Clarence J. Bouchat

The national strategy of the United States has reemphasized the Asia-Pacific region, but subsequent actions in that direction seem to be preempted by more immediate crises elsewhere in the world and by internal political disputes. Nonetheless, events in the region continue to evolve and the United States must stay actively engaged or lose its long-standing influence. With the status of China rising and other regional states weighing their options between Chinese and American power, a better understanding by American policymakers of the region's disputes is necessary to maintain American diplomatic, economic, and security influence under more austere conditions. Of the issues daunting Southeast Asia, few are as poorly understood by U. S. policymakers as the dispute between Vietnam and China over the Paracel Islands

Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Bouchat conceived this paper while teaching theater strategy on the Distance Education faculty at the U. S. Army War College. As an adjunct member of the resident course teaching team, he also observed resident students wrestle with the subject. While the Strategic Studies Institute does not normally publish curricular materials, this is the second time a subject has been deemed of sufficient importance and utility that it is now offered to our wider audience. Theater strategy and theater security cooperation (TSC) are two of the most important tools available in attaining national security. They offer an effective means for geographic Combatant Commanders to engage other countries, deter aggression, or resolve crises. Despite their importance, however, little current, concise, and comprehensive guidance is available on how they are planned and implemented.

The Spratly Islands warrant better understanding by U. S. policymakers in order to discuss nuanced responses to the region's challenges. To attain that needed understanding, legal aspects of customary and modern laws are explored to analyze the differences between competing maritime and territorial claims, and why and how the parties involved stake rival claims or maritime legal rights. Throughout the policies of the United States are examined through its conflicted interests in the region. Recommendations for how the United States should engage these issues, a more appropriate task than trying to solve the disputes outright, are then offered.

Understanding the political economy of Nigeria is needed to reveal the root causes of its many ethnic, religious, economic, and political problems and address them for the long term. The pressures now weighing on Nigeria could literally fracture the state along deep fault lines if rampant corruption and partisanship continues. As mutually important partners for both of our interests in Africa, the United States should assist in specific but indirect ways to help Nigerians overcome their political economic problems. Within such assistance, the role of the U. S. military is particularly delicate but needed through focused aid to specific programs and sharing of expertise, all best managed through employing units that are regionally aligned to Nigeria or West Africa.

R]etired U. S. Air Force officer Clarence J. Bouchat counters the misperceptions that U. S. landpower plays only a minor or supporting role in what is normally considered a predominately maritime- and air-centric theater. Conventional wisdom's misunderstanding of how modern and future landpower capabilities may influence engagement and operations in semi-enclosed maritime environments may be the cause for landpower being marginalized in these environments ...] This monograph] explains the vital role of landpower to engage the forces of other countries, deter aggression, and fight if necessary in pursuit of broad U. S. national interests in the region. In a variety of ways described here, the essential direct support of land force capability to the air and sea services, and other government organizations, is also critical to their success when operating in this theater. ...] To show how landpower is necessary in this contested region, this monograph briefly explores the concept of landpower and its components--forces from the U. S. Army, U. S. Marine Corps, and U. S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). It then examines landpower's contributions to potential combat operations through wide area defense and maneuver to deterrence through forward presence and peacetime operations, and security engagement with the region's landpower-dominant allies, partners, and competitors. With this understanding of landpower's capabilities to support national interests in a semi-enclosed maritime environment and recommendations to improve its potential in air-sea environments, the reader will better understand that landpower's supporting and stabilizing role is especially important in a theater like the South China Sea.

In his third Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) monograph addressing turmoil in the South China Sea region, retired U. S. Air Force officer Clarence J. Bouchat counters the misperceptions that U. S. landpower plays only a minor or supporting role in what is normally considered a predominately maritime- and air-centric theater. Conventional wisdom's misunderstanding of how modern and future landpower capabilities may influence engagement and operations in semi-enclosed maritime environments may be the cause for landpower being marginalized in these environments, as seen in the original Air-Sea Battle concept or the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). For that reason, I am pleased to present this monograph, which explains the vital role of landpower to engage the forces of other countries, deter aggression, and fight if necessary in pursuit of broad U. S. national interests in the region. In a variety of ways described here, the essential direct support of land force capability to the air and sea services, and other government organizations, is also critical to their success when operating in this theater. As Mr. Bouchat states in his Introduction, landpower "offers important options which can often be applied with lower risk of exacerbating direct conflict. As the only form of military power that covers the full range of military options, from humanitarian assistance to full conventional combat, landpower's flexibility and capabilities help manage both peace and conflict" in the South China Sea. To show how landpower is necessary in this contested region, this monograph briefly explores the concept of landpower and its components-forcesviiifrom the U. S. Army, U. S. Marine Corps, and U. S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). It then examines landpower's contributions to potential combat operations through wide area defense and maneuver to deterrence through forward presence and peacetime operations, and security engagement with the region's landpower-dominant allies, partners, and competitors. With this understanding of landpower's capabilities to support national interests in a semi-enclosed maritime environment and recommendations to improve its potential in air-sea environments, the reader will better understand that landpower's supporting and stabilizing role is especially important in a theater like the South China Sea.