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2024
Proportionality in Context: The Dichotomy Between “Legitimate” and “Lawful” in Targeting
Phillip Drew
December 6, 2024
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Volume 4 - Issue 3 | Oct. 1, 2024
The Climate Crisis: A Framework for Western Hemispheric Cooperation - Pablo Cardona
With the return of conventional conflict, Western liberal democracies have reluctantly embraced the importance of strategic alliances and capability-sharing. (read more)
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Volume 4 - Issue 2 | Jul. 10, 2024
CANUS in the High North: Avenues of Canadian and U.S. Cooperation in the Arctic - Allison Brown
The rapidly changing High North presents both opportunities and challenges that necessitate closer cooperation between Canada and the United States (CANUS). (read more)
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Volume 4 - Issue 1 | Apr. 30, 2024
The Canadian Armed Forces and Domestic Disaster Relief in the Context of Climate Change - 2Lt Jieun Lee
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) plays a key role in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations at home. Specifically, the CAF is well-known for its involvement in two major weather… (read more)
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Volume 3 - Issue 2 | Apr. 21, 2023
Indigenous Peoples and Arctic Security: Building Partnerships to Secure the North American Arctic. - Dr. James R. Morton
A U.S. Special Forces team links up with a local Alaska Native person who will guide it to a long-range radar station along the most northern coastline of Alaska. The temperature is a bitter -40 degrees… (read more)
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Volume 3 - Issue 1 | Apr. 10, 2023
Clear Communications and Solid Foundations: The principles of decision-making in Arctic defence - Dr. Thomas Hughes
…the Arctic is coming under greater scrutiny and drawing considerable political attention. In line with this, there is no shortage of discussion and opinion on policy and activities that are occurring in the.… (read more)
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SOF Hyper-Connected and Hyper-Enabled Technology: SOF’s Strength or SOF’s Achilles’ Heel? - Col (Ret’d) Derek Jones and LTC (Ret’d) Dan Leaf
Technology has historically provided significant advantages for Special Operations Forces (SOF). The two decades after 9/11 witnessed the emergence of myriad technologies that enabled… (read more)
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Getting the Joint Force and NATO ready to defend the Arctic - John Behrmann, Lon Strauss and Njord Wegge
As tensions in the Arctic is on the rise, questions related to NATO’s ability to defend its northern flank has re-emerged in several European and North American capitals. (read more)
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How Israel Tried to Stop Iran’s Nuclear Program - Dr. Ehud Eilam
Israel and Iran used to be allies, until 1979. Since then, following the Islamic revolution, Iran sees Israel as its arch - enemy. Iranian leaders had threatened over and again to destroy Israel. (read more)
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Strong, Secure, Engaged: A Policy without a Strategy - Absent a roadmap, there should be no expectation of reaching the destination -Colonel Trevor Teller
Canada cannot independently safeguard itself or conduct military kinetic operations – it needs its allies and is not able to go it alone. (read more)
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The Polish Territorial Defence Forces (POL TDF) – a significant component in national resilience and resistance. - Brigadier General Maciej Klisz
This paper characterizes and explains the role, mindset, training, and "out-of-the-box" approach used by the Polish SOF personnel that were selected to establish the Polish Territorial Defence Forces. (read more)
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Israeli Special Operations Forces- An Overview - Eitan Shamir and Eyal Ben-Ari
The origins of Israel’s Special Operations Forces predate the establishment of the state in 1948. Under the Ottoman Turks, Jewish settlers began establishing local defense organizations such as "Hashomer" (the Guard) who adopted Bedouin customs, wore Bedouin outfits and preferred to fight on horseback. (read more)
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Military Lessons of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 - Howard G. Coombs, PhD
The influenza pandemic, otherwise known as the “Spanish Flu,” of 1918 had three successive waves and killed about 50 million people in only a couple of years. To put this outbreak into context, it resulted in more deaths than the entirety of the First World War. (read more)
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Landforce Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic: A Korean Perspective - Professor LIM, Yoonkap
Taking stock of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, the international community has experienced shock and awe. While a return to normalcy still remains uncertain Armed forces have continued to play a role in preventing war as well as protecting countries and their population (read more)
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Telecommuting in the Canadian Armed Forces: A Case for Deliberate Implementation - Major Stephanie C. LeBlanc, CD, A de C
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) had to rapidly adapt to limit disruption to its routine activities and operations. The CAF shifted from a nearly exclusively… (read more)
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The Canadian Army and the Pandemic: Deployment, Training and Command perspective - MGen Saint-Louis
This KCIS Insight offers an analysis of the pandemic’s impact on the Canadian Army from a command perspective, as experienced across three different leadership positions. (read more)
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The Role of the Military in New Zealand’s Response to COVID - Bethan K. Greener
The New Zealand government adopted a “go hard and go early” elimination strategy regarding the Covid-19 pandemic after the first active case in the country on 28 February 2020. Borders were closed on 19 March and an alert level system introduced on 21 March that ranged from Level 1 (no restrictions) to... (read more)
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Narrative Statecraft: A Primer for Special Operations - David C. Ellis, PhD
This policy paper explores a significant, but understudied, component of irregular warfare, namely, narrative statecraft. It begins with an overview of the concept of the “state”, provides a definition of narrative, and then elaborates on the instrument of narrative statecraft in a special operations context.. (read more)
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The Question of SOF Culture - Erin Yantzi
The purpose of this paper is to advocate for when and why SOF leadership and policy-makers, along with researchers, should study SOF culture by examining what is meant by “culture”; it will then highlight possible approaches by contrasting two recent case studies of SOF cultures in Norway and Australia. (read more)
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CANADIAN SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES COMMAND (CANSOFCOM): A Leaders Perspective on Great Power Competition and SOF Integration - Brigadier-General Steve Hunter
While Western military forces have been consumed with counterterrorism and addressing violent extremism since 11 September 2001, global power structures have undergone a significant shift, resulting in challenges to the rules-based international order and...(read more)
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BELSOF: Quo Vadis?- Colonel Tom Bilo
Following substantial equipment modernizations, the Belgian armed forces will be undergoing a major evolution. Among the many evolving capabilities, the Special Operations Forces (SOF) are at the forefront of a true capability transformation.(read more)
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Adapting Special Operations Forces Employment in Great Power Competition: Reflections on the future of Canadian Special Operations Forces - Gaëlle Rivard Piché and H. Christian Breede
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, special operations forces (SOF) became the force of choice for decision makers in in the ensuing 9/11 Wars...(read more)
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The Arctic at the Operational Art: Planning and Leadership Considerations for Arctic Security - D. Craig Aitchison and H. Christian Breede
Recent defence policies, punditry, media attention as well as profound changes to the climate have raised the profile of the Arctic region in the minds of Canadians. Talk of potential stocks...(read more)
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Beyond Direct Action: A Counter-Threat Finance Approach to Competition - Sara Dudley, Kevin D. Stringer and Steve Ferenzi
China and Russia seek to advance their revisionist agendas and threaten Western security by operating below the threshold of armed conflict. This isn’t a new idea, but adversary use of economic statecraft and financial warfare specifically remain gaps in military...(read more)
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Special Operations Forces in Great Power Competition - Kevin D. Stringer and H. Christian Breede
For almost two decades, defence policy discussions on the employment of special operations forces (SOF) have focused on their role in the irregular fight typified by places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and regions farther afield...(read more)
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KCIS: A Way Ahead - Kim Richard Nossal
Every year since 2006, KCIS selected a timely theme in international security to explore, bringing together a range of practitioners, policy-makers, academics, and students to examine the issue and the policy implications for the United States, Canada, and our transatlantic allies..(read more)