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Analysing documents produced by the CIA, the State Department and the Pentagon, the thesis examines the role of intelligence assessment in U.S. Vietnam policy during the period between December 1961 and February 1965. It investigates intelligence on the counterinsurgency in South Vietnam, on the intentions and capabilities of North Vietnam, and on the probable consequences of policy options. The first half of the thesis examines the Vietnam intelligence during the Kennedy administration, following the rise of optimism in 1962 and the intelligence dispute in 1963. The second half of the study explores intelligence developments from the fall of the Diem regime in November 1963 to President Johnson’s decision to take military action against North Vietnam in February 1965. The study suggests that intelligence deficiencies played a significant role in both the failure of counterinsurgency in the first half of the 1960s and in the decision for direct military intervention in 1965. The thesis also demonstrates that, rather than simply being a result of technical weaknesses, the lack of robust intelligence reflected wider problems of Vietnam policy, including political pressures, ideological contexts and the absence of strategic consensus.

For two years now the war in Southeast Ukraine has claimed approximately 10,000 lives and countless casualties. Pegged as a civil war, the conflict is waging on between pro-Western nationalists and pro-Russian separatists. The war ignited after the public ousting of President Yanukovch in Maidan Square in the midst of thousands of protesters, and the subsequent annexation of Crimea. Although the Russian Federation maintains it does not have a military presence in Ukraine, U.S. intelligence and Ukrainian military officials have evidence otherwise. As a result, the West has imposed significant sanctions on “Putin's Russia”. This study explores how Putin justifies the Russian incursion into Ukraine through his own rhetoric, and further, whether this rhetoric changes when speaking to a domestic versus international audience. In the context of framing, this study analyzes 57 speeches, interviews, and excerpts of Vladimir Putin focused on the Crisis in Ukraine, from the years of 2013 to 2016. Throughout the literature, Kin-state rallying, Russian encirclement by enemies/isolation, Russian ethnocentrism, blurred legal rhetoric, and manipulation of historical myth, are the predominant frames that emerge. By way of propaganda, the findings indicate that Putin's most frequently used justifications frame the conflict through Russia's necessity to protect its brother nation from an unstable government, and the projection of blame onto the West. In effect, this study not only emphasizes the significance and implications of framing by elites in conflict, it also sheds light on the current debate over Putin's motivations in Ukraine. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy / MA; / Thesis;

This dissertation examines four novels that specifically and deliberately focus on the perspectives of people of color in the United States in order to explore a gap in the conversations surrounding representation of the Vietnam War. Opening the canon to include more diverse perspectives of the Vietnam War acknowledges how predominantly white representation of the war effaces the experiences of the many soldiers of color, who often fought and died in disproportionately greater numbers than white soldiers, and attempts to redress such erasure. These novels include Arthur R. Flowers's De Mojo Blues, which focuses on African American soldiers’ experience and highlights intra-racial conflicts and Lan Cao's Monkey Bridge, an exploration of Vietnamese American women living as refugees in the United States. Additionally, Alfredo Véa's Gods Go Begging and Linda Hogan's People of the Whale go beyond the Chicano and Native American identities of their respective protagonists by including a diverse range of voices and re-imagining boundaries associated with racial and national identities. Responding to the myth of American exceptionalism, the novels illuminate how the war perpetuated long-standing systems of oppression and interrogate oppositions between self and other, individual and community, and past and present that war often sustains. As such these novels emerge as critical interventions in discourses of race and nation by highlighting and creating space for difference. Ultimately, these novels provide a vision of hope by imagining a world that embraces the complexities of cross-cultural community rather than merely superficial melting pot diversity. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / English / PhD; / Dissertation;

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / The September 11th terrorist attacks triggered an unexpected rapprochement between the United States and the Russian Federation. Russia joined the US-led coalition and supported Operation Enduring Freedom. US-Russian collaboration in Afghanistan surpassed most previous efforts in terms of the level of cooperation attained, especially in traditionally inviolable areas such as intelligence-sharing / however, disagreements over the invasion of Iraq confirmed that the US and Russia have not yet achieved a strategic partnership. This study uses Russia's decisions during the war on terrorism to discover the motives driving Russian foreign policy. Analysts offer three dominant rationales regarding Russia's behavior: 1) the desire to balance US unilateralism, 2) to gain support for "anti-terrorist" action in Chechnya, or 3) to advance the nation's economic interests. Each variable is individually assessed to see if expected gains in that sphere covary with Russia's decision to support and potential losses correlate with Russia's decision to oppose the war on terrorism. The study also reveals the true nature of the US-Russian relationship and exposes challenges and future possibilities for US-Russian relations. The last section makes policy recommendations and suggests how to build a stronger USRussian partnership. / Captain, United States Air Force

Military Psychological Operations (PSYOP) is based on a Cold War construct that has not been significantly overhauled since the end of that era. Today's most pressing challenge, the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) requires a different solution set. The Quadrennial Defense Review, the Information Operations Roadmap, the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism and the Report of the 9/11 Commission all recognize this fact. How the military PSYOP community can best adjust to this new environment and effectively address one of its major threats, that of suicide terrorism, is the subject of this paper. I will argue that examining what can, and arguably should, be done to counter the threat of suicide terrorism will also help us to see ways in which PSYOP could better be configured and employed in this new era. The first chapter of my thesis will examine the evolution of suicide terrorism in some detail but will quickly focus on what have emerged as the consensus opinions as to the motivations and vulnerabilities of this tactic. Chapter two looks at the identified motivations and vulnerabilities from a PSYOP perspective and tries to apply logical PSYOP measures against them. In chapter three I review the assets and organizational structure of the PSYOP community and suggest ways the current structure could be best applied to meet the threat. Chapter four then looks for a way ahead and focuses on how and why making three critical changes to military Psychological Operations could improve the organizations ability to accomplish its mission; not only in terms of seeking to mitigate suicide attacks but also with respect a whole host of new and expanded missions the PSYOP community will increasingly be called upon to address in the contemporary operating environment.