WPS in the Military News Round Up: July

WPS in the Military News Round-Up: July features articles on the US Army Marksmanship Unit’s connection to the Olympic Games Readiness Center-Honshu, an exhibit by Ukrainian NGO ‘Arm Women Now’ at NATO HQ, and the appointment of a new Army Reserve Ambassador to New York. For more on these stories and other WPS-related military news, click on the link.

Note: The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only. The contents do not reflect the official views of, nor are they endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or PKSOI.

WPS in the Military News Round Up: June

WPS in the Military News Round-Up: June features articles on: WPS leaders discussing the importance of integrating the WPS principles into the national security strategy; the first female African American commander overseas joining African Lion 2024; and the crucial need to include women in postwar planning in Gaza to ensure their long-term social and economic recovery. Click on the link for these stories and more WPS-related military news.

Click on the link below to read this month’s Round Up:

Note: The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only. The contents do not reflect the official views of, nor are they endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or PKSOI.”

WPS in the Military News Round Up: May

This month’s issue of WPS in the Military News Round Up: May includes articles on U.S. Army advances in WPS through key events, how gender equality is a marker of peace and security, and how Naval Special Warfare Command’s security cooperation training center recognizes that addressing all aspects of a society is not simply a matter of equity, but rather a matter of strategic importance.

Click on the link below to read this month’s Round Up:

Note: The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only. The contents do not reflect the official views of, nor are they endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or PKSOI.

Semi-Annual Lesson Report: Allies and Partners in Peace and Stability Efforts

The US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) of October 2022 uses the phrase allies and partners 47 times in its 48 pages.0F1 The related 2022 80-page National Defense Strategy (NDS), which includes the Missile Defense and Nuclear Posture Reviews, refers to allies and partners 127 times and titles an entire section: Anchoring Our Strategy in Allies and Partners and Advancing Regional Goals.1F2 The slimmer 8-page Na-tional Military Strategy (NMS) mentions allies and partners six times, to include in one of the four identified Joint Force Strategic Objectives: “Deter strategic attacks and other aggression against the United States, allies, and partners.”2F3 [Emphasis added]. It also lists allies and partners in the seventh of ten Joint Force Tasks, Strengthen Relationships with Allies and Partners, with this urging: “Seek opportunities to collab-orate and improve interoperability with allies and partners to confront enduring and emerging challenges. Foster strong relationships now — because we cannot surge trust in crisis.”3F4
The reference to and respect for the US’ strategic allies and partners as articulated in these 2022 published national strategies is not new. However, Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow in the American State-craft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, points out that the NDS, specifically, “reveals several areas where the DOD [Department of Defense] signals an explicit intention to concentrate its own investments…while delegating other responsibilities to interagency, private sector, and foreign partners—a tactic known as burden sharing.”4F5 She highlights three areas of modified focus from previous NDSs to the most recent one of 2022; two of the modified areas refer to partners. She notes:
…the 2022 NDS commits not just to cooperate with allies and partners, but to put them in the driver’s seat on issues of self-defense and regional security, freeing up US forces for (other) se-curity demands.… (and it) …calls for more cooperation between the DOD and the private sector.5F6
So, given a new—or renewed—US strategic emphasis on allies and partners, who and what are they? What do those terms mean to US government officials when operationalizing national policies and pro-grams, to include peace and stability efforts? Apparently, it depends. It depends on the term, the govern-ment agency, or the program or policy. The Joint Chiefs of Staff doctrine portal contains the most recent (accessible) United States Government Compendium of Interagency and Associated Terms, subtitled “a non-official guide to Department Dictionaries and other terminology sources” which shares terms of reference from various US government agencies.6F7 In it, the term allies has only one entry, which references US Code7F8 and defines allies as “any nation with which the United States is engaged in a common military

To read or download the full lesson report click on the links below:

WPS in the Military News Round Up: April

WPS in the Military News Round Up: April includes articles on USARIEM research on optimizing female warfighters, applying a gender perspective to Artificial Intelligence risks to national security, and a DOD committee recommendation for the Marine Corps to fully gender integrate recruit training.

Note: The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only. The contents do not reflect the official views of, nor are they endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or PKSOI.

To read WPS News Round Up, click on the link below.

WPS in the Military News Round Up: March

WPS in the Military News Round Up: March includes articles highlighting #WPS integration into the #JustifiedAccord exercise, the importance of women’s participation for peace in Ukraine, and the women who were “Monuments Men.”

Note: The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only. The contents do not reflect the official views of, nor are they endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or PKSOI.

For these and more WPS news, click on the link below.

WPS in the Military News Round Up: February

This month’s WPS in the Military News Round Up: February includes articles on the WPS implications for conflicts to watch in 2024; the most recent U.S. Army Southern European Task Force-Africa (SETAF-AF) WPS efforts; and almost 30 years later, the names of the first female fighter pilots to fly combat missions are finally revealed. For these and more WPS news, click on the link below.

Note: The WPS in the Military News Round Up provides the U.S. Army WPS community of interest with a monthly round up of articles to raise awareness and knowledge of military-related WPS efforts and initiatives. The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only. The contents do not reflect the official views of, nor are they endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or PKSOI.

WPS in the Military News Round Up: January

WPS in the Military News Round Up: January features articles on the Army’s first active-duty female sniper, integrating a gender perspective in cognitive warfare, and maternal and reproductive health in wartime. For these and other WPS-related news, see the link below.

Note: The WPS in the Military News Round Up from PKSOI provides the U.S. Army WPS community of interest with a monthly round up of articles to raise awareness and knowledge of WPS. The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only, and are not endorsed by DOD, the Army, CAC, or PKSOI.

View these and other articles at the link below.

DOD INSTRUCTION 3000.17 CIVILIAN HARM MITIGATION AND RESPONSE

On 21 December 2023, the Department of Defense released the DOD Instruction on Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response, which establishes the Department’s enduring policies, responsibilities, and procedures for mitigating and responding to civilian harm. This DOD Instruction is a milestone in the implementation of the 25 August 2022 Secretary of Defense Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP). The issuance of this policy continues the process of improving the Department’s approach to mitigating and responding to civilian harm, including by formalizing DOD policies, responsibilities, and procedures related to CHMR and by creating a reinforcing framework of processes and institutions which will improve strategic outcomes and optimize military operations. 

The DOD Instruction further ensures operational commanders are supported with institutional resources, tools, and capabilities to effectively implement law of war protections of civilians, and to enable further steps to protect civilians and to respond appropriately when civilian harm occurs. 

In addition to the issuance of the DOD Instruction, the Department has created the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response website in accordance with the CHMR-AP, which will serve as a repository for DOD policies, reports and other information related to civilian harm mitigation. The website also provides a link to the previously published webpage with guidance for reporting civilian casualties. Click on link below to access the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response website:

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3624661/dod-announces-release-of-department-of-defense-instruction-and-website-on-civil/

Click on the link below for DOD INSTRUCTION 3000.17 CIVILIAN HARM MITIGATION AND RESPONSE.

https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/300017p.PDF?ver=EaU00OCh3Y07Kiu5BYOTYw%3d%3d

WPS in the Military News Round Up: December

The December WPS in the Military news round up includes articles highlighting how to implement a gender perspective in Haiti efforts, identified gaps in the campaign to end conflict-related sexual violence, and South Dakota Army National Guard’s first female Native American sergeant major.

Note: The WPS in the Military News Round Up from PKSOI provides the U.S. Army WPS community of interest with a monthly round up of articles to raise awareness and knowledge of WPS. The articles in the WPS News Round Up are provided for your situational awareness, only, and are not endorsed by DOD, the Army, CAC, or PKSOI.

View these and other articles at the link below.