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Executive Summary
As I have written before in this space, change is a constant. NDU Press and Joint Force Quarterly are not immune to this fact. Recently, we moved to a more modern Web-based platform that will be less expensive to maintain and operate. The work became more complicated than anticipated, causing JFQ 113 to be a bit tardy online and in the mailbox, but our team worked out a way to daylight. Leading the charge was our “unicorn” Internet Publications Editor, Ms. Joanna “Joey” Seich. She took a suggested path from my director here at NDU’s Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), Dr. Denise Natali, and did the hard work of asking all the right questions and developing a workable plan. Despite challenges both virtual and physical, we are now able to bring you JFQ—and later, the entire INSS catalog—on the Digital Commons platform (https://digitalcommons. ndu.edu). We join more than 650 other universities on this global research and information collaboration system that also serves the public with access to our collection of cutting-edge and historical work on the joint force and more. Let us know what you think of this new experience.
In this issue’s Forum section, we offer a preview of a major book by INSS that is planned for this fall and three valuable articles from the field about the effects of global competition. My INSS colleague Thomas Lynch provides a version of the opening chapter of his forthcoming edited volume on Great Power competition, focusing on the prospects of war among these nations. Looking at how agents of internal change are perceived, Thaddeus Drake and Derrick McClain describe the institutional reactions to those innovators— often unreceptive, even though we often hear leadership crying out for such change—and suggest how this could be improved. I was happy to see a former student of mine and JFQ alum, Alexus “Grynch” Grynkewich, and his team of Thomas Burks, Alex Coberly, and Samantha McClure, writing on civilian harm mitigation—increasingly an obvious need for the joint force to consider and ensure we adopt the appropriate measures for before, during, and after combat. Equally high on many lists of concerns within the Services is the issue of force recruiting and retention, which Kent Park and fellow JFQ alum John Nagl discuss as part of their assessment of the effectiveness of the all-volunteer force in today’s and tomorrow’s combat operations.
The director of the Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS), Eric Fowler, called to discuss the tragic loss of one of his students, and we agreed to work out a proper way to honor his significant research effort. The resulting special section of JPME Today and an important article from the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Operations School offer important views from both students and professional military education (PME) college leaders. As many PME insiders know, not all modes of this education are the same, and part of those differences is how the joint curriculum is presented. Before he died, JAWS student Douglas Morea sought to complete his thesis about those differences— particularly those in nonresident PME, which often treated jointness as an afterthought, with Service concepts dominating the programs. Commander Morea’s core ideas offer important points to consider. Next, Thomas Crimmins, Eric Fowler, and Daryl Chamberlain propose their views on the value of jointness and, specifically, joint qualification. Rounding out this section, the graduates of the U.S. Air Force’s 2023-A Class of the Advanced Logistics Readiness Officer Course recommend how military operations should be planned to account for contested lines of support.
In our Commentary section, Adam Clemens proposes where the Marine Corps needs to go, especially considering his view that the Service is uniquely suited for three mission areas relevant to Great Power competition. Many of us witnessed the final hours of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 as events unfolded in real time, with a noncombatant evacuation operation occurring during the overall effort. Elle Klein suggests we need to take a serious look at how such operations are conducted, given what we have learned. One of the first JFQ authors (going back to JFQ 1 in summer 1993) and my former director here in INSS, Rich Hooker, sees a set of opportunities for the U.S. Army to enhance its aviation formations to improve overall combat effectiveness.
From cyber and information effects on warfighting to civil assistance to development of foreign area officers, this edition’s Features section has a great deal of hard-won experience to consider. Michael Cheatham, Angelique Geyer, Priscella Nohle, and Jonathan Vazquez explore how in the battle for our minds, information and gray zone operations affect our abilities to think through complex problem sets. Seeking to help us get the proper “sight picture” on information and power, Will Reno and Jesse Humpal suggest that Americans need to see how other cultures receive our attempts at influencing their hearts and minds, particularly considering China’s similar efforts. In contrast, James Ward writes about U.S. military-supported engineer civic assistance projects as a winning formula in the current strategic competition environment. Finally, Michael Burgoyne and Albert Marckwardt provide an important assessment of the “five truths” that foreign area officers all know, and that they believe we should know, too. Closing out this issue, in addition to three book reviews, we offer in Joint Doctrine an interesting set of recommendations from Tam Pham and Walter Berbrick to develop better joint force leadership for information warfare.
JFQ has been sustained for over 30 years by a growing list of individuals who were with us for a short while and others who have been “marathoners” as we have strived to produce the best military journal in the world. After 15 years, we must say goodbye to one of the longest serving and most effective members of the JFQ, NDU Press, INSS, and NDU teams, Joey Seich, our Internet Publications Editor. Joey arrived at NDU from industry in 2009 with a bagful of talent and skills. As she hit the deck running, she became legend at NDU for her abilities and her “Let’s do it!” approach to help every part of our operations on the Internet. One aspect of her work over the years has been putting JFQ on the web—if you are an online reader of JFQ, she is the reason you can see every article and image produced here since the start in 1993. Her work has included the initial web posting of 59 JFQ issues—some 1,014 articles with photos and graphics—by more than 1,500 authors, including 5 Chairmen, many senior DOD officials and senior military officers, and most important, the members and supporters of the joint force from around the world. As DOD standards for websites changed during her tenure, Joey was responsible for reposting—multiple times—the full complement of JFQ (now 114 issues) as well as the entire NDU Press catalogue dating back some 25 years. Joey is headed for a position with another government agency. We will miss her very much, and we wish her every success.
As we look forward, please send us your best work to improve the joint force. We’ll make sure we get the word out. JFQ
Click here to read JFQ 114 →
NDU Press produces Joint Force Quarterly in concert with ongoing education and research at National Defense University in support of the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. JFQ is the Chairman's joint military and security studies journal designed to inform and educate national security professionals on joint and integrated operations; whole of government contributions to national security policy and strategy; homeland security; and developments in training and joint military education to better equip America's military and security apparatus to meet tomorrow's challenges while protecting freedom today.