Cathryn Quantic Thurston

Security assistance and security cooperation are interrelated missions that rely on military staffs in U. S. embassies in partner countries. In countries threatened by insecurity or instability, actions may be required that are not easily accomplished under current systems. This report examines three options for improving current approaches to security assistance and cooperation. They range from changes in current practices to options requiring new policies, procedures, organizations, or authorities.

This report finds parallels in U. S. prisoner and detainee operations in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq: underestimation of the number to be held, hasty scrambling for resources, and inadequate doctrine and policy. Later, attempts to educate and influence prisoners and detainees are often made. The authors recommend that detailed doctrine should be in place prior to detention and that detainees should be surveyed when first detained.

It is often challenging to determine whether security cooperation activities conducted by the Defense Department have contributed to U. S. objectives. This monograph, based on themes that emerged from a May 2008 assessment workshop held at RAND, lays out a framework for security program assessment and stresses the need for injecting a greater level of objectivity into the assessment process.

The challenges of nation-building and of dealing with the societal and political aftermaths of conflicts have consumed tremendous international energy during the past decades. "Women and Nation-Building" tackles the exceedingly complex task of assessing the multilayered development of women's diverse roles in the post-conflict context. The author examines the role of women in the recent reconstruction activities in Afghanistan, while evaluating the effect of societal circumstances and nation-building processes on the status of female populations in post-conflict regions. Does women's part make a difference to the post-conflict trajectories of very volatile societies? "Women and Nation-Building" presents compelling findings for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars concerned with both the academic and pragmatic implementation of a more engendered approach to nation-building. The book concludes that the steps necessary to strengthen nation-building activities include an emphasis on human security, establishing governance based on the principles of equity and the rule of law, and women's early economic inclusion in reconstruction activities. Societies on a path toward equity and the rule of law are more peaceful and more prosperous, and the status of women is not merely a litmus test but an active agent in bringing about such an outcome.

This report presents a framework for assessing U. S. Army International Activities (AIA). It also provides a matrix of eight AIA ends, derived from top-level national and Army guidance, and eight AIA ways, which summarize the various capabilities inherent in AIA programs. In addition, the report describes the new online AIA Knowledge Sharing System (AIAKSS) that is being used to solicit programmatic and assessment data from AIA officials in the Army's Major Commands.