Journal

The US must ensure it is not simply being responsive to Chinese moves, but instead base decisions on strategic objectives.

This study gives policy makers, scholars, law enforcement practioneers and planners a greater understanding on the degree and nature of Mexican drug trafficking organization’s rationality.

Do we actually know much about drone strikes' political effects? No.

In an era of expanding popular engagement and attention to foreign conflicts, a strategic appreciation of people-centric dimensions is more important now than ever.

FID is failing now.  The solution is to create a mid-career SOF FID specialization for SOF Officers.

Mad Scientist # 15: As an Army “Mad Scientist”, I am both intellectually mad and emotionally mad about the armor/force protection topic.

The chances the government’s ongoing peace negotiations with FARC will end with the guerrillas morphing into a political party willing and participating in the democratic process are iffy.

This article discusses an alternative defensive strategy which addresses human performance capabilities and limitations to disrupt spearphishing attacks.

“History teaches us that we learn nothing from history.”

- - Hegel

The confluence of the Army’s explicit ideology, its operational practices, and ability to wage war in a political vacuum left by an unstable civil authority fed into mutually reinforcing processes of intransigence and insular thinking.

Mad Scientist # 14: On today’s battlefield, if it can be sensed it can be killed from afar, often with a single round. As the level of precision improves, this will only become truer.

Mad Scientist # 13: The Gray Zone is an ambiguous space. Not easy to visualize, it is cloaked making things beneath not always what they seem.

In order to develop effective counter-narratives, it is first necessary to conduct proper research that will lay the groundwork for any counter-narrative campaign.

Mad Scientist # 12: With the advancing field of genomics and gene modification, the possibility has arisen for applying these technologies to enhance a soldier’s physical capacity.

Mad Scientist # 11: War is man’s oldest profession. While we might aspire for peace, the exigencies of our world demand we prepare for war.

Mad Scientist # 10: As the demographic shift to an urban society continues, it becomes increasingly important to understand this complex terrain.

Though Russia traditionally relies on hard power to ensure state security and project power, the country may begin a revitalized effort of utilizing soft power to help achieve this.

Mad Scientist # 9: The Army risk mitigation processes and procedures needed to operate in a multi-national environment in order to prevent accidents and incidents.

Mad Scientist # 8: Routine complexities that we can forecast and prepare for, operational adaptability within the future security environment, and the changing nature of conflict.

Mad Scientist # 7: The DoD's  Third Offset Strategy - is it really strategy?

Mad Scientist # 6: In 2050, the world will have welcomed a net 2.5 billion additional people in areas characterized as urban, with most of this increase concentrated in Asia and Africa.

Violent extremism is a complex, psycho-social process that belies a simple explanation.

The strategic impact that India and Pakistan will bring to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should not go unnoticed by the United States and its allies.

A firsthand account of the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on August 7, 1998.

Russia’s actions in Eastern Europe have revived an era of limited war. Russia uses a hybrid warfare, nascent approach to warfare which levers information to achieve limited objectives.

The purpose of this article is to help tactically deployed soldiers engage in problem solving through conversational interviewing and application of qualitative methods.

Only a few examples exist where drug crops, to one degree or another, have played role in a war and where the conflict was resolved or appeared to be heading towards resolution.

Mad Scientist # 6: Social Media is becoming a powerful tool to recruit “foreign fighters” as well as to persuade groups and individuals to perform terrorist acts elsewhere.

The attritional war phase of our three modern wars is what distinguishes them from past conflicts.

Rare is the leader who has not heard the triumphant story of a man named Rowan who when tasked to deliver a message to Garcia set off and accomplished the mission.

This paper focuses on the actions of the counterinsurgent and examines several types of COIN - listing practitioners and the core requirements for success in each.

Foreign Policy named Gülen the world’s top living intellectual and described him as an inspirational leader to millions around the world and persona non grata in Turkey.

Mad Scientist # 5: The expanding use of armed, unmanned systems is not only changing the face of modern warfare, but is also altering the process of decision-making in combat operations.

The fluidity and adaptability of the BHG during multiple phases have made it difficult for Nigeria to evolve a coherent strategy to contain its activities.

This article argues that the proper place for new aviators to start flight training in is a simple, fixed-wing trainer.

This article is the fourth in the TRADOC/SWJ’s latest “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

One of history's most recent and successful COIN campaigns proved so successful that few, even in the military community, are aware that it ever took place.

Flynn is one of the few professional intelligence officers to cut through the fog of Obama era apologetics and tighten the focus on the war we are fighting, not wars we might fight.

The purpose of this paper is to discern why the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan, and why the United States and its allies delegated to the Mujahedin.

This article is the third in the TRADOC/SWJ’s latest “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

This article is the second in the TRADOC/SWJ’s latest “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

This is the first article in the second round of the TRADOC “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

This article presents a red team exercise that posits requirements for an Afghan Taliban victory in Afghanistan over a 5-year timeline.

Humans encroach on the wilderness, but nature extracts its own not so subtle revenge with the tools of drought and fire. Such as it is today.

Based on a request from SOCOM to the Director of the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies, the author and his instructor briefed this paper and its ideas to the J39 of SOCOM.

Alex first reported on this issue for The Washington Times.  Here's the rest of her story.

It is important to assess the progress of the PLAAF’s degree of progress toward achieving the capabilities it requires by the early 2030s and this paper intends to do so.

This article examines Islamic State’s decision-making, focusing specifically on its pivots between temporal and ideological priorities.

The role of CA in denied areas is a hotly contested topic among members of the special operations community. Feedback is mixed - in favor and against.

Only the withdrawal of American and NATO boots on the ground will begin to allow the process of near-frantic emotions to subside within Pakistan, and for the region to start to cool down.