Over several months, we conduct a concentrated study of Military Strategy and Logistics. We address issues that remain of central importance to the nation for years and decades to come.

The United States is engaged in a protracted conflict, facing a new strategic environment, and attempting to understand, shape and adapt to the new world in which it finds itself. Some of the questions we raise in this class have been addressed long since, by men such as Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Liddel Hart, and Mahan. We will explore whether the answers they found remain relevant in our current context and if so, what can be drawn from them to shape our thoughts and actions as strategic thinkers.

We will conduct our studies in four phases. We will begin with a study of the foundations of war and introduce the classics that have defined the field. We will then move to a phase that examines the processes and considerations by which states, and in particular the United States “control war”. Once the decision has been made to use military force, what are the mechanisms by which a state’s leaders ensure that force is applied how and when they determine? This is the central question of Phase II. Change equals volatility and the strategic environment is undergoing significant change. The United States government and the US military are working feverishly to keep pace with these shifts. Thus, the third phase of our course considers the issue associated with “Managing Change”. We will then narrow our focus from the national level to the theater level in the final phase of the course. We will consider the elements of theater strategy, paying close attention to the logistics elements required to successfully execute a theater campaign. We will conclude our course with an exercise in which we make practical use of the material we have covered in the classroom.

We use a range of teaching tools—readings and seminar discussion, case studies, and a culminating theater exercise. These are designed to take advantage of the expertise and experience brought to the seminar by each of its members.

8/5/2009