Update From U.S. Army War College -- It's About Thinking, Not War

I wanted to focus my latest update about my work at the U.S. Army War College on the mission of the College itself, which continues to impress me. When the institution was established in 1901, the College's founders committed an incredible misnomer. The curriculum taught at the War College is hardly about waging war. Quite the opposite: it's about thinking of ways to apply elements of national power (diplomacy, information, military, econonics) without having to resort to war; or, when war becomes inevitable, acheiving the nation's political objectives through the most ethical and effective application of military power.

The U.S. Army War College's name was bestowed by the U.S. War Department, which is now known as the U.S. Department of Defense. Wisely, military institutions of higher learning established by the Department of Defense have been given more appropriate names. Take for example the National Defense University, founded in 1976, whose mission is "prepare military and civilian leaders from the United States and other countries to evaluate national and international security challenges through multi-disciplinary educational and research programs, professional exchanges, and outreach" (see http://www.ndu.edu/info/mission.cfm).

Elihu Root, U.S. Secretary of War, 1899–1904

Still, in spite of its inauspicious name, the U.S. Army War College performs a valuable service for our nation. In 1903, at the ceremony that marked the laying of the War College's cornerstone, Secretary of War Elihu Root proclaimed, "Not to promote war, but to preserve peace by intelligent and adequate preparation to repel aggression, this institution is founded" (see http://bit.ly/pzmxag).

Contemporary military leaders, like current War College Commandant Major General Gregg Martin, U.S. Army, have explained that the War College experience is "about thinking how to think." General Martin Dempsey, U.S. Army Chief of Staff and the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, remarked recently that the frantic pace and bias for action associated with most military jobs allow little time for officers to read, think, and reflect.  Gen. Dempsey offered the following advice to students at the War College: "Take the opportunity here to do some serious thinking ... about how to think."

Everywhere I go on Carlisle Barracks, home of the U.S. Army War College, I witness this advice being enacted by students, faculty, and staff. Just yesterday, sitting in class with 16 students (senior military officers from the United States, Italy, and Columbia), I found myself amazed (and grateful) for the opportunity to listen to the War College's chair of national intelligence, a Central Intelligence Agency officer, lead a discussion of current political-military strategy in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other regions of instability. Seamlessly, the class actively dissected current national security strategy, compared it to lessons from historical events like the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), and constructed ideas for improvements to strategy using critical thinking processes taught here at the College.

Students here prepare for such discussions by reading the work of some of the world's greatest military historians and strategists: Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Clausewitz -- along with current works by contemporary authors like Roger Fisher, Thomas Ricks, Bob Woodward, Thomas Schelling, and Joseph Nye.

In closing, I will provide the reading list of books (this list does not include shorter readings) assigned to students during the year at the War College. Looking at this list, I no longer feel bad about the "heavy" reading list I assign to undergraduate and graduate students in my courses at Marist College. In fact, I have copies of these books on my office bookshelf, and aspire to read through them before my year here is complete.

• Art of War (Sun Tzu/Griffith)
• Clausewitz (Howard)
• Conflict after the Cold War, 2nd ed. (Betts)
• Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2nd ed. (Allison & Zelikow)
• Fiasco: the American Military Adventure in Iraq (Ricks)
• Fifth Discipline, rev. and updated (Senge)
• FM 6-22, Army Leadership (Oct 06)
• Future of the Army Profession, rev and expanded, 2nd ed. (Snider)
• Getting to Yes (Fisher)
• Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders (Baldoni)
• Inevitable Surprises: Thinking Ahead…Turbulence (Schwartz)
• Landmark Thucydides: Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Strassler)
• Leading Change (Kotter)
• Making of Strategy
• Masks of War (Builder)
• Obama's Wars (Woodward)
• On War (Clausewitz)
• Price of Liberty (Hormats)
• Rise to Globalism, 8th rev ed. (Ambrose)
• Soldiers, Statecraft, and History (Nathan)
• Strategic Leadership Primer (3rd ed.)
• Strategy (Liddell-Hart)
• Thinking in Time (Neustadt & May)
• Type Talk at Work, rev. (Kroeger)
• Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation (Nye & Welch)
• US Army War College Guide to National Security Issues, 4th ed. (Bartholomees), V. 1 and 2
• War & Politics (Brodie)
• War Within (Woodward)
• When Cultures Collide, 3rd ed. (Lewis)
• Who Says Elephants Can't Dance (Gerst)

Happy reading to all!