Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The thesis addresses the problem of optimally re-assigning strike aircraft to targets in response to the emergence of "pop-ups" or time-sensitive targets. The first part of thesis develops an automated decision aid to rapidly revise the current air tasking order (ATO), so as to: maximize achievement of target destruction goals (weighted by target priorities), minimize attrition risk to employed assets, and disrupt the current ATO as little as possible. The second part of the thesis develops a detailed test and evaluation plan to conduct a comparison of two competing automated decision aids and the current manual reassignment methods. Critical operational issues, measures of effectiveness and measures of performance were developed to fully evaluate operational performance. The time-sensitive-targeting decision aid was tested and validated during major air strike live exercises at Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One. Careful measurements comparing the re-taskings recommended by the decision aid against actual decisions demonstrated that in every case the model's solutions were of better or equal quality, maximized combat asset utilization, and were achieved significantly faster. / Major, United States Marine Corps

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Richard E. Rosenthal, Thomas Hoivik. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77). Also available online.

Thesis advisor: Jennifer Erickson / What explains the changing strength and weakness of the “anti-strategic bombing norm” (ASB) during conflicts in the 20th century and beyond? The ASB norm encourages states to avoid the use of strategic bombing (targeting civilians to destroy enemy morale) in conflict. Yet these periods of conflict have had an inconsistent effect on the strength/weakness of the ASB norm. What explains this variation? I use qualitative historical cases of “key” conflicts in the 20th and 21st century to assess the strength/weakness of the ASB norm using the Ben-Josef Hirsch and Dixon (2021) “Indicators of Norm Strength” scale (see Table 1.1). Once I determined norm strength in each case, I then analyzed the norm strength in each case using four hypotheses derived from IR theory and previous ASB research. These hypotheses include (1) high enforcement, strong norm, (2) high enforcement, weak norm, (3) hegemonic leadership, and (4) technology used by states. I find that the “high enforcement, strong norm” hypothesis best explains the rise and fall of the ASB norm- but that sources of enforcement other than the hegemon itself are key. Indeed, contrary to some theories, the hegemon often weakens rather than strengthens the norm in this case. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: International Studies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 374-406).

Thesis--School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., 1992-93. / Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 27, 2003). "October 1994." Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation draws attention to the interaction between insurgents and the target state as the appropriate context for explaining the motivations of suicide bombers, the rationales of the organizations that support them, and the popularity in certain societies of suicide bombing. Based mainly on data collected from 88 interviews conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of a 25 percent representative sample of Palestinian suicide bombers during the second intifada, it demonstrates the following: (1) During the second intifada, changes in the political opportunity structure, especially extreme state repression, were chiefly responsible for growing public support for suicide bombing, the development of organizational rationales justifying suicide bombing, and the crystallization of suicide bombers’ motivation to act. State repression produced a widespread desire for revenge at all levels of Palestinian society. (2) Cultural forces, notably the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam and its embodiment in the political culture of certain militant organizations, were of secondary importance in causing the spread of suicide bombing. (3) Strategic calculations (“rational choice”) aimed at speeding the liberation of occupied territory were of tertiary importance in motivating suicide bombers but they figured more prominently at the level of organizational rationales. (4) While the literature often invokes creative agency, psychopathology, and material deprivation to explain the rise of suicide bombing, little or no effect was discovered for these variables.

This dissertation draws attention to the interaction between insurgents and the target state as the appropriate context for explaining the motivations of suicide bombers, the rationales of the organizations that support them, and the popularity in certain societies of suicide bombing. Based mainly on data collected from 88 interviews conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of a 25 percent representative sample of Palestinian suicide bombers during the second intifada, it demonstrates the following: (1) During the second intifada, changes in the political opportunity structure, especially extreme state repression, were chiefly responsible for growing public support for suicide bombing, the development of organizational rationales justifying suicide bombing, and the crystallization of suicide bombers’ motivation to act. State repression produced a widespread desire for revenge at all levels of Palestinian society. (2) Cultural forces, notably the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam and its embodiment in the political culture of certain militant organizations, were of secondary importance in causing the spread of suicide bombing. (3) Strategic calculations (“rational choice”) aimed at speeding the liberation of occupied territory were of tertiary importance in motivating suicide bombers but they figured more prominently at the level of organizational rationales. (4) While the literature often invokes creative agency, psychopathology, and material deprivation to explain the rise of suicide bombing, little or no effect was discovered for these variables.

Thesis (M.S. in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy)--Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School, 2007. / Title from title screen; viewed on July 9, 2007. "May 2007." Electronic version of original print document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-73).

Thesis--School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., 1991-92. / Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 21, 2003). "May 1992." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., 1991-92. / Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 27, 2003). "May 1992." Includes bibliographical references.