Since the advent of neo-liberalism in Mexico nearly 30 years ago, the country has seen sustained economic growth, particularly in the service and industrial export sectors. There is potential for this growth to continue and for Mexico to become one of the ten largest economies on the globe, but in order for this to happen there will need to be reliable and widespread access to energy. Natural gas is rapidly becoming the predominant energy source in Mexico, but the future of the natural gas industry there is in doubt. This paper assesses the status of Mexico's natural gas industry,...

Joint Doctrine discusses three levels of war but fails to apply this concept to enemy surrender (conflict termination). The three levels of war correlate to a framework of three different levels of surrender; tactical, operational, and strategic surrender. The Operational Commander can use this framework to differentiate between three significantly different situations and respond appropriately. Wars throughout history have ended in both operational and strategic surrenders. Wars that end in an operational surrender must be converted to a strategic surrender. Otherwise, as history shows,...

The government of Mexico is grappling with vicious cartels, global economic recession, a substantial decline in the country's known oil reserves, and significant environmental issues. If the situation continues to deteriorate, the United States may be asked to assist in a variety of roles. Personnel assigned to work in Mexico will be exposed to a complex and wide array of environmental hazards that will require robust counter measures. Based on the experience of the U.S. military, history shows that unintended exposures to environmental hazards continue to occur despite best efforts. Although...

A commander's ability to leverage operational intelligence remains a cornerstone for managing the uncertainty, fog, and friction of war in this era of seemingly endless advances in battlefield awareness and information dominance. Operational intelligence, properly understood and utilized, can become a force multiplier maximizing traditional operational art factors. The goal is information superiority thereby increasing the speed at which decisions are made, while preempting enemy choices and courses of action. The challenge for the intelligence practitioner is not new. Indeed, WWI provides...

Piracy, or "robbery on the high seas," has existed for as long as people and commodities have traversed the oceans. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese all complained of it, and all created naval forces to fight pirates. The word "piracy" comes from the Latin pirate, "sea robber," and before that from the Greek pirates-"brigand," or "one who attacks." Piracy, however, has evolved over time, and this volume examines how piracy and ocean governance have changed from 1608, when the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius published his Mare Liberum The Freedom of the Seas, or the Right Which Belongs to...

Although Anaconda was successful in achieving its objective of clearing al Qaeda fighters out of the Shah-i-Kot Valley, the planning and execution errors associated with this operation have provided a wealth of valuable lessons for the United States military. This book reviews the events of Anaconda and through a detailed analysis, examines the various criticisms it received. Critical shortfalls associated with CENTCOM's upper level command and control structure are revealed as the primary source of the confusion and problems surrounding the operation. Particular attention is paid to General...

Before the video-teleconference came into use, operational level commanders often relied on personal observations in order to make decisions. Commanders personally observed their subordinates' actions and were able to gain a "feel" for the battlefield. Advanced information technology has changed the way operational commanders communicate with subordinates. Face-to-face meetings and personal observations have largely been replaced by video-teleconferences (VTC). While in use for many years, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) ushered in the first widespread use...

The current U.S. military way of war is driven by a conventional, symmetric combat mindset. This immediately leads to designating the ground component as the main effort to achieve operational objectives against ground-centric adversaries. There may be, however, better options that would maximize combat potential to meet the operational objectives with the fewest losses in the least amount of time. One of those options would be for the Joint Force Commander (JFC) to designate airpower as the main effort, using the Joint Force Land Component Commander (JFLCC) and Joint Force Special Operations...

U.S. doctrine calls for deception to be part of every tactical, operational and strategic plan. Unfortunately, this deception plan is often included as little more than an afterthought rather than an integrated part of whole planning process. Further, the deception plan frequently only focuses on operational security (OPSEC) of one's own plan. Despite U.S. operational commanders' dependence on air superiority, their only guidance is often only the vague "gain" or "achieve" air superiority received as tasking in an operational order. A comprehensive and integrated deception plan, leading to a...

The Government of Nigeria's corruption and failure to address its people's grievances combined with the regional wave of Islamic extremism is fueling the rise of a strengthening insurgency called Boko Haram. Boko Haram's efforts have been steadily increasing in scale, though the majority of its actions are in Northeastern Nigeria. This paper takes a "Red Team" approach and proposes three lines of effort for a campaign plan that would give Boko Haram the ability to achieve its objective of separating the North of Nigeria from the South. The first line of effort is to secure funding by...