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US Tactical Challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan

US military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan faced a difficult challenge. The soldiers and marines needed to combat a vicious, irregular force of insurgents. At the same time, utmost care had to be taken to avoid civilian casualties. Avoiding collateral damages was easier said than done. Senior US military leaders like Admiral Mike Mullen, General Stanley McChrystal, and General David Petraeus implemented a number of doctrinal changes to avoid civilian casualties. But changing the mindset and training of US soldiers was not an overnight task, especially when restraints on the use of force put US personnel at risk.
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Global Warming and Climate Change in South America

Global warming presents one of the most serious threats to South American nations. Countries in the region are at risk of a variety of climate change related problems: rising sea levels, diminishing potable water supplies, forest fres, intense storms and fooding, heat waves and the spread of diseases. These disasters are occurring more frequently in the region and will likely increase in intensity also. The armed forces in the region are the only government departments with both the capacity and the manpower to respond to these massive catastrophes. Military support to civilian authorities will be required more frequently and under more severe conditions as climate change conditions worsen.
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Transforming Defense in Guatemala

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Kingpins and Corruption: Targeting Transnational Organized Crime in the Americas

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Kingpins and Corruption: Targeting Transnational Organized Crime in the Americas

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Training Surrogate Forces in International Humanitarian Law

Patrick Paterson's monograph, Training Surrogate Forces in International Humanitarian Law: Lessons from Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, and Iraq, leverages the author’s vast experience in Latin American history to examine how US Special Operations Forces (USSOF) train surrogate forces. He argues that it is necessary to employ United States Special Operations Command's (USSOCOM) indirect approach to grow and build partnership capacity through foreign internal defense (FID) and to find a balance with international humanitarian law (IHL). Paterson also examines the legal issues and restrictions on training and equipping foreign forces and the impact of these exchanges with our partners. His research methodology includes extensive interviews and incorporates a historical case study approach, examining FID efforts in Peru, Colombia, and El Salvador for lessons learned, and then compares and contrasts USSOF train and equip efforts in Iraq.
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A Great Perhaps?

Based on fieldwork in Colombia's regions, this study provides a history of the conflict, compares it to other case studies, examines the war from the perspectives of the government and the guerillas, delves into the development of special Colombian capabilities (notably in intelligence and the use of air power and special forces), and explains the economic dimension in terms both of historical exclusion and ongoing attempts at growth and inclusion. Finally, it concludes with an assessment of the country's prospects: can the combination of improved security, a flourishing economy and the peace process offer an opportunity to finally translate Colombia from, in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's words, "a great perhaps" into something more permanent?

Davis, Dickie, David Kilcullen, Greg Mills, and David Spencer. A Great Perhaps? London: Hurst & Company. 2015

Only available commercially

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Combating Terrorist Financing in the Gulf: Significant Progress but Risks Remain

The Gulf countries have taken significant national, regional, and international steps to stem the flow of funds to terrorist groups over the past decade. Various measures have been instituted to better regulate and secure the formal banking sector, alternative remittance systems like hawalas, and charitable organizations in the Gulf. The tragic January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, perpetrated by disciples of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have galvanized the world's attention and demand to combat terrorism and the financial networks that fund and support these acts. In the fight against AQAP and ISIL, Gulf states will play a critical role on the military, ideological, and financial fronts of the campaign to degrade and destroy these groups. While the Gulf countries have made substantial strides in protecting their financial systems, risks and vulnerabilities to terrorist financing such as private donors remain.
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The Emergence and Proliferation of Private Security Companies in El Salvador

El Salvador has been impacted by political instability and socioeconomic upheavals in a perfect environment for organized crime; in the midst of the pacification and democratization of the country after a bloody internal conflict. This essay focuses on private security through a descriptive analysis of the factors that influence its evolution and implications in the country's governability and governance. The analysis of security as a common good, the factors influencing the use of private security and the inter-institutional relations of private security and the police require appropriate regulations based on the aforementioned factors. When considering security as a common good, fundamental rights are mandatory and the basis for the legitimacy of government action.
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China’s Growing Relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean

The purpose of this paper is to characterize China's growing relationship in Latin America and the Caribbean from a US perspective, the US response to that relationship, and some of the opportunities and challenges that the changing relationship creates for all parties. It argues that some of the greatest challenges are likely to come not from China-Latin America military engagement, but rather, from the growing physical presence of Chinese companies on the ground in the region, and byproducts of expanding commercial interactions such as trans-pacific criminal activity.
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  • William J. Perry Center
    for Hemispheric Defense Studies

    National Defense University
    Abraham Lincoln Hall
    260 5th Avenue, Building 64
    Washington, DC  20319-5066
  • William J. Perry Center
    for Hemispheric Defense Studies

    National Defense University
    Abraham Lincoln Hall
    260 5th Avenue, Building 64
    Washington, DC  20319-5066