FUTURE CONFLICT: CAVEAT EMPTOR ……………………..Dr. J. Alexander

Proposed is a controversial, albeit realist presentation about the changing nature of war and factors mediating future conflicts.  It is based on careful analysis, personal experience and extensive travel throughout the world. After reading the classified promulgating documents for the Global War on Terror (GWOT), it must be concluded that our national policies are fundamentally flawed and lead to unsolvable paradoxes. Those include individual rights versus security, problems associated with eliminating terrorist or cutting their resources, and the proposal to eliminate sources of terrorism that simple are unsustainable given the US fiscal situation. .

Petrochemicals should not limit our concerns. Key issues include environmental vicissitudes, shifting demographics, complex educational trends, anachronistic legal imperatives, and all enmeshed in accelerating societal changes.  There is an unacknowledged war already boiling in South America.  Russia appears to be destabilizing.  China will challenge the US, but not as the fear-mongers anticipate. Emerging with economic might, they may be able to impose their will without resorting to violence.  My observations have led to a startling prediction. In the near future, violence in war may become optional.

 John B. Alexander, Ph.D. was a colonel when he retired from Army. He held key assignments in special operations, intelligence and research and development.  His second career was at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he developed the Non-Lethal Defense concept that is now widely known.  He holds an MA from Pepperdine and a Ph.D. from Walden University.  Later he attended the Harvard JFK School of Government course for senior executives on national and international security and the Sloan School of Management at MIT in management of complex organizations.  He has written extensively including articles in The Harvard International Review, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Jane’s International Defense and many other journals.

 He has three nonfiction books including Future War, with forward by Tom Clancy, and Winning The War. Dr Alexander has made presentations at extremely high levels of government, industry and academia including Harvard and MIT. He has appeared on television programs around the world. Among his national appearances regarding the future of conflict have been Larry King, NBC, Fox News Network, and MSNBC. He recently was an advisor to senior MOD officials in Afghanistan and is now a senior fellow with the Joint Special Operations University and is with the Army Science Board.