Journal

The US strategy of selecting reliable proxies against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria based on their ideological leanings is proving to be disastrous.

The ISIS’ caliphate and the security challenges it portends. These problems have been poorly addressed by the Administration’s low cost/minimum risk containment policy.

SWJ interview with William McCants on The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State (St. Martin’s Press, September 2015).

The creation of operational level of war between strategy and tactics in U.S. doctrine resulted from a misunderstanding of the operational art and its relationship to both strategy and tactics.

We remain quiet because it’s good to be hard and professional, cloaked in the comfort of our own delusion.

Much of the debate over whether to allow women into ground combat specialties has revolved around what information we should actually use and what that information actually tells us.

This article is designed to broaden your knowledge on the Decisive Action Training Environment, helping you understand what it is, what it isn’t, and how it serves Soldiers and leaders.

The military is not a brotherhood. It's not a sisterhood.  We are all comrades in arms. Let's hope the Marines can help set the conditions for future success for all who serve.

Analysts who frame their debate in terms of the present application of drones are often bypassed by technological development.

Operations in Ukraine and several countries in the ME have reinforced the role of strategic approaches that do not fall neatly into conventional analysis of conflict.

Our nation’s leaders, the crafters of policy, need to get clear in their mind what they intend to achieve before they ask strategists to get it done.

The current situation in Ukraine and, to some extent in neighboring former Soviet republics (primarily Baltic States), highlights the application of nonlinear war.

The reason the term complex may have gained its current ascendancy in the lexicon is that it expiates semantically the frustration strategists and policy makers feel toward pesky conflicts.

This SWJ report assesses the nature of U.S. assistance to the Mexican government's recent efforts to combat organized crime.

The United States and its partner nations in the battle against Islamic Extremist terrorists must discover new and improved courses of action.

Good pilots make me sick with envy.  They guide their craft with the skill and subtle controls of a mounted rodeo champion or classic violinist.

Viewing success as merely lethal action against the enemy presents an inaccurate measure for victory in military operations.

This essay focuses on analyzing the different human security threats present in the region followed by an analysis of the traditional policy approach followed by the government.

I made my hajj to Korea and served there for three years.  The "land of the morning calm" presents historical, professional, and lifestyle opportunities you will find nowhere else.

Words matter. Alas, neologisms come into the language all the time. Ironically, polemicists on the Right and Left abhor words like “Islamism.”

Interview with Jim Thomas (CSBA) conducted by Octavian Manea.

Drone or RPA pilots are leaving the USAF faster than they can be replaced.  Even more pay doesn't seem to slow the hemorrhaging down much.

The rise of vigilante citizen militias in the western Mexican state of Michoacán has been a key component in the narrative of the government’s failure to secure its citizenry.

Single point failures, military or otherwise, can be beneficial, an opportunity to learn. Serial failure, however, is often the slippery slope of cultural decay.

ADRP 3-0 is and wrong and incorrectly merges operational art and the operational level of war. The former is a creative process, the latter, is a location.

There is no one panacea to counter the violence and instability in Jalisco, and it will take time for the Operation to make an impact.

In light of the growing strength of the Sinai Province after swearing allegiance to the Islamic State, what counter actions can General Sisi and Egypt’s leaders take.

The tolerance for traditional military conflict towards achieving state interests has greatly diminished. Thus, SOF are now incorporated into a “Whole of Government” approach.

We must move into a multi-dimensional understanding of information, connectivity, and signatures in order to turn the requisite data on its axis.

History offers lessons that, if properly understood within context, elucidate continuous themes and creates options, fostering adaptability through broadening.

As the Army continues to draw down, the reality of an uncertain and complex future environment prevents the traditional post-war reset from occurring.

It is interesting to note that in a time of a political crisis the governments of modern democracies will often act in defiance of their usually liberal agendas to impose acts of self-preservation.

While this article provides an overview of Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s HUMINT, it is important to acknowledge that there are many different types of intelligence.

The fundamental problem at the heart of the Doctrine 2015 effort was this attempt to rebuild within a few years what had previously taken generations to assemble.

Leadership and ideology seem to be practically immune to drone strikes; hence making them a "super bug" that is not deterred by threats of strikes or undermined by actual kinetic strikes.

Despite criticism from pundits, President Santos has pragmatically led Colombia through a difficult era, and currently has it poised to reach a lasting internal peace.

An AAR can do more than simply identify simplistic lessons learned in training or on the battlefield - it is an opportunity to develop a more cohesive team.

The USAF’s fighter procurement plan puts Combat Air Forces on a pathway to become smaller, less capable, and less relevant to the challenges faced by the nation and our allies.

By examining Japan’s history and culture, this paper seeks to understand why the Yasukuni Shrine burdens Japan’s relationship particularly with the Republic of Korea and China.

The Army must institute an evaluation system that offers promotion boards more information on each candidate’s performance and potential that is independent from the chain of command.

The War on Terror has been coined our era’s Vietnam and there has been no shortage of opinions on how similar or different Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are.

Our team has spent the last four months studying ungoverned spaces and the unique characteristics that will impact potential future operations and has initiated a network modeling technique.

With the sequester in effect, there must be a shift in the Army to transition to a Total Army training plan in order to synchronize its efforts and formulate synergy.

Erdoğan and the PKK see opportunities in renewed struggle, sidelining the threat of ISIS.

Interview with Commander (rtd) Steve Tatham, PhD, RN, Director of Operations at IOTA-Global Ltd, a specialist civilian Information Operations company.

Soldier efficiency should be a cornerstone of capabilities development in the Army.  The importance of Soldier efficiency will only grow as a smaller segment of society serves in uniform.

This paper examines the conduct of the Afghanistan War under the Barack Obama administration and offers policy recommendations for the president.

The cyber domain is a 'forest' dense with complications and operational implications. Cyber black swan events will happen; we must prepare to deal with them.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army lost the support of Catholics in Northern Ireland because the scope of its operations escalated the level of violence to a state that was beyond its control.

Human domain maps are just as critical to 21st century warfare as terrestrial maps. This article demonstrates the importance of these human domain maps.