The January -- February 2008 issue of Military Review has been posted to the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center web site.
Featured Articles
Beyond Guns and Steel: Reviving the Nonmilitary Instruments of American Power by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. The secretary of defense says the U.S. must develop a cadre of deployable civilians to strengthen the Nation's "soft" power in today's national security environment.
U.S. Africa Command: A New Strategic Paradigm? By Sean McFate. The tenth and newest unified command, AFRICOM, stands up in October 2008. Civilian-heavy and with a security-development focus on Africa, this hybrid will not look like its brethren.
Operation Mountain Lion: CJTF-76 in Afghanistan, Spring 2006 by Colonel Michael A. Coss, U.S. Army. The "clear-hold-build-engage" strategy used by Combined Joint Task Force-76 during Operation Mountain Lion (April-June 2006) could be a template for future counterinsurgency efforts.
Protection of Arts and Antiquities during Wartime: Examining the Past and Preparing for the Future by Major James B. Cogbill, U.S. Army. Well before D-Day, America planned to protect European art and cultural treasures. Failure to do the same in Iraq suggests we need a permanent DOD structure to ensure we don't repeat our mistake.
Northern Ireland: A Balanced Approach to Amnesty, Reconciliation, and Reintegration by Major John Clark, British Army. The political, economic, and security dimensions of societal reconstruction are ineluctably symbiotic. A veteran of the Northern Ireland "troubles" analyzes how that conflict has been brought to the brink of resolution.
The Rule of Law for Commanders by Captain Christopher M. Ford, U.S. Army. Without rule of law there is no chance for civil society and little likelihood of stabilizing a conflict. Iraq is a case in point.
International Law and Slavery by Mark D. Welton, J.D. Human trafficking remains a problem throughout the world—one that often arises in areas of armed conflict and, thus, is of concern to military professionals.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Department of Defense Humanitarian Assistance Programs by Colonel Eugene V. Bonventre, U.S. Air Force. Measures of effectiveness, normally ubiquitous throughout DOD, do not exist for monitoring and evaluating military humanitarian assistance activities. Making efforts to gauge these programs can pay dividends in stability operations.
Threat Analysis: Organized Crime and Narco-Terrorism in Northern Mexico by Gordon James Knowles, Ph.D. Below America's southern border, conditions are ripe for spawning potential mechanisms of terrorism directed at United States citizens. Awareness and cooperation with Mexican authorities are essential for controlling the threat.
Contest Winners
The New Legs Race: Critical Perspectives on Biometrics in Iraq by Andrew R. Hom. Biometric technology (retinal scans, gait analysis, voice recognition, etc.) is inherently invasive. Using it to map the Iraqi people could alienate those whose hearts and minds we claim to covet.
Finding America's Role in a Collapsed North Korean State by Captain Jonathan Stafford, U.S. Army. Instead of fighting every battle in the War on Terrorism ourselves, we should help better positioned allies prepare for possible flashpoints. One such flashpoint could well be North Korea.
On Luck and Leadership by Major David Cummings, Jamaica Defence Force. How many times in our careers as professional Soldiers have we heard individual officers described as being lucky? What is this thing called luck?
Merging Information Operations and Psychological Operations by Lieutenant Colonel Fredric W. Rohm Jr., U.S. Army. Merging the IO functional area and the Psychological Operations branch into one specialty may be cost effective. Combining resources, training, and functions can only help improve our effort in the information war.
Insights
Iraq: The Way Ahead by Mitchell M. Zais, Ph.D. Security in Iraq has clearly improved over the last year, but the Iraqi Government has made little progress on the political end. "Soft-partitioning" seems to be the best solution to the government's paralysis.
Redefining Insurgency by Lieutenant Colonel Chris North, U.S. Army, Retired. The current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are more complex than the word "insurgency" suggests. A new definition may be in order.
Military Review: November - December 2007 Issue