Is DOD ready for the next "game changing" strategic shock? "Known Unknowns: ‘Unconventional Strategic Shock’ in Defense Strategy Development" examines this issue head on. Historically, defense strategy demonstrates three flaws: it is generally reactive, it lacks sufficient strategic imagination, and as a result it is vulnerable to surprise. The current administration confronted a game-changing “strategic shock” in its first 8 months in office. It was highly disruptive to DOD's worldview. The next administration and its Department of Defense leaders would be well-advised to expect the same kind of unconventional, nonmilitary shock to defense convention early in its first term.
Validating a Future Direction for Homeland Defense and Civil Support
As the nation approaches a new Administration, intense review of the foundational concepts of homeland security and homeland defense is underway. Brought together “on the march and under fire” under the previous Presidency, elemental definitions are being scrutinized to ensure they meet the requirements of domestic security which may lie ahead.
If Independence Was Easy, Everyone Would Do It
The dissolution of the Soviet Bloc and the disintegration of Yugoslavia produced 22 new independent governments across Europe and Central Asia. For those smaller entities at the lower end of the viability spectrum, independence, with the resulting disappearance of the economic and defense security blankets, has been more of a cold shower than a warm bath.
Headline: Fighting Back: New Media and Military Operations
This article considers opportunities and challenges for the warfighter in an information environment increasingly dominated by "that combustible mix of 24/7 cable news, call-in radio and television programs, Internet bloggers and online websites, cell phones and iPods” (Marvin Kalb). “New media” certainly enables our adversaries, but offers opportunities for the U.S. warfighter as well.
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