| Small Wars Journal

The Middle East Crisis Has Just Begun by Robert Kaplan, Wall Street Journal opinion. BLUF: "For the U.S., democracy's fate in the region matters much less than the struggle between the Saudis and Iran."

Read more about The Middle East Crisis Has Just Begun

This Week at War: The Latest Temptation of Air Power

The Libya air campaign will not be as quick or painless as the White House seems to think.

Here is the latest edition of my column at Foreign Policy:

Topics include:

1) Has Obama been seduced by air power?

2) Marine Corps takes a calculated risk with its future

Has Obama been seduced by air power?

After one week, Odyssey Dawn, the operation aimed at protecting Libya's civilians from Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi's forces, seems to be bumping up against the limitations of its U.N. Security Council mandate. Coalition military officials believe they have demolished Qaddafi's air force and have suppressed his air-defense systems. But in spite of increasing airstrikes against Qaddafi's tanks and artillery, his ground forces are still on the verge of crushing rebel resistance in Misrata and are thwarting attempts by the rebels near Benghazi to advance westward.

Many of President Barack Obama's advisers, particularly those who served in Bill Clinton's administration, may have some nostalgia for how the former president appeared to deftly employ coercive air power on two occasions in the Balkans and, in doing so, avoided bloody and politically ruinous ground wars. Clinton's successor was not so lucky. Having observed the dramatically different political consequences for the Clinton and Bush administrations, Obama may be expecting air power to similarly deliver Clintonian success for him.

Obama may unwittingly be placing his hopes for easy success in Libya on Col. John Warden, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and chief planner of the strategic air campaign against Iraq in 1991. Warden explained his theory for using air power to achieve decisive effects in the latest issue of Air & Space Power Journal.

According to Warden, war planners should view their adversary as a system and devise a strategy that inflicts war-winning damage on its critical nodes or weak points. For Warden, enemy military forces in the field -- currently the focus of air strikes in Libya -- are merely the end point of the system's long chain of motivations, decisions, and processes. Enemy forces destroyed in the field can be replaced if the system creating, supporting, and leading them remains in place. Focusing only on those forces will likely lead to a stalemate. Much better, according to Warden, is to focus strikes against an adversary's leadership, and the processes and infrastructure that recruit, train, equip, support, and control their war effort.

There has been much open debate this week on whether the coalition can and should attempt to kill Qaddafi with a bomb or missile. To Warden, targeting Qaddafi would be a good start, but the air campaign should encompass an even broader array of leadership targets. Qaddafi's lieutenants should also be in the bomb-sights, along with the assets those regime members value most. Warden cites the air campaign against Slobodan Milosovic's forces during the 1999 Kosovo crisis. At first, coalition aircraft attacked only Serbian military forces in the field, attacks which were of little concern to Milosovic and thus generated little coercive leverage. During the second month of the Kosovo campaign, coalition planners added a wider range of leadership figures, including economic assets these leaders valued, to the target lists. Dissension inside the Serbian leadership broke out and Milosovic soon agreed to withdraw from Kosovo.

In spite of the Kosovo success (which Qaddafi and his family have very likely studied), political and practical limitations are likely to bog down Warden's theory. Although modern air weapons are incredibly precise, aerial reconnaissance remains inadequate to track down individual leaders who strive to remain hidden. In many cases, it is too difficult to disentangle damage to strictly military infrastructure and processes from damage to electrical, water, and food distribution to the civilian population. One errant bomb aimed at a military target can change a whole campaign. In 1991, while attempting to implement Warden's theory against Saddam Hussein, a U.S. laser-guided bomb scored a perfect hit on an underground bunker thought to be one of Saddam's command posts. But that night, the command post was being used as a bomb shelter for civilians. Scores were killed and the United States subsequently suspended Warden's strategic bombing campaign against downtown Baghdad.

The messy infantry-centric wars in Iraq and Afghanistan further tarnished Warden's vision of air power's ability to single-handedly deliver decisive results. The former head of Joint Forces Command, Gen. James Mattis -- a quintessential dirty-boot Marine Corps infantry officer -- banished Warden-inspired "effects-based operations" from the military's doctrine. In Mattis's long experience, war is too chaotic and too human to be solved by systems analysis. Mattis quoted Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman: "Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster."

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, the guidance for Operation Odyssey Dawn, is almost surely too restrictive to permit a decisive air campaign against Qaddafi. As frustration mounts in the days ahead, coalition policymakers will likely seek to expand the target lists drawn up by their air planners. They may even look to Warden's theory for an easy way out of the Libya conflict. But they won't find enough there to avoid a looming stalemate.

Marine Corps takes a calculated risk with its future

Last autumn, the Marine Corps appointed some of its officers and civilian officials to prepare a recommendation for how the Corps should restructure itself after it finishes its mission in Afghanistan. The Force Structure Review Group's (FSRG) report recommends some serious cost-cutting and a return to the Corps' amphibious and expeditionary roots. In doing so, the FSRG plan takes some calculated military risks, which these planners recognize and attempt to mitigate. But their plan also carries some political risks for the Marine Corps, which may end up being even more dangerous.

The FSRG's most notable recommendations are significant chops to frontline Marine Corps combat power, reversing most of an increase in headcount since 2007. The report recommends an 11 percent cut in infantrymen, a 20 percent cut to both tanks and artillery units and a 16 percent cut in its fighter jet squadrons. As this frontline combat power is reduced, the report also calls for associated reductions in headquarters units, logistics support capacity, and other support staff.

The premise behind these reductions is that the Marine Corps is not likely to be called on for any more "major sustained operations ashore" such as the five-year effort to pacify Iraq's Anbar Province or the ongoing large counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. The big cuts to tanks, artillery, and tactical air support indicate an even lower probability assigned to another Desert Storm-type armored battle.

While the plan reduces the capacity for conventional high-intensity combat, it retains irregular warfare skills acquired over the past decade. The plan adds to the Corps's special operations headcount, retains much of the training and support for irregular warfare built up since 2002, bolsters specialized law enforcement support capabilities, and adds to the Corps's cyber operations capacity.

The FSRG came to a carefully considered conclusion that the Marine Corps should be most ready for missions such as partnership engagement with foreign security forces, a variety of amphibious operations, humanitarian and disaster assistance, and rapid crisis response. At the same time, the group knew that it would have to take risks somewhere. It concluded that it could take a risk with the Corps's capacity to mount large or open-ended manpower-intensive campaigns such as those it waged in Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In spite of this seemingly recurring pattern of long bloody slogs, the FSRG planners were —to scale back their expectations of this pattern repeating yet again.

The FSRG intends to mitigate this risk by tapping, if necessary, the Marine Corps Reserve for the extra manpower and capabilities its plan will cut from active duty forces. The report also implies a shift in responsibility to the Army should the country get bogged down in another long struggle involving general-purpose ground troops.

Using the reserves and the Army to hedge the risks of a new and economical force structure plan seems like a reasonable military judgment. Whether it is a wise political judgment for the Marine Corps is more questionable. If, due to an FSRG miscalculation, the Marine Corps finds itself constantly mobilizing reserve forces for costly overseas contingencies, Marine Corps leaders are sure to hear about it from angry overseers on Capitol Hill. Similarly, if the Marine Corps's plans are premised on an Army bailout when reality clashes with force structure shortfalls, questions about why the Pentagon needs a large Marine Corps may surface once again.

The FSRG made a careful assessment of the post-Afghanistan world and has designed a new Marine Corps force structure to match that assessment. In addition to saving the taxpayers money, the proposed realignment will shift the Marine Corps away from manpower-intensive scenarios toward the types of missions the planners believe are not only the most likely but also match up well with the Corps's organizational strengths. But the plan's political risks may be more dangerous than its military risks.

Read more about This Week at War: The Latest Temptation of Air Power

Diplomat and Partner Extraordinaire

Ryan C. Crocker to Receive 2011 Marshall Medal - Association of the United States Army. BLUF: "The medal will be presented to Crocker by the AUSA Council of Trustees in recognition of his lifelong public service and his ability to appreciate the needs of - and his work with - the military."

Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker: Diplomat and Partner Extraordinaire by General David Petraeus, Army Magazine. BLUF: "Our nation owes Ryan a tremendous debt of gratitude. In awarding him the 2011 Marshall Medal, the Association of the United States Army helps express the deep appreciation we all have for Ryan Crocker's decades of service to our country - and, in particular, for his service as Chief of Mission in Iraq during the surge."

King's College Department of War Studies' Podcast

King's College Department of War Studies' Podcast - Dr. John Nagl, President of the Center for a New American Security, talks to Professor Theo Farrell, Department of War Studies, King's College, about counterinsurgency.

Read more about King's College Department of War Studies' Podcast

Rapid Afghanistan Experience Project

Via the U.S. Army's STAND-TO!:

Rapid Afghanistan Experience Project: Contemporary Lessons Learned

What is it?

In full collaboration with other Army operational readiness stakeholders, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) leads the Rapid Afghanistan Experience Project (RAEP) consolidating the knowledge, skills, lessons learned, and the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) currently employed in the Afghanistan area of responsibility to rapidly improve continental U.S. (CONUS)-based pre-deployment training and better prepare Soldiers for combat in the Afghanistan theater.

What has the Army done?

The RCE conducted a roundtable in September with senior leaders from TRADOC, the Combat Training Centers (CTCs), the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), U.S. Central Command, operational forces, U.S. Forces, Afghanistan, and former Brigade Combat Team and Battalion Commanders and Command Sergeants Major to collect initial feedback from both the training and institutional communities. FORSCOM created the Rapid Afghanistan Experience Project, and continues to mature and refine the processes associated with collecting and disseminating Afghanistan-centric information across the force. This collaboration includes a classified website for tools, TTPs, links to other websites and portals, lessons learned and timely topics of interest. Access to the portal is open to the entire force on both NIPRNET and SIPRNET. The project already enabled two immediate improvements:

• An Afghanistan-focused professional reading list
• A link to the Joint Training Counter-IED Operations Integration Center (JTCOIC), an invaluable storehouse of information operated by TRADOC

What does the Army have planned for the future?

Open discussion of lessons learned while training for and conducting operations in Afghanistan will provide areas for potential improvement. For example, a change to Pre-Deployment Site Survey rules authorizing multiple visits to Afghanistan would greater time for units to build understanding of the specific region in which they will operate. As more content is collected and shared across the force, the Rapid Experience website will link with similar collaborative sources-- such as The Center for Army Lessons Learned and the Warfighter's Forums (WfF). The combined results will drive continuous improvements in the way pre-deployment training is conducted at home station and the Combat Training Centers to provide a more regionally focused training experience.

Why is this important to the Army?

The Army is a continuous-learning organization improving itself through experience and training. Sharing our collective information, training, and experience is the key and the RAEP will be a premier way to accomplish this goal for our Soldiers and leaders.

Resources:

The Rapid Afghanistan Experience Project Portal on NIPRNET(CAC required)

The Rapid Afghanistan Experience Project Portal on the FORSCOM Homepage (SIPRNET)

A New Tool For U.S. Intelligence: Google?

A New Tool For U.S. Intelligence: Google? By Dina Temple-Raston, National Public Radio Morning Edition article and audio. BLUF: "Gabriel Koehler-Derrick, an instructor at West Point, and Joshua Goldstein, a researcher at Princeton University, think they may have at least a partial solution. They are seeing if they can tap into the mood of the country by tracking what its citizens are searching for online. And the way they do that is by using the search engine Google Trends."

25 March SWJ Roundup

Libya / Operation Odyssey Dawn

Allies Are Split on Goal and Exit Strategy of Libya Mission - New York Times

U.S. Agrees on NATO Control of Libya No-Fly Zone - Voice of America

NATO Takes Command of Part of Libya Operation - Voice of America

NATO to Take Over Enforcing of Libyan No-Fly Zone - Los Angeles Times

NATO Takes Command of Part of Libya Operation - Associated Press

NATO to Police Libya No-Fly, Compromises on Command - Reuters

NATO Takes Over Libya No-Fly Zone - BBC News

NATO Agrees to Take Command of Libya No-Fly Zone - New York Times

French Jets Hit Libya Targets, U.S. Cuts Combat Role - Associated Press

Pentagon: U.S. Likely to Continue Combat in Libya - Associated Press

U.A.E. Commits Planes to Enforcing No-Fly Zone - New York Times

Coalition Forces Pound Libya as A.U. Brokers Talks - Voice of America

Coalition Continues to Defend Libyan Civilians - AFPS

Libya's Rebel Leaders Struggle to Get a Grip - Los Angeles Times

Libyan Rebels Show Signs of Life - Los Angeles Times

To Some, 'Brother Leader' Gaddafi Still a Hero - Washington Post

U.N. Chief: Libya Not Complying with Cease-fire - Voice of America

U.N. Chief: Libya Must Declare Cease-Fire - Associated Press

U.N. Secretary General Expresses New Alarm Over Libya - New York Times

Ban: No Sign Gaddafi Complying With U.N. Demands - Reuters

Gadhafi Aides Urge Leader to Split Nation with Rebels - Washington Times

Gaddafi's Entourage Sends Out Secret Peace Feelers - Reuters

African Union: Libya Needs Democratic Elections - Associated Press

Libya: A War by Any Other Name... - Stars and Stripes interview

Here We Go Again - Washington Times opinion

The Ego Advantage - New York Times opinion

Egypt

Muslim Group Is Rising Force in Post-Mubarak Egypt - New York Times

Gates Meets with Egyptian Counterpart in Cairo - AFPS

Egypt Women Protesters Forced to Take 'Virginity Tests' - BBC News

Egypt's Unfinished Revolution - New York Times editorial

Will Egypt's Youth Movement Be Pushed Aside? - New York Times opinion

Yemen

Sharp Divisions Cloud Yemen's Political Future - Voice of America

Yemen's Leader in Talks on Exit but Still Defiant - New York Times

Yemeni President Nears Deal to Resign - Wall Street Journal

Yemeni Leader Makes Rare Speech to Supporters - Associated Press

Yemen's Youth Leaders Set Out Their Demands - Associated Press

Pentagon Urged to Find Base 'Plan B' as Crisis Grows - Washington Times

The Boss Falls. Then What? - New York Times opinion

Syria

Thousands March to Protest Syria Killings - New York Times

Syria Announces Reforms as Protests Continue - Voice of America

Syria Pledges Political Reforms - BBC News

Worried Syrian Regime Offers Promise of Change - Associated Press

Thousands Chant 'Freedom' Despite Assad Reform Offer - Reuters

Syrians Mass for Demos; Reporters Banned From City - Associated Press

Gates Urges Syrians 'Take Lesson' From Egypt Revolt - Reuters

Jordan

Jordan Protesters Set Up Camp in Amman - New York Times

Dozens Hurt in Jordan Protest Clash - Associated Press

Iraq

U.S. Special Forces Gearing Up to Leave - Washington Post

Iran

U.N. Names Human Rights Investigator for Iran - Associated Press

U.N. Human Rights Body Approves Investigator on Iran - Reuters

Iran Blasts Appointment of UN. Rights Investigator - Associated Press

Israel / Palestinians

U.S. Pushes for Peace Talks Despite Israeli-Palestinian Unrest - VOA

Gates: U.S.-Israeli Defense Relationship Never Stronger - AFPS

Gates Focuses on Challenges to Mideast Peace - Associated Press

Israel Curbs Reply to Gaza Rockets - Wall Street Journal

Israel: Gaza Rocket Attacks Strike Ashdod and Yavneh - BBC News

Gaza Militants Fire Rockets Deep Into Israel - Associated Press

Middle East / North Africa Unrest

Mideast Unrest Spreads to Syria; Yemenis Make Demand - Washington Times

Latest Updates on Libyan War and Mideast Protests - New York Times

Afghanistan

U.S. Grants Visa for Afghan Women's Rights Leader - Associated Press

Partnered Force Kills Haqqani Terrorist - AFPS

U.K. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan - BBC News

NATO Airstrike Accidentally Kills 2 Civilians - Associated Press

Taliban Cuts Cellphone Service in Helmand - New York Times

German Parliament Backs Afghan AWACS Mission - Associated Press

Pakistan

Karachi Political Attacks Kill 50, Say Rights Groups - BBC News

Suicide Bomber Targets Pakistani Police - Voice of America

Bombing Kills 5 at Police Station in Pakistan - Associated Press

Gunmen Kill 8 in Attack on Minibus in Pakistan - Associated Press

Japan Earthquake / Tsunami

Extent of Damage to Japan's Infrastructure Still Unclear - New York Times

Lack of Data from Japan Distresses Nuclear Experts - Los Angeles Times

Japan Raises Possibility of Breach in Reactor Vessel - New York Times

Radiation in Tokyo's Water Has Dropped, Japan Says - New York Times

Radiation Levels Remain Worrisome Near Tokyo - Washington Times

Water, Other Basics Remain in Short Supply in Tokyo - Voice of America

Japanese Workers Hospitalized for Excessive Radiation Exposure - VOA

Radiation Injuries Slow Work at Japan's Nuclear Plant - Reuters

Nuclear Crisis Forces Japan to Rethink Energy Needs - Los Angeles Times

U.S. Department of Defense

Pentagon Stops Work on F-35's 2nd Engine - Washington Times

Gates Memo Includes FO/GO Cuts - Stars and Stripes

Wars Have Been Catalyst for Army Change, Casey Says - AFPS

Would Ending 14th Amendment Hurt Military? - United Press International

U.S. European Command: No Uniforms Off Base - Associated Press

United States

Obama Is Playing It Low-Key - New York Times

Few Americans See Obama as Strong Military Leader - Reuters

U.S. Gov't Rests Perjury Case Against Ex-CIA Agent - Associated Press

Ex-FBI Agents Insist Colleague Unfairly Convicted - Associated Press

U.S. Group Stirs Debate on Being 'Pro-Israel' - New York Times

Congress Urged to Revise Miranda in Terrorism Cases - Associated Press

United Nations

U.N. Rights Body Ditches Religious 'Defamation' Idea - Associated Press

Africa

U.N. Official: Ivory Coast Death Toll Up to 462 - Voice of America

Ivory Coast: ECOWAS Wants More U.N Action on Gbagbo - BBC News

U.N. Asked to Oust Ivory Coast Leader - Associated Press

Ivory Coast Rage Grows - Los Angeles Times

Kenyan Forces 'Cross Somali Border to Fight al-Shabab' - BBC News

Americas

Mexico: U.S. Amb. Ouster Continues to Reverberate - Los Angeles Times

Mexican Media Set Guidelines for Coverage of Drug War - Voice of America

Mexican Media in Drug War Accord - BBC News

Mexican Media to Tighten Control of Drugs War Images - Reuters

Venezuela Poll: Preferences Split, Many Undecided - Associated Press

Brazil Police Filmed 'Shooting Boy' in Manaus - BBC News

OAS Court: Uruguay Must Drop 'Dirty War' Amnesty - Associated Press

Guatemala's First Lady Divorces 'for Her Country' - Reuters

Asia Pacific

N. Korea Suggests Libya Should Have Kept Nuclear Program - New York Times

U.N.: 6 Million North Koreans Need Food Aid - Associated Press

Carter to Visit North Korea, Not Carrying U.S. Message - Reuters

Chinese Democracy Advocate Is Sentenced to 10 Years - New York Times

Earthquake Hits Burma - New York Times

Strong Quake in Burma Kills More Than 70 - Associated Press

Europe

A Nation of Dropouts Shakes Europe - Wall Street Journal

Portugal PM Socrates' Resignation Overshadows E.U. Summit - BBC News

E.U. Leaders Discuss Spreading Debt Crisis - Voice of America

Leaders' Spat Tests Skills of Survival in the Kremlin - New York Times

Russian Support for Nuclear Power Weakens - Voice of America

Russia Plans to Test Reactors to Survive Quakes - New York Times

Germany: Merkel Calls for Nuclear Power Changes - Associated Press

Germany Scraps Military Conscription - Associated Press

Ukraine Gongadze Murder: Ex-President Kuchma Charged - BBC News

Ex Ukraine President Charged in Reporter's Death - Associated Press

Serbian Nationalists Angry Over NATO Conference - Associated Press

South Asia

Nepal Energy Scheme for Power Crisis - BBC News

Read more about 25 March SWJ Roundup

Did State Get the QDDR Right?

Center for a New American Security (CNAS) Experts: Did State Get the QDDR Right?

Washington, D.C., March 24, 2011 -- The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), released by the State Department last December, provides a road map for the future of U.S. diplomacy and development. But in a political climate dominated by fiscal and budgetary constraints, the QDDR focuses on the need for new investments in civilian power when it should have focused on trade-offs, according to a new article in The Washington Quarterly by CNAS Vice President and Director of Studies Dr. Kristin M. Lord and Bacevich Fellow Brian Burton.

Lord and Burton praise many of the initiatives set forth in the QDDR but suggest that if the QDDR does not help produce real change, it could create disillusionment with the broader effort to strengthen civilian power in support of U.S. national interests. The United States will risk entering a period of "smart power fatigue" that will only further sap the strength of the agencies upon which U.S. foreign policy relies.

Former State Department Director of Policy Planning and co-director of the QDDR Anne-Marie Slaughter agrees with the article's call to set priorities in a resource-constrained environment, noting, "Leading through civilian power means directing and coordinating the resources of all America's civilian agencies to prevent and resolve conflicts. In this constrained economic environment, we will have to make tradeoffs, but diplomacy and development cannot fall by the wayside."

The Washington Quarterly article caps a year-long CNAS project on U.S. diplomacy and development designed to help inform the QDDR process.

Other CNAS publications in this series include:

Did the State Department Get the QDDR Right?, by CNAS Vice President and Director of Studies Dr. Kristin M. Lord and Bacevich Fellow Brian Burton, Spring 2011

Managing 21st-Century Diplomacy: Lessons from Global Corporations, by CNAS Vice President and Director of Studies Dr. Kristin M. Lord and Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine, December 2010

Beyond Borders: Developing Comprehensive National Security Policies to Address Complex Regional Challenges, by CNAS Senior Advisor Dr. Patrick Cronin and Bacevich Fellow Brian Burton, December 2010

Eye to the Future: Refocusing State Department Policy Planning, by CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine and Bacevich Fellow Brian Burton, August 2010

Planning Diplomacy and Development: Force Planning Applications for the State Department and USAID, by CNAS Bacevich Fellow Brian Burton, August 2010

Contractors in American Conflicts: Adapting to a New Reality, by CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine and President Dr. John A. Nagl, June 2010

Engaging the Private Sector for the Public Good: The Power of Network Diplomacy, by CNAS Vice President and Director of Studies Dr. Kristin M. Lord, January 2010

Learning from Experience: Lessons from the QDR for the QDDR, by CNAS Bacevich Fellow Brian Burton, January 2010

Non-CNAS publications and events related to the QDDR include:

Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, U.S. Department of State QDDR web page

Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, United States Agency for International Development web page

Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, QDDR Facebook page

Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, QDDR Wikipedia page

Secretary Clinton Releases the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, U.S. Department of State Town Hall video, December 2010

Clinton's Remarks on the First Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, Transcript, Center for Foreign Relations, December 2010

Leading Through Civilian Power: 2010 QDDR, U.S. Department of State briefing slides, Washington Post, December 2010

An Independent Commentary on the QDDR, by Sixteen former and retired senior career officials from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, December 2010

Weighing an Ambitious QDDR, by Laurie Garrett, Yanzhong Huang, Isobel Coleman, and Paul B. Stares, Council on Foreign Relations, December 2010

Concepts Are Not Enough, by Anthony H. Cordesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies, December 2010

The QDDR: Does Quadrennial Stand for How Long it Will Take to Complete?,,by Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner, September 2010

State Department Launches Inaugural Review of Diplomacy and Development, by Sheila Herrling, Center for Global Development, July 2009

The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review Highlights Many Themes Prevalent in PNSR Publications, Project for National Security Reform, March 2011

Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review: Our Assessment, by Gordon Adams, Rebecca Williams, and Matthew Leatherman, The Stimson Center, December 2010

Muddling Through: How Development's Past Shapes Its Future, by David Ekbladh, The Belfer Center, November 2009

MFAN QDDR Blog Series: Time for Hard Questions, by George Ingram, Modernizing Foreign Assisstance Network, March 2010

The First Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review: Strengthening America's Role in the 21st Century, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, seminar video, December 2010

Foreign Policy: Reversing Diplomacy's Feedback Loop, by Daniel Drezner, National Public Radio, December 2010

Clinton Announces State Department Review Stressing Conflict Prevention, by Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, December 2010

Clinton Pledges Bigger Role for Besieged State Department, by Mark Landler, New York Times, December 2010

State Department Pledges Major Reforms with New QDDR, by Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy, December 2010

QDDR: No Bull's-eye, But Generally On-target, by Stephen Johnson, Foreign Policy, December 2010

NGO Community Likes State's QDDR But Worried About Implementation, by Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy, December 2010

Hillary Clinton's Vision for Foreign Policy on a Tight Budget, by Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor, December 2010

Clinton Speech Signals Transformation at State, by Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent, July 2009

U.S. Considering Combining Military, International Affairs Budgets, by Kevin Baron, Stars and Stripes, November 2010