Author profile: Harvey M. Sapolsky

Harvey M. Sapolsky is Professor of Public Policy and Organization, Emeritus, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former Director of the MIT Security Studies Program. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the defense field he has served as a consultant or panel member for a number of government commissions and study groups. His most recent books are US Defense Politics written with Eugene Gholz and Caitlin Talmadge and US Military Innovation Since the Cold War edited with Benjamin Friedman and Brendan Green, both published by Routledge.

STRATEGICALLY LOST IN AFGHANISTAN

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Aug 16 2009 • Articles

The Obama administration seems to be having big second thoughts about Afghanistan. President Obama in his election campaign promised to make Afghanistan the central front in our unnamed war.

TIME TO LEAVE — KOREA

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Aug 2 2009 • Articles

There is talk about US forces leaving Iraq early, in 2010 rather than the scheduled date of 2011.Terrific.But before one gets too enthusiastic about that prospect, one should consider the Korean case.The war in Korea started in 1950 and is still technically on although shooting incidents are rare events.

WHOSE MORALE COUNTS?

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jul 25 2009 • Articles

US Secretary of defense Robert Gates said recently that coalition forces have about a year to turn around the war in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent, or risk losing support in America.Just a few days later the US military command in Afghanistan announced that action reports will no longer mention enemy casualties

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE USAF

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jul 11 2009 • Articles

The Air Force was for a long time the guiding star of US military doctrine, but it seems to be fading fast of late. Air power did not win the Second World War, but the USAF did, gaining its independence from the Army, a large share of the defense budget, and prominence in the Cold War with the promise of easy victory

NO TO THE HUMANITARIAN AID STRATEGY

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jun 30 2009 • Articles

Some parts of the American military, perhaps a bit underemployed, propose humanitarian aid missions as a central component in America’s national military strategy. Admiral James Stavridis, the new NATO Commander, in his last assignment, Commander US Southern Command, was certainly an advocate of this approach.

IRAQ QUESTIONS

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jun 29 2009 • Articles

With American forces turning over security responsibilities to Iraqis as another step toward complete withdrawal from Iraq, I am searching for the war’s lessons and am left mostly with questions.

BLOOD BROTHERS

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jun 24 2009 • Articles

To understand American policy better, I suggest you consult a recent, very well written and argued paper by Stephen Peter Rosen of Harvard on why we Americans are less the peace-loving people we often claim to be.

SOMETHING FISHY

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jun 22 2009 • Articles

Afghanistan is a country of 33,000,000 people that has been at war for 30 years, has a life expectancy of only 44 years, an infant mortality rate 151/1000 births, and experiences about 660,000 deaths from all causes per year. Life is hard, brutal and short in Afghanistan

PEER COMPETITOR

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jun 16 2009 • Articles

The American military keeps searching the horizon for a peer competitor, the challenger who has to be taken seriously. Is it China? What about an oil rich and resurgent Russia? Can we really trust those café-living Europeans? The Peer Competitor is here and about to hobble our interventionist inclinations. In […]

TORTURED TRUTHS

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jun 12 2009 • Articles

torture is slippery slope. One officer told me that troops have to be watched all the time. Unsupervised 10% will do something stupid. Abu Ghraib involved untrained (reserve) soldiers working at night without supervision. Guards have power which can easily be abused.

Please Consider Donating

Before you download your free e-book, please consider donating to support open access publishing.

E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. Your donations allow us to invest in new open access titles and pay our bandwidth bills to ensure we keep our existing titles free to view. Any amount, in any currency, is appreciated. Many thanks!

Donations are voluntary and not required to download the e-book - your link to download is below.

Subscribe

Get our weekly email