David Brown, Donette Murray, Malte Riemann and Norma Rossi, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has been educating, training and inspiring members of the British Army since 1947. The Sandhurst series is a cutting edge forum and platform for original thought and debate on military and security matters within the contemporary international security environment.

After decades of development and myriad silent successes that the general population will likely never hear about, SOF's value has been proven repeatedly (and more publicly) since 9/11 than ever before. In the years ahead, the future of SOF is likely to look less like Act of Valor and more like Rudyard Kipling’s Kim.

Much as the international development and community health paradigm preaches that “you have to get healthy before you can get wealthy,” the same goes for the well-being of states. A country lacking a stable rule of law and robust civil society also wants for social and economic infrastructure that is hospitable to viable long-term development.

U.S. military and international aid infrastructures grew in recent decades and their identities have diverged in the public eye but in practice are increasingly intertwined.

The activities of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in armed conflicts have traditionally drawn minimal attention when compared to their historic presence and importance. Such entrepreneurs have played a role in wars from ancient times through present conflicts, though the media paid only peripheral coverage to their modern practices until scandals of the past decade.

The last decade of international engagements marks a shift in the way that the American military fights wars and mitigates conflict overseas. Although America has long had an affinity for creative destruction and cycles of force buildup and tear down, it is increasingly apparent that such an approach is not a viable option for the U.S. military’s path ahead. After a decade of costly conflict with large conventional forces and an abundance of direct action operations, the American way of war is evolving towards less muscle, more mind. To this end, the specialized training, mentoring, and capacity building skills that Special Operations Forces (SOF) receive must remain a priority in an era of fiscal austerity and streamlined resources. It is easier to strengthen security forces than to strengthen governance and the drivers that combat instability. As SOF returns to a focus on partner capacity building programs rather than direct action missions, the lessons learned of the last twelve years of international security assistance programs must be embraced and codified rather than allowed to atrophy, as is often the case when the United States military reorients its attention to new policy priorities. Reliance on external nations and allied partners, coupled with the strategic direction to employ innovative, low-cost, and small-footprint indirect approaches to prevent conflict, have made SOF a resource of choice for both Combatant Commanders and military strategists.

Although stability operations and contingency contracting may not be the biggest industry in the world, “You’d have a hard time finding another industry that has a greater impact in places that matter.”. This observation, offered by a former commander of U.S. The events of 9/11 resulted in the rapid reorientation of American foreign engagement in Afghanistan, and later Iraq.

Given the rise of Boko Haram’s activity in the last decade, as well as events of the preceding years in Mali, including the surge driven by Ansar Al Dine, it would be wise to examine areas of nascent activity from which future threats may emanate. In addition to current host countries such as Nigeria and Mali, it is important that the international community look at other states in West Africa where these movements are gaining tenuous—but important—toeholds.

In an effort to safeguard national security, the United States has undertaken a few select, high profile interventions that have challenged the sovereignty of other nations in years past. Some of these unilateral military actions have been criticized as aggressive attempts to demonstrate the United States’ global superpower status, including last October’s well-reported raids in Libya and Somalia.

Unmanned aerial systems offer the same capabilities as manned solutions, but do so with lighter footprints in both resource expenditure and visibility and with fewer risks to human lives and operator error.

The Spaces in Between: Mitigating Threats in Undergoverned Spaces. Much has been written about terrorist groups who make use of the world’s undergoverned spaces, but very little has examined the dynamics of these areas themselves. These spaces host a wide range of inhabitants and movements, which exhibit myriad behaviors both ordinary and threatening.

Private industry providers are convening in Washington to facilitate efforts by the international community to increase security.

The international community is seeing a drastic shift from putting boots on the ground to solve problems and is maximizing leverage gained from having eyes in the sky.

Thousands of interested parties convened in Tampa, Fla., this week to collaborate and dialogue about how to best support elite U.S. military assets.

Written by Whitney Grespin, Contributor | 06 February 2013. As the U.S. military draws down from Afghanistan and prepares to aggressively scale back its dual war-sized footprint, its total force will be whittled down considerably. Despite this, the core capabilities and greatest strengths of the U.S.’s Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) military and intelligence components must be preserved.

This is the fourth article in an ongoing series examining the role of UAVs - commonly called "drones" - in our lives, as well as the implications and applications of this ever-more common technology. Read the first, second, and third articles. Current and Future Capabilities of UAVs in International Humanitarian Interventions.