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Don't Just Hear, Listen: The Criticality of Accepting Local Nationals' Priorities in Stability Operations
From the Abstract: "This monograph suggests an explanation for the US-led international coalition's challenges during their stabilization efforts in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2018. The theory of a hierarchy of needs argues that lower-level needs must be sufficiently provided before addressing higher-level needs. Consequently, from the local population's perspective, security needs are subordinate to basic physiological needs. However, the intervening forces implemented a Shape-Clear-Hold-Build-Transition approach, which prioritized security over everything else. A possible solution to that dilemma is to address both needs simultaneously rather than sequentially. The study used qualitative data analysis and examined eighty-two interviews with American and Afghan officials, conducted by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The results indicate that a phased approach focused on 'security first' had no impact or a negative impact on stabilization efforts' outcomes. At the same time, attempts that simultaneously addressed security and reconstruction, based on an understanding of locals' needs and their priorities, consistently led to better and longer-lasting results. More research is necessary to validate the suggested theoretical construct. However, assuming the findings hold true, the author's conclusions offer possible improvements to designing, planning, and implementing future stability operations."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Prokoph, Martin
2021-05-20
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Rise of the Liberation Tigers: Conventional Operations in the Sri Lankan Civil War, 1990-2001
From the Thesis Abstract: "The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which fought to establish a separate state for the Tamil minority of Sri Lanka until its annihilation in May 2009, developed impressive combat capabilities within a short time mostly without state sponsorship or the mass mobilization of the Tamil civilian population. The LTTE built its force structure with child fighters and crafted a secular cult of martyrdom that enabled it to raise a suicide bomber corps. In the early 1990s, the LTTE began to upgrade from a guerrilla force into an infantry force and formulated doctrine to destroy the bases of the Sri Lankan security forces. It later integrated its growing firepower to create a nascent combined-arms capability. The Tigers measured their success in tenns of their ability to fight the security forces, not in territory or control over people. By the end of the decade, they reached their high watermark after defeating a Sri Lanka Army division. The example of the LTTE challenges orthodox understanding of how nonstate armed groups generate combat power. Although the LTTE no longer exists, its example suggests that similar armed groups could emerge elsewhere, under the right conditions, to threaten the stability of other governments in the developing world."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Rodrigo, Nisala A.
2019-11-04
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Illicit Wildlife Resource Exploitation and Transnational Criminal Organizations: A Problem for Military Planners
From the Thesis Abstract: "This monograph explains the double negative impact of wildlife resource exploitation by transnational criminal organizations and provides an example of an operational approach to address the problem. The first case study explains the evolution of poaching enforcement during the development of natural parks in the United States. The second case study uses the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme to demonstrate how to turn the illicit trade of wildlife resources into a legitimate and profitable industry. The ultimate aim is to secure wildlife resources, deny transnational criminal organizations the opportunity to exploit wildlife resources, and enable legitimate governments to sustain wildlife populations and profit from their own natural environments."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Wilson, Byron W., Jr.
2019-05-24
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Emergence of Readiness: The Efforts That Generate and Consume Ready Forces
From the Thesis Abstract: "Expert debates on readiness usually pit individuals that view readiness efforts as the tactical efforts of manning, equipping, and training military units against those that believe readiness includes strategic elements such as end strength. This monograph seeks to describe readiness as both a system and an emergent property that creates a force that can meet the demands of assigned missions. In addition to the manning, equipping, and training - referred to as tactical readiness lines of effort - this monograph introduces strategic readiness lines of effort that contribute to the readiness system and the emergent property of a ready force. The strategic readiness lines of effort combine with the traditional tactical readiness lines of efforts to generate forces capable of meeting assigned missions. This places readiness generation largely at the strategic and tactical levels of war. As a result, readiness consumers reside at the operational level where campaigns and major operations are conducted in pursuit of national security interests."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Neri, Philip B.
2019-05-24
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Examination of Turkey's Relations with Europe and the United States
From the Abstract: "Turkey's inability integrate into Western political and economic institutions threaten to fracture Turkey's relations with Europe and the United States. Turkey's legacy of military, political, and economic cooperation with Europe and the United States has long roots, but it does not guarantee a future of stable relations. Turkey's inability to meet the criteria for EU membership does not diminish its role in NATO or as a regional security partner, but it suggests ambivalence between the idea of Europe and Turkish identity. This monograph examines the factors that contribute to contemporary Turkish identity and their worldview. These factors include: Turkey's Ottoman heritage, the republic's fight for independence, its diplomacy through conflict, its role in the containment of communism, and its pivotal role in Western security institutions. This monograph also provides insight into current Turkish perceptions of Europe and the United States."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Jacobs, Travis A.
2019-05-23
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Chasing Emergence: Historical Development of Planning and Intelligence in Great Power Conflict
From the Thesis Abstract: "Modern US Army doctrine requires collaborative planning by all War Fighting Functions. The years between WWI [World War I] and WWII [World War II] became the planning forge for the American military. Why did the United States develop integrated planning before WWII and how did it affect Army operations? The integration of intelligence, and other functional specialties, into interwar planning established a new planning paradigm in the US Army. Contributions from non-combat functional areas like intelligence, signals, and logistics became a central theme to interwar planning."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Carter, Jared A.
2019-05-23
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Korean Way of War: Within the Framework of the Strategy of Annihilation and Attrition
From the Thesis Abstract: "This monograph attempts to identify the Korean way of war by analyzing Korean military history through the framework of a strategy of annihilation and attrition. The paper assumes that Korea, a small state surrounded by strong neighbors during the last 5,000 years, was able to protect its identity, language, and culture due to its own way of war. Such a way of war was established and has been shaped by the interaction of various elements of Korea's strategic context. These elements range from geography, economic resources, history, civil-military relations, sociopolitical context, and strategic culture. On the contrary to the dominant discourse about achieving a quick and decisive victory within the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army, such a victory does not seem to fit in the Korean historical context. Historical cases have proved that optimistic wishes of quick and decisive victory often became a delusion that was alien to reality on the ground. The author, thus, hypothesizes that the way of war Korea has pursued throughout history is tied to the strategy of attrition and not the strategy of annihilation. Such awareness is the foundation on which the development of the future Korean way of war must reflect."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Kim, Kwonwoo
2019-05-23
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Banners and Signs: The Use of Religious Symbolism in Combat Operations
From the Thesis Abstract: "This monograph examines how elements of information operations were used leading up to and during the Norman Conquest of England, in the history of the formation of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and expansion also brings elements of information operations into contemporary operations. In the current United States Army doctrine Field Manual 3-13, 'Information Operations', the lack of discussion of religious symbols used is a gap requiring further research and development. The implication from both campaigns is relevant to today's contemporary operating environments as the United States conducts combat missions against entities that use religion and religious symbols to incorporate legitimacy into actions."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Aitchison, Paul M.
2019-05-23
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Pursuing National Interests Through Coalitions with Adversaries
From the Thesis Abstract: "Over the last few years the threats facing the United States have adapted into two categories. Nation states like Russia and China aim to contest the United States' influence in their regions and further their own interests. Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs) are proving to be broad threats that are operating throughout the world and require multinational collaboration to defeat them. While these may seem like novel circumstances facing the United States, the combination of a VEO threatening multiple nations requiring them to work together is not new. In 1900 eight nations formed a temporary alliance in Northern China to secure their besieged populations living abroad. This monograph proposes that in eras of competition, coalitions formed with adversaries offer nations the ability to both further their own interests and counter their rivals. Motivated by common elements of fear, honor and interests both Japan and Russia joined a coalition to defeat their common foes: the Boxer Rebellion and the Qing Dynasty. While this coalition bound the groups together and strengthened their ability to achieve mutual goals, it also enabled parties to both pursue unique national interests and check rivals' ambitions. This is seen most in the operational art of the Japanese and Russian militaries. Their operational reach, lines of operations and effort, and end states were all enabled by the formation of the coalition."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Wagner, Daniel J.
2019-05-23
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Unification of Korea: Choices for a New Nation
From the Abstract: "This monograph looks at the potential impact a unified Korea might have upon the regional and global competition. Although numerous concerns surround the peninsula's future, one might ask two primary questions in regard to unification and the balance of power: 'What would unification look like?' and 'What strategic impact would a unified Korea have on regional and global international relations?' Complicating this issue is the rising power of China and competing United States interests in the region. The regional dynamics and history of the Korean Peninsula provide insight into how South Korea, North Korea, and other nations in the region have behaved to meet their national interests in similar situations. This monograph will offer answers by using international relation theories to propose that if unification occurs, it will result in an absorption unification model, with Korea hedging its alliances with the United States and China in order to meet its national interests."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Johnke, Barton L.
2019-05-23
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Putin's Political Philosophy: Implications for Future Russian Military Activity
From the Abstract: "President Putin practices the Conservative school of political philosophy. The philosophy acknowledges the existence of a governing body, individual ownership of property, and the rule of law. These are balanced against the central concern of this school, which is the stability of the core governing body. Adherents guard against political or popular dialogue that could upend the existing government order. Seeking an alternative reality to Russia's profoundly conservative political philosophy will elicit an uncooperative and violent spirit. Three vectors of research and analysis balanced against Russia's persistent security dilemmas and employed across multiple historical periods supply the means to assess Putin's political philosophy. Poor geography, a harsh and restrictive climate, and distance plus time--the security dilemmas--each contribute to the maintenance or lack thereof of national accord, national pride, and national prestige, each core concerns of Conservative political philosophical thought. Putin's security decisions will reflect the same historical determination to mitigate or remove the risks associated with the dilemmas. Japan and China contest Russia's access to the Pacific Ocean; Putin will nurture his relationship with Beijing. Littoral states contest Russia's decision space in the Caspian Sea; Putin will prioritize Tehran. Putin will nurture his relationship with Ankara to undermine NATO and reduce Black Sea southern area threats. Beijing, Tehran, and Ankara are alliances of convenience."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Graham, Francesca A.
2019-05-23
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Multi-Domain Operations: The Historical Case
From the Thesis Abstract: "This study demonstrates that air superiority, maritime superiority, and favorable political constraints are prerequisite military conditions, serving here as criteria for evaluation of the case studies, that enable convergence and allow the US Army to achieve strategic objectives in the land domain during armed conflict. This study analyzes and compares two historical cases, Operation Overlord (1944) and the Korean War (1950-1951). The cases highlight crucial differences in the achievement of convergence in a war with absolute political aims as in the Second World War, and the wars following 1945 dominated by limited political aims and correspondingly limited military means and strong political constraints. The comparison of the two cases highlights the temporal differences associated with achieving air and maritime superiority and the different political constraints associated with each case. The outcome of the study is analytical support for the thesis that air superiority, maritime superiority, and favorable political constraints are prerequisites to convergence in Multi-Domain Operations. This study confirms that historical cases provide powerful antecedents for modern, emerging, or future military concepts and domains."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Burgoon, Matthew W. P.
2019-05-23
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Decisions Based on Experience in the Absence of Doctrine: The Risk with Allied Partners
From the Thesis Abstract: "[D]uring multinational operations, the US Army and joint doctrine are silent in their discussion of how to assess and mitigate risk for operations involving allied partners. Therefore, a commander must identify, assess, and mitigate risk another way when including allies as part of a multinational operation. By examining Operations Overlord and Desert Storm through a methodology of structured focused comparison, this study examined how these two commanders understood coalition risk, and what steps they took to mitigate it. It examined the relationship between education and experiences that shaped their ability to influence the planning of their operations."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Desjardin, Randy S., Jr.
2019-05-23
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Moving Beyond Reflection and Discussion: The Case for Canada to Craft a National Security Strategy
From the Thesis Abstract: "This paper engages the reader in understanding the vital role a national security strategy plays in the policy-strategy relationship as a tool to centrally manage all instruments of national power in the pursuit of Canada's interests. Moreover, through an examination of the global security environment, the application of power and the conceptual approaches a state may take to national security strategy formulation, this paper demonstrates the relevance and value a national security strategy could bring to Canada's national security framework. Strategies are not born of 'immaculate conception.' A positive change is required in Canada's national security framework."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Murphy, Shane R.
2019-05-23
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South China Sea: A Strategic Flashpoint
From the Thesis Abstract: "The South China Sea (SCS) is a resource-rich strategic waterway that has steadily grown in global significance. China and its Southeast Asian neighbors have a long, complicated history of overlapping and competing claims of territorial sovereignty in the SCS. [...] This monograph analyzes two scenarios in the SCS that could potentially lead to conflict between the United States and China. First, the enduring disputes between China and its neighbors could escalate to the point where the United States gets drawn into the conflict as a third party. Secondly, a direct conflict between China and the United States could result from China's discontentment with the United States' execution of freedom of navigation operations in the SCS. An analysis of US and Chinese writings on escalation theory provides a useful framework for explaining how the ongoing disputes in the SCS could lead to an escalation into conflict."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Rosales, Jacob J.
2019-05-23
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Multi-Domain Operations: The Army's Future Operating Concept for Great Power Competition
From the Abstract: "Enduring and emerging powers are reshaping the geopolitical landscape by heavily investing in military modernization programs to achieve domain overmatch, physical stand-off, and superiority in military power. The Department of Defense published the Defense Innovation Initiative in 2014 to identify and invest in innovative ways to sustain and advance America's military dominance for the twenty-first century. Through the initiative, the Department of Defense developed a third 'offset' strategy to contend in great power competition and win during armed conflict. The US Army developed a new future operating concept called Multi-Domain Operations in order to support the new defense strategy, drive modernization, and prepare for the future fight. Multi-Domain Operations theory proposes three interrelated tenets that solves the problem of contested domains and Anti-Access/Aerial Denial threats presented by Chinese and Russian operations in conflict. Those tenets are calibrated force posture, multi-domain formations, and convergence. This monograph examines the efficacy of the three Multi-Domain tenets through the lens of a historical case study--Solomon Island Campaign during World War II. The case study will help drive discussion, analysis, and further refinement of the operating concept with military professionals."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Garn, Alex R.
2019-05-23
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Re-Understanding End States
From the Thesis Abstract: "Tactical understanding of the term 'end state' can be inadequate and inaccurate when used to describe operational and strategic aims and objectives. These aims are less about ends and specific momentary conditions and more about transitions, building potential and maintaining positions of positive advantage. Therefore, military leaders transitioning from tactical execution to operational and strategic planning must divest themselves of their tactical understanding of end states and adopt a more fluid and transitionally focused view. This study conducted a structured, focused comparison of Operation Desert Storm in Iraq from 1990 to 1991, Operation Restore Hope in Somalia from 1992 to 1993, and the Canadian operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Four research questions were asked of each case relating to national strategic aims, military end states, the adjustments made to both, and if their flexibility led to positions of positive advantage. The case studies showed that there are several interpretations of terminology to describe operational and strategic goals. Furthermore, success came less from flexibly written strategic aims or military end state conditions and more from flexible leadership and transitional planning when creating those aims and end states. The theories and empirical evidence examined supported this monograph's thesis that clear strategic aims combined with flexibly planned military end state conditions will better maintain positions of positive advantage than the use of rigid military end states that are focused on momentary success."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Lafave, David B.
2019-05-23
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Trial by Combat: Interwar Evolutions of Operational Art from World War I to Desert Storm
From the Thesis Abstract: "The US Army is currently emerging from near two-decades of continuous asymmetric combat with a renewed focus on large-scale combat operations (LSCO). The preponderance of the officer corps are educational products of the counterinsurgency officer education model. The Army is now restructuring from an organizational standpoint, while simultaneously producing new operational doctrine to best deter or defeat potential near-peer adversaries. A revision of officer education and training has historically followed broad military reform, connecting new theory and doctrine to operational implementation. The period between World War I and World War II saw critical updates to doctrine and officer education, eventually leading to Allied success over the Axis powers. Following a much different combat experience, American military reforms after Vietnam were also met with a successful combat trial, climaxing in Desert Storm. As a catalyst that framed each of these institutional reform periods, this monograph discusses the MeuseArgonne Campaign and the Yom Kippur War. Both campaigns created a new understanding of the future threats the US Army would face in a potential large-scale conflict. Using both as case studies, the Army redesigned its doctrine and aggressively pursued an educational program for its officer corps. By focusing on creating a professional officer corps at the operational level the Army found success in the following large-scale wars. This monograph investigates the notion that the common thread permeating the focus of both interwar periods is the attention given to understanding the operational level of war, operational art, and designing a professional military education (PME) system to promulgate it. By investigating these ideas, the Army can extract and adapt historically successful concepts to prepare the Army of today."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Withington, Joshua J.
2019-05-23
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From the E Ring to the Convention Floor: Retired Flag Officers and Presidential Elections
From the Thesis Abstract: "Although the concept of an apolitical professional military has widespread acceptance, active and retired general and flag officers have been involved with presidential politics throughout US history, either running as candidates for office, or endorsing candidates for office. Many observers consider such partisan endorsements by retired flag officers problematic. They view this partisan advocacy as potentially upsetting US civil-military relations and opening debates surrounding the apolitical professional ethic and its applicability after retirement. This monograph argues that partisan political activity by retired general and flag officers (GOFOs) is inappropriate and is potentially detrimental to effective civil-military relations between civilian leaders and serving senior officers."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Simontis, Nicholas R.
2019-05-23
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US Inter-Agency Unity of Effort in Stability Operations: Ad hoc Solutions for Recurring Problems
From the Thesis Abstract: "The synchronization between US military and US civilian agencies during stability operations has proved problematic during past and present conflicts. While there has been an acknowledgment by the US government and US military of the importance of unity of effort, the current organizational structure present during stability operations is inadequate to achieve a unified effort and the United States has relied on ad-hoc structures to compensate. Counterinsurgency theory and US military doctrine both emphasize the importance of unity of effort during stability operations, but solutions like the National Security Council have failed to solve the ongoing problem. The Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development (CORDS) structure during the Vietnam War and the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) structure during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan pose two ad-hoc models developed during stability operations in an attempt to unify the civilian and military efforts. Both cases provide frameworks illustrating positive and negative practices, and the dangers of relying solely on ad-hoc organizations to solve institutional organizational problems."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Cowne Jr., Stephen M.
2019-05-23
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China's Use of Power and Implications for the United States Military
From the Thesis Abstract: "Over the last two decades, with US military forces primarily focused on conflict in the Middle East, China's power projection proliferated from the Indo-Pacific region and spread Beijing's influence across all US geographic combatant command (COCOM) areas of responsibility (AORs). China's efforts put US national interests and security at risk and challenged the presence of US hard power resources in regions outside the sustainable operational reach of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). To fill the gap in the PLA's capabilities, China fostered relationships outside its immediate borders and challenged the Western-dominated status quo across the globe."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Schmidt II, Donald A.
2019-05-23
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Africa: China's Newest Stage for Great Power Competition
From the Thesis Abstract: "China's investment, development, and growing influence in Africa has significant consequences to the United States. China competes using unrestricted warfare. Thus, investment does not guarantee sustainable growth for African countries and potentially destabilizes economies. Furthermore, this practice leaves nations vulnerable to violent extremist recruitment and criminal networks. The purpose of this study is to provide insight into Xi Jinping's Chinese Dream, Africa's role in Xi's vision, and China's use of unrestricted warfare. The underlying thesis of this study argues China's strategy in Africa effectively employs elements of UW [unrestricted warfare] as a means to project strategic influence in Africa by extending operational reach for its military forces and thus, threatens US security. By understanding how China uses unrestricted warfare in Africa, US military planners gain insight into the China's deliberate employment of unrestricted warfare to accomplish President Xi Jinping's grand strategy. This more comprehensive understanding of the complexity of China's investment on the continent enhances US efforts to stabilize, counter VEO [violent extremist organization] emergence, and create self-reliant partners to increase regional security."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Bruning, Ingrid Faith
2019-05-23
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Operational Art of Sustaining Operation Avalanche
From the Thesis Abstract: "In early October 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower surveyed the destruction left behind in Naples, Italy, by the retreating German army. Despite the destruction, the Allies secured the port and successfully began the buildup of men, equipment, and material to continue combat operations in Italy. The Fifth Army achieved Operation Avalanche's objective to secure basing in Italy for further operations. The success of combat operations during Operation Avalanche depended on well-coordinated logistical planning and execution. US and British logistic planners supported an emerging strategy in the Mediterranean by anticipating requirements and linking strategic resources to tactical consumption. Using the lens of operational art provides clarity as to how logisticians supported large-scale combat operations in a contested environment. The elements of operational art and principles of sustainment are tools to help understand the development of Operation Avalanche as the Allies' strategy evolved in the Mediterranean."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Iwen, Craig M.
2019-05-23
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Ballad of Odysseus: A Return to Surprise and Cunning in Operational Art
From the Thesis Abstract: "This monograph presents the elements and characteristics of the principle of surprise on the modern battlefield. For ages, commanders and theorists regarded surprise as the cornerstone of operations. Given the changing operational environment with the potential for contested domains in the future, the principle of surprise will be pivotal once again in US military planning and operations. The essence of surprise is cunning. The context of surprise in US Army doctrine is no longer clear for the practitioner. Doctrine should provide a holistic concept of surprise that allows for the practitioner to use it as a guide in any situation of war. Surprise is a key element in achieving operational shock. The Soviet theory of Deep Battle highlights that operational shock requires the elements of surprise: preconceptions, deception, secrecy, and response time. The essence of operational art is cunning."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Craig, Cameron S.
2019-05-23
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The All-Volunteer Force: LSCO, Cost, and a New Implicit Tax on Reserve Forces
From the Thesis Abstract: "This monograph examines the creation of the All Volunteer Force (AVF) and the neoliberal economic ideas used by the 1970 Gates Commission which recommended it. It examines the neoliberal concept of cost and illustrates the difference of budgetary cost and actual economic costs employed in analyses of the draft and volunteer force models, with emphasis on the concepts of opportunity cost and implicit tax. The paper then explores the impact of budgetary cost increases on the AVF throughout the 1980s and 1990s, leading to decreasing force structure and the increased utilization of the Total Force-and particularly how reduced active-duty force structure led to increased utilization of the reserves in the prosecution of security operations. Finally, the paper shows that the increasing use of reserve forces has led to a new implicit tax born disproportionately on reserve soldiers for national defense requirements. These examples show how the salience of budgetary costs have undermined the neoliberal argument of actual economic costs, and through the reduction of the active force, imposed a new implicit tax disproportionally [sic] born by the reserve force and their employers. Thus, in any future great power conflict, the increasing costs of the AVF and the social inequality of the new implicit taxes on the reserves forces a greater possibility of a return to the draft."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Daily, Joshua J.
2019-05-23
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Employment of Operational Art: 'Daesh's' Offense into Iraq During the Summer of 2014
From the Thesis Abstract: "In the Summer of 2014, the world learned of a new horror as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stormed its way into the sovereign state of Iraq. Fueled by a religious fervor and united through Salafist dogma, ISIL overwhelmed Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) through use of tempo and deliberate lines of operation to achieve strategic aims. Within a two-month period, ISIL advanced hundreds of kilometers, secured multiple population clusters, and established a governmental regime to replace the Iraqi government. With the withdrawal of US combat power from Iraq, and the lucrative investment of Iraqi forces, multiple questions remain unanswered. How could a group of jihadists, with limited training, armed with technical vehicles and various small arms weapons overwhelm the security forces of the Iraqi government? [...] This monograph examines the presence of lines of operation, tempo, center of gravity, lines of effort, phasing and transitions during ISIL's offensive and consolidation activities. The monograph discusses ISIL's adherence to Salafist ideologies and the unique requirements to maintain a global caliphate. United by their interpretations of pure Sunni Islam, members of ISIL can converge both lethal and non-lethal action against belligerents. The monograph concludes with the understanding of ISIL's deliberate arrangement of lethal and non-lethal activity to accomplish strategic objectives."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Jimenez, Moises
2019-05-23
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Daoism to Maoism and Everything in Between: Operational and Strategic Thinking in the People's Republic of China
From the Thesis Abstract: "After two centuries of humiliation and loss, the People's Republic of China is now a major political and economic actor. Western observers expected China to liberalize with economic growth, and for China's rise to be peaceful. China's economy is now second only to the United States, but China is increasingly authoritarian. While China's rise was largely peaceful for decades, China is increasingly belligerent and aggressively seeks territorial expansion. While Chinese leaders have worked diligently to understand the West, Western leaders have done far less to understand China. Among the many ideologies, philosophies and ideas across China's long history, Daoism holds a unique and powerful influence even today. For Western students of China, Daoism is a good place to begin their study. This monograph seeks to determine the extent of Daoist influence on contemporary operational and strategic thinking in the People's Republic of China."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
McCall, Eric S.
2019-05-23
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Dereliction of Operational Expertise: How Self-Efficacy Shapes Decisionmaking
From the Thesis Abstract: "In 1995, LtGen(R) Paul Van Riper pitted bankers against US Marine Corps generals in two contests - a stock exchange simulation and a wargame. The venture capitalists won both exercises, beating standing operational leaders that represented decades of deployment and experience. LtGen(R) Van Riper believed that the money managers success stemmed from resiliency and confidence in ambiguous situations. Learning from this failure, the US Army may be able to increase operational leader effectiveness by fostering self-efficacy - confidence - in relation to observed ability."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Tucker, Aaron J.
2019-05-23
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Artificial Intelligence and Operational Art: The Element of Grip
From the Thesis Abstract: "The United States lacks a deliberate theory of artificial intelligence (AI) warfare. This contributes to the lack of discussion of the implications of AI at the operational level of war. AI is typically defined using a technological lens devoid of implications for operational art. The proposed new element of operational art 'grip,' explains the fundamental relationship between AI and humans across two spectrums: autonomy and role-exchange. Grip sets the foundation for a theory of AI warfare that proposes a hypothesis for actions, in addition to revealing the necessity for altering mission command theory. The development of AirLand Battle and the resulting formal emergence of the operational level of war (and operational art) is a historically similar case of how key assumptions influence battlefield visualization. Removing the assumption of 'human in the loop' AI warfare reveals a new element of operational art is required to arrange forces in time, space, purpose, in addition the Army mission command theory needs to adjust to enable a commander to move between forms of grip."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Pritchard, Michael D.
2019-05-23
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Importance of Educational and Mental Health Support in Youth DDR Operations
From the Thesis Abstract: "Warfare takes a toll on everyone who experiences it. This toll is especially heavy for children who live through a conflict. Experiencing traumatic events in war increases the chances of child survivors suffering from a variety of psychological disorders. War also disrupts the social network around children which further slows childhood development. The Islamic State (IS) deliberately recruited, educated, and radicalized thousands of children during their reign of control in portions of Iraq and Syria. Reintegrating the children traumatized and radicalized by IS requires well thought out and resourced youth Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) operations. Not properly reintegrating children traumatized by IS or other conflicts prolongs the time necessary for consolidating gains and undermines national and regional stability. Youth DDR operations in Sierra Leone in 2002 and the Niger River Delta in 2004 and 2009 offer good and bad examples for planning and conducting youth DDR operations in postconflict Iraq and Syria and beyond. [...] Providing post-conflict mental health and educational support to children by the US military reduces drivers of conflict, supports consolidation of gains, and develops a more lasting peace."
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. School of Advanced Military Studies
Morelli, Steven
2019-05-23
