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111. Inside Iran's Revolutionary Guard: A Defector Speaks

Author:
David B. Crist and Reza Kahlili
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Although Iran was a country of great strategic importance at the time of the Islamic Revolution, the United States had few sources of information about what was occurring there, especially after the U.S. embassy was seized and official relations ended. Accordingly, Iran became an early priority for former CIA director William Casey in the 1980s. Information provided by Iranian insiders such as Reza Kahlili became critically important in this regard.
Topic:
Intelligence, Islam, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Iran and Middle East

112. An Interview with Jim Webb

Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Certain things are better. For example, our intelligence systems are much more advanced. Tactically, our people have adapted well to different situations, first in Iraq, and then in Afghanistan. But in terms of protecting national security, we're really talking about national strategy. And if you look at where we are in terms of our national strategy-that involves economic policy, over - all strategic forces, and how you connect and communicate to the rest of the world-here we have a lot of issues to address.
Topic:
Intelligence
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Iraq

113. Strategies—Good and Bad—for Navigating Information Hyperabundance

Author:
Anthony Olcott
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Dr. Fingar made the comment above to highlight the challenges that “the explosive growth of the amount of information that is out there” now present to the analytic and policymaker communities—as illustrated by the fact that official People's Republic of China (PRC) statistics from 2003, the last year they were published, put the number of China's periodicals at 11,193. However, although Fingar did not say so, there is some chance that his project thirty-one years before may have been driven, in part at least, by the intelligence community's recognition that there was already too much information.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Intelligence, Science and Technology, and Communications
Political Geography:
China

114. Institutions and Information: The Challenge of the Six Vs

Author:
Anthony Olcott
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Humans have always wanted information, but technological limitations have always made information difficult and costly to create, transmit, and retain. The consequences of those limitations are among the factors driving the formation of large administrative entities, primary among them states. Addressing and redressing the information shortage that physical reality mandated gave states the opportunity to control and channel information, in all manner of ways.
Topic:
Economics, Intelligence, Politics, Science and Technology, and Communications

115. Cyber Security: An Integrated Governmental Strategy for Progress

Author:
Franklin D. Kramer
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Cyber security has emerged as a critical challenge in an era defined by global interconnectedness and digital information. While there are multiple ongoing efforts that seek to enhance cyber security, an integrated governmental strategy to meet that challenge has only begun and has yet fully to take shape. All strategies demand recognition of risk and prioritization of resources, and cyber strategy will be no different.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Intelligence, Science and Technology, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States and North America

116. Engaging with Communities: The next challenge for peacekeeping

Author:
Clea Kahn
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The protection of civilians from the worst ravages of war is a dilemma that international bodies have sought to address for decades. However, despite lessons learned from the atrocities of Rwanda and Srebrenica, among others, civilians are still not only adversely affected by armed conflict; they are too often directly targeted.
Topic:
Humanitarian Aid, Intelligence, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Sudan

117. Mark Osborne Humphries and John Maker, eds. Germany's Western Front, 1915: Translations from the German Official History of the Great War, Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010

Author:
Matt Bucholtz
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Germany's Western Front, 1915, translated and edited by Mark Osborne Humphries and John Maker, is the second volume in a series of translations of Der Weltkrieg, the official German history of the First World War. Mark Osborne Humphries teaches Canadian and military history at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta and has published several works on the First World War in both Canadian and international journals. John Maker is a PhD Candidate at the University of Ottawa, working on a dissertation entitled ‚Shiner, Shindigs, and Shenanigans: Canadian Soldiers in Britain during the Second World War.‛ Composed of selections from volumes VII, VIII and IX of Der Weltkrieg, Germany's Western Front, 1915 dutifully presents one of the last triumphs of German Wilhelmine era operational level military history. Originally published from 1925 to 1944, Der Weltkrieg stands as the culmination of the von Rankean tradition of ‚wie es eigentlich gewesen” or 'how it actually happened' in the Great German General Staff. Humphries and Maker produced this translated work in an attempt to provide a German counterpart to the narrative of the Great War in English, which has been traditionally, and understandably, dominated by sources from England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America. In an ironic post-modern twist, the editors have sought to end the ‚othering‛ of German interpretations by translating the official (one might be tempted to say master narrative) German history of the war into English, and thus simply adding one master narrative to another. Nevertheless, both the foreword by Hew Strachan and the introduction written by the editors do an excellent job of not only situating Der Weltkrieg within the historiography, but also critically examining the creation and creators of the series. Throughout the volume, the editors consistently provide useful footnotes, not only to clarify various points in the text, but also to elaborate on the relationships between the subject matter and the authors of Der Weltkrieg (the most notable example being von Haeften's consistently negative critique of Feldmarschall von Falkenhayn's conduct throughout 1915, which directly stemmed from von Haeften's personal loyalty to his former commanding officer, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, who was replaced by Falkenhayn). Although the usefulness of Der Weltkrieg is limited by its high level focus (the series does not focus on any military unit smaller than a division and is mainly concerned with the leadership coterie of Germany's war effort), it nevertheless remains an important resource for historians as the series was produced from sources which were destroyed during the Second World War by a wayward British bomber, and thus denied to current researchers. Although this official history was finished during the Nazi era, it remains remarkably free of National Socialist ideological overtones. Most of the politically motivated interpretations in the series are an expression of Imperial or Weimar era internal military intrigues, not those of the Third Reich.
Topic:
Intelligence
Political Geography:
United States, America, Canada, Germany, Australia, England, and New Zealand

118. Jeffery A. Lockwood. Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009

Author:
Dr. Paul Hansen
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
While the title alone is enough to intrigue any curious reader, the content and delivery of Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War does not disappoint. The main strength, though some might argue weakness, of Lockwood's monograph is its wide-ranging scope. The writer is careful to point out in the Preface that he is not a historian, military or otherwise. He is an entomologist setting out to discuss 100,000 years of global history by linking how insects have been used, are being used, and may in the future be used towards military ends. By way of my own declaration, I am not a historian or entomologist. I am an anthropologist geographically focused on Japan and theoretically focused on human-animal-technology relations. The book came to my attention because it contains three chapters on Japan's use of ‚six-legged soldiers‛ from the 1930s through to the end of the Second World War and this topic coincides with my own research interest in security (very widely and philosophically construed) in contemporary Japan. Personal reasons for approaching the book aside, I suggest that most readers would agree it is a masterfully written book. It appeals to a general audience through taking what could be, to a non-military historian, a dull read full of dates and documents alongside what could be, to a non-entomologist, an incompressible barrage of Latin names and genetic explanations, and cleverly fuses them into an enjoyable and thought provoking account with hooks, humour, and humility.
Topic:
Intelligence
Political Geography:
Japan

119. Military Linguistics: Russian in the Red/Soviet Army

Author:
Nathan Hawryluk
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The development of military linguistics, a field similar to military anthropology or military history, would benefit the disciplines of linguistics and strategic studies. For linguists interested in society, the military offers another cultural group with which to contrast civilian society and a format for examining how institutions shape communication. Linguistic studies can aid strategic studies by explaining how discourse reinforces military culture and hierarchy, as well as the interaction between military and civilian society.
Topic:
Intelligence and Culture
Political Geography:
Russia and Soviet Union

120. The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad

Author:
Thomas Hegghammer
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Security
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
A salient feature of armed conflict in the Muslim world since 1980 is the involvement of so-called foreign fighters, that is, unpaid combatants with no apparent link to the conflict other than religious affinity with the Muslim side. Since 1980 between 10,000 and 30,000 such fighters have inserted themselves into conflicts from Bosnia in the west to the Philippines in the east. Foreign fighters matter because they can affect the conflicts they join, as they did in post-2003 Iraq by promoting sectarian violence and indiscriminate tactics. Perhaps more important, foreign fighter mobilizations empower transnational terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, because volunteering for war is the principal stepping-stone for individual involvement in more extreme forms of militancy. For example, when Muslims in the West radicalize, they usually do not plot attacks in their home country right away, but travel to a war zone such as Iraq or Afghanistan first. Indeed, a majority of al-Qaida operatives began their militant careers as war volunteers, and most transnational jihadi groups today are by-products of foreign fighter mobilizations. Foreign fighters are therefore key to understanding transnational Islamist militancy.
Topic:
Intelligence
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Iraq