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Full color publication with photographs. A first of its kind, this
book-of, by, and for the noncommissioned officer and petty
officer-is a comprehensive explanation of the enlisted leader
across the U.S. Armed Services. It complements The Armed Forces
Officer, the latest edition of which was published by NDU Press in
2007, as well as the Services' NCO/PO manuals and handbooks.
Written by a team of Active, Reserve, and retired senior enlisted
leaders from all Service branches, this book defines and describes
how NCOs/POs fit into an organization, centers them in the
Profession of Arms, explains their dual roles of complementing the
officer and enabling the force, and exposes their international
engagement. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin
E. Dempsey writes in his foreword to the book, "We know
noncommissioned officers and petty officers to have exceptional
competence, professional character, and soldierly grit-they are
exemplars of our Profession of Arms." Aspirational and fulfilling,
this book helps prepare young men and women who strive to become
NCOs/POs, re-inspires serving enlisted leaders, and stimulates
reflection by those who have retired from or left active service.
It also gives those who have never worn the uniform a better
understanding of who these exceptional men and women are, and why
they are properly known as the "Backbone of the Armed Forces."
From the foreword: "Established during World War II to advise the
President on the strategic direction of the Armed Forces of the
United States, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) continued in
existence after the war and, as military advisers and planners,
have played a significant role in the development of national
policy. Knowledge of JCS relations with the President, the
Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council is
essential to an understanding of the current work of the Chairman
and the Joint Staff. A history of their activities, both in war and
peacetime, also provides important insights into the military
history of the United States. For these reasons, the Joint Chiefs
of Staff directed that an official history of their activities be
kept for the record. Its value for instructional purposes, for the
orientation of officers newly assigned to the JCS organization, and
as a source of information for staff studies is self-apparent.
Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942-1991
follows in the tradition of volumes previously prepared by the
Joint History Office dealing with JCS involvement in national
policy, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Adopting a broader
view than earlier volumes, it surveys the JCS role and
contributions from the early days of orld War II through the end of
the Cold War. Written from a combination of primary and secondary
sources, it is a fresh work of scholarship, looking at the problems
of this era and their military implications. The main prism is that
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but in laying out the JCS
perspective, it deals also with the wider impact of key decisions
and the ensuing policies."
Orginally published in 1991. From the foreword: "Although the
United States did not enter World War II until the end of 1941, US
citizens fought and died in the war long before the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor. Among them were the pilots of the Eagle
Squadrons, three fighter squadrons of Britain's Royal Air Force
manned by young US flyers risking their lives in another nation's
war. In this book, Colonel Philip D. Caine, US Air Force, tells how
the Eagle Squadrons were formed, describes their RAF experiences,
and evaluates their contribution to Britain's defense. Unlike other
accounts, Eagles of the RAF is not simply a paean to the pilots as
special heroes and "aces," though many performed heroically and
some sacrificed their lives. Drawing almost exclusively on
interviews with more than thirty-five surviving Eagles, on their
letters and memoirs, and on official records of the squadrons,
Caine shows who these men were and what drove them to endure the
burdens of joining a foreign air force. We see them adjusting to
life in a new country as they train, fly patrol and escort
missions, and sit on alert in dispersal huts or in airplane
cockpits. We see their routine suddenly shattered by the momentary
chaos and exhilaration of aerial combat. The Eagles' story is a
unique chapter in American military history; it deserves to be told
as it really happened-not as romanticized by Hollywood or nostalgic
recollection. Beyond reliably telling the story, Colonel Caine
reveals much about why people enter the military, how military life
satisfies or disappoints their preconceptions, and how at least
some of them reacted to the realities of combat."
The Center for Complex Operations (CCO) has produced this edited
volume, Convergence: Illicit Networks and National Security in the
Age of Globalization, that delves deeply into everything mentioned
above and more. In a time when the threat is growing, this is a
timely effort. CCO has gathered an impressive cadre of authors to
illuminate the important aspects of transnational crime and other
illicit networks. They describe the clear and present danger and
the magnitude of the challenge of converging and connecting illicit
networks; the ways and means used by transnational criminal
networks and how illicit networks actually operate and interact;
how the proliferation, convergence, and horizontal diversification
of illicit networks challenge state sovereignty; and how different
national and international organizations are fighting back. A
deeper understanding of the problem will allow us to then develop a
more comprehensive, more effective, and more enduring solution.
In 2016, economic globalization suffered a severe crisis after over
half a century of smooth development, and deglobalization was
running mountains high. Not only did it trigger domestic political
discord in major countries like the United States, Britain, France
and Germany, but also led to international economic and political
disputes among Western countries, intensifying strategic
competition between major powers. With the arrival of 2017, through
the perilous waves of deglobalization and the consequent
international political upheavals, we find that the post Cold War
era that we were familiarized with, is coming to a rapid end,
ushering in a new international political era, full of
uncertainties. This annual book presents Chinese scholars' views,
opinions and predictions on global political and security issues,
as well as China's strategic choice. It covers a wide range of
important issues concerning international security, ranging from
the assessment of Sino-US relations, Russian-American relations,
the counter terrorism situation in the Middle East, the political
situation in Taiwan and cross-Strait relations, Brexit and the
refugee problem, and the strategic situation in the South China
Sea, to the judgment of the strategic posture in countries and
regions like Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia, Latin
America and Africa. Also covered are the analysis of the strategic
posture in cyber space, outer space (as well as their governance),
and discussion on China's international strategic choice in the
wave of deglobalization.
The world was standing at the crossroads in 2015 as globalization
propelled human beings into an increasingly integrated community of
common destiny. In the meantime, the world witnessed the strategic
competition among major powers. This annual publication offers
views, opinions and predictions on global political and security
issues, and China's strategic choices by Chinese scholars. It
covers almost all the significant issues that took place in the
international security arena in 2015. Besides the relations among
major powers, it studies the international community's fight
against Islamic State (IS), the strategic situation in the Korean
Peninsula, political situation in Myanmar, the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear issue, free navigation in the
South China Sea, China's Belt and Road Initiative and its grand
diplomacy.This book argues that the strategic competition among
major powers is heightening, and smaller countries as well as
extremist forces like the IS are seeking strategic space by taking
advantage of the conflicts among major powers. The book concludes
that to address this major historic challenge in international
politics, it is essential that some major powers drop the hostile
stance towards each other and enhance partnership to foster
international cooperation.
The world was standing at the crossroads in 2015 as globalization
propelled human beings into an increasingly integrated community of
common destiny. In the meantime, the world witnessed the strategic
competition among major powers. This annual publication offers
views, opinions and predictions on global political and security
issues, and China's strategic choices by Chinese scholars. It
covers almost all the significant issues that took place in the
international security arena in 2015. Besides the relations among
major powers, it studies the international community's fight
against Islamic State (IS), the strategic situation in the Korean
Peninsula, political situation in Myanmar, the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear issue, free navigation in the
South China Sea, China's Belt and Road Initiative and its grand
diplomacy.This book argues that the strategic competition among
major powers is heightening, and smaller countries as well as
extremist forces like the IS are seeking strategic space by taking
advantage of the conflicts among major powers. The book concludes
that to address this major historic challenge in international
politics, it is essential that some major powers drop the hostile
stance towards each other and enhance partnership to foster
international cooperation.
The international strategic relations have been undergoing great
turbulence, readjustment and reformation since the financial crisis
in 2008. This round of transition is mainly driven by economic
competition instead of wars. International competition, crises and
collisions will ebb and flow and happen frequently in the
foreseeable future, but will not break through the international
political framework based on cooperation. However, these crises,
collisions and even wars will have disturbing effects on the
political framework for international cooperation, and will change
and distort the patterns of international cooperation. This annual
publication provides Chinese scholars' views, opinions and
predictions on global political and security issues, and China's
strategic choices. It covers almost all the significant issues in
the international security arena. It evaluates the strategic
influence of regional issues such as the Ukraine crisis, the crisis
in the Middle East, the South China Sea disputes and the
US-Asia-Europe strategic balance. It analyzes strategic trends of
international organizations like the BRICS, the SCO, and the ASEAN.
It studies strategic development of countries and regions like
Japan, India, the Korean Peninsula, Africa, Taiwan and cross-Strait
relations. It researches the strategic situations in the cyber
space and the outer space, and sums up the reform and development
of China's national security system.
The working paper is divided into two main parts. The first part is
a descriptive analysis of the illicit use of biological agents by
criminals and terrorists. It draws on a series of case studies
documented in the second part. The case studies describe every
instance identifiable in open source materials in which a
perpetrator used, acquired, or threatened to use a biological
agent. While the inventory of cases is clearly incomplete, it
provides an empirical basis for addressing a number of important
questions relating to both biocrimes and bioterrorism. This
material should enable policymakers concerned with bioterrorism to
make more informed decisions. In the course of this project, the
author has researched over 270 alleged cases involving biological
agents. This includes all incidents found in open sources that
allegedly occurred during the 20th Century. While the list is
certainly not complete, it provides the most comprehensive existing
unclassified coverage of instances of illicit use of biological
agents.
Mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles offer an excellent
case study for investigating the current debate over the Pentagon's
approach to developing and fielding irregular warfare capabilities.
MRAPs first gained prominence for their ability to protect U.S.
forces from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and because the
Pentagon did not deploy them en masse to Iraq until almost five
years of fighting had passed. More recently, following
extraordinary efforts to field more than 10,000 MRAPs quickly, the
program has been criticized as wasteful and unnecessary. Secretary
of Defense Robert Gates often cites the slow fielding of MRAPs as a
prime example of the Pentagon's institutional resistance to
investments in irregular warfare capabilities. Some irregular
warfare requirements traditionally bedevil the United States-such
as human intelligence-but quickly producing and fielding vehicles
is something the country has done well often in the past. Moreover,
the Pentagon assessed MRAPs as 400 percent more effective at
protecting U.S. troops than other vehicles, and Congress was eager
to pay for them. Thus, the slow fielding of the MRAPs certainly
seems like prima facie evidence for the Secretary's claim that the
Pentagon does not do a good job of providing irregular warfare
capabilities. Yet some analysts now argue that MRAPs are not really
useful for irregular warfare and are prohibitively expensive. By
the time the vehicles finally flowed into the combat zone, the need
for them had diminished because the insurgency and the IED problem
in Iraq were on the decline. Now the Pentagon's planned procurement
of MRAPs is being slashed, Congress is demanding more
accountability for controlling their costs, and the MRAP program is
being accused of sidetracking important future acquisition programs
such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and the Future Combat
System. As General Barry McCaffrey, USA (Ret.), asserted, "It is
the wrong vehicle, too late, to fit a threat we were actually
managing." Thus, MRAP proponents, who think their delayed fielding
was unconscionable, and detractors, who consider them a misguided,
emotional response to casualties, both view the MRAP saga as an
acquisition disaster. For incoming senior officials who are vowing
acquisition reform, the MRAP experience seems to strengthen their
cause. The controversial MRAPs raise two questions. First, does the
MRAP experience support Secretary Gates' contention that the
Pentagon is not sufficiently able to field irregular warfare
capabilities? To resolve this issue, we have to determine whether
MRAPs actually are a valid irregular warfare requirement, and if
so, whether the Pentagon should have been better prepared to
provide the kind of force protection armored vehicles like the MRAP
provides. Second, what factors best explain the MRAP failure,
whether that failure is determined to be the delayed fielding of
MRAPs or the fact that they were fielded at all? More specifically,
is the acquisition system to blame, as is commonly supposed? We
conclude that MRAPs are a valid irregular warfare requirement and
that the Pentagon should have been better prepared to field them,
albeit not on the scale demanded by events in Iraq. We also argue
that the proximate cause of the failure to quickly field MRAPs is
not the Pentagon's acquisition system but rather the requirements
process, reinforced by more fundamental organizational factors.
These findings suggest that achieving Secretary Gates' objective of
improving irregular warfare capabilities will require more
extensive reforms than many realize.
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