DEFENSE TRANSFORMATION SEMINAR SERIES

This course addresses the fundamentals of defense transformation to include network-centric operations. Senior Department of Defense decisionmakers are wrestling with this key issue as they plan for the future. It forms the framework for the recently released Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), the strategy paper guiding U.S. defense policy. After presenting the fundamentals of defense transformation, the course will highlight how it has been integrated into the QDR and into U.S. defense planning. Participants will come away with a good grasp of defense transformation; its analytical underpinnings, and its influence on U.S. defense policy.
Please email CTNSP-NCO@ndu.edu for more information.

NDU 6001: FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

This course will focus on key technologies that will shape military forces in the coming decades. Technologies covered will include topics such as robotics and unmanned vehicles, biology on the battlefield, advanced sensors, nuclear and conventional explosives detection, directed energy weapons, and the prognosis for continued progress in digital electronics. The topic of the potential impact on DoD of developments in energy technology (e.g. move to hydrogen economy) will be discussed. The course will also discuss how some of the major military technologies of the past (e.g. radar, GPS, ARPA net) came to be.

NDU 6002: THE U.S. MILITARY IN TRANSFORMATION

Examines the role of transformation of the U.S. military in U.S. defense strategy and the transformation process as a whole, including its origins, dynamics, opportunities, and challenges. The focus is on approaches to and strategies for transformation and the impact of transformation on the individual services, joint planning, and relationships with allies and partners. It will explore emerging technologies and assess key functional areas of space, missile defenses, and acquisitions and procurements.

NDU 6004: PEACE OPERATIONS & NATION-BUILDING

To prevent a return to conflict and establish a stable peace, the international community must address the complex issues that a post-conflict society faces, such as humanitarian needs, governance, rule of law, political and judicial reform, economic development, infrastructure reconstruction, and building civil society. These humanitarian, security, and political tasks are fundamental and interdependent components of a peace operation. This course will introduce principles of peace operations and U.S. military doctrine to build a framework for further analysis. It will provide an in-depth examination of the sources of intrastate conflict and its implications for peace operations, as well as conditions necessary for establishing a stable peace.

NDU 6007: TRANSFORMING THE US GOVERNMENT FOR STABILIZATION OPERATIONS

This course focuses on what actions might be taken to fix the U.S. system for promoting stabilization after complex contingencies. It draws a distinction between stabilization activities and nation-building, and attempts to define stabilization and what actions and types of expertise are needed to achieve it. It examines the expertise and resources available at U.S. civilian agencies, and explores the obstacles to harnessing those resources, and how to divide responsibilities between military and civilian agencies. The course will also explore other aspects of improving U.S. capacities for stabilization operations, including building multinational partnerships, institutionalizing pre-operational planning, and encouraging private sector participation. Reading assignments will include recent proposals by Congress, the U.S. government, think tanks, and individual experts to increase U.S. capacities for stabilization and improve interagency and multinational coordination. Students will be asked to compare an ongoing stabilization operation with past efforts during the last century, and to choose a civilian agency, such as Treasury or Justice, and report on how that agency could contribute to stabilization operations. Students will be expected to develop their own proposals for improving U.S. capacities for stabilization operations

NDU 6010: BIOLOGY AND THE BATTLEFIELD

Historically, use of the words "biology" and "battlefield" in the same sentence has implied biological warfare. Increasingly, however, biology is becoming the source of significant force multipliers that commanders will have available on the battlefield in the near future. This course will examine a variety of topic areas, e.g., human performance enhancement, biologically based sensors, new bio-based materials, and will explore their development and application to warfighting. In addition, evolutionary theory and animal behavior will be examined as metaphors to improve efficiencies in organizing and conducting combat operations.

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