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"Small wars are operations undertaken under executive authority, wherein military force is combined with diplomatic pressure in the internal or external affairs of another state whose government is unstable, inadequate, or unsatisfactory for the preservation of life and of such interests as are determined by the foreign policy of our Nation."

— Small Wars Manual, 1940

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Journal

The Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación: The most significant security challenge in the Mexico-United States relationship
by Raúl Benitez-Manaut, by Josué Ángel González Torres | Sat, 09/30/2023 - 8:50pm | 0 comments
This essay argues that the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) is currently the most powerful criminal organization in Mexico. This is due to two factors: first, due to the blows that the Mexican government, supported by the United States and its intelligence systems, has dealt to the main dominant cartel in Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel, capturing Joaquín Guzmán, (aka) “El Chapo,” his sons and members of the leadership structure. Secondly, the CJNG has managed to control a significant part of fentanyl production and has managed to penetrate the distribution networks of this drug to the United States. For the authors, the war on drugs and the fight against fentanyl has become one of the main security problems between the two countries.
SWJ El Book Review –  Mientras llega la alegría: transición inconclusa en las relaciones cívico-policiales (Chile, 1990-1994)
by Diego Ramírez Sánchez | Sat, 09/30/2023 - 6:24pm | 0 comments
Book Review of "Mientras llega la alegría: transición inconclusa en las relaciones cívico-policiales (Chile, 1990-1994)." This review in English recounts the evolution of policing in Chile from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet to the first democratic government of Patricio Aylwin.
El Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación: El mayor reto de seguridad en la relación México-Estados Unidos
by Raúl Benitez-Manaut, by Josué Ángel González Torres | Sat, 09/30/2023 - 4:32pm | 0 comments
El presente ensayo sostiene la tesis de que el Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) es actualmente la organización criminal más poderosa de México. Ello se debe a dos factores: en primer lugar, debido a los golpes que el gobierno mexicano, apoyado por Estados Unidos y sus sistemas de inteligencia, le ha dado al principal Cártel dominante en México, el de Sinaloa, capturando a Joaquín Guzmán, (a) El Chapo, sus hijos y miembros de la estructura de liderazgo. En segundo lugar, a que el CJNG ha logrado controlar parte importante de la producción de fentanilo y ha logrado penetrar las redes de distribución de esta droga hacia los Estados Unidos. Para los autores, la guerra a las drogas y el combate al fentanilo se ha convertido en uno de los principales problemas de seguridad entre ambos países.
SWJ El Centro Reseña del libro – Mientras llega la alegría: transición inconclusa en las relaciones cívico-policiales (Chile, 1990-1994)
by Diego Ramírez Sánchez | Sat, 09/30/2023 - 3:59pm | 0 comments
Book Review of "Mientras llega la alegría: transición inconclusa en las relaciones cívico-policiales (Chile, 1990-1994)." This review in Spanish recounts the evolution of policing in Chile from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet to the first democratic government of Patricio Aylwin. Reseña del libro "Mientras llega la alegría: transición inconclusa en las relaciones cívico-policiales (Chile, 1990-1994)". Esta reseña en español relata la evolución de las relaciones cívico-policiales en Chile desde la dictadura de Augusto Pinochet hasta el primer gobierno democrático de Patricio Aylwin.
Navigating the Crossroads: ACCMA's Shift in Civilian Career Management
by Atlas Vanguard | Tue, 09/26/2023 - 4:28pm | 0 comments
The purpose of this article is to offer for discussion the changing landscape of the Army’s Civilian Career Management. Huge civilian management decisions are currently underway with no inputs from Army senior leadership. These changes, done in a void, lack a clearly defined problem to solve and no in-depth studies have been completed. This will potentially cause serious long term negative effects. The loss of the SES led Functional Advisor (FA) team undermines the value proposition of our civilian workforce. The lack of strategic processes and Army process driven guidance is leading the Army Civilian Career Management Activity (ACCMA) down a path of irrelevance and a potential return to the status quo ante of 2010. Strategic discourse offers an opportunity to for Army Senior Leaders to add their voices and help shape what needs Army Civilian professionals require to transform into the Army of 2040. First the article will overview strategic documents and highlight the difference between those documents and a research study. It will then walk through the current decision process and the removal of the SES functional advisor from ACCMAs decisions and discuss the tertiary effects of those decisions.
Blood on the street: violence, crime, and policing in Karachi
by Vanda Felbab-Brown | Tue, 09/19/2023 - 10:20pm | 0 comments
This article explores the sources of urban insecurity and violence in Karachi, Pakistan since the 1990s. Based on fieldwork, the article also examines and assesses the effects and effectiveness of a wide-range of anti-crime measures, including the deployments of national military and paramilitary forces, the role of national and local police forces as well as of politicians, the business community, and civil society in responding to violent crime and a broad set of local illicit economies. As Pakistan’s key transportation and manufacturing hub and economic engine, Karachi is also deeply intermeshed in global smuggling networks. Moreover, in Karachi, crime and violence, including, but beyond terrorism, are also deeply intertwined with ethnic politics.
SWJ Book Review – Waves of Global Terrorism: From 1879 to the Present
by Keaton O.K. Bunker | Thu, 09/14/2023 - 3:49pm | 0 comments
Book Review of David C. Rapoport's "Waves of Global Terrorism" by SWJ−El Centro Intern Keaton O.K. Bunker.
Legio Patria Nostra: A Blueprint For An American Foreign Legion
by Tom Ordeman, Jr. | Sun, 09/03/2023 - 5:05pm | 0 comments
In August of 2021, coalition forces - centered on a persistent NATO task force - orchestrated a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Before the international community could clear the last of their troops, administrators, and aid workers, the Taliban reclaimed de facto control of Afghanistan, signaling the unequivocal failure of a twenty-year-long engagement. The coalition's intervention began as a near-flawless unconventional warfare (UW) campaign, and escalated into a conventional campaign before devolving into a disunited mixture of nation-building and counterinsurgency. As NATO divided Afghanistan into a series of fiefdoms overseen by individual member countries, the Taliban re-organized and re-infiltrated. By exploiting continuous missteps by the coalition, international community, and Afghan government, the Taliban managed to turn the coalition's scheduled evacuation into a rout. This largely mirrored other recent campaigns in Iraq, and later Syria and Libya. This mixture of partial and outright failures contributes to a series of inevitable conclusions.
West Front Ukraine 2024? Thinking about NATO intervention
by Martin Stanton | Sat, 09/02/2023 - 9:43pm | 0 comments
          Since early June the Ukrainian’s summer offensive has enmeshed itself in the Russian’s defensive belts and has made little headway.  Observing the scene from afar, if I had to guess as to whether the Ukrainians will (a) be able to break through all the Russians defensive belts and conduct grand sweeping maneuver warfare that will reach Melitipol and eventually liberate Crimea. Or (b) they will continue to be stymied like General Model’s forces were in their attack on the Russian defensive belts in the northern part of the Kursk salient eighty years ago, my money would be on the latter, with the Russians being able to contain the Ukrainian’s offensive. The issue is that while the Russians may be able to hold off the Ukrainians, that’s not the same thing as defeating them.  The Russian army has been savaged in the Ukraine with much of its offensive capability wasted in badly conceived and executed operations during the first few months of the war.  So don’t look for any far-ranging Operational Maneuver Groups of Red Army lore from them either.  Instead, what we find is a high-tech version of the Western front in the first world war.  An eastern European Passchendaele – with drones.
Review Essay: Taiwan’s Former Nuclear Weapons Program: Nuclear Weapons On-Demand
by Tom Ordeman, Jr. | Sat, 08/26/2023 - 8:30pm | 0 comments
Following an aborted Thanksgiving 2021 attempt that mostly involved me falling asleep, I recently made a concerted effort to plough through David Albright and Andrea Stricker's 2018 volume, Taiwan's Former Nuclear Weapons Program: Nuclear Weapons On-Demand. While Albright and Stricker's volume adds to the corpus of cold war case studies, its contents leave a great deal to be desired, and arguably neglect many of the most important questions raised by their subject matter.

Blog Posts

10/4/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Wed, 10/04/2023 - 6:11pm | 0 comments

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10/3/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Tue, 10/03/2023 - 6:35pm | 0 comments

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10/2/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Mon, 10/02/2023 - 7:30pm | 0 comments

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10/1/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 10/01/2023 - 10:55am | 0 comments

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9/30/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sat, 09/30/2023 - 4:30pm | 0 comments

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9/29/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Fri, 09/29/2023 - 9:09am | 0 comments

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9/28/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Thu, 09/28/2023 - 8:27am | 0 comments

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9/27/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Wed, 09/27/2023 - 8:31pm | 0 comments

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9/26/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Tue, 09/26/2023 - 10:39am | 0 comments

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9/25/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Mon, 09/25/2023 - 12:30pm | 0 comments

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9/24/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 09/24/2023 - 6:18pm | 0 comments

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9/23/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sat, 09/23/2023 - 7:12pm | 0 comments

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9/22/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Fri, 09/22/2023 - 12:38pm | 0 comments

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“The Team Room” follows a fictional Special Forces ODA that deploys in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
by SWJ Editors | Thu, 09/21/2023 - 7:41pm | 0 comments

9/21/23 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Thu, 09/21/2023 - 7:38pm | 0 comments

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