article examines the multifaceted exchanges between the American and Chilean armies from 1961 to 1969, asserting that they were strictly professional, devoid of political indoctrination, and aligned with both nations’ foreign policy interests. Utilizing declassified diplomatic and military documents, this research diverges from prior works by integrating an in-depth understanding of military codes and culture with global, regional, and national contexts. It challenges the politicized narratives of the Cold War in Latin America, especially in Chile. This research offers insights into the actual impacts of international military policies on future military exchange programs
Korea: The Enduring Policy Blindspot
Get PDFThe threat posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a neglected and under prioritized problem across the US government, requiring a dramatic change of approach. Most proposals for Goldwater-Nichols reform focus on geography, either increasing or decreasing the number of geographic commands. Based on our personal experience as Joint military planners at strategic-level headquarters, we argue that the change needs to go further, focusing on global national security problems instead of geography. This article’s analysis and conclusions will provoke conversation across the national security enterprise about how the United States competes with multiple global threats
Book Review: The War in Nicaragua
Get PDFReview essay by Colonel Joerg Stenzel, instructor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College
Colonel Joerg Stenzel (German Army), an instructor at the US Army War College, lends his expertise in strategy to this review of the most famous and successful filibuster featured in William Walker\u27s 1860 work, The War in Nicaragua. As Stenzel notes, the book is Walker\u27s personal description of his own war in Nicaragua that it is arguably biased and written in the third person in a style that differs greatly from his earlier editorials. Stenzel provides an overview of Walker\u27s life and contextualizes his actions in relationship to slavery, North-South rivalries, the Gold Rush, and Manifest Destiny, noting that A closer look at Walker and his actions shows that Central America, with its instabilities and turmoil, had and still has significant geopolitical relevance for the US government.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/1041/thumbnail.jp
The Dynamics of US Retrenchment in the Middle East
Get PDFThis article argues that conditions favor American retrenchment from the Middle East because the United States can shift burdens to capable states in the region, there are few areas where US commitments are interdependent, and the local conquest calculus favors defense. Forward military deployments do not positively influence potential threats in the Middle East, and maintaining deployments there will detract from meeting challenges from China. Through comparisons to prior cases of great-power ordinal decline, this article puts America’s modest decline in historical perspective and finds that retrenchment policies will likely have positive consequences
China\u27s Use of Nontraditional Strategic Landpower in Asia
Get PDFThis article argues that the People’s Republic of China uses its police and internal security forces as a nontraditional means of projecting strategic Landpower in the Indo-Pacific and Central Asia. Instead of limiting analysis of China’s power projection to military forces, this article employs new data on Chinese police engagements abroad to fill a gap in our understanding of the operating environment in Asia. Policymakers will gain an understanding of how these activities enhance China’s presence, partnerships, and influence across the region to inform the development of recommendations for a more effective response
Why the Afghan and Iraqi Armies Collapsed: An Allied Perspective
Get PDFRather than military factors, American and Western liberal ideas (ideological views) and politics explain many of the obstacles faced in rebuilding the Afghan and Iraqi Armies. Liberal ideas largely determined what options the coalition would use. Ideological factors help explain democratization and reconstruction challenges, partner leaders with divergent aims, military-cultural factors and the Western combat focus, politicization, corruption, and nepotism. This article reviews the differences between Western liberal democracies and partner states, the politics of counterinsurgency, and army accounts. This article will assist US practitioners in security cooperation, institutional capacity building, and security assistance
Book Review: Corruption in the Americas
Get PDFEditors: Jonathan D. Rosen and Hanna S. Kassab
Reviewed by Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz, professor of international relations and comparative politics, Georgia Southern University, and visiting professor, Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College
Jonathan D. Rosen and Hanna S. Kassab argue in Corruption in the Americas that corruption is not only an industry but has also become an integral part of Latin American societies. The book also notes that support for democracy in many Latin American countries (despite years of authoritarianism) is at an all-time low. The reviewer recommends this book saying, “The book highlights the symbiotic relationship and strategic partnership between corrupt organized criminal organizations and those in power.”https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/1015/thumbnail.jp
US Army War College Russia-Ukraine War Study Project
Get PDFThe Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College is analyzing the operational events and activities of the Russia-Ukraine War to understand the war’s strategic implications for the US Army and its role within the NATO Alliance. Analysis will further inform theater and national US strategy and may benefit Army doctrine and concepts vis-à-vis the Russian threat. It will also examine how US and allied defense policies should adjust to the current character of war. Lessons learned from Ukraine are relevant to the evolving challenge in the Pacific in the near term and are opportunities for the United States to progress in terms of integrated deterrence and the provision of assistance with and through partners
2023 Annual Estimate of the Strategic Security Environment
Get PDFThe Annual Estimate of the Strategic Security Environment serves as a guide for academics and practitioners in the defense community on the current challenges and opportunities in the strategic environment. This year’s publication outlines key strategic issues across the four broad themes of Regional Challenges and Opportunities, Domestic Challenges, Institutional Challenges, and Domains Impacting US Strategic Advantage. These themes represent a wide range of topics affecting national security and provide a global assessment of the strategic environment to help focus the defense community on research and publication. Strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China and the implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remain dominant challenges to US national security interests across the globe. However, the evolving security environment also presents new and unconventional threats, such as cyberattacks, terrorism, transnational crime, and the implications of rapid technological advancements in fields such as artificial intelligence. At the same time, the US faces domestic and institutional challenges in the form of recruiting and retention shortfalls in the all-volunteer force, the prospect of contested logistics in large-scale combat operations, and the health of the US Defense Industrial Base. Furthermore, rapidly evolving security landscapes in the Arctic region and the space domain pose unique potential challenges to the Army’s strategic advantage.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1958/thumbnail.jp