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Charting a Course: Strategic Choices for a New Administration
No full textThe new administration takes office in a time of great complexity. Our new President faces a national security environment shaped by strong currents: globalization; the proliferation of new, poor, and weak states, as well as nonstate actors; an enduring landscape of violent extremist organizations; slow economic growth; the rise of China and a revanchist Russia; a collapsing Middle East; and a domestic politics wracked by division and mistrust. While in absolute terms the Nation and the world are safer than in the last century, today the United States finds itself almost on a permanent war footing, engaged in military operations around the world.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/books-and-book-chapters/1006/thumbnail.jp
Cross-Functional Teams in Defense Reform: Help or Hindrance?
No full textOn May 12, 2016, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) announced its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2017. Committee chairman John McCain (RAZ) stated that the bill “contains the most sweeping reforms of the organization of the Department of Defense [DOD] in a generation.” The House Armed Services Committee version of the NDAA contained fewer reforms, but the committee emphasized that reform was necessary because “security challenges have become more transregional, multi-domain, and multi-functional. . . . U.S. superiority in key warfighting areas is at risk with other nations’ technological advances; and . . . [DOD] lacks the agility and adaptability necessary to support timely decisionmaking and the rapid fielding of new capabilities.”https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/strategic-forums/1014/thumbnail.jp
The NSC Staff: New Choices for a New Administration
No full textEarly in every new administration, the President and his national security team are inundated with studies offering advice on how to organize for national security. Many propose sweeping changes in the size, structure, and mission of the National Security Council (NSC) staff, the fulcrum of national security decisionmaking. However attractive superficially, organizational tinkering is unlikely to drive better performance. This paper argues that structure and process are less important than leadership and the quality of NSC staffing. No duty rises higher than the President’s call to defend the Constitution and the people and territory it nourishes. That duty will be tested early and often. An NSC staff that is up to the task will play an enormous role in keeping the United States safe.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/strategic-monographs/1007/thumbnail.jp
Joint Force Quarterly 81 (2nd Quarter, April 2016)
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/jfq-full-issue/1032/thumbnail.jp
Supporting Democracy in Erdoǧan’s Turkey: The Role of Think Tanks
No full textThis paper examines the Turkish think tank sector as part of a strategy to invest in Turkish democratization in a manner that does not prejudice security cooperation or the broader bilateral relationship. The United States for over 60 years has promoted a Turkey that is politically stable, economically prosperous, militarily capable, and democratically mature. As we head into 2016, the good news is that Turkey has had a party capable of ruling and winning elections for 14 years, is a G20 economy, retains one of the strongest military and security establishments in the world, and has established civilian authority over the military in a durable manner. The bad news is that this substantial progress has not resulted in a more transparent government fully committed to Western democratic norms. Instead the result has been a frequently unpredictable ally led by an increasingly authoritarian, albeit popular President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who flouts Western norms with relish and deviates from Western strategic consensus with ease. The sustained dialogue, mutual understanding, consultation, and compromise that mark good partnerships are noticeably absent—and the formerly substantial American influence over Turkish policymaking is greatly diminished. At the same time, the United States has an image problem to accompany its influence deficit, having experienced a sustained loss of trust among the Turkish public.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/strategic-forums/1020/thumbnail.jp
Weapons of Mass Destruction: Challenges for the New Administration
No full textThe 2015 National Security Strategy identifies the proliferation and/or use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) among the top strategic risks to the Nation’s interests. This paper examines four pressing WMD challenges for the next U.S. administration. First, the prospects of a direct clash between the United States and a nuclear-armed adversary that could escalate to the nuclear level are likely to grow. Russia in particular has become more assertive in challenging U.S. interests and has developed concepts for the limited use of nuclear weapons in a conflict with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Second, the scope of North Korea’s nuclear, chemical, and suspected biological weapons programs likely will require resources for countering WMD that exceed those currently available to the United States and South Korea. Third, longstanding international efforts to prohibit chemical and biological weapons are threatened by the reemergence of chemical weapons use and potentially by rapid advances in the life sciences. Finally, concern that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action may only postpone—rather than prevent—Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons will perpetuate tensions and proliferation pressures in the region. To meet these challenges, the next U.S. administration needs to: close gaps in capabilities, plans, and policies that weaken deterrence; reduce incentives for further proliferation by enhancing monitoring and verification measures and reassuring allies and partners; strengthen the Nation’s countering-WMD posture with increased resources and improved organization; stay on top of and leverage rapid scientific and technological developments in the life sciences and related fields; and improve the education of military officers, civilian national security professionals, and the broader public on WMD challenges and the necessary responses thereto.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/wmd-proceedings/1004/thumbnail.jp
Joint Force Quarterly 82 (3rd Quarter, July 2016)
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/jfq-full-issue/1031/thumbnail.jp