• Cover for Airpower Pioneers: From Billy Mitchell to Dave Deptula

    In this review, Robert E. Underwood III bills Airpower Pioneers as a refreshing read that highlights the tension between bureaucracy and innovation against a backdrop of the lives of 12 aviation pioneers. The importance of relationships and their relevance adds a layer of depth to the book.

  • 2024 Carlisle Conference on the PLA

    The China Landpower Studies Center (CLSC) held the Carlisle Conference on the PLA at the US Army War College’s (USAWC) Army Heritage and Education Center on 16 and 17 October 2024. This year’s conference, a keystone annual event held by the USAWC Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), marked the newly-established CLSC team’s first time in the driver’s

  • Evolution of the Latin American Strategic Environment and the Posture of its Security Forces | R. Evan Ellis

    By Dr. R. Evan Ellis

    The security environment in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to evolve, driven in part by dramatic underlying changes in the broader global dynamics. Latin American security forces, constrained by a combination of resources and administrative and political factors, struggle with varying degrees of effectiveness to adapt. This paper

  • Rethinking Denial:  The People’s Liberation Army’s Laser Systems and the Future Challenges for Hellscape | Jake Rinaldi and Jake Vartanian

    By Jake Rinaldi and Jake Vartanian

    In a future Taiwan contingency, the United States and its allies and partners are poised to leverage large-scale autonomous unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations to counter China’s anti-access/area denial strategy. This approach aims to mitigate

  • Decisive Point Podcast Regan Copple | “The Fallacy of Unambiguous Warning”

    By Regan Copple

    The Indications and Warnings subfield of intelligence has traditionally divided warnings into a dichotomy of “ambiguous” and “unambiguous” that gives policymakers a false sense of security. In this episode, Regan Copple examines why unambiguous warning has become an inadequate planning tool that can lead to dire consequences in the quest for

  • Assessing the Effectiveness of US Army Campaigning in the Indo-Pacific | Colonel Richard D. Butler and Jimmy Bell

    By Colonel Richard D. Butler and Jimmy Bell

    Applying the military instrument of power is essential to deterrence and assurance in the Indo-Pacific. This essay explores the underappreciated application of Landpower in this critical region and assesses the effects of a few activities that assure allies and partners and deter the People’s Republic of China. The discreet examples in this short article hopefully provide a better foundation for understanding military dynamics in the region and allow for better future assessments of integrated deterrence efforts.

  • Decisive Point Podcast 5-29 | Richard D. Hooker Jr.

    By Richard D. Hooker Jr.

    In this episode, Richard D. Hooker argues that the historical assessment of Dwight D. Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II lacks objectivity and balance. While we will never know if other generals would have outperformed Eisenhower, several leaders were available—all senior to Eisenhower at the

  • CLSC Dialogues | Brian Carlson and David Stone

    By Brian Carlson, David Stone

    Brian Carlson and David Stone – “Potential Forms of Russian Support for China in a Protracted War” In this episode of CLSC Dialogues, Brian Carlson interviews David Stone, a Russia expert from the U.S. Naval War College, about potential forms of support that Russia might or might not provide to China in the event of a protracted war in the

  • A Plausibly Deniable Russian War Against Europe | John R. Deni, in Foreign Policy

    By Dr. John R. Deni

    The sabotage of undersea communications cables in the Baltic Sea by the cargo ship Yi Peng 3 is only the latest in a series of asymmetric attacks against Western interests and infrastructure that appear to be connected in one way or another to Moscow. The Kremlin has clearly ratcheted up efforts to intimidate and coerce Europe, hoping to

  • 2025: Possibilities for the Year to Come | Dr. R. Evan Ellis

    By Dr. Evan Ellis, PhD

    2025 is likely to be a transformative year for Latin America and the Caribbean, and its relationships with the United States, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and other actors. Although it is impossible to predict with certainty the complex interaction among interdependent events and factors, it is important to recognize the substantial number

  • Ecuador’s Evolving  Engagement with the PRC | Dr. R. Evan Ellis

    By Dr. Evan Ellis, PhD

    Under the current Ecuadorian government of Daniel Noboa, major infrastructure, financial, and security cooperation with China has been restrained, but political expediency may change that.In September 2024, Ecuadorian Economy Minister Juan Carlos Vega Malo traveled to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to discuss a range of commercial and

  • It’s (still) more expensive to rotate military forces overseas than base them there | By John R. Deni

    By John R. Deni

    In mid-2020, then-President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to withdraw roughly one-third of US forces from Germany, reportedly because of policy differences with Berlin. Given how long it would take to implement such a significant change in overseas posture, the clock ran out on his term before the Department of Defense could complete it. With