Electric weapons, such as the railgun, require a pulse power supply capable of providing reliable highcurrent, high-energy pulses of many megawatts. Pulsed alternators potentially have the same maintenance issues as other motor-generator sets, so a solid-state system would be desirable, but high voltage capacitor systems are not robust enough for the field. We propose here a Low Voltage Electrolytic Capacitor Pulse Forming Inductive Network (LVEC PFIN) which stores power in a relatively low voltage capacitor bank and provides weapon power pulses by first draining the capacitors into a power inductor and then interrupting the flow of current via a switch counterpulsing technique in order to achieve railgun-appropriate voltages. For this thesis, a 13 kJ LVEC PFIN was constructed, using solid-state semiconductor switches to redirect 25 kA of current into a 1 m. load, and the redirection of larger currents is clearly feasible. This technique may be a viable alternative once the energy densities and equivalent series resistances of low voltage capacitors and ultracapacitors reach the necessary levels.

The purpose of this thesis is to estimate the potential performance improvement in sustaining engineering (SE) when an Open Architecture (OA) approach to system development is used. Its basis is that in Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS) acquisition, 80% of total lifecycle costs occur during the Operation and Support phase. This statistic demonstrates the necessity of measuring how the OA approach will affect software upgrades and maintenance processes for the AEGIS IWS lifecycle. Using the OA approach, advances in distance support and monitoring and maintenance-free operating periods are possible; these advances are significant in supporting the need to reduce costs and manpower while improving performance. To estimate the potential (Return on Investment) ROI that an OA approach might enable SE in the form of software maintenance and upgrades, this thesis will apply the Knowledge Value Added (KVA) methodology to establish the baseline, "As Is," configuration of the current solutions in AEGIS. The KVA analysis will yield the ROI's and the current models for the approach to software maintenance and upgrades. Based on the assumptions of OA design for original system development, new approaches to distance and maintenance and monitoring will be explored in "To Be" solutions, and the ROIs will be estimated. The "To Be" solutions are rooted in the assumptions of MFOP and ARCI, and the results indicate that these solutions yield a potential improvement of 720% and a cost savings of $3 65,104.63 over the current methodology for just one ship. For all ships using AEGIS, ROI improves by 71,967%--with a cost savings of $2 6,543,824.56. The conclusion is that OA enables extension of these best practice approaches to AEGIS maintenance and upgrade solutions.

CHDS State/Local / The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were a watershed event in this country's history that significantly affected law enforcement agencies and organizations at all levels, including the FBI and the multidisciplinary Joint Terrorism Task Forces. The terrorist attacks served as a catalyst for evaluating cultural, psychological and organizational processes, policies and procedures that influenced the FBI and impacted the JTTF program. In 2006 a comprehensive study was conducted to investigate whether FBI provided JTTF members with the necessary tools to support their investigations. The study identified a number of deficiencies. In order to adapt and combat an emergent asymmetric threat, the JTTF must identify and analyze specific actions and best practices necessary to prepare, execute, and support strategic change and innovation and overcome obstacles that impede the process. It is also necessary to identify and implement best and/or smart practices, especially those plans, policies, and procedures that ensure the skills, experience, and expertise of task force participants are maximized and seamlessly integrated into the JTTF program. The implementation of standardized written procedures that detail roles, responsibilities, training, orientation, and access to databases and information sharing will better enable participants to efficiently contribute to the JTTF mission. Institutionalizing an innovative culture and framework that provides the flexibility to evaluate and develop necessary skills and competencies in participant stakeholders is essential for the future success of the JTTF program. / SSA, Department of Justice (DOJ)/Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Magister Commercii - MCom / North Korea has against the numerous warnings of the international community, protocols and sanctions tested nuclear and missile devices. The purpose of this study is to explain how the political ideology of Juche informs North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. Using a qualitative analysis, this study analyzed the origin of Juche and its impact on North Korea’s foreign and nuclear policies through the years. The social values underlying Juche were found to be the foundation of North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions. Juche itself has evolved as a framework that informs North Korea’s international relations and the study traces this evolution through the different Kim presidencies.

Thesis advisor: James E. Cronin / This dissertation examines British nuclear policymaking during the late 1970s and early 1980s with a focus on its political implications. Highlighting the important link between nuclear politics and alliance coordination, the dissertation demonstrates that at a time of increased Alliance disunity (over Vietnam, détente, etc.) NATO policymakers achieved a broad consensus on theater nuclear policy that in effect stabilized the Alliance against the crises of the 1970s. The dissertation focuses especially on the U.K.’s role in this; British policymakers’ unique ability to mediate between the U.S. and continental Europe contributed enormously to the success of NATO in this period. Taking the British decision to update its strategic nuclear weapons and the coterminous debates in NATO over theater nuclear weapons, carried out against the backdrop of heightened public opposition and debate, it argues that nuclear politics played an integral role in structuring alliances and that this recalibration not only precipitated the end of the Cold War, but also ensured the Alliance’s post-Cold War viability. This research revises our understanding of the Cold War. This dissertation demonstrates that the Cold War, traditionally regarded as a bipolar conflict between superpowers, was often waged through alliances and that the policy preferences of lesser alliance partners mattered tremendously. The dissertation, furthermore, provides evidence for the way in which British policymakers retained an unexpected and disproportionate influence for the U.K. in world affairs—via their ability to successfully mediate within NATO

This dissertation addresses the rarely examined issue of disqualification of weapons from the battlefields. Most literature in International Relations and War studies take for granted the fact that weapons disappear from the battlefield due to their lack of tactical/strategical utility or because of their relative cost/efficiency vis-à-vis available alternative. This study challenges the rational character of these answers, arguing that they do not fully capture what explains variations in states weapons utilization. It suggests that, contrary to what these common views assume, laws of war play a crucial role in states decisions to use or not a weapon. More specifically, the core principles of laws of war are deeply rooted in military culture and underpin common representations of war. Therefore, perceptions of what laws of war should ban or allow (conceptualized as the notion of “fighting justly”) constitute the normative framework which underpins tactical, strategic, cost effective decisions with regards to weapons utilization. As such, the laws of war range of effects are wider than what is suggested by the dichotomic notion of “compliance”. Moreover, because the key principles of laws of war are profoundly ambiguous, their effects have greatly varied depending on how they have been understood over time, actors and levels (national, international, transnational). Through a carefully crafted historical account combining tools borrowed to ethics, security studies, sociology, phenomenology and anthropology, this dissertation retraces the different conceptions of fighting justly that have prevailed over the twentieth century and demonstrates how they highlight the trajectory of three weapons: chemical weapons, incendiary weapons, unarmed aerial vehicles. It thus presents an innovative re-reading of the impact of laws of war in states weapons utilization, and a more nuanced understanding of why certain weapon disappear from the battlefield.

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The Cold War goes on! And the use of military strength by the United States as a backdrop to other forms of persuation--political, ideological, diplomatic, and economic--continues. The use of a military backdrop as an instrument of national policy will probably continue indefinitely because it is unlikely that the Soviet Union or Communist China will change their objectives of expansionism; it is too much an integral part of their ideology. The easing of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union since the Cuban crisis in 1962 is perhaps an indication of a change in tactics and diplomacy, but it would be naive to believe that the objective of a communist-dominated world has been forgotten. Further, the dispute between Communist China and the Soviet Union is not over the objective, but over the means of its achievement, and over who will control the world-wide Communist movement.

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The question of use or non-use of nuclear weapons has suddenly got new prominence as part of the search for an effective strategy against international terrorism. This dispute is not new. Within the deterrence strategy, American and NATO nuclear weapons policy over the years shifted from massive retaliation over flexible response towards nuclearweapons only as a last resort. <br>In the multilateral framework, deliberations have focussed on positive and negative assurances for non-nuclear weapons states. The International Court of Justice, in its Advisory Opinion, considers the use of nuclear weapons as generally contrary to the rules of international law. Today, there are strong indications that the U.S. is moving towards giving nuclear weapons a war-fighting role. For future wars, the likelihood of nuclear weapons being used would grow considerably.