Lethal and Legal? The Ethics of Drone Strikes

While supporters claim that drone warfare is not only legal but ethical and wise, others have suggested that drones are prohibited weapons under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) because they cause, or have the effect of causing, indiscriminate killings of civilians, such as those in the vicinity of a targeted person. The main legal justification made by the Barack Obama Administration for the use of armed drones is self-defense. However, there is ambiguity as to whether this argument can justify a number of recent attacks by the United States. In order to determine the legality of armed drone strikes, other factors such as sovereignty, proportionality, the legitimacy of individual targets, and the methods used for the selection of targets must also be considered. One justification for the ethical landscape is the reduced amount of collateral damage relative to other forms of strike. Real time eyes on target allow last-minute decisions and monitoring for unintended victims, and precise tracking of the target through multiple systems allows further refinements of proportionality. However, this is of little benefit if the definition of “targets” is itself flawed and encompasses noncombatants and unconnected civilians. This monograph provides a number of specific recommendations intended to ensure that the benefits of drone warfare are weighed against medium- and long-term second order effects in order to measure whether targeted killings are serving their intended purpose of countering terrorism rather than encouraging and fueling it.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1428/thumbnail.jp

Silent Partners: Organized Crime, Irregular Groups, and Nation-States

The U.S. Army increasingly faces adversaries that are difficult to define. The threat landscape is further complicated by the silent partnership between criminal organizations, irregular groups, and nation-states. This collaboration, whatever its exact nature, is problematic, because it confounds understanding of the adversary, making existing countermeasures less effective, and thus directly challenging U.S. national security interests. Military action taken without full appreciation of the dynamics of the nature of these relationships is likely to be ineffective at best or suffer unintended consequences. This monograph provides a comprehensive assessment of the threat to U.S. national security interests posed by the silent partners, as well as how the vulnerabilities of the relationships could be exploited to the advantage of the U.S. Army.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1388/thumbnail.jp

Extremist Migration: A Foreign Jihadist Fighter Threat Assessment

This monograph provides an assessment of the emerging threat posed by foreign jihadist fighters following the reduction in territory controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and recommends ways that the U.S. Army should address the issues highlighted.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1374/thumbnail.jp

Exit Strategy: Rule of Law and the U.S. Army

Establishing the rule of law is a key goal and end state in counterinsurgency (COIN) operations and is a critical aspect of securing peace and preventing future conflict. However, recent experience in theaters such as Afghanistan has shown that establishing effective rule of law institutions and practices is not a straightforward task. Consequently, considerations as to how and when rule of law institutions can start to be developed and integrated into the stability transition process must not only be planned in advance, but also form part of the U.S. Army’s strategy from the start of any military intervention. The analysis provided in this monograph will assist the U.S. Army, and more broadly the Departments of Defense and State, in better facilitating a seamless rebalancing from military to police functions in post-conflict environments, and to ensure that sustainable and effective rule of law interventions are delivered as part of an exit strategy.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1392/thumbnail.jp

Operationalizing Counter Threat Finance Strategies

View the Executive SummaryThis Letort Paper describes effective Counter Threat Finance strategies as a specific area where the capability of U.S. and allied militaries can be augmented for the purpose of targeted action against adversaries. With appropriate analysis and exploitation, financial data can be used to reveal patterns of enemy behavior, motivations, and possible intentions as well as lifestyles and networks, all of which will impact directly upon military operations within a counterinsurgency environment. The targeting of the financial, and perhaps more importantly, the economic base of an organization, will not only impact the operational capability of that organization, but can ultimately lead to its destruction. To date, these strategies have been used predominantly for the purpose of disruption. However, the potential application of such strategies goes far beyond—they have the potential to be a multifaceted weapon, capable not only of disruption of the enemy, but of detecting impending instability. Specific recommendations are proposed for making best use of the potential for financial intelligence as part of an integrated strategy for both forecasting and countering contemporary security threats.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1311/thumbnail.jp

The Effective Use of Reserve Personnel in the U.S. Military: Lessons from the United Kingdom Reserve Model

View the Executive SummaryThis monograph identifies areas where the U.S. Army and other services can potentially benefit from examining the United Kingdom\u27s comparable program of reserve reform. Key areas where aspects of this reform have been entirely counterproductive are identified, as well as specific and expensive recent British mistakes which it is essential for the U.S. military to avoid.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1469/thumbnail.jp

Maintaining Information Dominance in Complex Environments

There are many risks to the U.S. Army’s command and control (C2) operations and to its intelligence and information warfare (IW) capabilities. The challenges include: significant uncertainty; sudden unexpected events; high noise and clutter levels in intelligence pictures; basic and complex deceptions exercised through a variety of channels; the actions of hidden malign actors; and novel forms of attack on U.S. and allied command, control, communications, computers, information/intelligence, surveillance, targeting acquisition, and reconnaissance (C4ISTAR) systems. If the U.S. Army is to secure and maintain information dominance in all environments, it must exploit complexity and uncertainty in the battlespace and not simply seek to overcome it. Innovation requires that new ideas are considered, and that old ideas should be robustly challenged. To achieve and maintain information dominance, the U.S. Army will also require a significant injection of innovation, a robust and resilient C2 and intelligence capability, novel technologies and an accelerated information operations capability development program that is broad, deep, sustained and well-coordinated. Furthermore, once information dominance is achieved, maintaining it will demand continuous change and development.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1390/thumbnail.jp

The time-dependent rearrangement of the epithelial basement membrane in human skin wounds

In 62 human skin wounds (surgical wounds, stab wounds and lacerations after surgical treatment) we analyzed the immunohistochemical localization of collagen IV in the epithelial basement membrane. In 27 of these wounds the distribution of collagen VII, which represents a specific component of the basement membrane of stratified epithelia, was also analyzed. We were able to demonstrate a virtually identical co-distribution of both collagen IV and VII in the wound area with no significant time-dependent differences in the appearance of both collagen types. Fragments of the epithelial basement membrane could be detected in the wound area from as early as 4 days after wounding and after 8 days a complete restitution of the epithelial basement membrane was observed. In all cases with a wound age of more than 21 days the basement membrane was completely reformed over the former lesional area. The period between 8 and 21 days after wounding was characterized by a wide variability ranging from complete restitution to deposition of basement membrane fragments or total lack of the epidermal basement membrane

Immunohistochemical localization of collagen types I and VI in human skin wounds

A total of 74 human skin wounds were investigated and collagen types I and VI were localized in the wound area by immunohistochemistry. Collagen type I appeared in the form of ramifying string-like structures after approximately 5–6 days, but positive reactions in the form of a spot-like staining around isolated fibroblasts also occurred in a skin wound aged 4 days. Collagen VI was detectable after a post-infliction interval of at least 3 days showing a strongly positive reacting network associated with fibroblasts in the wound area. Both collagens appeared almost constantly after a wound age of 6–7 clays and could also be found in wounds aged a few months. Therefore, although a positive reaction for collagen type I in the form of string-like and ramifying structures around wound fibroblasts indicates a wound age of at least 5–6 days, a spot-like positive staining for collagen type I cannot exclude a wound age of at least 4 days. A positive staining for collagen type VI represents a post-infliction time of 3 days or more. The almost constant appearance of these collagen types suggests that negative results in a sufficient number of specimens indicate a wound age of less than 6–7 days, but cannot completely exclude longer post-infliction intervals. Since collagen type I and VI are also found in the granulation/scar tissue of lesions with advanced wound age, the immunohistochemical analysis of these proteins provides no further information for an age determination of older skin wounds

Growth characteristics in individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta in North America: results from a multicenter study.

PurposeOsteogenesis imperfecta (OI) predisposes people to recurrent fractures, bone deformities, and short stature. There is a lack of large-scale systematic studies that have investigated growth parameters in OI.MethodsUsing data from the Linked Clinical Research Centers, we compared height, growth velocity, weight, and body mass index (BMI) in 552 individuals with OI. Height, weight, and BMI were plotted on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention normative curves.ResultsIn children, the median z-scores for height in OI types I, III, and IV were -0.66, -6.91, and -2.79, respectively. Growth velocity was diminished in OI types III and IV. The median z-score for weight in children with OI type III was -4.55. The median z-scores for BMI in children with OI types I, III, and IV were 0.10, 0.91, and 0.67, respectively. Generalized linear model analyses demonstrated that the height z-score was positively correlated with the severity of the OI subtype (P < 0.001), age, bisphosphonate use, and rodding (P < 0.05).ConclusionFrom the largest cohort of individuals with OI, we provide median values for height, weight, and BMI z-scores that can aid the evaluation of overall growth in the clinic setting. This study is an important first step in the generation of OI-specific growth curves