May 14, 2019

Military Medicine: The Gender Gap in Trauma Training

There are systemic problems preventing women from receiving the same emergency medical treatment as men, says author Daniel McGarrah of the US Army who wrote this essay as a student at the College of International Security Affairs. The Department of Defense (DOD) has made it clear that women will serve in combat, so women’s survivability should be equal to men. DOD policy supports training, medical treatment and research to ensure women have equal opportunity to survive combat trauma. This essay won the Strategic Research Paper category of the 2018 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Strategic Essay Competition.

May 14, 2019

Warrior Women: 3,000 Years in the Fight

Women in combat is not a new idea, though there is still skepticism in the U.S. military about women participating in combat. However, there are numerous historical examples of female combatants performing on an equal footing with their male counterparts, which should overcome this skepticism. Military leaders should consider studying these examples to support gender equitability in the military and dispel harmful myths. Meanwhile, war colleges and service schools should use historical examples of women in war to develop curriculum, and the demographics in the classrooms should reflect an equitable ratio of men and women.

May 7, 2019

Augmenting Bloom for Education in the Cognitive Domain

Bloom’s Taxonomy (named for educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom) is a system to classify learning objectives according to their level of complexity. In Professional Military Education (PME) Bloom’s Taxonomy is used to differentiate learning levels and create sequential learning objectives. This approach makes sense for most PME students but not everyone. Thus, the authors propose a stratified systems theory as a complementary framework that can be used to meet the contextual need across all PME educational systems. Implementing this recommendation, say the authors, will enhance PME and better prepare graduates to face the challenges associated with a dynamic, uncertain future.

May 7, 2019

Covert Action as an Intelligence Subcomponent of the Information Instrument

Covert Action consists of methods to influence political, economic and military conditions abroad where the government’s role is neither readily apparent nor publicly acknowledged. Because oversight of Covert Action is the responsibility of congressional intelligence committees and because the fundamental purpose is to manipulate information (and conceal knowledge about the actors involved) these methods belong to the information instrument of the DIME typology of diplomatic, information, military and economic instruments of power. Strategists and educators should keep this in mind in order to balance the costs, risks and benefits in support of national security and foreign policy objectives.

May 7, 2019

From DOPMA to Google: Cyber as a Case Study in Talent Management

How should we manage cyber talent in the information age? How do we use the military’s existing systems of talent management to optimize recruitment, employment and retention of the cyber force? Although we live in an age of increasing availability of information and integration of artificial intelligence, cyber warfare remains a human endeavor. To ensure the U.S. maintains its qualitative edge in the cyber domain, the Joint Force must attract, develop and retain the right people. This means borrowing good ideas from the private sector, say the authors, encouraging creativity, allowing flexibility and developing future leaders who understand their craft.

May 7, 2019

Tactical Maneuver in the Cyber Domain: Dominating the Enemy

Imagine the possibilities if tactical teams could plan a raid that integrated air and ground support, and on-call fires in the cyber domain. This article argues that our national defense organizations invest in capabilities, tactics and training to successfully conduct tactical maneuver in the cyber domain. The Joint Force must be able to visualize and integrate the cyber domain with other domains to achieve strategic military and national objectives. The ability to dominate the enemy in cyberspace as part of combined arms all-domain operations, says the author, is an essential requirement for the Joint Force.

May 2, 2019

Executive Summary

What good is looking back? Fifty years ago, one of the key people behind the Apollo Moon missions was a computer scientist named Margaret Hamilton. Like many young people in those days, I was all about becoming an astronaut and going to the Moon. While the early astronauts were all men, not everyone involved was, as proved all too well in the movie Hidden Figures. Until that movie, I had no idea who programmed the computers that made the mission possible—and I read everything I could in the Space Race days of the 1960s. Why did I not know that story? It was a different time—no Internet, only three major television networks, and people of color and women were often excluded from the frontlines of many parts of society. Our view of the world was far more restricted than it is today. I suspect most of our readers have a hard time imagining a past where such boundaries existed or, more likely, why some still exist even if laws removed them long ago.

Jan. 23, 2019

Joint Doctrine Update

Joint Doctrine Updates.

Jan. 23, 2019

J 3-24 Counterinsurgency

The Joint Staff has revised JP 3-24, Counterinsurgency, which provides instructions and doctrine to plan, execute, and assess counterinsurgency operations. JP 3-24 is a priority publication, which supports the National Defense Strategy and National Military Strategy. JP 3-24 defines counterinsurgency (COIN) as comprehensive civilian and military efforts designed to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root causes. Accordingly, JP 3-24 provides authoritative doctrine relative to counterinsurgency. Highlights include analysis of the COIN operational environment, the nature of an insurgency, considerations for COIN planning, and how to conduct a COIN assessment.

Jan. 23, 2019

Master and Commander in Joint Air Operations: Winning the Air War Through Mission Command

Much has been written on Mission Command and Control since 2012 when CJCS General Martin Dempsey released a white paper which encouraged this leadership style among his subordinates. Mission command is a proven concept in air operations, and will be required to face the challenges of future conflicts. Since the advent of satellite communications and the internet, however, command and control of joint air operations has become increasingly centralized. Mission command is essential to winning future air wars says, the author, which is feasible because new technology allows operational commanders to make tactical decisions from thousands of miles away.