Strategy

The Problem With National Security Concepts

This essay briefly examines some fundamental problems in defense and security analysis and conceptualization (henceforth referred to jointly as “national security”). In the past, national security thinkers have noted that the security community has…

Stop Telling People They Are Irrational To Fear Terrorism

Meet Joe. Joe is afraid that terrorists are going to murder him. He watches TV and sees an enormous amount of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) shamelessly communicated by people that ought to know better. He sees politicians…

Strategy and Perspective

Once one accepts that strategy always takes place in the context of relative interactions between two or more thinking entities, it is potentially disastrous to ignore the possibility that truth or reality is equally valid from the other’s point of view. This does not mean that all…

Strategic Blindness: When Aliens Attack Part II

The Care Bear Theory of Strategy

Once upon a time, three things were widely accepted:

• Conflict between political communities was a common and normal feature of political life.
• This conflict involved the purposeful use of violence, i.e, killing people or…