Pakistan’s ‘war on terror’ approach is dangerous

Obaidullah Baheer

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On March 11, fighters from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) hijacked a Jaffar Express train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar. After a 36-hour standoff, the Pakistani security forces were able to kill the BLA operatives and release hundreds of hostages. According to the government, at least eight civilians lost their lives during the operation.

Pakistani officials were quick to blame Afghanistan and India for what they called a “terrorist incident”. This is the latest example of how the Pakistani authorities increasingly deflect responsibility and frame Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan in the language of “war on terror”.

Almost three months before the train hijacking, Pakistani fighter jets bombarded Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces, killing at least 46 people, including women and children. Many of the casualties were displaced people from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

Pakistan justified its violation of Afghan sovereignty and international law by claiming that it is targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters hiding on Afghan territory. Over the past two years, Islamabad has been accusing Kabul of harbouring “terrorists” who have carried out attacks on Pakistani territory.

Getting Out of Afghanistan’s Opium Quagmire

Maha Siddiqui

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Following a ban on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan imposed by the de facto authorities, the Taliban, in April 2022, opium production plunged by an estimated 95 percent by 2023 from 6,200 tons in 2022 to 333 tons in 2023. Poppy fields were reduced from 233,000 hectares to 10,800 hectares.

However, three years since the Taliban’s ban, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), announced last week that the price of opium from Afghanistan has gone up tenfold – from $75 to $750 per kilogram. The price increase is not surprising. A classic economic model tells us that when demand is inelastic, supply-side reduction tends to make the commodity pricier. Hence, in the case of opium, many argue that a crackdown on the demand side would be more effective than one on the supply side alone.

A Paradoxical Problem: A Win in the Drug War, a Punishment for the Poor

However, the bigger fear that presents itself with a commodity becoming dearer is the collapse of the measure responsible for the shortage – in this case, the poppy cultivation ban. Amid the ban, small holdings farmers, including women, who were involved in the production of opium for the sake of their livelihood are suffering great distress in Afghanistan, while high-level traders and exporters in organized crime groups are making a killing, as per the UNODC’s admission.

Is Taiwan already at war with China? What will be Beijing's first step if it invades the island

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Taiwan is already at war– not with bombs and bullets, but with an invisible, relentless campaign of cyberattacks and undersea sabotage. Every day, Taiwan faces 2.4 million cyberattacks, a figure that has doubled in just a year. These digital incursions, attributed to China, are not merely disruptions– they are part of a sustained strategy to weaken Taiwan’s institutions, destabilize its governance, and probe its defenses.

“We already have experienced a kind of war-like situation from China’s cyberattacks,” said I-Chung Lai, President of Taiwan’s Prospect Foundation, while speaking at Firstpost’s IdeasPod during the Raisina Dialogue 2025.

“Every day, 2.4 million cyberattacks target Taiwan. That’s double what we saw in 2023. Despite this, we have not seen major cyber incidents disrupting public infrastructure– hospitals remain open, government functions continue.”

While Taiwan has so far withstood the onslaught, the escalation is clear: China is testing Taiwan’s resilience, preparing for a moment when these attacks might escalate.

Cutting the cables: Taiwan’s digital lifeline at risk

Beyond the digital battlefield, another silent threat looms beneath the waves: Taiwan’s undersea cables. Since 2023, at least 11 undersea cables have been damaged—some connecting Taiwan to offshore islands, but others forming critical links between Taiwan and the rest of the world.

Thinking Through Protracted War with China

Joel B. Predd, Paul DeLuca, Scott Savitz, Edward Geist & Caitlin Lee

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Introduction

As ample wargaming and analysis have shown, any war with China would be economically and strategically costly, as well as fraught with the risk of escalation to nuclear war. In addition, any U.S. China military conflict could very likely last longer than envisioned by traditional force planning scenarios, which often are designed around relatively limited objectives and call for U.S. forces and capabilities that could bring a war to a quick, decisive conclusion. 

This report describes a set of scenarios of such protracted conflicts and provides what could be a foundation for more-detailed planning or analysis. While these scenarios are by no means predictive, we formulated them to examine the above hypothesis and in the spirit of helping the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) imagine the unimaginable: The United States cannot deter what its policymakers and analysts cannot foresee. 

Research Approach 

We employ scenario development as a creative means of envisioning circumstances in which the United States and China could be called to war. To allow free creative scope for this process, we did not place a priori constraints on the meaning of “protracted,” and therefore, the resulting scenarios feature a variety of circumstances in which the United States and China could be required to sustain military operations on a potentially open-ended time frame. 

Pentagon Set Up Briefing for Musk on Potential War With China

Eric SchmittEric LiptonJulian E. BarnesRyan Mac and Maggie Haberman

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The Pentagon was scheduled on Friday to brief Elon Musk on the U.S. military’s plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Another official said the briefing would be China focused, without providing additional details. A fourth official confirmed Mr. Musk was to be at the Pentagon on Friday, but offered no details.

Hours after news of the planned meeting was published by The New York Times, Pentagon officials and President Trump denied that the session would be about military plans involving China. “China will not even be mentioned or discussed,” Mr. Trump said in a late-night social media post.

It was not clear if the briefing for Mr. Musk would go ahead as originally planned. But providing Mr. Musk access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets would be a dramatic expansion of his already extensive role as an adviser to Mr. Trump and leader of his effort to slash spending and purge the government of people and policies they oppose.

China Top Priority in Trump NATSEC Strategy, Says Panel

John Grady

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China is the top priority in the Trump administration’s national security strategy, but that’s balanced with a sharpened focus on the Western Hemisphere, a panel of defense experts agreed Thursday.

Mackenzie Eaglen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said, “China first, full stop” sits atop the security concerns in an administration with a diverse global outlook.

Beijing’s investments in developing weapons systems like its hypersonic glide vehicle reinforce the point of placing China as the nation’s top security concern, she added.

Looking at the immediate threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Michael O’Hanlon, director of Brookings’ Strobe Talbott Center, said he was “a little more hopeful” that such an attack would not any time happen soon. “I’m not saying deterrence is about to fail” when it comes to holding back Xi Jin ping’s ambitions to take control of the self-governing island by force if necessary.

O’Hanlon noted the steps taken by the United States and its Pacific allies to bolster their own defenses and readiness to respond to possible China aggression in the Indo-Pacific has been effective.

The AI Superpower Rivalry: A Zero-sum Game Between China and the United States?

Dingding Chen, Yingfan Chen, and Runyu Huang

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On March 13, OpenAI released a proposal for the U.S. AI Action Plan. The report asserts that while the United States currently holds a leading position in the field of artificial intelligence, the success of China-based DeepSeek indicates that this advantage is not as significant as it appears and is gradually narrowing. The AI Action Plan is intended to ensure that AI innovation in the United States continues to outpace that of China, thereby securing U.S. leadership in the AI domain.

However, reducing the rivalry to a simplistic “who leads in AI” frame overlooks its complexity. The competition between the U.S. and China in the AI domain is not a zero-sum game. Rather, it is a multifaceted and complex rivalry, shaped by numerous factors such as geopolitical considerations, access to data, talent, regulatory environments, and technological infrastructure.

The competition between China and the United States in the field of artificial intelligence has driven the development of AI technologies to a more diversified and differentiated contest. The development of large artificial intelligence models exemplifies the evolving nature of this competition. OpenAI’s GPT-4.5, for instance, is specifically designed for complex, high-performance tasks, excelling at intricate text generation and understanding through massive computational resources. This specialization allows it to handle tasks that require a deep grasp of language, context, and nuance. On the other hand, DeepMind’s Perceiver takes a different approach, offering a Transformer variant that can process multimodal data – such as images, sounds, and video – making it versatile across a variety of input types.

Europe Scrambles to Find Strategy in Trump's World

Matthias Gebauer, Frank Hornig, Paul-Anton Krüger, Steffen Lüdke and Britta Sandberg

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Even in dark times, there are dreamers. "United States of Europe NOW” was the motto of recent demonstrations in 20 Italian cities, with marchers waving EU flags. "We aren’t vassals,” called out a participant in Rome. In contrast to the "predators” Trump and Putin, Europe is a great continent, the demonstrator chanted. "We developed democracy.”

That same day, French President Emmanuel Macron flew in a Falcon jet across the English Channel to a crisis summit in London. Above the clouds, he showed a journalist flying with him a map on his phone from the French daily Le Figaro on which U.S. troops stationed in Europe were shown. "The Americans make up 30 percent of NATO,” Macron said. "It will take us 10 years to extricate ourselves from them.”

A strong, resilient Europe that is prepared to defend its liberal, cosmopolitan democracy without the protective power of America: Just a few months ago, this vision would have been dismissed as a pipe dream. These days, though, it is becoming the blueprint for Europe’s future, albeit a desperate one.

The Key to Ukraine’s Survival

Celeste A. Wallander

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The United States’ sudden, although ultimately temporary, suspension of all security assistance to Ukraine in early March raised alarms about Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. A lasting suspension of the aid would certainly have changed the course of the war. But even a complete stop to U.S. assistance would not have reversed the progress that Ukrainians have made over the past three years. With its existing stocks and production, Ukraine would be able to sustain its defense for months on its own. Although U.S. aid is again flowing, at least for now, Ukraine does not need to surrender if Washington slows or pauses its support again.

But the pause in U.S. aid served as a dramatic wake-up call: the most crucial factor in determining how long and how effectively Ukraine will be able to defend against Russian attacks in the coming months will be the extent to which European powers step up to fill in any gaps.

The FBI Is Investigating Attacks on Tesla as ‘Domestic Terrorism.’ Here’s Why That Matters

Caroline Haskins

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The US Federal Bureau of Investigation says it’s investigating a series of alleged incidents across the country in which “Tesla charging stations and dealerships were damaged.” On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi highlighted charges against three people accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at Tesla vehicles and, in at least one alleged incident, writing “profane messages against President Trump” near Tesla charging stations, among other crimes.

“Let this be a warning: If you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars,” Bondi said in a news release detailing the arrests, which were made over the last several weeks in Oregon, Colorado, and South Carolina.

Civil liberties experts claim treating alleged attacks against Tesla cars and infrastructure as terrorist activity could give federal and local law enforcement broad authority to surveil people protesting Elon Musk’s role in the government. The terrorism designation could also allow Musk and other Tesla executives to access information authorities uncover in their investigations.

A Missile Jamming and Engagement Model

Brien Alkire, George Nacouzi, Jair Aguirre & Brian Dolan

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Introduction

Background and Motivation 

There is broad consensus in the Department of Defense on the need to increase long-range strike capacity, and as a result, the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force are increasing the range, effectiveness, and capacity of their “kill chain” capabilities needed to find, fix, track, and attack targets over long ranges (that is, beyond line-of-sight of the shooter).2 Consider an air-launched cruise missile strike to a target over a long range. It may have been provided uncertain information about the target location, speed and heading. Also, the target may change its speed and heading. Errors in the targeting location of the target will accumulate over the flight time of the missile, so it may be advantageous to provide in-flight target updates (IFTU) to the missile from another platform such as an aircraft, or more likely a satellite. Also, the missile may be getting updates about its own position from an external source such as global positioning system (GPS). But an adversary might attempt to disrupt or deny3 GPS position updates and IFTU to the missile by jamming the receivers on the missile. Alternatively, an adversary might disrupt or deny those updates by kinetically or non-kinetically attacking the satellites or aircraft that are the sources of the information. The missile would then rely on other sources of information, such an inertial navigation system (INS), for estimating its own position. But the accuracy of an INS will degrade over time in absence of GPS, and uncertainties in the position of the target and missile itself will likely grow over time in absence of an IFTU. If the accumulated errors are sufficiently large, then the munition may fail to acquire and prosecute the target. 

Military Review, March-April 2025, v. 105, no. 2

Exploring Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Cyber and Information Operations Integration

Lessons on Public-Facing Information Operations in Current Conflicts

Prioritizing Maintenance Restructuring and Resourcing for Autonomous Systems

Leveraging Data for Warehouse Distribution Success During Operation Allies Welcome: A 

Retrospective on Operationalizing Data

What Constitutes a Capability? Leveraging the Ukraine Experience to Define an Overused Term

Theater Armies: Complex Yet Indispensable to Multidomain Operations

Authorities and the Multidomain Task Force: Enabling Strategic Effect

Army Fires: Enabling Joint Convergence in a Maritime Environment

Invest in Battlefield Obscuration to Win During Large-Scale Combat Operations

What Can We Learn from Measuring Unit Culture? Preliminary Evidence from a Data-Centric 

Approach to Organizational Performance

Nine Narratives Destroying American Diplomacy and How to Counter Them

Sino-Vietnamese Defense Relations

The Army Civilian Corps’ Elusive Culture of Commitment

Terminological Terrain: How to Map and Navigate Jargon in Professional Writing

Vietnam Combat: Firefights and Writing History

Medal of Honor: Pvt. Philip G. Shadrach and Pvt. George D. Wilson, U.S. Civil War

China Brief, February 28, 2025, v. 25, no. 4

Multiple Multipoles: Distinguishing Definitions Between Beijing and the West

Energy and AI Coordination in the ‘Eastern Data Western Computing’ Plan

PRC Dominance Over Global Port Infrastructure

War Memorials put the Party Front and Center for 80th Anniversary

Xi Seeks to Woo Foreign and Domestic Business

Israel orders army to 'seize additional territories' in Gaza

Tiffany Wertheimer

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Israel's defence minister has told the military to "seize additional areas in Gaza" and threatened to permanently occupy parts of it, if Hamas does not free all remaining hostages.

Israel Katz said that the military would continue its ground operation in Gaza "with increasing intensity" until all of the hostages "both living and dead" were returned.

It is thought 24 of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza are alive, but their fate remains in the balance after negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire deal failed to progress.

The fragile ceasefire that had been in place since January ended this week as Israel resumed its ground campaign and bombing of Gaza, killing hundreds of people.

The situation in the Strip has been described as "gravely, gravely concerning" with "absolutely desperate tragedies occurring all over Gaza" by Sam Rose from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa.

Israel and the US have accused Hamas of rejecting proposals to extend the ceasefire. Hamas has said it is "engaging with the mediators with full responsibility and seriousness".

Why Trump’s global transformation might just succeed

John P Ruehl

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Since returning to office in January 2025, Donald Trump has aggressively pursued a radical reshaping of US foreign policy.

In early March, the State Department terminated foreign assistance programs supporting political opposition and regime change in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, deeming them no longer in the US “national interest.” Trump also reversed the Biden administration’s agreement with Cuba, after it released 553 prisoners, to ease sanctions on the country.

In February, the government issued an executive order dissolving the Inter-American Foundation, which had long promoted economic and community-led development in Latin America.

The African Development Foundation is also slated to be eliminated under the executive order, while AFRICOM, the US military command for Africa, could be next.

Trump’s sweeping cuts extend to global initiatives like the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the US Agency for Global Media, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and US support for political prisoners worldwide.

Increasing American Technological Independence Is a National Security Imperative

Paul Rosenzweig

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The United States is engaged in an ongoing technological race with China. Rather than disabling American companies that compete with China, we should enable them. That’s why the new administration needs to rethink its technology policy — both domestically and internationally.

The scope of the technology challenge from China is comprehensive and global. Chinese hackers have infiltrated American email systems; its artificial intelligence program has borrowed from American ingenuity; and its efforts to dominate technological deployments globally are manifest. In short, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is attempting to spread its technological influence to every corner of the world — and that’s a threat to the United States.

But it isn’t one we have to take lying down. We can act thoughtfully to enable domestic industries and support their competition abroad. One case study of how this can be achieved is responding to the Chinese challenge concerning 5G deployment.

China currently dominates the 5G global industry. Huawei, a company accused by the U.S. government of having ties to the CCP and backdoors embedded within its technology, controls 30 percent of the global marketplace. By contrast, Cisco, Huawei's closest American competitor, has just a six percent share of the market.

Virtù and the War on Hamas: A Machiavellian Reading of the Strategies Around the 2023 Israel-Hamas War

Prof. Manuel Lozano Rodríguez

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Introduction

The effectual truth of Machiavelli is that he not only understood the modern world but created it.[i]

This paper aims to provide a Machiavellian analysis of the strategies employed in the 2023 War in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. By exploring the conflict through the lens of virtù, the paper demonstrates how Machiavelli’s principles, particularly his emphasis on adaptability, deception, and the effective use of force, remain relevant in contemporary warfare. So, How do Machiavellian principles shape the strategies of both Israel and Hamas in the 2023 War in Gaza?

The core objective of this analysis is to offer readers a practical framework for understanding the strategic dynamics at play in Israel versus Hamas and other modern military conflicts. By drawing connections between Machiavellian thought and current military strategies, the paper seeks to illuminate the underlying logic that drives both sides’ military actions.

By the end of this paper, readers will have a clearer understanding of how Machiavelli’s concepts can be used to analyze the outcomes of modern conflicts and how classical strategic ideas are applied in real-world scenarios. This approach is not only intellectually stimulating but also practically useful for those involved in strategic planning and military studies, offering a timeless perspective on the complexities of warfare.

Nuclear experts pour cold water on US idea to restore and run Ukrainian power plant

Lauren Kent

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Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war, could be restored and protected by US ownership – at least according to the Americans.

But it’s unclear how the operation would work in practice, experts say, especially as the plant is on the front line, in territory controlled by Russia.

As part of ongoing talks to inch toward a partial ceasefire, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky “discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants” during a Wednesday phone call, according to the US readout of the call.

“(Trump) said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise. American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” the readout said.

On Thursday, Zelensky disputed that section, saying: “In terms of ownership, we definitely did not discuss this with President Trump.” Zelensky stressed that “all nuclear power belongs to the (Ukrainian) state, including the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia region.”

Timeless Lessons from Cannae to D-Day: Operational Art on the Sensor-Rich Battlefield of the Twenty-First Century

Mark Askew and Antonio Salinas

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Among Carl von Clausewitz’s many timeless observations, one in particular stands out as a perpetual impediment to commanders and strategists. “War is the realm of uncertainty,” the Prussian strategist wrote. “Three quarters of the factors on which action is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty.” Throughout military history, commanders have attempted to pierce this fog of war with snippets of information, leveraging human runners, pigeons, and cavalry, and later, telegraphs, radio, and full-motion video. However, for the last thirty years, US forces have employed advanced technology in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms that have provided unprecedented visibility and awareness of battlefield developments. Now, with increasingly lower barriers to entry for use of commercial space-based capabilities and drones, this long-held asymmetric US advantage is eroding. Now that other militaries can use these technologies to approximate US sensing and strike capabilities, achieving operational and tactical surprise will be increasingly difficult.

However, all is not lost. The US military has dealt with symmetries in transparency before. Equally important, increased transparency does not always lead to improved understanding.

While sensor-rich environments make operational concealment harder, they also create opportunities to exploit adversaries’ cognitive biases. Commanders can combine advanced technology with human ingenuity to turn battlefield transparency into an advantage. Planners can do this by understanding adversaries’ information needs, shaping the data they rely on to inform those needs, and manipulating the enemy’s decision-making. This approach requires cross-domain planning and a deep understanding of how opponents process information.

BYD's 5-Minute EV Charging Sounds Great. But How Useful Is it?

Aarian Marshall

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When surveys ask potential car buyers why they’re not going electric, the answer is consistent: It’s the charging. Drivers understand gas; plugging in, less so. They’re worried about waiting around for a charger, which, depending on its power, can take anywhere between 20 minutes and eight hours to fill up a battery.

So the hubbub around a surprise announcement from Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD makes sense. The automaker said this week that two new vehicles set to launch in April will be able to add 250 miles of range in just five minutes.

That’s twice as fast as even the next generation of Tesla Superchargers. (The day of BYD’s announcement, Tesla stock dropped by five percent.)

Topping up in five minutes makes for great ad copy, and could go a long way to alleviating drivers’ concerns about EVs. But practically speaking, experts say, it might not be the gigantic charging breakthrough it seems.

War-ready navigation: Lockheed Martin’s quantum INS to guide troops without GPS

Kapil Kajal

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Lockheed Martin has secured a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop a quantum-enabled Inertial Navigation System (INS) prototype.

This new technology, named QuINS, aims to redefine navigation capabilities for military operations by providing accurate location data even in areas where GPS signals are unreliable or unavailable.

QuINS employs quantum sensing technology to enhance navigation and positioning.

Quantum INS

Unlike traditional systems that rely on GPS or other external references, QuINS utilizes motion-sensitive quantum sensors to determine a platform’s position, velocity, and orientation through internal measurements.

This fundamental shift promises to make navigation more resilient, especially in challenging environments where conventional systems may fail.

Dr. Valerie Browning, Vice President of Research & Technology at Lockheed Martin, expressed optimism about the project’s potential.

AI FOR RISK-BASED SUPERVISION

Matei Dohotaru, Marin Prisacaru, Ji Ho Shin and Yasemin Palta

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Main challenges faced by the financial sector supervisors

Over the last two decades, a primary goal of financial sector supervisory authorities around the world has been to effectively implement the riskbased supervision framework. An RBS approach is widely regarded as the most effective means to ensure the stability of the financial sector. This goal has transformed over time to become the main challenge for supervisory authorities. Yet despite significant resources allocated for the implementation of the RBS approach, in addition to often considerable technical assistance provided, many supervisors continue to struggle to implement an effective RBS regime.1 The reasons for the difficulties in implementing an effective RBS framework vary from country to country and encompass both internal and external factors.

The RBS framework can be disaggregated by different criteria, one of which disaggregates it into three main categories: A. Policies & Procedures, B. Capacity & Resources, and C. Tools & Technologies (Figure 1). We examined these three categories by looking at the assessments of compliance with Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP) conducted during FSAPs. As part of this research, publicly available FSAP documents have been reviewed, including the Financial Sector Assessment (WB),2 the Financial System Stability Assessment (IMF),3 the Detailed Assessment of Observance as well as International Financial Institutions’ publications. It is important to note that the research was mainly focused on prudential supervision and compliance with BCP Principles.

Pentagon Fast-Tracks AI Into Drone Swarm Defense

Kris Osborn

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Drone swarm attacks are designed to be essentially indefensible, as they overwhelm enemy radar, blanket areas with explosives and use simple redundancy and volume to defeat a wide array of integrated defenses. The threat has only continued to intensify at a staggering pace as warzone innovators integrate new levels of autonomy, guidance and weaponry into large, fast-moving and increasingly “coordinated” groups of attack drones.

Certainly the Pentagon and others have noticed the impact small drones are having upon the war in Ukraine, and it is by no means surprising that DoD is massively revving up its counter-drone effort. This involves formal partnerships with universities, industry partners and military innovators to help identify, fast-track and deploy cutting edge methods of defending fixed sites, Forward Operating Bases and even armored formations on the move.

The cutting edge of C-UAS, as it is called, is increasingly involving AI to exponentially increase the speed, efficiency and lethality with which drone swarms can be countered. By essentially bouncing incoming sensor data off of a vast data base, performing analytics and organize otherwise disconnected sets of data, an AI-enabled system can massively fast-track, streamline and optimize C-UAS.

Explaining Strategic Theory

M.L.R. Smith and John Stone

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The term ‘strategy’ must be one of the most commonly used terms in public discourse. It is employed to refer to anything from state policy, business plans, to personal choices. Yet few appreciate what this term really means, and what it implies as an approach to the study of social phenomena.

The notion of Strategic Theory as a method of analysis has permeated into the wider domain of International Relations and Political Studies via the work of scholars like Bernard Brodie and Thomas Schelling, and has been increasingly employed as a tool to assist in the comprehension of decision-making, particularly with respect to the use of military power. One of the best statements of the utility of Strategic Theory is provided by Harry Yarger: ‘Strategic theory opens the mind to all the possibilities and forces at play, prompting us to consider the costs and risks of our decisions and weigh the consequences of those of our adversaries, allies, and others’.[i]

What, then, is Strategic Theory, and how does it help open the mind? Working from first principles, we aim to provide a concise understanding of what Strategic Theory encompasses in its essentials. As will be shown, to achieve this understanding it is important to appreciate what Strategic Theory is not, as much as what it is. In the process, we hope to show that Strategic Theory is a simple, parsimonious, yet elegant, way of clarifying complexity.

Drones are Changing the Face of War

Robert Bruce Adolph

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Drones are here to stay. Their use is a heated topic of discussion in the U.S., and with good reason. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones, are fast becoming a major component of our nation’s military arsenal. However, such technology is spreading internationally. Several countries are in the process of either purchasing drones or learning how to manufacture them. Many soldiers, scientists and scholars claim that drones will revolutionize the way wars are conducted. They are not wrong. But how remains an open and pressing question.

The U.S. has used drones successfully for years for intelligence, target acquisition and offensive operations. Their technology continues to advance rapidly. The US RQ-4 Global Hawk is frankly the best aerial surveillance and reconnaissance platform ever devised. The MQ-9 Reaper, likewise, is a superb multi-purpose unmanned attack aircraft. Drones are now capable of carrying out a great variety of missions. They can cover hundreds of miles in short order and remain aloft for sustained periods, called loiter time. The American Switchblade drone is a munition that can literally fit in a backpack. Sometimes, smaller is better.

Drones have greatly increased the capabilities of the American military. Most importantly, they can be used for the accurate targeting of enemies without placing U.S. troops in harm’s way. Furthermore, they can offer a greater payload than traditional manned aircraft, with the ability to carry multiple precision-guided munitions.