Defense Analysis Department Student Research Posters
ADAPT: Tactical Assault Kit: Collaborative Mission Planner
(2017-11)
The Tactical Assault Kit (TAK), available on Android, Windows and IOS devices, is a smartphone-based application that allows enhanced mission command. It has been a critical tool in Advise and Assist partner operations in ...
American Identity Narratives: A threat to National Security?
(2017-11)
Why do America’s identity narratives matter for national security? Current American identity narratives matter to the USG because a divided society may lead to a divided military, or worse, a civil-military divide so ...
An Unconventional Warfare Wargame: A Practical Exercise to reinforce UW Doctrine
(2017-11)
Could a UW focused wargame provide a tangible practical exercise to reinforce UW theory and doctrine? The current training curriculum at Fort Bragg utilize classroom instruction and field training exercises. This UW wargame ...
Apocalyptic Narrative and Religious Violence: A look at the Anabaptist Kingdom of Munster
(2017-11)
This thesis examines the role of apocalyptic narrative in shaping collective identity and collective action in order to help defense practitioners better understand groups that turn to violence.
ARSOF's 3D Printing Opportunity: Gaining Advantage through Increased Self- Reliance
(2017-11)
3D Printing industry and its capabilities are increasing. Studies into 3D printing’s effects on the supply chain resulting in little effective over-arching implementation: Right Item – Right Place – Right Time. USASOC ...
Assault Airlift: How Assault Airlift can achieve Relative Superiority and Survivability in SOF Direct-Action
(2017-11)
How can assault airlift increase special operations direct-action mission force survival and overall mission success?
Attribution in Influence: Relative Power and Methods of Attribution
(2017-11)
Research Question: What conditions should inform the method of attribution in U.S. influence operations?
Bending the Spear: The Campaign Against the Lord’s Resistance Army
(2017-11)
U.S. Operation OBSERVANT COMPASS, launched in 2011, supported Ugandan efforts against the LRA that began in 1986. The combined effort has been widely lauded for its humanitarian approach to a rebel force largely composed ...
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Benefits for Pakistan
(2017-11)
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is part of China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative and the nexus of two major economic corridors: the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Southeast Asian Maritime Silk Road. In ...
Civil Affairs Framework for Executing Governance
(2017-11)
What are the best methods and procedures for advising partner nation governments on performing governance responsibilities that can be applied to a CA instructional manual which CA teams can use as they deploy to guide ...
Convergence in Latin America: Illuminating the Pink Tide and Iranian Nexus Through Social Network Analysis
(2017-11)
We used open-source materials to unravel the relationships and illuminate the Pink Tide network.
Critical Vulnerabilities in the Space Domain
(2017-11)
Given that the American way of war is now inexorably linked to space- based technology and thus increasingly vulnerable, how can nanosatellites be utilized as an alternative to traditional satellite communications architectures ...
CWMD JIIM Coordination on the Korean Peninsula
(2017-11)
Research Summary: An event requiring U.S. intervention to isolate and secure DPRK nuclear weapons presents significant capacity/capability gaps—too big to handle alone. Lack of regional framework (i.e.NATO) hinders pre-crisis ...
CyberWar: 2025, Interactive & Educational Cyber Wargame
(2017-11)
Wargames and Virtual Simulations have been used by the Department of Defense for training land operations (America’s Army, Engagement Skills Trainer, Virtual Battlespace 2, etc.). Currently, the DoD lacks an entry level ...
Effective Client Management:Maximizing the Influence of External Sponsors
(2017-11)
Research Question: What are the most successful methods which external sponsors and their advisors use to build and maintain influence over affiliated non-state groups?
Forecasting the fall of the IS caliphate: An expected utility model (EUM) and social network analysis (SNA) approach
(2017-11)
Are there information platforms that analysts can leverage to more accurately chart the evolution of political decisions and their attendant consequences for current and future military strategies? Such tools would enable ...
Get The Enemies To Be Part Of US! Peace Agreement between the Philippine Government and MILF Rebels
(2017-11)
What key variables are possibly required to ensure that the rebel integration under the CAB would contribute to prolonged peace in the southern Philippines?
How to mitigate the shortage of Special Operation Aviation
(2017-11)
Why does the shortage exist within European nations? Decrease in air mobility within the conventional forces: fewer aircraft; Within SOA the main focus is on getting more elite rather than special: more capable SOA does ...
Human Capital Management of Air Force SOF: Leadership Identification, Selection & Cultivation
(2017-11)
This thesis aims to identify key aspects of human capital management and leadership cultivation of which lessons may apply to AFSOC efforts to improve its selection of future senior officers.
Impact Assessment in Special Warfare
(2017-11)
Impact assessment methods provide special operations forces with the means to measure the real impact of capacity building intended to counter the influence of insurgent or extremist groups.
Just War Theory Reloaded: The Ethics of SOF in Modern Conflict
(2017-11)
Research Question: Does the application of SOF represent a moral improvement in the prevention of unnecessary loss of life prior to, during, and post-armed conflict scenarios? Further, does SOF represent an evolution, as ...
Looking Up: Airpower in UW Conditions and Employment
(2017-11)
Background, Question, Argument: What are the conditions under which to develop an insurgent air capability during a unconventional warfare (UW) campaign, and how should that capability be employed?
Maximizing the Utilization of Remotely Piloted Aircraft in Combat Search and Rescue
(2017-11)
The search for the new Rescue Mission Commander (RMC) has begun in the Air Force. The MQ-9 with its loiter, communications suite and weapons is a very capable platform in many other missions. Can the MQ-9 be the new RMC?
Mediated nationalism: Press freedom, mass media, and nationalism
(2017-11)
Research Question: How does state-sponsored censorship affect the production of nationalism through the images and narratives crafted by a nation’s mass media and in turn what are the effects on nationalism within that nation?
Political Revolution and Social Communication Technologies
(2017-11)
The relatively recent advent of cell phones provides an increasing portion of the world’s population with hitherto unprecedented access to information, and offers a novel means of networking and communicating within and ...
Protecting the Status Quo: The Defense Against a Russian Color Revolution
(2017-11)
If the threat of a Russian color revolution is so serious, what are the Russian security forces doing to defend Russia from the threat?
Risk Mitigation and Leadership in Tactical U.S. Army Infantry Training
(2017-11)
Hypothesis: Risk Aversion in U.S. Army Infantry training prevents the simulator fidelity required to create "Pre-Combat Veterans"
SMCL SATCOM Antenna Design (Stand alone, Man portable, Constantly on, Low visibility)
(2017-11)
The three pillars of modern maneuver warfare are coordinated fires, maneuver, and communication, commonly referred to as: shoot, move, communicate. With such a stress on the ability to Shoot, Move, and Communicate, why ...
Special Forces Values: How Ethics Impacts Organizational Effectiveness
(2017-11)
Question: How do the 1st Special Forces Regiment’s values and norms (the SF Ethic) impact the organization’s effectiveness?
Strategic and Operational Structure against irregular threats
(2017-11)
Background, Question, Argument: Who should take the lead in the unstable and complex environment? Is a Conventional Force leadership structure versus a SOF Command and Control (C2) structure appropriate for future irregular ...
teamHarmony: Employing Matchmaking Algorithms to Team-Building
(2017-11)
Research Question: To what extent is it possible to predict human chemistry through the use of algorithms, with the intent of improving Army talent management and team effectiveness?
The Man Who Would Be King
(2017-11)
In 1888, Rudyard Kipling published The Man Who Would Be King from Allahabad in British India. The short story follows two former soldiers on their quest to become kings of Kafiristan, or modern-day Nuristan in Afghanistan. ...
The President’s intelligence community: relationship impact evaluation
(2017-11)
Background, Question, Argument: How does the relationship between the president and IC impact the chance of an intelligence failure occurring? What impact does a failure or success have on the relationship between the ...
The Weaponization of Migration: Examining Migration as a 21st Century Tool of Political? Warfare
(2017-11)
How do state and non-state actors make use of human migration as a means to achieve political, economic, or military objectives?
To What Extent Does ISIS Mark a New Stage in the Development of Salafi-Jihadism?
(2017-11)
The thesis addresses the development of the Salafi-jihadism ideology. Initially, we track the development of the ideology through highlighting the contribution that each of the main Salafi-jihadist theorists has made. ...
Unconventional Restraint: Legal, Political, and Organizational Obstacles to STR/UW
(2017-11)
The authors of this research based this analysis in two premises: (1) STR is valid policy option for the U.S. government; (2) the STR/UW paradigm has shifted in the favor of America’s adversaries (e.g., China, Russia, and Iran).
Understanding a Special Operations Role: Network Caretakers and Knowledge-Based Communities of Practice
(2017-11)
How does SOF get better connected with people who both know things and care to bring to bear a more complete understanding of an operational environment prior to, during, or avoid altogether the application of U.S. military force?
Understanding Violence Through Social Media: Twitter & Violence in Iraq
(2017-11)
Research question: "How can social media analysis be a viable tool for predicting violent events and understanding social sentiment during violent events?"
USSOF Integration with the U.S. Embassy Country Team
(2017-11)
How can USSOF best integrate into the USCT construct?
VRTAS ("Veritas"): Virtual Reality Traning & Advising System
(2017-11)
Research existing VR/AR ystem that can increase abilities of U.S. SOF forces
Why Failing Terrorist Groups Persist Revisited: A Social Network approach to AQIM Network Resilience
(2017-11)
The research question aims to answer what methods does AQIM use to socially embed within the target populations to overcome organizational and cultural preferences for homophily?