Should North Korea choose the path to becoming a responsible member of the community of nations, we are willing to provide assistance, together with the international community.
-- South Korean President Park Geun-hye
Any policy may be deemed supportable if sufficient resources are allocated and the required risks are accepted. This analysis examines North Korean proliferation of nuclear and ballistic missile technology (N&BMT) and whether U.S. government (USG) policy options of containment, destruction of capabilities without regime change, or regime change translate into suitable, feasible, acceptable, and effective strategies. Through the ends, ways, and means strategy formulation framework, this paper identifies commitments, resources, and risks for each option and assesses their relative supportability with a view towards achieving the United States’ military strategic end and thus its political end state.
The ways and means available for each policy option are generally similar; however, primacy and intensity among them varies between options at the discretion of policy makers. USG ways to achieve its ends include diplomacy, economic policy and sanctions, alliances, military force, the use of international organizations, and various departments and offices of the USG’s Executive Branch including the Departments of Defense and Treasury. Means include international inspections of shipping entering and exiting the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), enforcement of economic sanctions against nations trading with the DPRK, continued six party talks, and the active interdiction of materials which could advance the DPRK’s N&BMT. They also include U.S., Republic of Korea (ROK), and Japane...
... middle of paper ...
...1.
LTC John G. Krenson “On Strategy: Integration of DIME in the Twenty-first Century,” U.S. Army War College, (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, February 12, 2012), 3. Online at: http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA561308 (accessed February 01, 2014).
Bennett, 21-24, 37-39, 43-47, 282-284.
GEN Raymond T. Odierno, “CSA Lays Out Strategic Priorities for Uncertain Future,” Email to the U.S. Army, October 16, 2013. online at: http://www.army.mil/article/113256/CSA_lays_out_strategic_priorities_ for_uncertain_future/ (accessed February 01, 2014).
James F.Miskel, “National Interests: Grand Purposes or Catchphrases?” Naval War College Review, vol. LV, no. 4 (Autumn 2002): 96-104. Available at: http://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/5f4d8569-622a-4fa1-be15-fa43a6afd18f/National-Interests--Grand-Purposes-or-Catchphrases.aspx (accessed February 01, 2014).
War finds success and failure inescapably linked to how well the Combined, Joint, and Multinational Commander ensures the Joint War Fighting Function “Sustainment” planning is linked to strategic, operational and tactical objectives. General Eisenhower’s Operation OVERLORD, the Allied cross channel, air, and seaborne invasion of France during World War II provides an excellent case study to show successful integration of the principles and the spirit of the Joint War Fighting Function “Sustainment.” OVERLORD required synchronizing, coordinating, and integrating the logistics capabilities of coalition forces, their equipment as well as civilian manufacturing capabilities to meet the strategic end state (e.g. the defeat of Germany). This article will review the purpose and definition of Joint Sustainment, its imperatives and logistics planning principles and examine how Eisenhower and his planners incorporated these imperatives and principles into Operation OVERLORD.
Lowther, Adam and Casey Lucius. "Identifying America's Vital Interests." Space and Defense 7, no. 1 (Winter, 2014): 39-52.
After more than ten years of persistent counterinsurgency (COIN) conflict and multiple simultaneous responses to several natural disasters, the United States Army is at a crossroads regarding professional education for its officers and enlisted force. Considering overseas contingency operations in Iraq are due to conclude in December 2011 and by 2014 for Afghanistan, it is plausible that strategic planners are considering the future make-up of what will constitute the Total Army Force to include new educational criteria for what could be a smaller force than was needed for present day operations. While this may be “peace dividend” speculation, there is precedence for the Army to reevaluate its force structure and personal qualification requirements after every major conflict over the last century. . Even though defense budget reductions should redoubt army equipment priorities, training deferrals because of persistent contingency operations have inhibited enlisted professional development despite that counterinsurgency operations require refocused soldiers training to improve their sense of situational understanding and application of observable operational ethics through conceptual enlisted leadership evaluation efforts.
Despite North Korea’s internal challenges the Korean People’s Army poses a serious risk to dispute the security of North Asia and United States interests in the region. With little or no warning, even with its aging equipment, it still retains the capability to inflict significant damage, especially in the region from the De-militarized Zone (DMZ) to Seoul
O'Shea, Brandon J. "ARMY.MIL, The Official Homepage of the United States Army." "OPERATION POWER PACK. N.p., 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Hawley, C. (2003). U.S. foreign policy. Encyclopedia of American history: Expansion and reform, 1813-1855, 4, Retrieved August 14, 2008, from Facts on File: American History Online database.
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...
As we approach the next Presidential election the topic of American foreign policy is once again in the spotlight. In this paper, I will examine four major objectives of U.S. foreign policy that have persisted throughout the twentieth century and will discuss the effect of each on our nation’s recent history, with particular focus on key leaders who espoused each objective at various times. In addition, I will relate the effects of American foreign policy objectives, with special attention to their impact on the American middle class. Most importantly, this paper will discuss America’s involvement in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War to the anticipated fulfillment of these objectives—democracy, manifest destiny, humanitarianism, and economic expansion.
The possible employment of nuclear weapons between the two superpowers during the Cold War was unprecedented. The power of this stalemate shattered the paradigm of warfare and demonstrated how significant this military revolution’s effects were even at the mere threat of nuclear weapons use. Regarding this standoff between t...
Key features… A 1997 White Paper on Foreign and Trade Policy called ‘In the National Interest’ is the most important single statement on FP in recent years. It set the guideline for FP according to the National Interest. Implicit in the National Interest is to maintain national security through international diplomacy and readiness to defend the continent and territories against possible armed attack or other aggression, to protect and promote the nation’s economic welfare and living standards, which increasingly depend on global economic growth, free international trade and the confidence of global international markets, and to keep our democratic way of life, and our civil and political liberties.
Since the end of the Korean War, the United States has enacted policies to isolate and undermine the Kim Dynasty in North Korea. A key development took place in the past several decades where North Korea broke away from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop their own nuclear weapons and while lacking launch capabilities, they have been successful in their development. During this process, the United States took active policies to deter the North Koreans in pursuit of their goals. It is easy to assume that the United States took this stance in order to maintain a military edge in the region. But under closer examination, this neo-realist perspective does not explain why the United States pursued this policy.
As we transition from subjective training to objective, it is critical to understand the emphasis on training has not changed, just the language. Commander will continue to focus on battle focus training developed by long- range, short- range and near- term planning. The Sustainable Readiness Model (SRM) is the Army’s newest system for prioritizing resources for units on a 5-year cycle based on the level of readiness they must achieve. Each year of the cycle has established Personnel (P), Sustain (S) and Readiness (R) Aim Points on the Unit Status Report (USR). The SRM seeks to stabilize units in a “band of excellence,” even following their READY year, maintaining the highest readiness level instead of automatically downgrading their readiness to a C4 level regardless of whether they deployed. Guidelines in the Prepare Year (PY) found in the SRM will assist Commanders at every level on key training events they will need to focus on for that particular
The US military can be successful in future wars if it focuses on, trains to, and adapts its force structure to prepare for full spectrum operations. The most likely challenges to US national security interests include international terrorist organizations, transnational criminal organizations, insurgent rebellions and small wars. The most dangerous challenges to US national security interests come from major conventional threats like Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China. To overcome these most likely and most dangerous challenges, the US needs to focus its strategic guidance on full spectrum operations, increase training in conventional operations while maintaining current training in irregular operations, and improve the force structure with irregular operation enablers while maintaining its conventional power capabilities.
North Korea’s extremist actions cannot be excused as simply maintaining homeland security. Instead, North Korea has gone and created a dictatorship where citizens are ruthlessly controlled and isolated to avoid the inward or outward spread of facts contrary to the claims of the imperial Kim family. The brainwashing, restrictions on freedom and communication, and exile from the outside world have created a society in which North Korea’s citizens have lost their basic human rights.
Moreover, according to the same theory, relations among states are derived primarily by their level of power, which constitutes basically their military and economic capability, and in pursuit of the national security states strive to attain as many resources as possible. The theoretical model explains thus why the nuclear issue has eventually resulted in identifying with a security one, meaning that North Korea main concern is to assure its survivor, its efforts are in the first place finalized at meeting that target and its only means of pursuing it consists of the posing of the nuclear threat. North Korea finds itself stuck in an economic and, to some extent, diplomatic isolation; even though the financial sanctions leading to the just mentioned critical conditions have been caused by the government inflexible, aggressive and anti-democratic behavior, the regime has no other choice than restate and strengthen its strict and, apparently, definitive positions to ensure its survivor, since at the moment any concession or move toward a more liberal approach breaking the countrys isolation could easily cause a collapse of the whole system.... ... middle of paper ...