MIT Press Journals podcast - interview with AWC's Dr John Schuessler

Sean Lynn-Jones, editor of International Security, interviews author John Schuessler, whose article "The Deception Dividend: FDR's Undeclared War" appears in the Spring 2010 issue of the journal. Their conversation tackles the question of whether FDR willfully deceived the American public in order to persuade them to support WWII – and touches on perceptions of warring democracies as well as comparisons to the 2003 Iraq War. The conversation was recorded on May 21, 2010.
• click here for the podcast
• click here to read the article

19 May 2010 - Air University Blue Dart award winners were announced, for the best op-ed pieces during the academic year. AWC and AFIT dominated the winners. AWC winners were the following: Dr Chris Carr, Col Rod Cox, Dr Nik Gardner, Dr Amit Gupta, Dr Chris Hemmer, Dr Howard Hensel, Col (ret) Gene Kamena, and Dr Doug Peifer. Congratulations to all. -- update: at the awards ceremony, it was announced that Dr Howard Hensel won the top prize for the year, for his "The Limits of Cultural Tolerance."

Congratulations are in order for Dr Jeff Record on the publication of his latest article in the journal Diplomatic History — “Leaving Vietnam—Insights for Iraq?” This issue of the journal is focusing on the politics of troop withdrawals. The opening paragraph is below:

“Are there insights for the United States in Iraq to be gained from the American military departure from Vietnam from 1969 to 1973? Specifically, what should the administration of President Barack Obama know about the Vietnam withdrawal to better serve American national security interests as well as those of the region and Iraq itself? What were the causes and consequences of the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, and do they have a bearing on possible withdrawal outcomes in Iraq?”

Congratulations to Dr Nik Gardner on his promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.

Congratulations to Dr Dave Sorenson on the award of a contract from the University of Michigan Press for his forthcoming book on civil-military relations in the Middle East.

Read rest of article here

1) "Contractors as Military Professionals," with Volker Francke, in the latest (Winter 2009-2010) Parameters; and
2) "Remembrance of Things Past: The Enduring Value of Nuclear Weapons," with James Forsyth and Col BC Saltzman, in the Spring 2010 issue of Strategic Studies Quarterly

Likewise, Dr Xiaoming Zhang and our recently retired colleague, Col Sean McClung, co-authored "The Art of Military Discovery: Chinese Air and Space Power Implications for the USAF," also in the current issue (Spring 2010) of Strategic Studies Quarterly.

Col Pete McCabe, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation! While the degree (PhD in Political Science, Univ of Florida) has not yet been conferred officially, and he has some paperwork yet to do, this was THE big hurdle left before him. But all went well during the defense and he secured the signatures of his committee members.

Congrats to Dr Dave Sorenson on the publication of his latest book, Global Security Watch--Lebanon: A Reference Handbook. It’s published by Praeger Security International and is part of a larger “Global Security Watch” series (thus, the title). This is Dave’s second book in a year!

Also, congratulations to Dr Xiaoming Zhang for the publication of his most recent article “A More Powerful China on Parade.” It is in Vol 5, No 3 (2009) of the journal China Security.

Dr Doug Peifer's article “Risk-free Coercion? Technological Disparity and Coercive Diplomacy” just came out in the journal European Security.

On 18 Dec 09, Col Dwight Roblyer, DEI, was awarded his PhD from Texas A&M in Political Science, with an IR major. His dissertation was "When Do Their Casualties Count? Exploring Wartime Decisions that Pit Security Against Harm." Congratulations, Col/Dr Roblyer!

Congrats to Dr Dave Sorenson and Dr Chris Hemmer for their contributions to the book Interpreting the Middle East: Essential Themes. Dave served not only as the volume’s editor, he also wrote Chapter 5 , “Civil-Military Relations.” Chris authored Chapter 10, “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” The publisher is Westview Press. It is due out in March 2010.

Col Dan Baltrusaitis, PhD, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, recently published the book Coalition Politics and the Iraq War: Determinants of Choice. The publisher is FirstForum (sic) Press, a division of Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Dr Gary Schaub’s article, “When Is Deterrence Necessary? Gauging Adversary intent,” appeared in the Winter issue of Strategic Studies Quarterly.

COL Jim Lackey and Prof Gene Kamena co-authored an article, with CPT Robert Lackey (Jim’s son), "Is the Army Training System Millennial Friendly?" in Fires: A Joint Professional Bulletin for US Field and Air Defense Artillerymen, Nov-Dec 2009 edition.

Dr Jeff Record has two manuscripts coming out as books in 2010:

• Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq; available January 2010, and
  
• A War It Was Always Going to Lose: Why Japan Attacked America in 1941; available July 2010.

Two faculty members were recently promoted to the academic rank of Professor:

• Dr Chris Hemmer, Dept of International Security Studies, and
  
• Dr Doug Peifer, Dept of Leadership and Strategy

The following AY 09 student research papers have been published as Maxwell Papers by Air University Press:

• Lt Col Glen R. Downing, USAF, Missile Defensive Systems and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet
• Col Paul J. McAneny, USAF, Red is Good: Transformational Changes for US Air Force Aircraft Maintenance
  • Col McAneny, now on the AWC faculty, is also publishing his paper in the Air Force Journal of Logistics.
• Col Joseph H. Scherrer, USAF, and Lt Col William C. Grund, USAF, A Cyberspace Command and Control Model
• Lt Col William E. Pinter, USAF, Air-Ground Integration in the 21st Century: Improving Air Force Combat Capabilities and Theater Command and Control for Major Combat Operations and Irregular Warfare