Conflict in the 21st Century differs markedly from the way the United States thought about and prepared for war and defense during most of the 20th Century. Armed Groups remain key actors, having strategic impact at the local, state, regional, and even global level. As these implications come into sharper focus, change is taking place in military doctrine and operations. To prepare tomorrow's warriors and their intelligence counterparts for these challenges, the professional military education program (PME) of the US Department of Defense also needs to adapt to the new strategic context. 
 To assist in the development of this education, in 2005 the National Strategy Information Center initiated a project to develop curricula about the armed group phenomenon, and to prepare PME faculty to teach the subject in the nation's professional military schools, colleges, and universities. NSIC has been at the forefront of innovating and institutionalizing education on major dimensions of security studies with military and civilian partners for more than 40 years. 
 The new curriculum was developed in consultation with the leadership of America's top military schools, and was refined at two week-long seminars for military and civilian faculty. While addressed initially to the professional military education community, this curriculum will find wide appeal in a variety of national security education forums, including programs in civilian schools in the US and elsewhere. 
 The authors, all experienced faculty, present the dimensions of the 21st century security environment, and describe the evolution of the curricula development. This groundbreaking syllabus on Armed Groups and Irregular Warfare is in five parts, each with defined learning objectives, substantive subject matter, and annotated references of the key literature. The 21st century global security environment and the key role of armed groups. Types of armed groups: insurgents, militias, terrorists, and organized crime. Profiling armed groups and movements: A new approach to the order of battle. Strategic, regional, and indirect threats from armed groups, and opportunities. Meeting the Challenge: the whole of government approach.

Armed Groups and Irregular Warfare: Adapting Professional Military Education

Roy Godson

Richard Shultz

Querine Hanlon

National Strategy Information Center

Prioritizing Security Sector Reform argues that security sector reform should be at the core of a new U.S. policy to strengthen the security sector capacity of countries where U.S. interests are at stake. Today s fragile environments feature a host of postconflict and postauthoritarian states and transitioning and new democracies that have at least one critical thing in common: Their security sectors are dysfunctional. Why these states cannot fulfill their most basic function the protection of the population and their government varies widely, but the underlying reason is the same. The security sector does not function because security sector institutions and forces are absent, ineffective, predatory, or illegitimate. In place of large, boots-on-the-ground interventions relying on expensive train and equip programs with only fleeting impact, Washington needs a new approach for engaging in fragile environments and a policy for prioritizing where it engages and for what purpose. The volume offers case studies to exemplify the context in which a new U.S. approach might be warranted, discusses other countries experiences with security sector reform policies, and examines how the United States should design and implement a security sector reform policy.

Prioritizing Security Sector Reform: A New U.S. Approach

Politics & Social Sciences

Richard H. Shultz

Politics & Government

United States Institute of Peace

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