By Keith B. Payne, National Institute for Public Policy: "The scope and breadth of Colin’s curiosity and writing far transcended any single topic. This brief discussion focuses only on a single enduring area of his scholarly interest: deterrence theory, policy and associated strategic force considerations, including arms control."
By Dave Dilegge, Small Wars Journal: "Dave Dilegge passed away Saturday morning. It's a shock to his family and a great loss to our small wars community."
(Military Times) For Dave Dilegge, the days usually started at 3 a.m. as he began to scour the internet for the latest military and national security news he’d compile for Small Wars Journal.
By Douglas J. Feith & Shaul Chorev, National Institute for Public Policy: "Throughout history, wars generally hinged on clashes of arms. To win, a party had to defeat its enemy’s military forces. For the United States since the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 1970s, however, the only conflict of this conventional model was the Gulf War of 1990-91."
By Francis P. Sempa, RealClearDefense: "Colin S. Gray, who died in late February after a long battle with cancer, was one of the great strategic thinkers of our time. He authored more than 30 books and 300 articles, founded the National Institute for Public Policy, served as a defense advisor to American Presidents and British Prime Ministers, and taught international relations and strategic studies at the University of Reading in England."
By Kevin Benson, Strategy Bridge: " Defining such a term in doctrine is critical when attempting to link tactical actions to conditions that attain policy objectives. In essence, doctrine, while not dogma or regulation, guides thinking about warfare."
By Lorris Beverelli, Strategy Bridge: "It is widely agreed that there are three levels of war. From the general to the local, they are the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Strategy, simply defined, is the alignment of means and ways to accomplish a political end. Strategy is about obtaining success from war through a clearly defined theory of victory. Each level of war is essential to obtain this success, and are all equally important."
Putting the Chinese Military Challenge Into Strategic Context
By Robbin Laird, DEFENSE.info: Notably, it has not led with the use of military power as its key instrument, but has combined manufacturing growth, supply chain dominance (enabled by the Western approach to globalization), investments within the West and the Third World, along with sophisticated means for political influence and information warfare."
Sun Tzu and the Coronavirus
By Tunku Varadarajan, Hoover Institution: " A real question in Chinese literature, Ms. Nylan says, is what you do with bad news. “And this is right across the board. The Confucian ‘Analects’ talks about this, the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi talks about this, and Sun Tzu does, too.”"
By Andrew Roscoe, Proceedings: "The amphibious ready group (ARG) and Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) construct is a holdover from the Cold War that is failing to keep pace with 21st-century conflict and the needs of combatant commanders."
An Indispensable Tool for Preparing for the High-End Fight
By David Wallsh & Eleanore Douglas, CIMSEC: “Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Gilday’s December 2019 Fragmentary Order (FRAGO), “Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority,” emphasizes the importance of building alliances and partnerships to enhance U.S. warfighting capability, with a particular focus on “full interoperability at the high end of naval warfare.”"
Three Reasons Air Advising is Essential to America’s National Defense Strategy
By Ryan Hill, Small Wars Journal: "The U.S. Air Force has five historic and strategic core missions: Air and Space Superiority, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Rapid Global Mobility, Global Strike, and Command and Control (C2). These missions have served the nation well over the decades; however, as America changes its defense strategy, more may be required of its air service."
By Stephen Blank, RealClearDefense: "Central Asia lives in a dangerous neighborhood. It is situated between two resurgent empires: Russia and China. It includes Afghanistan in its borders, and despite the February 29 agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, the Taliban broke the treaty within 72 hours. Therefore, Central Asian governments are all conducting what has been called a multi-vector foreign policy to balance between Moscow, Beijing, the EU in Brussels, Washington, and other players like Japan, South Korea, and India."
Revisiting the Origins Story of Grand Strategy
By David Morgan-Owen, Strategy Bridge: "Recalling the experience of working on the grand strategy volumes of the British Government’s official history of the Second World War, Sir Michael Howard remarked that “the editor never told me what Grand Strategy was, and none of my colleagues seem to have asked.” Finding no definition of the term, Howard was obliged to make up his own."