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102. The War in Afghanistan: Key Trends in the Fighting and ANSF Development in the DoD 1230 Report and Year-End NTM-A Reporting
- Author:
- Anthony H. Cordesman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Recent reporting by the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) and the Department of Defense provides added insight into how the course of the fighting tracks with the development of Afghan security forces. The metrics in this analysis are not a substitute for reading the detailed Department of Defense reporting on Afghan force development available in the publications section of DoD's web site at defenselink.gov, or the new NTM-A report, "Year in Review, November 2009 to November 2010." They do show, however, that there is now a far more credible prospect that Afghan forces will be ready for transition in 2014, and capable of largely assuming responsibility for security operations. The one critical caveat is that these efforts must continue to be properly funded, and that NATO has not yet obtained anything like the quantity and quality of trainers and partners it needs to win. These metrics make it clear that this is a the highest single priority for added military contributions from NATO countries, and that current assets meet less that 40% of the requirement needed by mid-2011.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, War, and Counterinsurgency
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan
103. Oversight for Cybersecurity Activities
- Author:
- Adriane Lapointe
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The absence of consensus, and therefore of policy, on how to balance privacy with the need for government cybersecurity measures, has led many to contemplate intelligence oversight practices as a possible model for oversight in the cybersecurity realm. Reliance on intelligence privacy oversight practices for cybersecurity might allow us to duck the hard work of developing appropriate cybersecurity policy, but it would not in the end further cybersecurity for the nation. A better approach would be to adopt the purely structural aspects of Executive Order 12333, developing a parallel executive order tailored to the distinct goals and operational drivers of cybersecurity. Such a document would establish basic guidelines for policy governing cyber mission, frame cybersecurity oversight processes, and mandate the development and approval of procedures to implement them.
- Topic:
- Security, Government, and Science and Technology
104. U.S. National Security and Global Health: An Analysis of Global Health Engagement by the U.S. Department of Defense
- Author:
- Eugene V. Bonventre, Kathleen H. Hicks, and Stacy M. Okutani
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Despite a broadening consensus that global health care efforts have an impact on national and global security, the U.S. national security community's efforts to address global health are weak and uncoordinated. The 2006 National Security Strategy states that “development reinforces diplomacy and defense, reducing long-term threats to our national security by helping to build stable, prosperous, and peaceful societies.” While the U.S. government struggles to find the right balance among the “three Ds” of defense, diplomacy, and development, the U.S. military has increased its involvement in global health where it perceives the diplomacy and development to be under resourced—or to achieve its own specific objectives. As efforts to renew the capabilities of civilian agencies proceed, it is an appropriate time to step back and consider the role that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) currently plays in glob al health, the impact of its health activities on national and regional security, and the role it could play to support a newly balanced U.S. foreign policy.
- Topic:
- Security and Health
- Political Geography:
- United States
105. Organizing for a Complex World: The Way Ahead
- Author:
- David J. Berteau, Guy Ben-Ari, and Matthew Zlatnik
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Complex defense and network-centric systems have proven to be difficult to develop on time and on budget, a consequence of the complexity inherent in both the systems and the acquisition environment. Complexity in turn results from non-linear, unpredictable interaction of elements combined in new ways, in order to try to create unique capabilities. Complex development programs pose governance and management challenges for a range of systems-integration models, and it is difficult to know in advance the program-management model most suitable for a given program. This paper proposes ways to measure or assess success in managing complex programs. It also addresses ways that the challenge of picking the proper development model can be partially bypassed, by seeking to cultivate flexibility and resiliency (F) within the organization. Through the ability to understand and adapt to changes in the internal and external environments, a program-management organization can thrive in a development environment in which unanticipated events will certainly occur.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Globalization, and International Cooperation
106. The 2009 Israeli Election: A Bump in the Road to Peace?
- Author:
- Jonathan Marcus
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Washington Quarterly
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Israeli voters went to the polls in February 2009 for the fifth time in a decade. The campaign was overshadowed by the December 2008 Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip: air operations beginning just two days after Christmas and Israeli ground operations following during the early days of the New Year. Israeli troops pulled out of the Gaza Strip some three weeks later but sporadic Palestinian rocket fire continued even after the election during the ensuing weeks of coalition formation. Inevitably an election which might have focused on the future path toward peace, or perhaps the onset of the economic crisis, was dominated by traditional concerns about security. The outcome enabled both the centrist Kadima party leader and outgoing foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the standard bearer of the right, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, to claim victory. Kadima won the most seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, while the political right as a whole emerged with the best chance of forming the next governing coalition.
- Topic:
- Security
- Political Geography:
- Israel
107. Kim Jong-il's Clenched Fist
- Author:
- Jonathan D. Pollack
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Washington Quarterly
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is yet again on the U.S. policy radar screen. Despite President Barack Obama's declared intention to ''extend a hand'' to adversaries who would unclench their fist, Kim Jong-il decided to challenge rather than reciprocate. In a series of orchestrated, disproportionate actions justified as retaliation for the United Nations Security Council's condemnation of an attempted satellite launch in early April 2009, North Korea walked away from every denuclearization measure painfully and incompletely negotiated during the Bush administration's second term in office. On April 13, 2009, only hours after a non-binding Security Council presidential statement was issued, the DPRK described the statement as ''an unbearable insult to our people and a criminal act never to be tolerated,'' asserted that it would never return to the Six-Party Talks, and that it would ''boost its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way.'' Pyongyang declared that it would convert its entire inventory of plutonium into weapons, resume operations at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, and test intercontinental ballistic missiles. It again expelled inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as U.S. personnel facilitating the disablement process at the reactor and associated facilities. The North also announced that it would accelerate pursuit of an enriched uranium capability, a program whose existence it had long denied.
- Topic:
- Security
- Political Geography:
- Korea
108. U.S.-Korea Relations Chronology
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Comparative Connections
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- No abstract is available.
- Topic:
- Security and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, and Korea
109. U.S.-Russia Relations Chronology
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Comparative Connections
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- No abstract is available.
- Topic:
- Security
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, and Georgia
110. U.S.-Southeast Asia Relations
- Author:
- Sheldon W. Simon
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Comparative Connections
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Political conflict in Thailand between the ruling, rural-based pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) and an urban elite coalition calling itself the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) – though actually opposing democratic elections – turned violent in November and shut down Bangkok and the capital's airports for several days. The PPP government was forced to postpone the ASEAN summit scheduled for early December because of the violence and rescheduled the meeting for February 2009 to the dismay of other ASEAN leaders. Nevertheless, the new ASEAN Charter, which provides the Association with a legal personality for the first time, was activated at a special meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Jakarta on Dec. 15. Southeast Asian leaders welcomed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's election as the next U.S. president although some commentators noted that the Democratic Party has sometimes followed a trade protectionist policy when the U.S. economy is in difficulty. The Democrats have also taken a tougher position on human rights. In general, though, no significant change is foreseen in U.S. policy for Southeast Asia under President-elect Obama.
- Topic:
- Security and Development
- Political Geography:
- United States, Thailand, and Southeast Asia