National defense

Resumo: Ao longo da história, governos nacionais e organizações internacionais têm contado com o apoio logístico fornecido pelas Forças Armadas para responder às recorrentes situações de emergência humanitária. Na América do Sul, a Venezuela enfrenta uma drástica crise econômica e política, resultando em um fluxo intenso de população vulnerável para os países vizinhos, incluindo o Brasil. Particularmente no estado de Roraima, a migração de venezuelanos ocasionou uma situação caótica, com graves impactos nos sistemas de saúde, educação e na segurança pública. Com o objetivo de evitar o colapso do estado de Roraima e prover a ajuda humanitária aos migrantes, o governo brasileiro criou a Força-Tarefa Logística Humanitária (Operação Acolhida). Dessa forma, esse estudo visa analisar a Operação Acolhida, com enfoque nas ações do Exército Brasileiro, como uma resposta governamental do país à crise migratória venezuelana. Metodologicamente, este artigo é composto por um estudo de caso qualitativo sobre a Operação Acolhida, cujos métodos de coleta de dados utilizados foram a pesquisa bibliográfica e a pesquisa documental. Nesse sentido, fontes bibliográficas nos campos da logística militar e da logística humanitária forneceram o marco teórico para este trabalho. Por sua vez, documentos e websites oficiais do governo brasileiro viabilizaram a obtenção de dados e informações necessárias para a realização da análise presente no estudo de caso. Como resultado, foi possível constatar que a Operação Acolhida propicia uma resposta multidisciplinar e integrada do Estado brasileiro à crise migratória venezuelana. Além disso, foi possível identificar as principais capacidades militares empregadas pelo Exército Brasileiro no âmbito dessa relevante operação logística humanitária.

Abstract: Throughout history, national governments and international organizations have relied on the logistical support provided by the Armed Forces to respond to recurring humanitarian emergencies. In South America, Venezuela faces a major economic and political crisis, which resulted in an intense flow of vulnerable population to neighboring countries including Brazil. Particularly in the state of Roraima, the Venezuelan migration resulted in a chaotic situation, with severe impacts on public health, public education, and public security systems. Aiming at avoiding the collapse of the state of Roraima and providing humanitarian assistance to Venezuelan migrants, the Brazilian government created the Humanitarian Logistics Task Force (Operation Acolhida). Thus, this study aims to analyze Operation Acolhida, focusing on the Brazilian Army actions, as a country’s government response to the Venezuelan migration crisis. Methodologically, this article is composed of a qualitative case study on Operation Acolhida. The data collection methods used were bibliographic and documental research. In this sense, bibliographical sources in the fields of military logistics and humanitarian logistics provided the theoretical framework for this work. Moreover, official documents and websites of the Brazilian government provided the necessary data and information for the analysis in this case study. As a result, it was possible to verify that Operation Acolhida offers a multidisciplinary and integrated response by the Brazilian state to the Venezuelan migration crisis. Furthermore, it was possible to identify the main military capabilities employed by the Brazilian Army in the scope of this relevant humanitarian logistics operation.

A prophetic look at the future of warfare, influence, and national security where the most powerful weapons no longer fire bullets. Includes definitions and a methodology for creating and propagating viral memes capable of addressing complex social issues such as warfare, failing schools, and the poverty cycle.

“La reforma de la defensa nacional y las Fuerzas Armadas Argentinas en democracia durante la década de 1990”. Cadernos PROLAM. Brazilian Journal of Latinamerican Studies vol. 15 Nº 27. Programa de Pós-Graduação Interunidades em Integração da América Latina. Escola de Artes, Ciência e Humanidades. Universidade de Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo. 2016. pp.133-156.

Argentina constituye un caso de análisis de sumo interés, en política de defensa. Posee normas y organización general correspondientes a dicho ámbito, modernas y adecuadas. Ha logrado sensibles progresos en materia de relaciones civiles-militares. No obstante, su instrumento militar se caracteriza por la obsolescencia de sus medios materiales, que en algunos casos llega a una virtual imposibilidad de operar, con serias falencias de mantenimiento; y por una muy baja condición de alistamiento. En materia de personal, y pese a brindar buena formación y perfeccionamiento a su personal, presenta dificultades, poseyendo cierto número de unidades militares incompletas, y desproporciones en el número de personal correspondiente a diversos grados militares, entre otros aspectos .El trabajo analiza las causas de tales circunstancias, y efectúa una breve comparación con otros casos regionales, como Chile y Brasil.

Ante el anuncio gubernamental de cambios en el Sistema de Inteligencia Nacional argentino, se profundiza el análisis anteriormente efectuado en otra oportunidad, sobre las características que debiera tener tal Sistema para aunar legitimidad, eficacia, y protección de los derechos individuales.

Argentina constituye un caso de análisis de sumo interés, en política de defensa. Posee normas y organización general  correspondientes a dicho ámbito, modernas y adecuadas. Ha logrado sensibles progresos en materia de relaciones civiles-militares. No obstante, su instrumento militar se caracteriza por la obsolescencia de sus medios materiales, que en algunos casos llega a una virtual imposibilidad de operar, con serias falencias de mantenimiento; y por  una muy baja condición de alistamiento. En materia de personal, y pese a brindar buena formación y perfeccionamiento a su personal, presenta dificultades, poseyendo cierto número de unidades militares incompletas, y desproporciones en el número de personal correspondiente a diversos grados militares, entre otros aspectos .El trabajo analiza las causas de tales circunstancias, y efectúa una breve comparación con otros casos regionales, como Chile y Brasil.

This paper seeks to reflect the most relevant peculiarities of what is known as military Administration, in which the Armed Forces are included, under the prism of the submission of their action to the administrative law and to the control by the courts. In particular, we analyze the different singularities in the above mentioned area that affect the organization, the administrative procedure and the public employees, bearing in mind the principle of uniqueness of the administrative legal system.

The best primer for constructing a legal framework surrounding bioterrorism is a wonderfully researched and incisive book by Professor Victoria Sutton.  Sutton brings a vast background of experience and expertise to her book, titled Law and Bioterrorism, which is in fact the first legal textbook in the field of law and bioterrorism.


The book begins with a brief examination of the history of law and bioterrorism, from ancient biological warfare to modern times.  Drawing upon the lessons of this history, Sutton discusses historical events such as the use of anthrax in World War I, and further examines the rapidly growing concern over the use of biological weapons which led to the 1925 Geneva Convention. 


Further, Sutton’s work is a great resource for counter-terrorism efforts, as most of her work centers on the necessity of dealing with legal issues that arise as a result of a bioterrorist attack.  Law and Bioterrorism is without question a must-have textbook for anyone teaching or studying in this critical area of the law. 


Whether in terms of the history of bioterrorism or laws and policy matters associated with bioterrorism, Sutton performs admirably.  She has successfully created a valuable tool to aid the international dialogue in assessing the threat of a bioterrorist attack, and, as such, Law and Bioterrorism should be compulsory reading for any academic course in this area.

Argentina constituye un caso de análisis de sumo interés, en política de defensa. Posee normas y organización general  correspondientes a dicho ámbito, modernas y adecuadas. Ha logrado sensibles progresos en materia de relaciones civiles-militares. No obstante, su instrumento militar se caracteriza por la obsolescencia de sus medios materiales, que en algunos casos llega a una virtual imposibilidad de operar, con serias falencias de mantenimiento; y por  una muy baja condición de alistamiento. En materia de personal, y pese a brindar buena formación y perfeccionamiento a su personal, presenta dificultades, poseyendo cierto número de unidades militares incompletas, y desproporciones en el número de personal correspondiente a diversos grados militares, entre otros aspectos.La ponencia analiza las causas de tales circunstancias, y efectúa una breve comparación con otros casos regionales, como Chile y Brasil

The allocation of Pentagon funds changed fundamentally during the period 1992 and 2010.  And with it, the contours of American military power changed, establishing the foundation for force development and budgeting through to the 2020's.

This report analyzes the unprecedented post-1998 rise in US defense spending, the return to Cold War budget levels, and likely future trends in Pentagon spending.  It asks, Why should defense be as expensive today as during the Cold War?  And also, Why are today’s wars comparatively so expensive? 

Among the “cost drivers” that it finds are overly ambitious US military strategies, a shortfall in efforts to streamline the Pentagon and achieve military transformation, a failure to set strong priorities and make hard choices in military acquisition, and the conduct of wars ill-suited to the US military.  Also assessed are the surge in military construction and the dramatically expanded role of private contractors.  75 pages including short Executive Summary and 21 charts and tables.

Integrating Civil Affairs Through the Application of Battlefield Relevant Civil Information Management
Major Brian J. Hancock, Timothy P. Darr, Riannon Hazell, Peter Grazaitis
The U.S. military excels at achieving tactical victory on the battlefield. However, translating these victories at the operational level to achieve strategic objectives, remains elusive. The single most important factor for effective decision-making is the quantity and quality of information that the decision-maker has available at the time the decision is made. Superior information drives superior decisions. Within civil affairs the organization that is tasked with managing information applicable to the civil domain is the Civil Information Management (CIM) cell.
While civil affairs CIM cells do an admirable job of collecting and processing relevant civil information, they are not manned or equipped to collect and evaluate the totality of civil information required to inform modern crisis managers. This problem is further compounded by the fact that the majority of civil information is produced by non-military entities, and flows over many and disparate, unclassified systems. No one agency is tasked with civil information as their primary mission. There is, in effect, a strategic civil information gap which prevents the total force from making timely and accurate decisions in the civil domain through each phase, and across the Range of Military Operations (ROMO).
In this paper we present an abbreviated conceptual model capable of capturing the preponderance of civil information, integrating civil affairs across the joint community as well as United Action Partners, and generating outputs so significant at each phase-- and throughout the ROMO-- that every COCOM will demand civil affairs forces for every mission. The model presented in this paper is platform agnostic. It is built on transportable code that can be ingested into the individual user’s platform of choice for viewing outputs. The model is capable of ingesting inputs from other systems in any standard format. For purposes of this model the authors divide civil information stakeholders into three broad classifications: 1) Those who produce civil information 2) Those who consume civil information 3) Those which do both.  The proposed model connects all of these groups in an unclassified environment which allows each participant to provide information within their sphere of expertise, and consume information relevant to their specific mission.

The article presents an analysis of defense law in the legal system of the Republic of Poland in the context of its importance for the defense of the state. The author discusses the role of the state defense system in ensuring national security and presents defense law as a foundation for effective organization of this system. Moreover, the author analyzes the subject matter of defense law and points out the difficulties in its proper organization. The key issues discussed in the article are the need for defense law reforms and indication of the proposals as to the direction in which changes in this field of law should go.

Russian abstract: Представленный в докладе подход ставит перед собой амбициозную задачу проектирования облика технологий, платформ и систем, создание которых способно в самое ближайшее время продемонстрировать результат и открыть доступ к технологиям будущих поколений.

Точкой отсчета, необходимой для планирования технологического развития, является базисный набор технологий человека, робототехники и сетевых моделей. Зарубежные разработки в этой области, не отличающиеся концептуально новыми идеями, демонстрируют глубокий уровень проработки существующих физических и информационных возможностей.

Критический обзор исследовательских программ зарубежных стран показывает, что существуют три важнейшие области: четкое планирование видения и результата; технологическая воля в достижении высоких показателей; мужество довести программу до конца, либо отказаться на середине пути перед лицом неопровержимых доказательств. Важность этих прорывных гуманитарных технологий побуждает обращать внимание не только на техническую часть, останавливаясь на мотивах разработки и вариантах использования пока еще несуществующих технических решений.

Использование стратегического подхода в форме стратагем, повлиявших на направление трансформации оборонного сектора США в последние 20 лет, традиционно используемых внешней политикой Китая, позволяет выделить несколько из них для быстрого достижения превосходства. Реализация данных стратагем в виде технологических решений позволяет выделить несколько чувствительных к балансу областей, результаты в которых будут обладать существенным преимуществом.

Рассмотрение передовых технологий применительно к задачам национальной безопасности и развития неизбежно, как обращение к традиционно значимой области их первоочередного применения.

English Abstract: The ambitious goal of the original approach, presented in this report, is shaping the face of technologies, platforms and systems which creation in the nearest future can demonstrate significant results and unlock the access to the legacy of technologies of the next generations

The reference point for planning of prospective technological development is the basic set of the triplet of following technologies: human-based; robotics; network models. Foreign developments in this field, not conceptually different in novel ideas, demonstrate a deep level of understanding of existing of physical and information capabilities.

The critical review of research programs of other countries shows that there are three key points in their implementation: clear planning of vision and results; technological will in achieving of high outcomes; courage to lead the program up to the end or refuse in midway to continue in the face of incontrovertible evidence. The importance of these breakthrough humanitarian technologies encourage to pay attention not only on technological components but also for deep motives of the development and possible variants of application of yet non-existent technical solutions.

Using a strategic approach in the form of stratagems that have influenced the direction of the transformation of the U.S. national defense sector in the recent 20 years, also traditionally used in China's foreign policy, allows to select several of them for rapid achievement of technological excellence. Implementation of these stratagems in the form of prospective technological solutions gives the opportunity to point out several promising areas, which results will have a significant advantage in the nearest future.

Consideration of advanced technologies in the framework of problems of national security and development is inevitable, as an appeal to traditionally one of the most important areas of their primary application.

Note: Downloadable document is in Russian.

El presente artículo se orienta a la descripción y comparación de las propuestas plasmadas por el Frente Amplio, el Partido Nacional y el Partido Colorado en sus Programas de Gobierno (2015-2020) en relación a la defensa nacional y la seguridad internacional. Resulta por demás interesante conocer qué se proponían hacer los partidos con mayor caudal electoral de nuestro país en un área tan sensible que, paradójicamente, por lo general se caracteriza por la ausencia de novedades, sorpresas, sobresaltos y cambios drásticos. En este sentido, la principal conclusión a la que he arribado es que los partidos han continuado transitando un proceso de confluencia programática en materia de defensa nacional, lo que se pone de manifiesto en las áreas más sensibles. Por otra parte, se observa una gran moderación y mesura en la elaboración programática en general y en la forma de abordar estas cuestiones en particular, lo que principalmente se ve en el Frente Amplio, partido que alberga en su seno visiones muy disímiles respecto a esta temática.

The article presents an analysis of defense law in the legal system of the Republic of Poland in the context of its importance for the defense of the state. The author discusses the role of the state defense system in ensuring national security and presents defense law as a foundation for effective organization of this system. Moreover, the author analyzes the subject matter of defense law and points out the difficulties in its proper organization. The key issues discussed in the article are the need for defense law reforms and indication of the proposals as to the direction in which changes in this field of law should go.

Commanders at all levels are increasingly asking the question “Are we winning the information war?”  While many information professionals dread this question, it should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat.  Faced with such a challenge,  Regional Command South [RC(S)] in Afghanistan developed a solution.  The solution not only provides plausible indicators to address the question, but yields viable courses of action which drive the non-lethal targeting process and resulting operations.

Before an organization can make a serious attempt to shape the information environment to support tactical, operational, or strategic objectives, it must first measure the information environment establishing a baseline by which to gauge progress.  It is an old CEO’s axiom that “one cannot manage what one cannot measure”.  Measuring kinetic environmental effects is a fairly straight-forward, well understood process.  The cognitive realm however is largely invisible, ephemeral, and constantly shifting.  This presents a number of immediate challenges which confound traditional effects-based models.

One of President Barack Obama’s favorite solutions to reducing armed conflict in the world centers around his desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons.  While this simplistic formula has certainly been voiced by other occupants of the oval office, the world is, and always has been, an extremely dangerous place, and the machinations of competing spheres of power will always exist in human history.  Coupled with an aggressive Russia and China, the dangers associated with the new era of radical Islamic extremism rubricate the need to view the naiveté of President Obama’s vision of a planet without nuclear weapons with great caution, particularly when a large part of the Obama solution calls for the unilateral weakening of America’s nuclear arsenal.


Strong American leadership requires assessing the world as it really is, not how one wishes it to be.  A world in which the United States and other free nations do not possess nuclear weapons is both unrealistic and undesirable.  The Obama Doctrine, which seems intent on employing scare tactics and demonizing the possession of nuclear weapons, imperils both the world and America.  Unilateral reductions of America’s nuclear forces create a vulnerable and weakened nation that can be easily intimidated.  Furthermore, such action increases the promotion of nuclear weapon development in other nations. 


Obama’s desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons cannot be achieved.  Unfortunately, however, its ability to hamstring America’s nuclear capabilities is all too real.  When it comes to nuclear weapons, our policies must be fully rooted in the context of common sense.  Unilateral reductions in America’s nuclear arsenal are disastrous when confronting totalitarian fanatics.  The only established defense against nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons, and nuclear weapons cannot be abandoned because of nuclear weapons.

As originally conceived the Quadrennial Defense Review was meant to help ensure the internal consistency of midand longer-term US defense planning. By “internal consistency” I here mean a concordance of strategy, assets, and budgets. As critics often put it in the past: the point is to show how the force fits the strategy and the budget fits the force. The exercise is supposed to “connect” our military strategy with our force development plans and, in turn, connect these with current and future budgets. In this regard, the 2006 QDR is long on assertion and short on quantification “short” as in utterly lacking.

This briefing memo addresses the US Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), an instrument for the internal consistency of US defense planning. The essay focuses on the match between future missions of the US armed forces and their available assets. The author summarizes the key missions outlined in the QDR and the major force enhancements it proposes. The briefing memo argues that the war in Iraq and other post-11 September operations significantly strained the US armed forces. Regarding the situation in Iraq, the memo concludes that the US forces do not assemble a presence that is able to stabilize the country.

Along with the redefining of state values as a response to changes in the grounds for conducting war, a relatively new principle called the protection of nationals abroad has arisen, descending from an increased number of state interventions justified on behalf of their nationals abroad. This book aims to offer a pertinent research of the above principle and explore the ways of its justification from the normative perspective, specifically through the Just War Theory lens. The central argument of the research is based on the analogy between the primary principle of jus ad bellum, the right to national-defence and protection of nationals abroad. In order to demonstrate the link, two ends of sovereignty and national-defense are discussed: community life and individual rights. The book shows that considering community values as principal goods of state sovereignty cannot justify protection of nationals abroad. Subsequently, it is argued that the sole way of normative justification stems from the individualistic approach that conceives the idea of the state in its duty to ensure well-being of its nationals.