7 April 2014

JFQ-73

Tag: JFQ-73

April 01, 2014 — Education is persistently undervalued in most military institutions. This lack of attention is based on two realities of military life: education engenders the habit of questioning, while sound discipline, particularly in combat, requires unhesitating obedience; furthermore, education requires reflection, but war demands action. Thus, the military Services tend to draw broad lines of demarcation between their thinkers and their fighters. 

April 01, 2014 — Representing Servicemembers who make up today’s Joint Force is my greatest honor as Chairman. As the principal military advisor to the President of the United States, Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council, I work to develop a shared understanding of our capabilities and the Nation’s needs in order to provide sound advice and to represent the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To be effective, I must build relationships of trust with those elected to make decisions about the use of military force. But I did not begin to establish relationships with civilian leaders only when I became Chairman. 

April 01, 2014 — As we in the U.S. military continue to renew our commitment to the Profession of Arms, the title of this article asks a compelling question for everyone who wears the cloth of the Nation. While I believe the question has an easy answer, let us not downplay the significance of asking it at every level of professional development. Most serving in the Armed Forces understand the deeper meaning of the question, as well as the commitment to the profession and the American people that goes along with it. Therefore, most military professionals would provide the short answer: “No, we are never really off duty.”

April 01, 2014 — A seemingly incomprehensible set of events is occurring as I write this column: the People’s Republic of China is asserting its desire to extend an air defense zone in the Pacific, the Syrian crisis continues unabated, violence in nations transitioning from one form of government to another is the norm from Iraq to Egypt to Libya, Iran seems to be yielding to international pressure to control its nuclear ambitions, Venezuela seems poised for an economic collapse, bombings and other violence in Pakistan continue, and the Russian Federation has annexed Crimea triggering a possible response from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This particular situation seems to have been taken from a script of an early post–Cold War NATO exercise.


April 01, 2014 — Cyberspace can be leveraged by first, finding a theory to express and teach the constantly changing vagaries of that domain, including a suitable lexicon, and second, overcoming assorted turf wars and adequately resourcing the study, manning, equipping, and training of the cyberspace force so it can integrate with other domains.

April 01, 2014 — The Combined Effects Power (CEP) construct does not eliminate the combined arms warfare (CAW) concept, but CEP seeks to overcome CAW’s anomalies by accommodating the behavior of both cyber domain and soft power participants from the natural domains to offset the dangers springing from the information revolution. 

April 01, 2014 — The Obama administration’s Executive Order 13636 and Presidential Policy Directive 21 are a beginning, but establishing public-private information sharing requires matching cyber security legislation to fill in the gaps found in the 2003 National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, address a multitude of contentious issues, and achieve a unified cyberspace focus. 

April 01, 2014 — Interagency/Navy efforts to develop and test biofuels to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources and protect the military from energy price shocks have been disappointing, and research into military application and feasibility suggests that biofuels will be neither cost competitive nor available in sufficient quantities to enhance energy security. 

April 01, 2014 — The military’s ability to shape the security environment can be substantially improved by adopting multiple simultaneous stimulants, most prominently the national security strategy shift from deterrence and containment to cooperation and engagement. These capabilities must be sufficiently resourced so Washington’s interests can be pursued short of armed conflict where possible. 

April 01, 2014 — Joint doctrine, where it inadequately addresses incorporating Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) organizations into the military planning process, must be revised to give JIIM engagement its due. Moreover, greater cross-organizational exposure among partners should increase understanding and trust and get partners more fully synchronized in both planning and execution.

April 01, 2014 — The Five Rings theory may not provide quick wins against large countries with modern air defense systems, but an escalatory strategic interdiction strategy relying on capable air and navel forces to affect the most critical and vulnerable elements would apply to many crises with its nonlethal and reversible options. 

April 01, 2014 — Sun Tzu’s The Art of War cuts both ways. Its tenets work against enemies but can also strike against China. Using the general’s maxims, we can uncover inconsistencies in the grandly moral stance assumed by Chinese leaders. For instance, claims made for public consumption can be juxtaposed with demonstrable fact. 

JFQ 73 | Geography Matters in Maintaining Global MobilityApril 01, 2014 — Geography impacts global mobility, and USTRANSCOM works with the components, the Defense Logistics Agency, and commercial partners to overcome vast distances and to subdue the burdens of time and cost. Crises evolve rapidly and the United States must maintain its unique ability to project power anywhere, any time.

April 01, 2014 — The Army’s G-3/5/7 represents Army air and missile defense (AMD) interests and understands that threats that have evolved in capability, complexity, and capacity; a defense strategy and policy that rely on an enduring deterrence capability; and an increasing need to maintain joint operational access to distant regions ensure its importance. 

April 01, 2014 — Redundancies in the training of junior logisticians could be eliminated without sacrificing the different ranks, tasks, and courses each Service utilizes. A cross-Service study suggests the need for a comprehensive and unified approach to training from entry level on through the Junior Joint Logistics Officer Training program. 

April 01, 2014 — The 1942 raid on Dieppe remains enshrouded in questions yet is a treasure of information to the astute student of warfare who can penetrate the ten charges most often leveled at its failure and the overall blaming frenzy, providing insight into the Western mindset and the perpetual facts of war. 

April 01, 2014 — Any U.S. military officer or civil servant yearning to earn the sobriquet “grand strategist” must understand the ethos of the countries of Latin America. While many bodies of water are of great interest to the people of the United States and its government, the Rio Grande River is a vital interest. A worthy way to expand one’s knowledge of the states south of that long river is to read Marie Arana’s sound and solid biography Bolívar: American Liberator. 

April 01, 2014 — Ever since the rise of Hitler and the Second World War, international events and circumstances have led to periodic revivals of interest in the ideas and concepts of classical geopolitical theorists. As the Wehrmacht surged into the vast expanses of Soviet Russia and Imperial Japan sought to carve out a greater East Asia and Pacific empire, Western strategists and even popular media outlets such as Time magazine “discovered” the “Heartland” theory first propounded by British geographer Halford Mackinder in his 1904 address to the Royal Geographical Society entitled “The Geographical Pivot of History,” revised and expanded in his 1919 masterpiece Democratic Ideals and Reality, and further revised and updated in a 1943 Foreign Affairs article, “The Round World and the Winning of the Peace.” 

April 01, 2014 — In this companion piece to the authors’ 2010 work, Intelligence Analysis: How to Think in Complex Environments, Wayne Hall and Gary Citrenbaum have brought forth a superior forum by which to consider the challenges associated with intelligence collection in complex environments. Each author brings with him a lengthy résumé of credible service in the intelligence field. Hall is a retired U.S. Army officer with over 30 years of intelligence experience, and he has remained active within the intelligence field by participating in numerous seminars on intelligence training and intelligence transformation. Citrenbaum is actively involved in issues associated with intelligence transformation. Accordingly, both speak with authority on the issues they raise. 

April 01, 2014 — Modern technology has vastly increased available capabilities, which are rarely controlled exclusively by any single Service or nation-state. Keeping the U.S. advantage in cross-domain synergy calls for enhanced understanding of jointness and a shift from Service centrism to holism that expands ownership of capabilities. 

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