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Reading List / Curriculum
Last Updated: December 31, 2006 The intention of this reading list / curriculum is to provide a reference library of articles that can be used both by new users of NOSI to bring them up-to-date on a subject; and by long-time users of NOSI to help them quickly review a subject. In addition, taken in whole, this reading list may serve as a basic introduction to, and curriculum in, war studies that may be used to give context to current and future naval operations. For a complete curriculum in war studies, please view the War Studies Primer - an introductory course on the study of war.
First, a Viewing List: - BookTV on C-SPAN2 every weekend has at least one interesting interview with or reading by an author / historian related to their recent books related to geopolitics, world history, or military history. These shows can be viewed live on the television or later on the Web via streaming video, for which RealPlayer is required. An outstanding resource, check their weekly programming schedules!
A Day in the Life Aboard a US Navy Ship
Air Warfare The Atlantic: The Kabul-ki Dance - Mark Bowden goes inside the cockpit with members of the 391st Fighter Squadron, veterans of the recent air war in Afghanistan. What air combat is like today, from the pilot's perspective. Vanity Fair: Air Warfare - 9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes - How did the U.S. Air Force respond on 9/11? Could it have shot down United 93, as conspiracy theorists claim? Obtaining 30 hours of never-before-released tapes from the control room of NORAD's Northeast headquarters, the author reconstructs the chaotic military history of that day-and the Pentagon's apparent attempt to cover it up.
Antisubmarine Warfare MIT Security Studies Program: The Third Battle: Innovation in the U.S. Navy's Silent Cold War Struggle with Soviet Submarines - A fascinating essay documenting the "Third Battle of the Atlantic" during the Cold War.
Art
Biological Warfare The New Yorker: The Bioweaponeers - Richard Preston's absolutely chilling essay on what biological weapons could potentially do. The New Yorker: A Man Named Hoffman - A historical case report by Berton Roueche of one of the last anthrax cases in the United States, from the early 1960's, told in story form. An excellent review of what anthrax does to humans. The New Yorker: The Demon in the Freezer - An excellent history by Richard Preston of smallpox as a disease, and how it can be turned into a lethal weapon.
Boyd Defense and the National Interest: Boyd and Military Strategy - The ultimate repository of all things Boyd.
Combat Stress Washington Post: Modern Soldiers From Ancient Texts - How to reduce combat stress in soldiers. PBS Frontline: The Soldier's Heart - The military teaches soldiers how to fight, how to kill, how to survive. But who teaches them how to live with themselves? An examination of an underreported story of the Iraq war: the psychological cost on those who fight it. Read the transcript.
Counterinsurgency Warfare New York Times Magazine: The Counterinsurgent - Major John Nagl was a leading military scholar on how to fight a resistance. But could he make his ideas work on the ground in Iraq? Military Review: "Twenty-Eight Articles:" Fundamentals of Company-level Counterinsurgeny - David Kilcullen's approach to counterinsurgency for company commanders. US Marine Corps: Operations Other Than War - Countering Irregular Threats: A Comprehensive Approach - A new US Marine publication on how to conduct Stage IV Stabilty and Support Operations. US Army and US Marine Corps: FM 3-24 / MCWP 3-33.5 - Counterinsurgency (PDF format) - The US military has released a new manual on counter-insurgencies - its first guide on the topic for 20 years.
Defense Procurement The Atlantic: Uncle Sam Buys an Airplane- James Fallows chronicles the decision to procure the F-35. NOW With Bill Moyers: Transcript of Interview with Chuck Spinney - A fascinating review of the sordid truth about defense spending in America, that is brought to light by an interview with retired Pentagon crusader, Chuck Spinney New York Times Magazine: The Other Army - There are dozens of private security companies operating in Iraq, and Triple Canopy is one of the largest. How was it formed, who are its men - and what is the line between "security" and warfare? PBS Frontline: Private Warriors - Outsourcing, military style...Over 120,000 private contractors are preparing the food, refueling the planes, and protecting the pipelines and generals in Iraq. But what are the dangers in bringing in the private sector to prosecute the war? Read the transcript of the show here.
Fourth Generation Warfare William Lind : FMFM 1A - Fourth Generation Warfare: a field manual on Fourth Generation Warfare. The Atlantic: Fourth-Generation Warfare - A new way to describe asymmetrical warfare - 4G warfare. Defense and the National Interest: Fourth Generation Warfare - The ultimate repository of all things fourth generation warfare. The New Yorker: Knowing the Enemy - Can social scientists redefine the "war on terror"? An outstanding, insightful, thought-provoking article on the "long war" and how the US needs to think about it.
Geopolitics Defense and the National Interest: The Fate of the State - Martin Van Creveld on how The State, which since the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) has been the most important and most characteristic of all modern institutions, is dying. Defense and the National Interest: Through a Glass, Darkly - Martin Van Creveld with some reflections on the future of war. National Intelligence Council: Mapping the Global Future - An attempt to define what the global landscape will look like in 2020. Parameters: Stability, America's Enemy - Ralph Peters on why the US should stop pursuing stability as its goal in international relations, and should instead embrace instability. Esquire: The Pentagon's New Map - Thomas P.M. Barnett's first article, describing his strategy for fighting the war on terror. It attempts to replace the Cold War global strategy of containment with a War on Terror global strategy of connectivity and globalization. Washington Post: Achieving Real Victory Could Take Decades - Gen. John Abizaid's strategy for winning the "Long War" against "Salafist jihadists" who use 21st century-technology to spread their vision of a 7th-century paradise. The Atlantic: Supremacy by Stealth - Robert Kaplan states it is a cliche these days to observe that the United States now possesses a global empire - different from Britain's and Rome's but an empire nonetheless. It is time to move beyond a statement of the obvious. Our recent effort in Iraq, with its large-scale mobilization of troops and immense concentration of risk, is not indicative of how we will want to act in the future. So how should we operate on a tactical level to manage an unruly world? What are the rules and what are the tools? The Atlantic: Fort Leavenworth and the Eclipse of Nationhood - Robert Kaplan looks at the military's relationship with the rest of America..."At Fort Leavenworth, where the Army trains its top brass, captains and colonels study high-tech warfare, read the classics, and ponder what will be left to defend in a transnational world..." The Atlantic: Looking the World in the Eye - Robert Kaplan on how Samuel Huntington's theories on the clash of civilizations are being proven correct by the war on terror. The Atlantic: Headlines Over the Horizon - Analysts at the RAND Corporation lay out ten international-security developments that aren't getting the attention they deserve.
Geopolitics / Afghanistan The Atlantic: Afghanistan Post Mortem - An essay from Robert Kaplan that says the reason the Afghans ultimately defeated the Russians was the Afghan's willingness to die. The New Yorker: Across the Divide - How the Taliban came to power, and how due to their behavior they are no longer appreciated by the average Afghan. The Atlantic: Inside the Jihad - Ahmed Rashid, a journalist who has covered the Taliban for years, gives his insight into them. New York Times Magazine: Lost at Tora Bora - In December 2001, Osama bin Laden was cornered in a mountainous region along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Why wasn't he captured? And why can't he be apprehended now? New York Times Magazine: Nation-Building Lite - A fascinating look at how US Special Forces are conducting nation-building inside Afghanistan. An interesting quote from Afghanis: "Only America puts its peacekeepers in the sky..." New York Times Magazine: In the Land of the Taliban - A journey through the tribal borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where drug smuggling, anger at warlords and age-old resentments could be preparing the way for a restoration of the radicals. New York Times Magazine: Taking the Fight to the Taliban - The experience of American soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan shows what a counterinsurgency can, and cannot, do. PBS Frontline: Return of the Taliban - Nearly 5 years after the Taliban were toppled, Al Qaeda and the Taliban continue to use Pakistan as a de facto base, virtual unchallenged and far out of America's reach. Here is the Transcript
Geopolitics / Africa
Geopolitics / China Naval War College Review: How China Might Invade Taiwan - A detailed analysis of possible ways China could invade Taiwan. PBS Frontline: Dangerous Straits - The future of US - Chinese - Taiwanese relations. Read the transcript for full details. Naval War College Review: China's New Imperial Navy - A review and synthesis of several recent books about the Chinese Navy that cover its past and its possible future - and how the two are deeply intertwined. The Atlantic: How We Would Fight China - The American military contest with China in the Pacific will define the twenty-first century, and China will be a more formidable adversary than Russia ever was. US Naval War College Review: Chinese Navy - China's Maturing Navy - A new and much more capable Chinese navy, especially its submarine force, is being acquired and deployed. It is not yet mature, but its rapid and impressive modernization is making it a navy that is arguably the only one that the U.S. Navy must deter or be able to defeat, unless, under other circumstances, it becomes a high-seas partner.
Geopolitics / Empire - Imperialism Foreign Policy Association: Is the U.S. an Empire in Denial? - Niall Ferguson attempts to teach Americans some lessons of the British Empire. New York Times Magazine: The American Empire (Get Used to It) - An excellent essay on the American Empire.
Geopolitics / Horn of Africa
Geopolitics / Iran Naval War College Review: Letter From Iran - Good insights into the current state of Iran and Iranians from a Naval War College Professor. The Atlantic: Will Iran Be Next? - Soldiers, spies, and diplomats conduct a classic Pentagon war game with sobering results. A fascinating look at the options available to the U.S. to counter Iran's development of nuclear weapons.
Geopolitics / Iraq The New Yorker: After Iraq - The neoconservatives' plan to remake the Middle East. PBS Frontline: The Invasion of Iraq - An excellent overview of the war with Iraq, at its one year anniversary. The full transcript is here and be sure to read the interviews which are more interesting and unbiased than the final show itself. PBS Frontline: Rumsfeld's War - An outstanding documentary on the inside story of the war within the Pentagon: Donald Rumsfeld's battle to assert civilian control and remake the way America fights...all the while conducting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here is the transcript. The interviews give fascinating detail of the conflict with Iraq. They came to rebuild and bring democracy, but soon were hardened by the postwar realities. When it came time to leave, they left behind lawlessness, insurgency, and economic collapse. >Read the Transcript and look at the excellent Interviews. Military Review: Iraq - Changing the Army for Counterinsurgency Operations - A senior officer in the British Army has published a damning indictment of American military conduct in Iraq, voicing publicly the private views of many of his peers. Commentary on the article can be found in The Times, Daily Telegraph and Washington Post. PBS Frontline: Iraq - The Insurgency - An excellent investigation into the people who are fighting against US and coalition forces in Iraq. Read the Transcript and the Interviews, especially the one with Colonel H.R. McMaster of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The New Yorker: Iraq - Small Victories - What American soldiers have learned about battling the insurgency in Iraq, and whether those lessons have come too late. Another look at the Colonel H.R. McMaster's and the 3rdACR's work in Tal Afar. (Requires Flash) PBS Frontline: The Lost Year in Iraq - They came to rebuild and bring democracy, but soon were hardened by the postwar realities. When it came time to leave, they left behind lawlessness, insurgency, and economic collapse. Read the Transcript and look at the excellent Interviews. National Security Archive: Post Saddam Iraq: The War Game - The Desert Crossing wargame for how to manage a post-Saddam Iraq, performed by CENTCOM in 1999 when General Zinni was its chief, has been declassified. Fascinating in how presecient it was.
Geopolitics / North Korea
Geopolitics / Pakistan The Atlantic: The Lawless Frontier - Robert Kaplan gives tremendous insight into the ungovernable state of Pakistan today. The Atlantic: A modest proposal from the Brigadier - Some Pakistani's believe the only hope they have for the future is an apocalyptic nuclear exchange with India. New York Times Magazine: Pakistan Is... - Pakistan is...... A) a terrorist spawning ground; B) the next Islamic theocracy; C) a volatile nuclear power; D) a crucial American ally; E) all of the above. A journey through a state of disequilibrium.
Geopolitics / Saudi Arabia New York Times Magazine: Geopolitics / Oil - The Breaking Point - The United States and China are counting on the Saudis to satisfy our growing thirst for oil. The Saudis say they can supply all our needs. Critics say that that is becoming impossible. They just might turn out to be right. PBS Frontline: House of Saud - The House of Saud has controlled every aspect of Saudi life and politics since the kingdom was established in 1932. But outside the Desert Kingdom, little is known about Saudi Arabia's secretive royal family. An exploration of how the Al Saud family maintains its hold on power in the face of growing tensions between Islam and modernity. Read the transcript.
Ground Warfare MIT Security Studies Program: Urban Warfare: Options, Problems, and the Future - Urban combat is a very tricky business. This essay looks at the future of urban warfare. Thunder Run by David Zucchino, is a superb account of the Battle of Baghdad as waged by the Third Infantry Division. It is being called the "Black Hawk Down" of Operation Iraqi Freedom. An excellent study of urban warfare and small unit cohesion. More can be learned about this battle here: StrategyPage: The Battle of Baghdad, Army Magazine: Baghdad: The Crossroads, Daily Telegraph: The 10-Hour Battle for Curly, Larry, and Moe, PBS Frontline: The Invasion of Iraq - Interview with Col. David Perkins, and Washington Post: 3 Key Battles Turned Tide of Invasion. US Army: Third Infantry Division (Mechanized) After Action Report Operation Iraqi Freedom (PDF format) and (HTML format) - The After Action Report of the US Army's Third Infantry Division from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Reality is separated from fantasy, and important lessons learned are well documented. Ministry of Defence: Operation in Iraq - Lessons for the Future - The UK's lessons learned, from the recent war in Iraq. PBS Frontline: A Company of Soldiers - Over 30 days and 26 missions, the story of the men of Dog Company - the Army's 1-8 Cavalry Regiment stationed in South Baghdad on the bank on the Tigris River. The final battle for Iraq will be won or lost in places like this and by soldiers like these. Read the transcript.
History
Information Warfare PBS Frontline: CyberWar! - An outstanding program on the information warfare threat to the US. Read the transcript for full details. Wired: "If We Run Out of Batteries, This War is Screwed." - A look at the battlefield Internet from the level of the battlefield. How the US wired the battlefield in Iraq to allow Internet connectivity between units. IEEE Spectrum: The Dawn of the E-Bomb - An overview of the allure and danger of electromagnetic pulse weapons. New York Times Magazine: The War Inside the Arab Newsroom - A fascinating look behind the scenes of the Al Arabiya news channel, and how it compares and contrasts to Al Jazeera. "Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed is trying to turn Al Arabiya into a new kind of Arab news channel, with fewer hostage tapes and more moderate voices. But that's hard to do when his employees aren't sure they want to change, American troops occasionally arrest his reporters and his anchors get personalized death threats from Iraqi insurgents."
Intelligence The Atlantic: Losing the Code War - Why and how the balance of power has shifted between the codemakers and the codebreakers - and the national security implications of this.
Intelligence / Naval US Navy: NAVEDTRA 13159 - Naval Intelligence - A brief course that is based on Naval Doctrine Publication 2 - Naval Intelligence. It addresses the broad scope of Naval Intelligence, the definition, purpose, fundamentals, intelligence cycle, coordination, training, and readiness to meet future challenges and support to operating forces. It describes the ways Naval Intelligence supports military planning for routine peacetime operations, operations other than war and combat, and identifies specific challenges for Naval Intelligence in the future.
Intelligence / Open Source
Leadership
Maritime Pre Positioning Ships
Military Space Armed Forces Journal International ISR: Space-Based Surveillance - A concise summary of US overhead imagery and signals intelligence assets.
Nonlethal Weapons
Nuclear Warfare New York Times Magazine: The Thinkable - At the end of the cold war, weapons of mass destruction were mostly abstractions. Suddenly, they are proliferating, and those who now have or want nukes will use them to blackmail, or worse. Wired: Stopping Loose Nukes - The new technologies being developed to build "nuclear walls" around cities in order to screen shipping containers and trucks for nuclear weapons.
Operations Other Than War StrategyPage: General Zinni's Advice on Governing Iraq - General Anthony Zinni's sage advice on how to conduct operations other than war. The New Yorker: Mission to Sumatra - The marines of Expeditionary Strike Group Five take on the tsunami. Outstanding overview of their humanitarian operations in Indonesia. New York Times Magazine: Blueprint for a Mess - How not to conduct planning for an operation other than war. A detailed look at the US' lack of post war planning for Iraq. The New Yorker: Letter from Baghdad - War After the War - Another look at what went wrong with the post-war planning for Iraq, along with an excellent look at life inside Iraq today, from multiple points of view - the military, the Coalition Provisional Authority, and the Iraqis.
Piracy
Special Operations
Terrorism The New Yorker: The Real bin Laden - An excellent biography of Osama bin Laden. The New Yorker: Letter From Jedda - Young Osama - Osama bin Laden's first lessons in jihad. The Atlantic: The Hunt for Osama - Part 1 and The Hunt for Osama - Part 2.- Where has he been? How did we ever let him get away? One of the few Western journalists ever to have met Osama bin Laden traces the al-Qaeda leader's footsteps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and describes the sometimes hapless American pursuit. The New Yorker: The Terror Web - Were the Madrid bombings part of a new, far-reaching jihad being plotted on the Internet? An excellent look into what Al-Qaeda is morphing into. PBS Frontline: Al Qaeda's New Front - An investigation into the threat radical jihadists pose to Western Europe and its allies - including the U.S. Read the Transcript, and the Interviews, Special Reports, and essay on Al Qaeda Today. New York Times Magazine: Islam, Terror and the Second Nuclear Age - If Iran gets the bomb, what will it do with it? Does Islamic law justify the use of weapons of mass destruction? Is there a Shiite urge for apocalypse? Is atomic warfare suicide bombing writ large?
Transformation PBS Nova: Battle Plan Under Fire - Excellent documentary on transformation. It asks the question - can the US military's high tech weaponry prevail against insurgents? Read the individual interviews (especially the ones for and against transformation) and the transcript. StrategyPage: Military Science Fiction and the Army Transformation - A fascinating series of 4 articles by a US Army officer that uses military science fiction novels to try to discern what the army of the future should look like, in an organizational sense. Substitute "Marine Corps" for army, and you'll enjoy the articles even more. Seems that the author feels the US Army should be organized more along the lines of the British army's regimental system...how could the Marines be organized along this system as well? The New Yorker: Dreaming About War - A review of the Bush Defense Review, and the Bush Administration's view on the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). The opinion expressed here is that the military changes very slowly -- when it changes at all -- and if all that comes out of this defense review is a small change -- it should be enough to eventually snowball into a big change, down the road. "RMA by stealth" is what it is termed... Esquire: Old Man in a Hurry - The inside story of how Donald H. Rumsfeld transformed the Pentagon, in which we learn about wire-brushing, deep diving, and a secret society called the Slurg.
US Marine Corps
Wargaming US Naval War College: Global War Game: The First Five Years (1979-1983) and Global War Game: Second Series (1984-1988) (both in PDF format) - Two papers that trace the evolution of the US Navy's Global War Game and its effect on US policy and strategy during the Cold War.
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