Category: Featured Articles

Featured article: When Diplomacy Fails: Consent, Risk and Modern Warfare by M. Shane Riza I sat on troop seats in the back of a KC-135 Stratotanker crossing the Atlantic the week before Christmas 1998. My feet were experiencing negative temperatures, while my head felt like it was in the tropics. Such is the environmental control […]

Featured article: An Interagency Experience with the Department of Veterans Affairs by Khanh T. Diep The experience of the past decade of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has demonstrated the value of holistic thinking and problem-solving. Terms such as “team of teams” and “interagency coordination” have become fashionable, as military leaders seek ways to deal […]

Featured article: Achieving Civil-Military Unity of Effort: Jordan Case Study by William J. Hackenbracht Following a joint planning session comprised of representatives from Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Jordan Mission, the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan approved the integration of a four-man Civil Military Support Element (CMSE) into […]

Featured article: Intellectual Habits in Understanding the Operational Environment by James T. Wilson Einstein acknowledges the importance of understanding the operational environment. If we do not understand the complex environment in which we operate, then we are likely wasting effort or possibly worsening the condition. The Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework (ICAF) was developed by the U.S. […]

Featured article: Fiscal Crises Experimentation: A Darwinian Approach by Allan D. Childers and Mark H. Sweberg History demonstrates that periodically the nation goes through fiscal evolutions that change the environment in which U.S. government departments and agencies shape their organizations, programs, and activities. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution posits that the struggle for resources favors […]

Featured article: A Comparative Analysis of the Effectiveness of Operations in Mali and Somalia by Lawrence J. Richardson The theory of a joint interagency task force (JIATF) operating in a predatory state or disparaging regime is perhaps the largest practical and contemporary challenge that military and interagency officers face in the field today. Utilizing the doctrinal terms and […]

Featured article: The Challenges in Joint Interagency Task Force operations in a Predatory State by Mark D. Natale The theory of a joint interagency task force (JIATF) operating in a predatory state or disparaging regime is perhaps the largest practical and contemporary challenge that military and interagency officers face in the field today. Utilizing the doctrinal terms and […]

Featured article: Bureaucracy in Service of a Madman by Matthew Tompkins When President Nixon attempted his “Madman Theory” gambit to pressure the North Vietnamese into peace talks, he is said to have instructed Henry Kissinger to “slip word to them that ‘For God’s sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about Communism. We can’t restrain him when […]

Featured article: Organizational Ethics Gone Wrong by Jonathan Bailey and Ted Thomas “Fat” Leonard Francis, owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia and a good friend to the Navy leadership for over a decade, defrauded the U.S. Navy for $35 million dollars. The investigation that followed implicated scores of Navy personnel, including admirals, in the corruption […]

Featured article: The Literature of Intelligence by Kevin Rousseau Intelligence officers are by trade a tight-lipped group, unwilling and often unable to talk to outsiders about their business. Where, then, does everyone else get their ideas about intelligence? More importantly, where can those who are not intelligence professionals reliably turn to for a better understanding of the […]