Author’s Background John M. Collins is a retired U.S. Army colonel and a distinguished visiting research fellow at the National Defense University. Colonel Collins culminated his military career as the director of military strategy studies and then as chief of the Strategic Research Group at the National War College. He was subsequently the senior specialist in national defense at the Congressional Research Service for twenty-four years. Thesis and Key Argument In Chapter 11 of his book on Military Strategy - Principles, Practices, And Historical Perspectives, Collins discuses several Counterproliferation strategies. In doing so he first laid down what motivates state and non-state actors to obtain weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) that includes nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological (NBCR) weapons, and the root causes of Counterproliferation. He then lists several courses of action to counter the proliferation of these Weapons of Mass Destruction. Evidence As a scene setter it is important to establish the date of the writing and publishing of his chapter as being 2002. This was prior to the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, which was based primarily under the premise that Iraq had WMDs and was supporting terrorism, both of which were issues of international concern and the British …show more content…
He stated that 10 countries terminated WMD programs during this time, but if a conflict occurred in which they were employed that the hapless victims would ask “why didn’t counterproliferators take positive actions to prevent catastrophes.” [sic] He then comments that this is one of the most formidable problems facing us as a nation and it would behoove the national security policy-makers and planners to improve NBCR deterrent techniques and
The Tangled Relationship. New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1971. Flaherty, Tom. A. “What We Learned from the Bay of Pigs.” Reader’s Digest July 1963: 92-94.
1. Sourcing: Who was Winston Churchill? Why would Americans trust what he has to say about the Soviet Union?
He was also a Gulf War veteran who commanded an armored cavalry. His desire in writing this book was to examine, through the recently declassified documents, manuscript collections, and the Joint Chief of Staff official histories, where the responsibility for the Vietnam foreign policy disaster lay, but also examine the decisions made that involved the United States in a war they could not win. This book details the discussion of government policy in the stages of the Vietnam crisis from 1961-July 1965. It examines the main characters of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara, in addition to the military, which included the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It began in the Kennedy era amidst the Bay of Pigs incident and how that led to mistrust of the military planning by advisors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Jonathan B. Tucker (2001, spring). (The Nonproliferation Review) The “Yellow Rain” Controversy: Lessons for arms Control Compliance
.It was the height of the Cold War and the U.S. needed to be able to provide a credible military response to the Soviet Union. The Reagan Administration was almost 4 years into its campaign to strengthen the U.S. Armed Forces. The Administration appeared eager to use combat force as the instrument of choice for influencing world events. Secretary of Defense Weinberger, on the other hand, believed that “military force is just one of many tools of national power, and certainly not the preferred tool in every situation.”(Weinberger 1985) Weinberger developed six criteria for deciding when to use the US combat forces abroad. This criterion became known as the Weinberger Doctrine, and outlined specific tests which should be met before deploying US combat forces. The strengths and weaknesses of this doctrine can best be discussed when the doctrine is stated as questions. (Hunter 1987)
However, failure to procure any putative weapons of mass destruction in Iraq forced Realist apologists to invoke the concept of “offensive Realism” to explain the Iraq war of 2003. They argued that Iraq’s acquisition of uranium and aluminum tubes posed a “Security Dilemma” to the U.S. and her allies. According to Wheeler and Booth, security Dilemmas...
The ability to understand a problem, determine the desired end state, and develop a strategy to achieve that end state is a highly sought after skill in every facet of the military profession. However, in a joint setting, the problems are generally much more complex requiring an advanced mastery of problem solving from joint staff officers. The complexities of planning on the joint staff level stem from the amount of education it takes to simply understand the problem. Joint staff officers not only must understand the components and capabilities of their own service, they must also understand any service they might interact with to include the nine combatant commands. These demands put a heavy emphasis on joint professional military education before the joint staff officer shows up to their assignm...
Maxwell, Hilary. “Warfare Plans of Countries.” Monta Vista High School, Cupertino. 26 Jan. 2014. Lecture.
Leaders today need to have an appreciation for the operation process, understand a situation, envision a desired future, and to lay out an approach that will achieve that future (Flynn & Schrankel, 2013). Plans need to be created that can be modified to changes in any factors considered. However, plans should not be dependent on specific information being precise or that require things to go exactly according to schedule. Instead, the staff NCO should be flexible where they can and always be prepared for the unexpected. Today’s military members are fighting an unconventional war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The enemy constantly changes their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP’s) to counter the United States technological advances, making planning very difficult for leaders. There are multiple tools at a staff NCO’s disposal to try to anticipate an outcome of a current operation, but also assist with the development of concepts in follow-on missions. The Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) is just one tool a staff NCO can utilize. In order to stay ahead of the enemy, create effective plans and orders, it is critical for a staff NCO to assist the commander, and understand that the MDMP and planning are essential in defeating the enemy and conserving the fighting force.
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Joint Warfare Armed with numerous studies, and intensive public hearings, Congress mandated far-reaching changes in DOD organization and responsibilities under the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. This landmark legislation significantly expanded the authority and responsibility of the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Included in this expanded authority and responsibility was the requirement for the chairman to develop a doctrine for the joint employment of armed forces. As operations Urgent Fury, Just Cause, and Desert Storm have vividly demonstrated, the realities of armed conflict in today's world make the integration of individual service capabilities a matter of success or failure, life or death. Furthermore, the operation Desert One demonstrated the need for a strengthened Joint Warfare Doctrine and the consequent change in Joint Warfare Employment.
Kent, J. and Young, J.W. (2013), International Relations Since 1945: A global History. 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Works Cited for: Orwell, George. 1984. The 'Standard' of the ' London: Penguin Books, 2008. Print. The.
In today’s operational environments, the U.S. Army is facing a range of problems and mission sets that are arguably more complex than previously encountered. Forces face an array of demands that encompass geo-political, social, cultural, and military factors that interact in unpredictable ways. The inherent complexity of today’s operations has underscored the need for the Army to expand beyond its traditional approach to operational planning. In March 2010 in FM 5-0: The Operations
Unconventional warfare by means of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) methods have existed for millennia. Dating as far back as the Hellenistic Age, this means of lethality has been evidenced through textual findings where Alexander the Great and his Army sustained poisoned arrows from Indian rivals. With the evolution that comes with time, the extensive use of chlorine and mustard gas were introduced by Germans during World War I (Landau, 1991). More recently in 2013, the confirmed stockpile and use of chemical weapons in Syria and North Korea has threatened the safety of the global community with terrorism and tactics of surprise. In order to combat this resurgence of CBRN warfare, the United States Army developed and continuously adapts to these types of threats by employing CBRN Defense. Under this system, CBRN reconnaissance operations were established to observe an area to locate and identify any possible contamination. Managed by CBRN reconnaissance platoons, these operations remain one of the most important defense principles of contamination avoidance.
Weber, Smith, Allan, Collins, Morgan and Entshami.2002. Foreign Policy in a transformed world. United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited.