Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / This thesis examines the origins and implications of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) established in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It analyzes the organization from the Chinese, Russian, and Central Asian states' perspective. Chinese and Russian motives for creating the SCO appear to have been threefold. First, both sought an organization dedicated to providing security and stability to the Central Asian region. Second, both wished to foster stronger economic ties with the oil and natural gas-rich former Soviet republics. Finally, both favored stemming the influence of external powers, notably the United States. The Central Asian states' motives for joining the SCO emanate from security and economic needs. The increase in the U.S. military presence in the region since October 2001 has drawn no response from the SCO. Although some Russian politicians and military officers have criticized it, the governments of China and Russia seam to realize that the U.S. presence may help bring stability to the Central Asian region. Many uncertainties burden the SCO's future. It may constitute another failed attempt to establish a security alliance or turn into a significant voice in international politics, especially with the inclusion of additional members. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

Terrorist attacks were once predominately focused on US military posts or US embassies overseas, and the perception has been the danger was "over there". However there have been recent foreign and domestic terrorist attacks have occurring in the US. The most common form of the attack is a moving or stationary vehicle to carrying home-made explosives and detonating it at Federal, commercial, industrial, or educational facilities which are perceived symbols of the US. This report will review the general properties of a bomb blast, defense plan development, the concept of defense in depth for an urban planning layout, and preventing progressive collapse of a structure. A review of lessons learned from the case study of the 1993 World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, Beirut, and Khobar Towers. The last area will be final conclusions and recommendations when considering defensive applications. / Contract Number: N62271-97-G-0052.

The U.S.-Japan Security Alliance was the foundation of the United States' bilateral alliance system during the Cold War. The alliance suffered severe strains in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War primarily due to the loss of its primary mission, containment of Soviet expansion. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 breathed new life into the alliance. Japan quickly joined in the anti-terrorism coalition, providing logistical support to U.S. forces involved in the War on Terrorism. North Korea's October 2002 admission of a covert nuclear weapons program also changed the strategic dynamic for Japan, pushing it towards "normal" nation status. Multilateralism in Asia developed a life of its own during the 1990's. Numerous multilateral organizations were created to help resolve regional security issues. China is attempting to use multilateral security forums as a means to balance against U.S. regional power. Japan also proposed developing a new multilateral security regime in the Asia-Pacific. This thesis examines issues related to the future of the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance and the possible emergence of a new multilateral security regime in the Asia-Pacific. The United States should enhance the U.S.- Japan Security and lead the way on developing a new multilateral security regime for the Asia-Pacific. / US Navy (USN) author.

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

The thesis analyses the development of German strategic culture since the end of the Cold War. Since the end of the Cold War, Germany has participated in several international military interventions, for example in Kosovo and Afghanistan. This marked a departure from Germany's strategic behaviour during the Cold War, when the country pursued a foreign policy of military restraint. The dominant view in Germany at the time was that the gross human rights violations committed by the Nazi regime during the Second World War stipulated the need for the country to be a responsible international player. Responsibility was interpreted as a moral imperative to refrain from any military action abroad, and it formed an essential part of German strategic culture. The change in German strategic behaviour after the end of the Cold War thus poses the question as to why Germany changed its behaviour, and how this change has been facilitated in German strategic culture. To understand the post-Cold War change in Germany's strategic behaviour, it is necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms of change. The thesis sheds lights on these mechanisms by utilising a strategic culture approach. It argues that German executive decision-makers have incrementally modified German strategic culture in response to a changing strategic environment by utilising a human rights narrative. Instead of interpreting responsibility as an imperative for military restraint, the notion of responsibility was reframed as an imperative for protecting human rights abroad. Thus, the reconfiguration of German strategic culture rendered military intervention a justifiable instrument of German foreign policy. German Federal President Joachim Gauck epitomised this reconfiguration when, in 2014, he demanded that in the 'fight for human rights or the survival of innocent human beings, it is sometimes necessary to take up arms'.

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This comparative legal analysis evaluates the issue of terrorism and how it has been dealt with respectively by the United States and Israeli Supreme Courts. Since the events of 9/11, combating terrorism has become one of the primary concerns of the US government while it is a matter that has pervaded Israeli policy since its birth as a nation-state. The analysis is centered on examining how each state‘s Supreme Court has confronted the issue with the Israeli Supreme Court using a ―Business as Usual‖ model and the US taking an ―Emergency Powers‖ approach. It is argued that terrorism is an ongoing issue that cannot be justified as an emergency and the US Court would do better in adopting Israel‘s method of adjudication in these matters. It is also suggested that the US could learn from Israel‘s policy towards torture as the US policy has largely been cruel and unsuccessful.

This comparative legal analysis evaluates the issue of terrorism and how it has been dealt with respectively by the United States and Israeli Supreme Courts. Since the events of 9/11, combating terrorism has become one of the primary concerns of the US government while it is a matter that has pervaded Israeli policy since its birth as a nation-state. The analysis is centered on examining how each state‘s Supreme Court has confronted the issue with the Israeli Supreme Court using a ―Business as Usual‖ model and the US taking an ―Emergency Powers‖ approach. It is argued that terrorism is an ongoing issue that cannot be justified as an emergency and the US Court would do better in adopting Israel‘s method of adjudication in these matters. It is also suggested that the US could learn from Israel‘s policy towards torture as the US policy has largely been cruel and unsuccessful.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the United States was gripped by an intense anxiety about its national security. While primarily triggered by the external threat of the Soviet Union, this anxiety was especially centred on internal threats, real and imagined. Most previous studies have focused on the so-called Red Scare, the hunt for Communists and other political undesirables. This was accompanied by a parallel Lavender Scare, an assault on homosexuality in American culture, especially public service. Homosexuality had been grounds for dismissal from the Civil Service since the 19th Century, but Cold War anxiety about gays in government became so great that some in the press began referring to it as a Panic on the Potomac. Fear of sexual subversion became so integrated into the larger national security obsession that, by 1955, fully 1 in every 5 American workers was subject to a combination of loyalty and security restrictions, related to both political and moral categories of unsuitability. Yet this episode has remained a largely forgotten footnote in American Cold War experience. The homophobia that characterized the early Cold War was new, more intense, and unique to that moment in history. Full-scale investigations and purges of suspected gays from the Civil Service began in 1950, but possessed deeper roots in the politics and culture of the era. They were stimulated by a combination of Cold War anxiety, post-war conservatism, and a changing conception of the nature of homosexuality. The effects of the purges would include not only widespread dismissals and intensified repression of gays and lesbians, but also the emergence of gay activism and the concept of a distinct gay minority. The evolving nature of gay identity, especially self-identity, is ultimately central to the thesis topic. This thesis is one of a small, but growing number of works that attempt to comprehensively examine the origins, characteristics, and impacts of the Lavender Scare. It draws on a wide range of sources, including the most recent specialized studies and the best available primary sources, including archival materials, first-hand recollections of events, and newly declassified government documents.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the United States was gripped by an intense anxiety about its national security. While primarily triggered by the external threat of the Soviet Union, this anxiety was especially centred on internal threats, real and imagined. Most previous studies have focused on the so-called Red Scare, the hunt for Communists and other political undesirables. This was accompanied by a parallel Lavender Scare, an assault on homosexuality in American culture, especially public service. Homosexuality had been grounds for dismissal from the Civil Service since the 19th Century, but Cold War anxiety about gays in government became so great that some in the press began referring to it as a Panic on the Potomac. Fear of sexual subversion became so integrated into the larger national security obsession that, by 1955, fully 1 in every 5 American workers was subject to a combination of loyalty and security restrictions, related to both political and moral categories of unsuitability. Yet this episode has remained a largely forgotten footnote in American Cold War experience. The homophobia that characterized the early Cold War was new, more intense, and unique to that moment in history. Full-scale investigations and purges of suspected gays from the Civil Service began in 1950, but possessed deeper roots in the politics and culture of the era. They were stimulated by a combination of Cold War anxiety, post-war conservatism, and a changing conception of the nature of homosexuality. The effects of the purges would include not only widespread dismissals and intensified repression of gays and lesbians, but also the emergence of gay activism and the concept of a distinct gay minority. The evolving nature of gay identity, especially self-identity, is ultimately central to the thesis topic. This thesis is one of a small, but growing number of works that attempt to comprehensively examine the origins, characteristics, and impacts of the Lavender Scare. It draws on a wide range of sources, including the most recent specialized studies and the best available primary sources, including archival materials, first-hand recollections of events, and newly declassified government documents.