Throughout its existence, the U.S. Navy has labored under the continuous scrutiny and skepticism of critics who have either questioned its strategic relevance or its cost. Most recently, this historic debate has centered on the various merits, limitations, benefits and difficulties of littoral or shallow-water combat capabilities, amphibious assault operations, long range precision strike operations, and the role of carrier battle groups. Ever rising costs of procurement combined with reductions in the overall end-strength of the U.S. military have further shaped this debate, especially in terms of how to collate force structure with strategic success. This thesis seeks to evaluate how well the U.S. Navy has demonstrated itself to be in terms of identifying, designing, and procuring the platforms it needs to successfully achieve its missions in the current and future threat environments.

The purpose of the thesis is to find out how prolonged peace affects the politics and national goals of countries. Peace has become one of the major study areas in both international and domestic politics. The relationship between war making efforts and increasing the state capacity has been examined in the cases of developed countries, especially in Europe in the twentieth century. However, the findings of such studies are not all applicable for the developing countries in the Third World, and the relation between the interstate peace and the state capacity of countries has not been analyzed in depth. Finding out the effects of regional peace on contemporary Brazilian politics is valuable to understand the course of international relations with the absence of a clear threat of international war. This is becoming increasingly true of other important regions of the world, such as the European Union, Southern Africa, and the former Soviet states, where major interstate war seems unlikely. Moreover explaining more cooperative foreign policies, the priority of economic wealth generation in domestic affairs, and the institutional changes, especially in the military, in the case of Brazil will be helpful in a comparative perspective to understand countries that will be experiencing similar environments.

From the creation of the Intelligence Community as part of the National Security Act of 1947 to present day, congressional oversight has varied depending on popular interest generated by media reports of scandal or due to perceived failures. Conversely the Intelligence Community has used the varying degrees of oversight as an opportunity to participate in activities outside its charter. This thesis examines the evolution of congressional oversight from virtually non-existent to the current efforts to reform the Intelligence Community. What this study demonstrates is that oversight has primarily been driven in response to an abuse or a failure. It has been popular interest fueled by media involvement that has forced congressional action. This is demonstrated by examining the wave of reform after the publication of the Central Intelligence Agency's abuse of power in 1970, again after the revelation of the Iran-contra affair in 1986 and lastly after the September 11th attacks. The study also uncovers a reoccurrence in the recommended reforms, particularly the recommendation for the creation of a Director of National Intelligence and the need for greater congressional involvement.

For newly formed democracies, security-sector reform is essential and plays a crucial role in their long-term governmental and institutional stability. The implementation of appropriate security-sector reform by transitional governments in areas of regional instability, such as Iraq, Argentina, and El Salvador, is an issue of considerable concern, not only for the countries themselves, but also for their neghbors and the world at large. Such civil-military reforms provide newly elected civilian governments stability, peace of mind, and a monopoly on the use of armed force to ensure the safety of national borders, sovereignty, and public safety. The purpose of this thesis is to define and explore the successes and failures of the Argentine reforms under the new democratically elected civilian government vis-a-vis security services' overall performance. It will examine the overall effectiveness of the security services under these reforms by breaking down the successes and failures across the police, military, and Gendarmerie forces. This thesis focuses on Argentina's reform of its three major security services following the collapse of the military junta there in 1983. And will analyze the successes and failures of Argentina's reforms by examining the overall performance of the security services and their effectiveness under the new reforms.

Thesis (M.S. in Management and M.S. in Information Systems)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 1990. / Thesis Advisor(s): Bui, Tung ; Dresser, Cynthia H. "September 1990." Description based on title screen as viewed on December 17, 2009. DTIC Descriptor(s): Data Processing, Information Systems, Theses, Costs, Indonesia, Information Centers, Resources, Power, Architecture, Deterrence, Propagation, Viability. DTIC Identifier(s): Management Information Systems, User Needs, Military Forces(Foreign), Indonesia, Scenarios, Theses, National Security. Author(s) subject terms: End-user Computing, Information Centers, Development strategy for ABRI in the 90's. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-120). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.S. (Security Studies) -- University of Pretoria, 2007.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Thomas, Gail F. "June 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 14, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: public affairs, information operations, strategic communication, information environment, information, organization, homeland defense, civil support. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-72). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Defense Decision Making and Planning))--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Donald Abenheim. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-115). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): Harold Trinkunas. AD-A439 329. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-62). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Lyman Miller. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.