Defense planning for national security
Subtitle: navigation aids for the mystery tour
By: Colin S. Gray
Contributors: Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute; Army War College (U.S.). Press
Series: Advancing strategic thought series; Advancing strategic thought series
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Carlisle, PA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 59
ISBN-13: 9781584876090
Subjects: Military planning; National security; Forecasting; Armed Forces; Planning
Description: The challenge that is defense planning includes: "educated futurology" and the humanities as methodological approaches; futurists and scenarios, trend spotting and defense analysis; the impossibility of science in studying the future; the impossibility of verification by empirical testing of hypotheses; the value of the humanities which are politics, strategy, and history for defense planning; the use and misuse of analogy; learning from history; why and how strategic history works; and recommendations for the Army. What can be learned from history and what cannot are discussed in this analysis.
Notes: "March 2014."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 51-59).

Also available online in PDF format from Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) web site.
Table of contents: title: Purpose and problems; title: Approaches; title: What can we learn from strategic history?; title: Conclusions and recommendations.