Category Archives: New Initiatives

New projects and initiatives at CIMSEC.

CIMSEC’s Longreads – May 20th, 2014

CIMSEC’s Longreads – May 20th, 2014

CIMSEC’s Longreads is back! Bringing you a list of the last week’s best pieces for your Tuesday morning enjoyment.

China’s Cruise Missiles: Flying Fast Under the Public’s Radar

The National Interest – May 12th – Dennis Gormley, Andrew S. Erickson, and Jingdong Yuan (Link)

An extensive look into the pitfalls and promises regarding China’s increasing reliance on cruise missiles for sea and surface strike drawing on the authors’ upcoming book A Low Visibility Force Multiplier: China’s Cruise Missile Ambitions.

How the F.B.I. Cracked a Chinese Spy Ring

The New Yorker – May 16th- Yudhijit Bhattacharjee (Link)

Espionage, intrigue, and free coffee at the local hardware store.  The New Yorker relays the down fall of a Chinese technical intelligence collection ring, while staying true to the details.

United States of Secrets (Part One)

PBS – May 13th – Frontline (Link)

The first of a two part series examining the personal clashes and ethical debates that surrounded the growth of US Intelligence Collection programs in the wake of September 11th, and their continuing legacy.

CIMSEC Member Publications

U.S., India’s Goals Diverge in New Delhi’s Near Abroad
World Politics Review – May 13th –  Nilanthi Samaranayake
“China’s Relations with the Smaller Countries of South Asia”
China and International Security – May 13th –  Nilanthi Samaranayake
Sverdlov Class Cruisers, and the Royal Navy’s Response
British Naval History – Alex Clarke – May 12th
The Great Green Sea Control Fleet
War on the Rocks – David Wise – May 12th
The Worlds Most Dangerous Pirates
 USNI News – James Bridger – May 12th
Putin in America’s Jurassic Park 
War on the Rocks – May 8th – Matthew Hipple
The Most Realistic Fish-bot You’ve Ever Seen – and What it Could Mean for Naval Warfare
 Naval Drones – May 7th – Chris Rawley
Surge Support in Tragedy’s Wake
The Navy Reservist – Scott Cheney-Peters – May 1st
The US, Japan, to Boost ASEAN Maritime Security
The Diplomat – Scott Cheney-Peters – April 30th
The Asian Century in an April Week
War on the Rocks – Scott Cheney-Peters – April 29th
INEVITABLE CONFLICT IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA?
War on the Rocks – Claude Berube – April 21st 
Anatomy of a crime: Some reflections on the latest killings at Fort Hood
Best Defense – John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. – April 15th 

If you have any tips, suggestions, or input for next week’s long reads, feel free to drop me a line at cimsec.longreads@gmail.com

06 MAY: Wargames Week Begins

F_200703_March31ed_i_30258aWargaming is an opportunity to ponder the implications of security and war plans amongst the unfolding of assumed and unexpected events. An important step in most planning processes, wargaming provides the leaders, planners, and gamers with various products and considerations, to include: the ability to evaluate strengths and weakness of ways and means; a validation of plans against a thinking adversary; potential illumination to the organizational leadership on the unique aspects, advantages and disadvantages of options, and key decisions; and an opportunity to further synchronize and refine various warfighting and interagency functions.

CIMSEC’s wargaming week will provide an opportunity for our authors to contribute to a dialogue on the current process of wargaming and to consider evaluating differing angles on wargaming maritime security. Who should participate (Red cell, green cell)? Are there strengths and weaknesses in differing methods of wargaming? Should future wargaming consider unique procedures beyond the common: action, reaction, counter reaction? Does effective future wargaming consider both rational and intuitive decision making? How will this look?

Although a narrow topic on the surface, wargaming is an expansive subject that can, and should, take many forms. CIMSEC looks forward to your thoughts, debates, and proposals in the upcoming week. For further information, please contact the Wargaming week editor, A. J. Kruppa at aj_kruppa(at)hotmail.com or general submissions at nextwar(at)cimsec.org.

“Strategic Insights” – Call for Articles

And now, for something completely different… of sorts. If you want to expand audience for your ideas, look no further than Strategic Insights, the global maritime security analysis journal of Risk Intelligence from Denmark. Strategic Insights often goes by the short-hand SI, but it should not to be confused with the sports magazine of the same acronym, for it focuses on up-to-date and in-depth studies of contemporary maritime risks rather than on professional athletics or even swimsuit-clad beauties. So if you look like I do in a bikini, it will be much easier to publish in this version of SI! Each one of the six issues per year features an external contributor, and the SI editorial board is soliciting contributions for the 2014-2015 cycle for its new series on maritime chokepoints.

The other SI that is (sometimes) concerned with maritime security.
The other SI that is (sometimes) concerned with maritime security issues.

Anyone with an interest in writing a piece on a major maritime bottleneck of their choice (The Bosporus and Strait of Taiwan have already been taken, sorry) should send a short note Sebastian Bruns, member of the SI editorial board and fellow CIMSECian, at sb@riskintelligence.eu. Please include a short bullet-point list of your take on the maritime security situation and threats to shipping at the chokepoint of your choice (ex: Strait of Gibraltar, Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal, Panama Canal, or others you may come up with), and 2-3 sentences on your professional background. If your article is accepted for publication – and there is little doubt that the cumulative intellect of CIMSEC members and readers of the NextWar blog will be willing and able to cover all major global choke points – remuneration is 300.00 € (or 400.00 USD) per article and will be paid via bank transfer on the first of the month after publication of the respective issue.

Strategic Insights draws on the focus and geographical coverage of Risk Intelligence’s MaRisk maritime security monitor, but takes a wider look at the nature of maritime risk in different threat locations around the world. Each issue goes beyond facts and figures to consider the drivers of maritime security challenges and how these challenges will evolve in the future.

The focus of Strategic Insights is on security threats and political-military developments with a maritime dimension, particularly non-traditional security issues such as piracy, maritime terrorism, insurgency, smuggling, and port security. The journal is read by players in the maritime industry, law enforcement agencies, think tanks and institutions, and inter-governmental regional security bodies. A particular emphasis is placed on articles that offer policy-relevant and operational analysis relevant to the maritime community. The style is a mix of journalism and academic, length about 2,500-3,000 words. Visit the website for more info and to download your complimentary free issue.

Sebastian Bruns is a doctoral candidate at the University of Kiel, Institute for Political Science/ Institute for Security Policy (Germany). His dissertation analyses U.S. Navy strategy. On the side, he is supporting Risk Intelligence and hoping to one day become a member of the Sports Illustrated editorial board.

Welcome to Private Military Contractors Week

Military contractors are assisting militaries and civilian government agencies throughout the world and across the mission spectrum, including planning, training, logistics, and security. Their use in support of a range of security-related activities is growing. Employing private military contractors (PMCs) for any security purpose, has both distinct advantages and disadvantages. PMCs are seen as having inherent advantages over militaries with regard to cost, flexibility, and responsiveness. Relying on PMCs, though, does have its share of risks—including safety and liability issues, performance, force management, compliance with international and domestic laws, and lost resources because a capability is outsourced rather than retained.

With this increase in contractor use in general, and the rise of privatized firms that are specifically organized to provide security services, the question is now how to determine the right force mix to most effectively and efficiently complete a task or mission. In some cases, contractors may be the best choice; however, they are not the perfect fit for every mission or the right solution for all skill or manpower shortages.

Despite their recent pillorying, PMC’s have existed since before the condotierri and will continue to exist after America’s campaigns. This week (April 14-19th) we will discuss their utility and future, especially in the maritime domain.

Also be sure to check out Sea Control’s recent interview with Erik Prince, former CEO of Blackwater. He describes the challenges of African logistics and how his new public venture, Frontier Services Group,  will attempt to tackle them.

Emil Maine is a National Security Research Assistant at the Heritage Foundation, where he conducts independent research on U.S. defense posture. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own.