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Bullets, Bandages, and Fairy Dust: Improving DMO Health Services Support With Wargaming
No full textHealth services support is a critical yet often overlooked component of distributed maritime operations (DMO) and expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO). In exercises and wargames, medical logistics are frequently “fairy dusted”—assumed to function without realistic planning—despite the immense challenges of managing high casualty rates, complex supply chains, and limited evacuation timelines in contested environments like the Indo-Pacific. This article highlights the need for better integration of health services into wargames and exercises, emphasizing the importance of realistic scenarios, multilateral cooperation, and investment in modeling tools. By addressing these gaps, military planners can improve readiness, reduce risks, and better prepare for the medical realities of large-scale combat operations, ensuring that health services are no longer sidelined in critical planning and training efforts
Toward a 21st-Century Medical Offset Strategy
No full textIn an era of multidomain threats and global instability, the U.S. military must develop a 21st-century medical offset strategy to maintain combat effectiveness and strategic superiority. This article proposes medical offset strategies—far-forward intervention, technological innovation, and international partnerships—as a transformative framework to achieve medical overmatch. These strategies aim to save lives, enhance combat power, and sustain military operations amid high-intensity, large-scale combat scenarios. Far-forward intervention ensures timely critical care on the battlefield; technological innovation integrates AI, autonomous systems, and new treatments to extend reach and efficiency; and allied coordination enhances interoperability and collective medical capacity. The article underscores that inaction can pose greater risks than timely action. Using real-world examples, it argues that calculated risks favor action and adaptation
From High Seas to Highlands: Framing U.S. Defense Strategy With Southeast Asia’s Geography
No full textThis article analyzes the strategic importance of Southeast Asia to U.S. foreign policy amid rising competition with China, emphasizing the region\u27s complex geography, diverse political systems, and centrality to global economic growth. It identifies the South China Sea and Strait of Malacca as key flash points where conflict with China could arise and outlines the U.S. military’s need to deter conflict while preparing to win one if necessary. To do so, the United States must build resilient, dispersed basing networks; enhance its ability to maneuver across challenging terrain and maritime environments; and develop robust situational awareness through improved sensors and intelligence-sharing with regional partners. Ultimately, the article argues that without proactive military and diplomatic engagement in Southeast Asia, the United States risks losing critical influence in a region poised to shape the global order
A Better Way to Talk About Risk
No full textDr. Kim Cragin, in the INSS Center for Strategy and Military Power, examines the evolving U.S. defense strategy, emphasizing the necessity for a more nuanced approach to assessing and communicating strategic risk, particularly in counterterrorism efforts. As the U.S. shifts focus toward deterring Chinese aggression, there\u27s an implicit acceptance of increased risk from other threats, including terrorism. Cragin critiques current risk assessment frameworks and proposes a model that incorporates shorter time horizons, iterative planning, and clear risk categorizations. This approach aims to enhance decision-making processes and ensure that strategic risks are comprehensively understood and effectively managed
Drones and Biotechnological Weaponry: Emerging Risks, Strategic Threats, and Viable Readiness
No full textDr. Diane DiEuliis (CSWMD), in collaboration with Dr. James Giordano (CDTFW) from INSS, delve into the formidable challenge posed by the convergence of drone technology, synthetic biology, and gene-editing. Their insightful analysis emphasizes the urgent need to invest in fostering interagency and international collaboration, advanced surveillance systems, and developing robust countermeasures to mitigate the risks associated with these emerging technologies. The article was published in Mad Scientist Laboratory
The Logos and Limits of Artificial Cognition: The Exemplar of Military Use
No full textThis essay examines the conceptual and ethical boundaries of artificial intelligence (AI) as it increasingly emulates human judgment, abstraction, and decision-making. The authors examine whether AI manifests true cognition or merely simulates it. They argue that cognition involves recursive self-awareness, referential subjectivity, and ethical intentionality, capacities that are not in AI architectures. The stakes are particularly high in military and high-consequence environments, where autonomous systems make operational decisions involving the use of force. Without self-reflective awareness, AI cannot satisfy the conditions for moral or existential agency. The essay calls for systems that augment human wisdom while preserving human judgment, accountability, and control, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary approaches that bring together ethics, technology, and policy
Iran’s Strategic Crossroads: Options Beyond the Axis?
No full textIn Iran’s Strategic Crossroads: Options Beyond the Axis? for The Washington Quarterly, Mahsa Rouhi in the INSS Center for Strategy and Military Power examines the implications of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and its regional effects on Iran\u27s strategic posture. The conflict tested Iran\u27s deterrence architecture and the operational value of its Axis of Resistance, revealing fragmentation and overstretch within the alliance. Rouhi analyzes Tehran\u27s strategic recalibration, highlighting the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria as a pivotal moment that severed Iran\u27s logistical corridor to Hezbollah. The article discusses the erosion of Iran\u27s traditional deterrence doctrine, which relied on ballistic missile and drone capabilities, nuclear hedging, and a network of armed partners. Finally, Rouhi explores the impact of improved diplomatic relations between Iran and Gulf states, suggesting a potential shift in Tehran\u27s regional strategy toward more direct engagement and recalibration of its alliances
Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 117, 2nd Quarter 2025
No full textJoint Force Quarterly 117 centers on the urgent call for bold, visionary leadership within the U.S. Joint Force. Highlighting challenges such as integrated deterrence, alternative manning strategies, and China’s military reforms, this issue provides strategic insights for future readiness. It features forward-leaning proposals on air defense, military housing, and medical innovation, alongside historical case studies from Okinawa and Leyte. Book reviews and expert commentary further enrich the discourse on contemporary military leadership and strategy
A Framework for Countering Organized Crime
No full textStates continue to struggle in their efforts to counter organized crime. Despite states having scored successes at the operational level, organized crime has proven too adaptable and too resilient to be seriously affected. Instead, ground has been lost politically, societally, and even territorially to armed gangs, cartels, and other illicit structures. The result is a steady erosion of the rule of law, of norms of sovereignty, of governance, and of human security.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/strategic-monographs/1010/thumbnail.jp
With the Armenia-Azerbaijan Deal, It’s a New Era in the Caucasus
No full textIn the wake of the Armenia-Azerbaijan framework agreement, the South Caucasus faces a potential new era of regional stability, though significant risks remain. Jeffrey Mankoff examines the enduring influence of Russia in Armenia, including economic leverage, control of critical infrastructure, and political and religious networks, as well as Moscow’s belligerent posture following the Ukraine conflict. He also highlights tensions with Azerbaijan, exemplified by the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight, and the continuing threat posed by Tehran. The United States and France have played key roles in facilitating the agreement through security cooperation and diplomatic engagement, aiming to deter regional escalation. While the framework represents a major step toward resolving a long-standing conflict, the sustainability of peace in the South Caucasus will depend on Moscow and Tehran’s responses and the effectiveness of Western diplomatic and security initiatives