Steven Kent Metz is an American author, Chairman of the Regional Strategy Department, and Research Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Army War College

U.S. Army War College

The United States Army War College is a United States Army school located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500 acre campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks...

 Strategic Studies Institute

Strategic Studies Institute

The Strategic Studies Institute is the U.S. Army's institute for strategic and national security research and analysis. It is part of the U.S. Army War College. SSI conducts strategic research and analysis to support the U.S. Army War College curricula, provides direct analysis for Army and...

 (SSI) where he specializes in insurgency and counterinsurgency, American defense policy, strategic theory, the African security environment, and future warfare. He has been with SSI since 1993, previously serving as Henry L. Stimson Professor of Military Studies and SSI's Director of Research. Metz has also been on the faculty of the U.S. Air War College, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and several universities. He has been an advisor to government agencies, political organizations, campaigns and commissions; served on many national security policy task forces; testified in both houses of Congress; and spoken on military and security issues around the world. He is the author of more than 100 publications and is frequently interviewed by print, television and radio media. He is a member of the RAND Corporation Insurgency Board and a regular blogger on national security policy for National Journal and The New Republic.

Works

Metz's articles have appeared in journals such as Washington Quarterlyhttp://www.twq.com/, Joint Force Quarterlyhttp://www.ndu.edu/inss/Press/NDUPress_JFQ_List.htm, The National Interesthttp://www.nationalinterest.org/ME2/default.asp, and Current History http://www.currenthistory.com/ as well as a number of edited books. His major publications include:

• Decisionmaking in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM: The Strategic Shift of 2007http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=985
• Decisionmaking in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM: Removing Saddam Hussein by Forcehttp://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=970
• Unruly Clients: The Trouble with Allies http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/articles/2010-MarApr/full-Metz-MA-2010.html
• New Challenges and Old Concepts: Understanding 21st Century Insurgency http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07winter/metz.htm
• Restructuring America’s Ground Forces: Better, Not Biggerhttp://www.stanleyfoundation.org/publications/pab/Metz_HoffmanPAB07.pdf
• Rethinking Insurgencyhttp://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=790
• Strategies for Asymmetric Threats to US National Securityhttp://www.nationalstrategy.com/index_files/Page2214.htm
• Learning from Iraq: Counterinsurgency in American Strategy http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=752
• Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in the 21st Century http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=586;
• Future War/Future Battlespacehttp://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=214;
• Asymmetry and U.S. Military Strategyhttp://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=223;
• Armed Conflict in the 21st Centuryhttp://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?PubID=226;
• "Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Iraq"; http://www.twq.com/04winter/docs/04winter_metz.pdf;
• La guerre asymétrique et l'avenir de l'Occidenthttp://www.ifri.org/frontDispatcher/ifri/publications/politique_etrangere/politique__trang_re________1049374016374/sommaire_1049374332430/les_etats_unis__la_puissance_et_la_guerre_1049374488585/publi_P_publi_pe________metz_1049376201881;
• The Psychology of War http://www.pri.org/theworld/node/26310;
• Mission Creep Dispatch http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2008/09/mission-creep-dispatch-steven-metz;
• Insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan http://www.dni.gov/nic/PDF_GIF_2020_Support/2004_05_25_papers/insurgency.pdf;
• The Civilian Surge Myth http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-civilian-surge-myth
• How Obama's Surge Is Like Bush's http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/how-obamas-surge-bushs

Metz is the author of Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy.http://www.amazon.com/dp/1597971960

Concepts

Metz has proposed several new concepts for the analysis of military strategy and national security policy:

• Psychological precision: the idea that modern militaries should be designed so that their operations attain desired psychological effects rather than simply hitting targets with precision. This concept was discussed in the 2001 "Year in Ideas" essay in the New York Timeshttp://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50F1FFF3F580C7A8CDDAB0994D9404482
• Effects based planning for counterinsurgency: the idea that counterinsurgency planning should be determined by an array of psychological effects
• Ethical asymmetry: the idea that normative differences between opponents in armed conflict is an important feature of 21st century warfare
• Cultural asymmetry and counterinsurgency: the idea that the United States' approach to counterinsurgency support only works in nations with Western or Western-derived cultures
• Personal versus strategic motives in insurgency: the idea that insurgencies where strategic motives—those directed toward a desired political outcome—dominate differ in significant ways from ones where personal motives—the desire for revenge, prestige, or material gain—drive most insurgents.
• New technological revolution for counterinsurgency: the idea that technology can, to some extent, substitute for labor in counterinsurgency, but not simply through the application of technology developed for conventional warfighting. A technological revolution for counterinsurgency (and other forms of asymmetric and irregular conflict) should be based on robotics (including micro- and nano-robotics), nonlethality, and psychotechnology.
• "Metz threshold": counterinsurgency must achieve acceptable performance before political patience runs out, requiring an organizational learning response and the historical U.S. threshold for political patience is three years

Education

Metz holds a BA in philosophy and MA in International Studies from the University of South Carolina

University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...

; and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...