Strategic Studies Institute
United States Army War College

Key Strategic Issues List

The purpose of the Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) is to provide military and civilian researchers a ready reference for issues of special interest to the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense (DoD). Unlike other lists that generally reflect issues which are operational or tactical in nature, the focus of the KSIL is strategic. The spotlight is, in other words, on those items that senior Army and DoD leaders should consider in providing military advice and formulating military strategy.

At present, the U.S. military is engaged in a changing situation in Iraq and an increasing presence in Afghanistan, as well as efforts to restore balance in force sizing and structure. With the publication of the 2009 KSIL, the Strategic Studies Institute and the U.S. Army War College invite all researchers to contribute to informing America’s leaders of current and emerging challenges.

Researchers are encouraged to contact any Strategic Studies Institute faculty member, listed herein, for further information regarding possible topics.

All Active Topics

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• Overseas Contingency Operations
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • What are the implications for supporting JIM and what can we learn from past operations? Have we taken advantage of the lessons learned?
    • How can we best leverage and improve the fusion and operational distribution, protection, and utilization of resources, data in order to enhance support and sustainment capability for the COCOMs, JTFs across DoDs joint warfighting and business enterprises and our strategic partnerships across the National and International Logistics Sustainment Base? Does this justify a Joint Logistics Command?
    • Contracts and contractors in operations other than war. How can we link performance to accomplishing the mission of the Armed Forces, supporting strategy of the Secretary of State, and turning missions over of the mission to host nation?
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • The spread and role of radical Islam and international terrorist group capabilities
    • International counterterrorism (CT) capabilities and worldwide perception of U.S. power and CT actions
    • How best can the United States counter adversary use of the Internet as a means of propaganda and communications?
  • United States Army Materiel Command
    • Assess role of civilians in support of contingency operations
    • Assess the implications of establishing a civilian expeditionary workforce
    • Assess the use of contractor support in forward operations, including ability to provide force protection and appropriate oversight of their work by government technical experts
    • Assess the ability of Army units to provide Contracting Officer Representatives to oversee contractor performance in theater, including obtaining required COR training coursework and technical expertise for weapon systems and troop support functions
    • Assess the ability of the Army to provide support to forward installations absent the services provided in CONUS by the Installation Management Support Command
    • Assess the development of an organic support structure which depot personnel would be trained to support multiple REF systems reducing contractors on the battlefield and numbers of support people
  • United States Transportation Command
    • Forecast sustainment requirements for the Overseas Contingency Operations.
    • Recommend ways to mitigate the “friction” of joint distribution operations in theater.
    • Examine the roles of logistics and distribution in Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction, Operations (SSTRO).
    • Evaluate the utility of the Non-linear Supply Chain – A system-of-systems approach to modeling supply chain management.
  • United States Northern Command
    • How can USNORTHCOM assess First Responder resources and their sustainability (to include the private sector) to anticipate more accurately DOD logistical requirements prior to receiving requests for assistance? What policy and legal frameworks are required for DOD support of and deconfliction with other government partners' use of Unmanned Arial Systems (UAS's) in the Homeland?
  • U.S Army War College
    • Assess efforts to respond to evolving challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan
    • Evaluate methods for countering ideological support for terrorism through domestic and foreign means
    • Assess measures for defining progress in counterinsurgency operations
    • Determine what proportion of U.S. land power should be focused on counterinsurgency operations
    • Assess methods for training international security forces (military, paramilitary, and police)
    • Evaluate methods to integrate political, economic, informational, and military tools in counterinsurgency operations
    • Assess efforts to employ local militias in counterinsurgency operations
    • Assess the utility of U.S. land power with respect to complex contingencies and stability operations
• Homeland Security/Homeland Defense/Civil Support
  • U.S Army War College
    • Assess current measures for countering and responding to chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological, and high-explosive threats
    • Assess intelligence collection requirements and restrictions in homeland security, and their implications
    • Examine the strategic implications of missile defense as a component of homeland defense
    • Reassess active and reserve components’ roles in homeland security
    • Assess current measures for combining federal, state, and local resources for combating homeland threats
    • Evaluate current measures for identifying and protecting DoD and/or non-DoD critical infrastructure
    • How can we improve interagency planning and preparation for pandemics?
    • How can we establish domestic and international information sharing mechanisms among homeland defense, homeland security, and civil support entities?
    • Assess measures for integrating the private sector into USG responses to public health emergencies
    • Assess the need for distinguishing between crimes and acts of war for certain activities in cyberspace; determine to what extent existing treaties and laws govern cyberspace
    • National Guard: Operational or Strategic Reserve? Implications for homeland security and civil support
    • How can we improve interagency coordination and cooperation in homeland security/homeland defense?
  • United States Northern Command
    • Would USNORTHCOM benefit from consolidation of Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South, Joint Task Force (JTF) North, El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), Air Mobility Operations Control Center (AMOCC) and JIATF-West?
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Homeland defense and homeland security cooperation in anticipating, assessing, and countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats and consequences
    • Avenues for information sharing among intelligence agencies, Federal, state and local law enforcement officials
    • Examine current laws and statutes that enhance or impede information sharing, coordination, and cooperation among homeland defense and homeland security agencies
    • Weigh the military’s role in responding to natural disasters in the United States—testing and improving interagency collaboration in homeland security
  • United States Transportation Command
    • Preserving DOD’s access to the global commons through new collaboration with Department of State.
    • What railroad passenger system is necessary to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare of the United States of America
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • What should be the Army’s concept of logistics/sustainment support in defense of the homeland? What are the implications regarding the integration of local, state, federal, and commercial logistics capabilities?
  • United States Military Academy
    • Develop assessment tools for measuring progress toward post-conflict economic development. Such assessment tools would have strategic value for theater commands, practical value for field commanders, and intellectual value for researchers/practitioners in the area of economic development and conflict resolution.
    • Evaluate the impact of various economic development measures taken by the U.S. military. Consider their impact on facilitating an improved security environment, creating the conditions for non-military organizations to assume the lead role, and establishing a foundation for long-term economic growth.
    • Changing motivations for service in the U.S. armed forces
    • The state of the U.S. military as a profession
    • Best practices for the U.S. Army in counterinsurgency strategy
    • The process of military reform: What are the components of a successful strategy?
    • Preemptive versus preventive war: evolution and legitimacy of concepts
    • The reform of military education to better encompass language and culture training
    • Human resource management for an all-volunteer force engaged in high OPTEMPO missions. The role of the U.S. military in facilitating inter-agency cooperation
    • Securing the southern border of the United States from illegal immigration
    • Ramifications of the North American Defense Agreement
• Military Change
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • How do we effectively get, modernize and keep the equipment for the deployed, deploying and generating forces?
    • Research the background and identify the challenges of achieving interoperability of DOD data standards, and its impact on Army Logistics and Logistics C2.
    • Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS): Explore the potential operational value of a UAS in a logistics mission profile. Investigate potential load requirements, ranges, operational control, sustainment requirements and affordability to determine if there is a valid business case supported by empirical/statistical data.
    • How can net-centric concepts and principles be integrated into future Army sustainment concepts such that it is part of a cross-domain solution while striking a balance between complexity and tradition?
  • United States Pacific Command
    • Examine cyberspace as an operational domain, particularly concerning its potential for effecting cognitive outcomes.
  • United States Army Materiel Command
    • Assess and determine the long-term fiscal and operational (e.g., loss of command and control) impacts due to the consolidation and regionalization of functions, to include civilian personnel, financial services, Defense Logistics Agency supply services, Contracting, and installation support services (IMCOM).
    • Assess the scope and role of Supervisory and Process Control Systems in DOD and evaluate whether or not the Army infrastructures they manage/control are sufficiently secured to ensure that DOD can equip, train, and supply its wartime forces.
  • United States Transportation Command
    • DOD capability benefits from preserving the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF).
    • Actions necessary to create a timely acquisition of replacement air refueling capability.
    • Building and enforcing a single, multi-echelon distribution prioritization system.
    • Improving Universal Service Contract 06 to incentivize DOD shippers and commercial carriers to contribute to Time-Definite Delivery (TDD) at a price we can afford.
    • Incorporation of distribution network modeling and simulation in logistics planning processes.
    • Approaches for achieving unity of effort across the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise (JDDE).
    • How can cargo booking processes be improved to focus on buying service levels (2-3 days, 4-7 days for delivery) vs. buying transportation modes (air, surface)?
    • Metrics and standards to drive best performance and optimization of intra-theater distribution.
    • Using service-oriented architectures (SOAs) to improve interoperability across the logistics information domain.
    • Comparison of User-Selected versus System Selected Mode-of-Lift.
    • Comparison of challenges associated with implementing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) across Wal-Mart and DOD supply chains, respectively.
    • Using commercial forecasting models (e.g. collaborative planning forecasting replenishment (CPFR) model) to improve end-to-end joint distribution operations.
    • Approaches to planning and modeling theater distribution networks.
    • Recommendations for establishing a DOD global supply chain based on Time Definite Delivery.
    • SOUTHCOM Distribution Hub Operations: Commercial versus Organic Lift CONOPS.
  • U.S Army War College
    • Assess ongoing efforts to respond to the changing character of war:
      a.  u unrestricted warfare
      b.  u Evolution of insurgencies
      c.  u Hybrid warfare
      d.  u Cyber warfare
      e.  u Other
    • Assess responses to revolutionary change in warfare, or responses to unexpected technological breakthroughs
    • Evaluate current capabilities for conducting information operations and strategic communication in the global arena: policy and practice
    • Evaluate projected land force requirements for full spectrum dominance, to include peacekeeping and stability operations
    • Assess unity of effort as a substitute for unity of command
    • Assess the strategic implications of emerging operational concepts
    • Assess themes in the Army’s Strategic Planning Guidance
    • Force proficiencies against irregular challenges
    • Force capabilities for stability operations
      a.    Force capabilities to dominate in complex terrain
      b.    Capabilities for strategic responsiveness
      c.    The Army’s Global Force Posture
      d.   Force capabilities for battle command
    • Assess inter- and intra-theater mobility requirements for the U.S. military
    • Assess logistical support measures for U.S. allies and coalition partners
    • Assess transformation of OSD, the Joint Staff, and Service staffs
    • Evaluate efforts at transforming Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve
    • Assess role of women in combat: laws and norms
    • Assess measures of modular force performance
    • Assess Army Transformation in light of OIF and other ongoing operations
    • Assess resource conflicts between operational and institutional transformation
    • Evaluate advantages and disadvantages of transforming toward lean efficiency
    • Examine whether ARFORGEN meets the Army’s needs for extended operations
    • Assess cyberspace in terms of risk and as an enabler to conduct warfare
    • Streamlining the business of DoD’s business: Is DoD responsive enough in today’s fast-changing world?
    • Examine the strategic implications of space as a theater of war
    • Assess the Army’s role in a possible nuclear war
    • Assess the need for more foreign area officers and billets in the 21st century strategic environment
    • Assess the appropriateness of the current force structure for managing complex contingencies and/or stability operations
• National Security Strategy/National Military Strategy
  • U.S Army War College
    • Assess U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) and/or U.S. National Military Strategy (NMS); how/where should the United States prioritize its efforts?
    • Assess costs and benefits of alternative grand strategies
    • Evaluate strategic implications of irregular, traditional, and hybrid challenges
    • Assess the value of deterrence and dissuasion in U.S. national strategy
    • Evaluate proliferation and counterproliferation measures in a globalized world
    • Evaluate measures to integrate military and nonmilitary tools to achieve strategic objectives and avoid or resolve potential conflict
    • Evaluate the utility of military force as an instrument of policy in the 21st century
    • Examine the implications of U.S. missile defense for allies and potential adversaries
    • Evaluate the utility of strategic net and risk assessment in a multipolar system
    • Assess potential impact of global warming on U.S. national security
    • Assess how military power might complement a “smart power” approach to national security
  • United States Pacific Command
    • What factors should be considered in attempting to moderate India's military response against Pakistan should there be another large-scale terrorist attack?
  • United States Transportation Command
    • Recommend approaches to determining the optimum mix of transportation assets (air and surface) to support the National Military Strategy and Future Force.
    • Recommend decision-making models to provide joint analyses concerning the joint logistics enterprise.
    • Examine ways to apply "game theory" to develop and improve joint, interagency, and multi-national supply chain collaboration and partnerships.
    • Identify COCOM requirements for a real-time Common Operating Picture for Deployment and Distribution (COP D2).
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • What are the support and sustainment capability implications of long-term commitments to Sustainment Replenishment Operations (SRO).
    • How can the Joint Force leverage the concept of a sea base, and enable a more globally flexible sustainment capability? How does the Army Prepositioned Stocks (APS) strategy fit into the concept?
    • Are the Army's current readiness assessment systems capable of accurately portraying the Army's preparedness to execute the National Military Strategy across the entire Spectrum of Conflict? Does the ability to execute at the highest level of the Spectrum of Conflict indicate the ability to execute all missions at a lower level on the Spectrum?
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Should DoD continue to rely on commercial hardware and software?
    • How does DoD ensure supplier assurance when the complexity and size of software programs have surpassed the ability to reach high or moderate assurance that malicious code has not been embedded?
    • Proliferation of sophisticated, malicious, cyber knowledge and the asymmetric vulnerability of the United States and its allies to its employment: What international partnerships can create an effective export-control regime?
    • How can the maintenance of U.S. moral and ethical values by our government’s representatives abroad be managed so as to prevent the practice of those values from aggravating the current and future threat environment in countries of interest?
    • What happens if the GWOT ends? How can the U.S. benefit from the greater capabilities of sharper foreign security services?
    • How can the U.S. retain a technological edge even when other countries become centers of technological innovation?
    • How can the U.S. propagate synchronized strategic communications in cyberspace if our footprint there is declining?
    • How can the U.S. deal with multiple nuclear-capable rogue nations?
    • How does the U.S. deal with an evolving international situation where scores of nations may acquire the capability of creating fissile material that could be diverted for nuclear devices or weapons?
• Landpower Employment
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • What changes are needed to fight the battle without cluster munitions by 2018 with precision lethality?
  • U.S Army War College
    • Evaluate current responses to irregular challenges
    • Requirements for military operations in complex terrain
    • Assess the nature and importance of information superiority in military operations
    • Assess evolving landpower roles in stabilization, reconstruction, and humanitarian operations
    • Assess measures for improving Joint, combined, interagency, NGO and IGO cooperation in humanitarian and counterinsurgency operations
    • Evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. landpower in foreign policy execution by combatant commanders and country teams
    • Assess the impact of international law on American military operations
• Landpower Generation and Sustainment
  • U.S Army War College
    • Assess the impact of legal constraints on military and interagency mobilization
    • Evaluate measures to overcome anti-access and area-denial strategies
    • Evaluate measures for operating in areas with primitive and austere infrastructures
    • Evaluate the tradeoffs of power projection, prepositioning, and forward stationing
    • Assess landpower capabilities for waging protracted conflicts
    • Evaluate the impact of the expanding roles of contractors and other civilians in defense operations
    • Assess landpower’s role in seabasing as a logistical and operational concept
    • Assess measures to sustaining a modular, capabilities-based Army
    • Assess measures to establish a single Army logistics enterprise
    • Assess Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) model’s implications for manning, equipping, and sustaining functions
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • How will an integrated Life Cycle Sustainment Strategy guide Army capital equipment investments, skill development, and training requirements?
    • Given the current Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) Model, is the current force structure capable of conducting protracted warfare at the high end of the Spectrum of Conflict? If not, what additional force structure would be required?
    • How will institutionalizing the RESET process support the ARFORGEN cycle? Can this be sustained financially?
    • From an Army supply chain perspective, what does a "supply chain" process architecture reveal about relationships, processes, ownership, and interfaces with the Joint and OSD communities of interest?
    • Robotics Ground Systems are expected to proliferate but without some commonality of repair, systems and processes they may overwhelm the logistics systems. Evaluate the design requirements and the associated sustainment requirements from the operational level for resupply, maintenance and calls for support.
    • Explore the potential to reduce forward energy requirements and convoy use through second and third level efforts (solar, fuel cells, batteries, wind smart grids) that reduce need to move Class III on the battlefield and to support FOBs and support facilities.
    • Global Information Grid (GIG) supports the concept of Net Centric warfare. However, intelligent platforms without an equally intelligent off-platform network sub-optimize this enterprise-i.e. we create an "OnStar" without the supporting network or analytics. Evaluate the fundamental requirements for CBM and the positive effects of current efforts in developing this capability as a foundation for a CBM Business case analysis.
    • What Property Accountability process adjustments should be made to more realistically accommodate the property churn of continuous ARFORGEN cycles and persistent conflict?
  • United States Army Materiel Command
    • Assess the ONS/JUONS process to determine how well it is resolving Commander’s Urgent Operational Need requirements
    • Evaluate differences in Contractor personnel support policies, to include medical, housing and equipment support, between Theaters and recommend a uniform policy for all Theaters
    • Assess methods to improve competitive ammunition prices from Army Organic Production facilities
    • APS Fielding Strategy-preposition requirements and capabilities for 2020
    • Adjusting the Acquisition lens: Integrated approach to procurement and contracting-legal interpretation, doctrine review and force structure
    • Protecting America’s Investment-integration and disposition of non-program of record equipment
    • Sustaining a disciplined force-defeating organizational combat fatigue during protracted conflict
• Leadership, Personnel Management, and Culture
  • United States Army Materiel Command
    • Evaluate the impact of armed conflict on recruiting the next generation of civil servants
    • Identify methods to drive change and capitalize on a multi generational workforce; to include the use of technology, values, motivators, etc.
    • Evaluate retention, education, and professional growth of the Army’s research, development, acquisition and sustainment workforce
    • Assess the impact of allowing openly homosexual personnel to serve in the military
  • United States Transportation Command
    • Recommend improvements to redeployment processes for Army units.
    • Approaches for integrating logistics operations with multi-national, inter-agency organizations, non-government organizations and civilian contractors.
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • How can we best forecast and determine the cost to sustain and support a specific force capability over time in an operational environment (multiple intensity and threat scenarios)? As part of this discussion, how can we quickly determine, validate, and verify known resource requirements in near-real-time as agile force structure and operational requirements change?
    • What are the force management and leadership implications, gaps, shortfalls, risks and challenges that have been identified during the expanded use of contractors for support and sustainment operations? How much contracting is enough?
    • Research and address how the POM process can be streamlined to better ensure balanced Army transformation in order to implement an optimal Army sustainment strategy.
    • What are the essential skills, knowledge, and expertise that Army Logisticians will require to function effectively in a network-centric future logistics environment?
    • What force preparation and force management capabilities will be required in the future network-centric environment to generate logistics capabilities through ARFORGEN, and how are these capabilities integrated with the larger Joint Force Management (JFM) initiative?
    • What are the implications of the Overseas Contingency Operations on logistics human resources, training of “core skills” and competencies for total force requirements across the warfighting and business support and sustainment spectrums, for global support and sustainment of qualified personnel: military, government and commercial enterprise in the short, mid and long-term?
    • Implementing change in joint operations and sustainment. What is the best change management approach to implement joint logistics support capabilities, where proposed capabilities, such as logistics interoperability, crosses service boundaries, has multiple program managers, logistics business systems and funding sources?
    • Property Accountability: Through the past few years, the Army has not maintained its focus as stewards of U. S. Government property that has been provided by the citizens of this country. Beyond the fog of war and the strains of combat, what have we missed in our leadership training and the management of supply personnel? Have there been influences on our culture from the outside or, has our heritage of steadfastness to our fellow citizens waivered from the inside?
  • U.S Army War College
    • Evaluate retention and readiness measures of active and reserve forces
    • Assess measures to develop soldiers and leaders for future missions
    • Assess the need to change the continuum of service
    • Assess the apparent gap between civilian and military cultures
    • Assess the relationship between the U.S. military and American society:
      a.    Demographics: who is in it, and who fights?
      B.   Civilian control over the military in the 21st century
    • Assess efforts to identify, manage, and sustain the Army’s intellectual and technological talent
    • Assess the status of the Army as a profession
    • Assess measures to sustain public support for the U.S. armed forces
    • Evaluate how the Army develops and responds to “lessons learned”
    • Assess measures for obtaining Joint synergy despite different service cultures
    • Evaluate measures for maintaining a culture of innovation
    • Assess the implications of adopting commercial best business practices for the military
    • Assess measures to manage changes in temporary end strength
    • Assess measures to manage nondeployable soldiers
    • Evaluate the strategic purpose and effectiveness of the Individual Ready Reserve
    • Examine the pre-commissioning program
    • Examine ways to revise the military decisionmaking process
    • Examine differences between dissent and disloyalty regarding civilian authority
    • Analyze the impact of repeated deployments on families
    • Examine how the fact that fewer members of Congress have served in the armed services affects future Defense policy?
    • Assess implications of interagency integration on professional military education, career progression, and other human resource management practices
    • Examine the utilization of foreign area officers in ODC and DAO positions within the Senior Defense Official (SDO) concept.
    • Assess the knowledge, skills, and abilities military leaders require in complex contingencies and/or stability operations
• Evolving Regional Security Matters in Africa
  • U.S Army War College
    • Africa and the war on terrorism
    • Lessons learned from Africa’s insurgencies
    • Implications of HIV/AIDS on the ground forces of African partners
    • Strategic implications of Chinese activity in Africa
    • Analysis of regional African infrastructure and its impacts on how African nations provide for their own security (e.g., the Zambezi River Valley or the Great Lakes nations or the Trans-Sahel)
    • U.S. strategy toward the Trans-Sahel
    • U.S. strategy toward the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its impact on its neighbors
    • Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea subregion—threats, challenges, and solutions
    • U.S. strategy toward the west Indian Ocean nations (Comoros, Mauritius) and southeast African coast
    • Nexus of security and development in Africa – why they go hand-in-hand
    • U.S. military roles in human security issues in Africa
    • The impacts and risks of mass migrations and refugee flows in Africa
    • The role of the African Union in African peacekeeping operations
    • Army international activities programs in Africa
    • Professional development of African militaries
    • Developing partnerships with Africa’s powers: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa
    • The future role and organization of AFRICOM
    • Transnational crime and security in Africa
    • The global economic crisis and security in Africa
  • United States Military Academy
    • The growth of Islamic radicalism in Africa: determinants
    • Politics of oil in Africa. Threats to the free flow of oil to the United States
    • Problems of human security as obstacles to building sound states and promoting democratization in Africa
• Evolving Regional Security Matters in the Middle East and the Islamic World
  • U.S Army War College
    • U.S. interests with respect to a stable, sovereign Iraq
    • Changing the U.S. military presence in the Persian/Arabian Gulf
    • Security issues created by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
    • U.S. strategy toward Iran
    • U.S. strategy toward Libya
    • U.S. strategy toward Syria
    • Regional and global implications of the Iranian nuclear program and ballistic missile program
    • The impact of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) on U.S. national security and the ways in which the United States may conduct a responsible withdrawal from Iraq
    • Strategic implications of a changing Egypt
    • The future of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the smaller Gulf monarchies in Middle Eastern security
    • Strategic implications of fully or partially democratic, but anti-U.S. governments, mass movements, and political parties, in the Middle East
    • Strategic implications of increasing Chinese interests in oil, arms sales, and economic aid in the Middle East
    • Future role of external powers and security organizations in the Middle East
    • Emerging and evolving military relationships among Middle Eastern states including counterterrorism relationships
    • Strategies that regional states have for dealing with the United States and its allies in the Middle East
    • Regional security strategies in the Middle East including ways in which the United States can most effectively cooperate with regional allies
    • The nature of politically-oriented Islamic militancy, salafi jihadism, and their implications for U.S. and regional security
    • U.S. strategy toward Lebanon
    • Efforts to contain and moderate violent ethnic and sectarian conflicts throughout the Middle East
    • Dangers of “spillover” problems from Iraq, and the activities of regional states within Iraq
    • The danger of the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) of all kinds throughout the region and the potential danger of regional conflicts in which WMD are employed.
    • Regional implications of efforts to improve and modernize the conventional militaries of major regional powers including Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia
    • Challenges of political reform (including fair treatment of all religious sects and ethnic groups) and the ways in which such reform may enhance domestic and regional security
    • U.S.-Iraqi security relations and cooperation following a withdrawal of U.S. combat units from Iraq
  • United States Army Materiel Command
    • What are the benefits of using modeling to estimate Reset cost related to a drawdown?
    • Is the combined Army approach for the Iraq drawdown helping to achieve the goals of visibility, accountability, and transparency
    • How can the Army improve coordination between key players in executing the Iraq Drawdown?
• Evolving Regional Security Matters in the Asia-Pacific
  • United States Pacific Command
    • Assess the Six-Party dialogue in managing the North Korean situation as related to Chinese global strategy of regional hegemony.
    • How can the US develop a more robust military-to-military relationship with Indonesia and how should this relationship be leveraged for achieving regional objectives?
    • How can the US and PRC resolve the present impasse regarding interpretations of the legality of US information collection operations within China's EEZ?
    • What access does the US require in the Philippines and what engagement strategy should be used to achieve this access?
    • Under what conditions might the Cross-strait situation be peacefully resolved and what role can the US military play in this process?
    • What influence strategies can the US use to achieve a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and set the conditions for peaceful unification?
    • Explore whether Japan should develop power projection capabilities in response to PRC modernization and DPRK brinksmanship.
    • How can the US develop a more robust military-to-military relationship with New Zealand and how should this relationship be leveraged for achieving regional objectives?
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Interpret regional strategic goals and ambitions of North Korea and China and their ability to achieve them through military and economic capabilities
  • United States Pacific Command
    • Assess the Six-Party dialogue in managing the North Korean situation as related to Chinese global strategy of regional hegemony.
    • How can the US develop a more robust military-to-military relationship with Indonesia and how should this relationship be leveraged for achieving regional objectives?
    • How can the US and PRC resolve the present impasse regarding interpretations of the legality of US information collection operations within China's EEZ?
    • What access does the US require in the Philippines and what engagement strategy should be used to achieve this access?
    • Under what conditions might the Cross-strait situation be peacefully resolved and what role can the US military play in this process?
    • What influence strategies can the US use to achieve a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and set the conditions for peaceful unification?
    • Explore whether Japan should develop power projection capabilities in response to PRC modernization and DPRK brinksmanship.
    • How can the US develop a more robust military-to-military relationship with New Zealand and how should this relationship be leveraged for achieving regional objectives?
  • U.S Army War College
    • Balancing U.S. security interests in China and Taiwan
    • The future of the Japan-U.S. security relationship
    • Implications of China’s growing economic and military power in the region
    • Security concerns in Southeast Asia and implications for the United States
    • Strategic response to North Korea’s intentions and capabilities
    • Evolving Republic of Korea-U.S. security relations
    • Evolving Japan-U.S. security relations
    • Japan’s relationships with Asian nations
    • Future of ASEAN and U.S. strategic posture in the region
    • The role of the U.S. military on the Korean Peninsula
    • Future of the U.S. alliance with Australia and New Zealand
    • Sources and dimensions of anti-Americanism in Asia: policy implications
    • Chinese-North Korean relations
    • Politics of history and memory in South-North Korean relations
    • Role of nationalism in Asia and implications for U.S. policy
    • Role of ideology in Asia and implications for U.S. policy
    • China’s regional and global grand strategy
    • China’s military transformation
    • Russia’s interests, policy and actions in Asia
    • Transformation of U.S. forward deployment in Asia
    • Toward a U.S. energy security strategy for Asia and the Pacific
    • The strategic implications of China’s growing space capabilities
    • Organized crime and security in South Asia
    • India as a rising Asian power and the expansion of its overall capabilities and interests
    • Strategic implications of U.S.-Vietnam security relations
    • Evolving U.S.-Thailand security relations
    • Contending sea powers in East Asia
    • Strategic implications of U.S. economic downturn and global financial crisis on U.S.-Asian relations
  • United States Military Academy
    • Assess the capabilities of the PLA. What strategic options do these capabilities offer the PRC?
• Evolving Regional Security Matters in Europe
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Identify the implications of merging crime, government, and intelligence services personnel and practices in Russia
    • Explore the implications of Muslim population growth within Russia for Russian military (manpower, training, roles and missions)
  • United States Military Academy
    • Cooperation between the United States and the EU (also individual countries) in the war on terrorism
    • Russia’s response to "regime change" on its borders. Assess the growth and durability of Russian political, military, economic, and cultural influence in the Near Abroad, particularly Central Asia.
    • Evaluate Russia's contributions as a partner in the war on terrorism; will other efforts at cooperation check the slide into Russian-American confrontation?
    • Discuss the probable evolution of NATO’s identity and mission(s) over the next decade.
  • U.S Army War College
    • U.S. Army roles in future Balkan security
    • A roadmap for future security in the Balkans
    • The revival of the Russian military
    • Prospects for Russo-American security and/or defense cooperation
    • Russia’s future relationships with Europe and the United States
    • Energy security in Europe
    • Democratization and instability in Ukraine, Georgia, and Belarus
    • Impact of growing Muslim populations on European security policy
    • Strategic implications of reconfiguring the U.S. military presence in Europe
    • Implications of a changing NATO
    • U.S. leadership in NATO: Does/should the U.S. Army still play a role?
    • NATO and EU defense capabilities: new or just repackaging the old?
    • EU civil-military cell: a useful model for Joint/interagency operations?
    • Is the U.S.-Europe military capabilities gap still growing; are U.S. technology transfer rules helping or hindering?
    • Implications of OIF for European cooperation in the war on terrorism
    • EU expansion while excluding Turkey from membership
    • Strategic implications of drawing down U.S. forces in Europe
    • Will ISAF break NATO?
    • Should the United States encourage handover of OEF to NATO and allow CENTCOM to focus on OIF?
    • EUCOM’s future role with the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics (MOAC-N) located in Lisbon, Portugal (7 nation regional center)
    • Coordination across the COCOM seams: The unique role that Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) plays in the EUCOM AOR to combat cross-Atlantic illicit narcotics trafficking
  • United States Military Academy
    • Cooperation between the United States and the EU (also individual countries) in the war on terrorism
    • Russia’s response to "regime change" on its borders. Assess the growth and durability of Russian political, military, economic, and cultural influence in the Near Abroad, particularly Central Asia.
    • Evaluate Russia's contributions as a partner in the war on terrorism; will other efforts at cooperation check the slide into Russian-American confrontation?
    • Discuss the probable evolution of NATO’s identity and mission(s) over the next decade.
• Evolving Regional Security Matters in South Asia
  • U.S Army War College
    • Balancing U.S. security interests between India and Pakistan
    • Role of India in world events and U.S.-Indian military-strategic relations
    • Maintaining stability and security in Afghanistan
    • Long-term implications of maintaining the OIF coalition
    • The evolving American security relationship with Pakistan
    • The global response to state failure or internal conflict in South Asia
    • Organized crime and security in South Asia
    • The risks, benefits and implications of poppy eradication in Afghanistan
    • Iran: A potential partner in stemming illegal Afghan drug flow? Should the coalition seek to engage Iran in mutually beneficial border control to stem the flow of illicit narcotics?
• Evolving Regional Security Matters in Central Asia
  • U.S Army War College
    • Growing U.S. security interests in the Caucasus and Central Asia
    • Russian-China-U.S. competition in Central Asia
    • Implications of energy development in the Caucasus and Caspian regions
    • Synchronizing security cooperation and political reform in Central Asia
    • The role and structure of the U.S. military presence in Central Asia
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Assess national strategy, security policies, and decisionmaking in the Caucasus and Asia
    • Assess efficacy of (select) allies’/partners’ armies, experienced in peacekeeping operations, now doing “warfighting” in Afghanistan
  • United States Military Academy
    • Politics of oil and gas pipelines in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and western China
    • The prospects for political stability and political reform in Turkmenistan
    • Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan: prospects for successful democratization
    • Ukraine and Georgia: prospects for membership in NATO after the 2008 war.
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Assess national strategy, security policies, and decisionmaking in the Caucasus and Asia
    • Assess efficacy of (select) allies’/partners’ armies, experienced in peacekeeping operations, now doing “warfighting” in Afghanistan
  • United States Military Academy
    • Politics of oil and gas pipelines in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and western China
    • The prospects for political stability and political reform in Turkmenistan
    • Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan: prospects for successful democratization
    • Ukraine and Georgia: prospects for membership in NATO after the 2008 war.
• Evolving Regional Security Matters in the Western Hemisphere
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Examine U.S. role in promoting ethnically plural polities inclusive of politically and economically disenfranchised indigenous populations in Latin America
  • U.S Army War College
    • U.S. interests in Caribbean security issues
    • Hemispheric security forces (military and police) and new threats
    • Improving security ties with Brazil
    • Lessons from the Colombian insurgency
    • Immigration and people smuggling as a security issue
    • Alternately governed space and implications for territorial security
    • Gangs and other transnational crime as a threat to the area
    • Venezuela as an exporter of political instability
    • Narco-funded terrorism networks
    • Instability and disenfranchised indigenous and poor populations
    • Implications of the rising threat of populism in the region; the difference between populists and the “responsible left”
    • Addressing the fundamental disconnect between the U.S. and Latin American visions of current threats to the region
    • Long-term implications of Chinese engagement in Latin America
    • Maintaining the viability of hemispheric security forces during a time of declining budgets
    • Implications for U.S. security of a post-Castro Cuba
    • Forming a North American Security Community
    • Improving U.S.-Mexico security ties
    • Implications of the drug war in Mexico
    • Impact and desirability of forming sub-regional security organizations like the Conferencia de Fuerzas Armadas Centroamericanas (CFAC)
• Evolving Regional Security Issues: Multiple Regions
  • U.S Army War College
    • Revising the boundaries of the geographic Combatant Commands
    • Integrating regional security cooperation plans, basing, and presence policies
    • Environmental issues as a basis for enhancing security cooperation
    • How Interagency Combatant Commands function
    • Analysis of a viable and relevant sub-national, national or transnational political actor along the framework suggested by the Analytical Cultural Framework for Strategy and Policy (ACFSP) as discussed in the May 2009 SSI Letort Paper “Cultural Dimensions of Strategy and Policy” to identify that group’s sense of purpose and values, the interests that derive from them, and implications for U.S. strategy and policy regarding that group
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Explore advanced infrastructure and network analyses for use by U.S. planners, policymakers, and warfighters
    • Identify the significance (in North Africa/Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Southwest Asia) of the presence of militant Islam; anticipate internal and regional instability in view of the U.S. global defense posture
  • United States Army Materiel Command
    • Address how the military requirements for the frequency spectrum can be de-conflicted with civilian requirements
  • United States Military Academy
    • The reorganization of democracy assistance: creating a new cabinet level Department of International Development
    • Democratization as a response to terrorism: promise and limitations
    • The use of information warfare tactics by violent non-state actors
    • Religious Factors Associated with Troop Cohesion and Military-Humanitarian Operational Effectiveness. Under what conditions do religious NGOs incite, rather than ameliorate, the grievances that lead to insurgent violence? What types of religious NGOs are most likely to redress grievances; which are most likely to be the target of insurgent organizations?
    • The erosion of Latin American democracy over the past decade: undermining U.S. security interests in the region; measuring the strength of anti-Americanism.
    • The prospects for stability and democratization in Cuba over the next decade: the roles of the Cuban Army and foreign investment
    • Sources of democratization in the Muslim world: case studies in Asia and Africa; evaluate the utility of Turkey; Indonesia; Morocco; and Kuwait as models.
    • The interpretation of Muslim scripture to provide normative support for political and cultural liberalization
    • Palestinian and Israeli politics: prospects for an authentic 2-state solution
    • Prospects for democratization and state-building in Afghanistan
    • Best practices for the U.S. Army in nation and state-building in Iraq
    • Measuring the prospects for state failure in Pakistan: develop metrics
    • De-escalation of tension between India and Pakistan: how durable? What are the prospects for a settlement in Jammu/Kashmir?
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • How can we leverage the commercial capabilities that are already in place across the globe to facilitate logistics/sustainment support for regional operations?
    • Are there opportunities to develop regional sustainment platforms that can support the Joint Force? What are the implications on Service logistics and Title X responsibilities?
  • United States Military Academy
    • The reorganization of democracy assistance: creating a new cabinet level Department of International Development
    • Democratization as a response to terrorism: promise and limitations
    • The use of information warfare tactics by violent non-state actors
    • Religious Factors Associated with Troop Cohesion and Military-Humanitarian Operational Effectiveness. Under what conditions do religious NGOs incite, rather than ameliorate, the grievances that lead to insurgent violence? What types of religious NGOs are most likely to redress grievances; which are most likely to be the target of insurgent organizations?
    • The erosion of Latin American democracy over the past decade: undermining U.S. security interests in the region; measuring the strength of anti-Americanism.
    • The prospects for stability and democratization in Cuba over the next decade: the roles of the Cuban Army and foreign investment
    • Sources of democratization in the Muslim world: case studies in Asia and Africa; evaluate the utility of Turkey; Indonesia; Morocco; and Kuwait as models.
    • The interpretation of Muslim scripture to provide normative support for political and cultural liberalization
    • Palestinian and Israeli politics: prospects for an authentic 2-state solution
    • Prospects for democratization and state-building in Afghanistan
    • Best practices for the U.S. Army in nation and state-building in Iraq
    • Measuring the prospects for state failure in Pakistan: develop metrics
    • De-escalation of tension between India and Pakistan: how durable? What are the prospects for a settlement in Jammu/Kashmir?
• War and Society: American Society
  • Department of the Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4
    • What are the readiness implications of the Overseas Contingency Operations on logistics/sustainment strategy for the U.S. Army and the Joint Force?
    • What are the issues related to coalition support (reliance and dependence) for the Joint Force? What are the logistics implications of a coalition force?
    • What are the issues related to logistics support for special operations forces in their global commitment to the war on terrorism? Have we provided better support since 911?
  • U.S Army War College
    • Discuss ways of balancing individual civil rights and national security requirements
    • Assess the debate over America’s place in the world
    • Examine America’s changing perceptions of other nations
    • Examine the U.S. media’s role in political and social mobilization
    • Examine American civil-military relations in wartime
    • Examine the role of religion and faith in the American way of war
    • Strategic implications of public perceptions of who serves, and who dies
    • Assess how operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have affected U.S. civil-military relations
    • Assess civilian control of the military and the requirement to provide military advice
    • Examine the need for political boundaries for general and flag officers, active and retired
• War and Society: International Society
  • U.S Army War College
    • Assess the "Clash of Cultures" debate
    • Examine the implications of anti-Americanism for U.S. foreign policy
    • Examine centers of power in other societies and cultures
    • Assess the role of “strategic communication” in establishing trust with our partners

For additional topics outside of the KSIL see the JPME Prospective Research Topics Database to search for topics in this category. Use the Joint Education link on the main page to access.