Research for Politics

Lately, there has been a lot of debate about how military operations are changing. Changes in information technology and the ability to transmit new types of information may be affecting the character of warfare. The end of the Cold War, along with other social and political changes, are also seen as important harbingers of change in the way military forces are used. Some believe that we are either in, or at the beginning of, a revolution in military affairs (RMA). This study looks at what planning and events surrounding a recent operation. Operation UPHOLD DEMOCRACY, the U.S.-led intervention in Haiti, tell us about the question: What do changes in technology and operations mean for the operational level (Joint Task Force) commander?

The Commander, Seventh Fleet, asked CNA to assess the security environment of the Asia-Pacific Region between now and 2010. This research memorandum focuses on the most probable evolutionary trends for Korea during this period. For Korea the development of an Asian nation-state system comes at a time of historic power relative to anything of the past century. The problem for the Korean people, historically, was that Korea was a weak state surrounded by strong empires in China, Russia, and Japan. The economic development of Korea over the past 30 years is a remarkable success story, although this development took place in a peaceful stable environment. The problem facing Korea is whether it can successfully continue its economic progress in a world that is more competitive, more wary of exploitative economic practices, any more dominated by large countries who have in the past been enemies.

Over the coming years, the U.S. military, a significant employer and trainer of young people, will continue its post-Cold War drawdown. During the reshaping of the military, the following question arises: Is it possible to reinvest some of these important resources to strengthen youth? The CNA Corporation has examined various aspects of this question during the past two years. During the first year of our work, we established a framework for assessing local possibilities for 'Strategic Reinvestment to Strengthen Youth'--redirecting military resources in the communities surrounding military bases. We were then sponsored by the Navy to apply this work in specific places that had bases targeted for closure. The objective of this second year of research was to examine the entire range of options for connecting military resources with youth in these communities. The longer range thinking was that, if this assessment process produced results valuable in localities where the Navy is now significantly decreasing its presence, it could be adapted for wider use following the 1995 base closure announcements. The communities of Oakland/Alameda, California were designated for the full assessment. We limited our detailed data-collection effort to those closing Navy installations and the surrounding communities that are closest to the Oakland/Alameda area. In this research memorandum, one of a series of four documents covering specific components of this project, we look at the political context of defense conversion planning

Using a two-phase approach, the Future Russian Navy study -- commissioned by the Director of Naval Intelligence -- examined the individual factors that will compete with one another to drive the force posture and capabilities of the 21st-century Russian Navy. Phase I evaluated as discrete entities historical, economic, security, and foreign policy interests as well as politico-sociological and economic constraints. Phase II then evaluated these competing interests and constraints, and derived a range of potential force postures and capabilities for the Russian Navy of the year 2013. The result describes a Russian Navy dependent principally on the success or failure of Russian national economic reform.