Blog Posts

The Center for Complex Operations (CCO) announced the online release of the first issue of PRISM in its seventh series. Continue on for links to all the new articles.

The authors examine the use of mission command—and the failure to use it—in two battles in the adjacent provinces of Paktia and Khost in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Navy is blaming the high pace of operations, budget uncertainty and naval leaders who put their mission over safety.

President Donald Trump, in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, doubled down on criticisms of North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.

“The country may never become a fully-fledged democracy, but staying the course may be the only option.”

"The Senate-passed, fiscal 2018 Defense Authorization Bill carries two little-publicized amendments that will impact future war-fighting capabilities."

"The contest for territory is playing out in Deir Ezzour, an oil-rich province where Islamic State has fought to protect its revenue streams."

“That advantage isn’t only about the relative difficulty of getting to the U.S. from the Middle East as compared with getting to continental Europe, but that’s a lot of it.”

“A year after losing its main Libyan stronghold, Islamic State has formed a number of clandestine cells around the chaotic North African country.”

“The exercise is the thirteenth iteration of the U.S.-India Yudh Abhyas series of drills.”

“The Pentagon and NATO are still trying to map their way forward in the nearly 16-year-old conflict, according to U.S. officials.”

More than 80 people were interviewed for “The Vietnam War,” including veterans, anti-war protesters and Vietnamese on both sides of the conflict.

George Will reviews Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's “The Vietnam War” - “a masterpiece — and a model for assessing our history”.

“The size of the new force is yet to be finalized, but it could number more than 20,000, according to a senior Afghan official.”

“Pakistan’s top diplomat will reproach the U.S. for its new Afghanistan policy at the United Nations General Assembly next week.”

"Those fights also will include the battle for the city of Hawija, whose location in north-central Iraq has made it an ISIS launch-pad for small but deadly raids in nearby cities."

“The collapse of the Islamic State in its most important Iraqi strongholds has brought a rare moment of hope for a country mired in war for most of the past four decades.”

"The impending Kurdish referendum for independence will have significant consequences for the ongoing fight against the Islamic State."

Irbil, Iraq - "For many people here, the upcoming referendum on Kurdish independence from Iraq is obvious."

“Fourteen years after the first insurgents emerged in Iraq in 2003, the US may have found a model that works in Iraq.”

"With the French growing weary and international CT efforts concentrated on defeating ISIS in Syria and Iraq, AQIM seems well positioned to carry on its spate of attacks unchallenged."

“A video released by ISIS asks would-be fighters to go to the Philippines instead of Syria and Iraq, the latest sign that the terror group is shifting its recruiting tactics.”

“Problems stem from a common cause—the lack of a framework that helps us both to conceptualize cities and to map the effects on those cities of military operations in them.”

“The risk of future warfare will increase from non-state actors working by, with and through nations, and interactions between technology, terrorists, insurgents and criminals.”

“Russia's military said Tuesday that Syrian troops have liberated about 85 percent of the war-torn country's territory from militants.”