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The Presidential Nuclear Initiatives of 1991-1992
No full textOn the morning of September 28, 1991, then-Colonel Frank Klotz witnessed an historic moment at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. As he and other senior officers from the base bomber and missile units watched, the crews for the B-1 strategic bombers that had been on alert that day climbed into their cockpits, started the planes, and taxied one after another away from the alert aircraft parking area. That scene was repeated at all 11 Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases in the United States. By the end of the day, there were no U.S. bombers on alert for the first time in over 30 years.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/wmd-case-studies/1004/thumbnail.jp
Non-Traditional Security Threats and Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation
No full textThe purpose of this paper is for the better understanding of the security challenges and opportunities for expanded cooperation through global regional efforts to manage our planet and govern its inhabitants more responsibly.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/defense-tech-papers/1011/thumbnail.jp
Building Future Transatlantic Interoperability Around a Robust NATO Response Force
No full textInteroperability is as much or more about human teamwork than it is about compatible machines and processes. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operational deployments, without respite since 1992,1 have spawned a nascent culture of multinational planning and operational teamwork among a host of militaries. This coalition culture is emerging in the same way as the joint operations culture has grown across the U.S. military since the watershed Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/transatlantic-currents/1006/thumbnail.jp
Constructive Convergence: Imagery and Humanitarian Assistance
No full textThe goal of this paper is to illustrate to the technical community and interested humanitarian users the breadth of tools and techniques now available for imagery collection, analysis and distribution, and to provide brief recommendations with suggestions for next steps.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/defense-tech-papers/1018/thumbnail.jp
PRISM Vol. 4, No. 1
No full textThis volume offers a comprehensive exploration of contemporary global security challenges, civil-military relations, and strategic responses to emerging threats. The Features section begins with Zoltan Barany’s examination of how to establish democratic armies, followed by Hans-Jürgen Kasselmann’s analysis of civil-military cooperation as a tool for managing complex crises. Christian Bayer Tygesen addresses the civil-military imbalance in Afghanistan and its implications for democratization, while Frank J. Cilluffo and Joseph R. Clark provide insights into understanding and countering strategic hybrid threats. R. Evan Ellis shifts the focus to transnational crime, detailing the rise of Chinese organized crime in Latin America, and Chiemi Hayashi and Amey Soo discuss the value of adaptive leadership during crises. Gordon Woo concludes the section by offering a framework for managing the risks of future foreign conflict interventions. In the From the Field section, John Acree reflects on the internal challenges of stabilization efforts in Afghanistan. The Lessons Learned segment features two reports by Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., and Craig Collier, providing an overview of reconstruction efforts and the human costs associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Interview section features a conversation with Richard N. Haass. The volume concludes with two Book Reviews: Michelle Hughes assesses Advancing the Rule of Law Abroad, while Nathaniel L. Moir reviews The Art of Intelligence.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/prism-full-issue/1012/thumbnail.jp
Deception, Disinformation, and Strategic Communications: How One Interagency Group Made a Major Difference
No full textThis study explains how one part-time interagency committee established in the 1980s to counter Soviet disinformation effectively accomplished its mission. Interagency committees are commonly criticized as ineffective, but the Active Measures Working Group is a notable exception. The group successfully established and executed U.S. policy on responding to Soviet disinformation. It exposed some Soviet covert operations and raised the political cost of others by sensitizing foreign and domestic audiences to how they were being duped. The group’s work encouraged allies and made the Soviet Union pay a price for disinformation that reverberated all the way to the top of the Soviet political apparatus. It became the U.S. Government’s body of expertise on disinformation and was highly regarded in both Congress and the executive branch.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/inss-strategic-perspectives/1031/thumbnail.jp
Public-Private Cooperation in the Department of Defense: A Framework for Analysis and Recommendations for Action
No full textIn 2010, a National Defense University (NDU) research project called TIDES1 (Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support) was invited to partner with a company to produce a tradeshow about humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions and related capabilities. Despite senior-level Department of Defense (DOD) guidance to pursue public-private partnerships, DOD attorneys told TIDES managers to reject the agreement. Differing legal interpretations of the word partner generated concern that the proposed partnership could create an impermissible perception of government endorsement of a private company. Even though it would have advanced the government’s mission and promoted efficiency, a variety of obstacles scuttled the proposed cooperation.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/defense-horizons/1010/thumbnail.jp
Japan-China Relations 2005–2010: Managing Between a Rock and a Hard Place An Interpretative Essay
No full textBetween China and Japan, the past is ever-present. Notwithstanding shared cultural and historic ties, throughout the past century and going back to the Sino-Japanese war at the end of the 19th century, a bitter legacy of history—the Boxer Rebellion; the Mukden Incident and Japan’s occupation of South Manchuria (1931); the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan’s subsequent invasion of China, and the Nanjing Massacre (1937); and the Sino-Japanese War (1937– 1945)—has left an indelible mark on this relationship.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/inss-strategic-perspectives/1030/thumbnail.jp
Cross-currents in French Defense and U.S. Interests
No full textFrance is the only European ally—except for the United Kingdom (UK)—that regards its military capabilities, operational performance, and defense industry as vital levers to exert global influence. While the French believe strongly in their need to preserve “strategic independence,” they see new challenges in the evolving international security environment that will oblige them to accept greater cooperation with others, even in areas once considered too sensitive to discuss. Although some French strategists remain uncomfortable with the notion of closer defense ties with the United States, others ask whether there might be a greater danger ahead: specifically, if Europe’s strength dissipates as America “rebalances” toward the Asia-Pacific region, where does France turn to find capable and willing partners to protect its security interests?https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/inss-strategic-perspectives/1032/thumbnail.jp
Post-Asad Syria: Opportunity or Quagmire?
No full textThe government of President Bashar al-Asad in Syria faces strong pressure from its neighbors and the Western powers. In the background is the fall in 2011 of longstanding governments in Tunisia and Egypt to popular protests and, of course, the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in a civil war backed by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military action. It is not clear if Asad will fall or if he will hold on to power. It is fair to say that because his hold on power is sufficiently in doubt, it is well worth examining what would be the strategic consequences if he fell and what would be the strategic implications if he is able to muddle through Syria’s current difficulties. Moreover, given the many sudden and unpredicted Middle East developments in 2011, such an examination should note which low-probability developments might have major impacts on the region and on U.S. interests.https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/strategic-forums/1036/thumbnail.jp