Background:
Divergent Options is a non-politically aligned non-revenue generating national security website that, in 1,000 words or less, provides unbiased, dispassionate, candid articles that assess a national security situation, present multiple options to address the situation, and articulate the risk and gain of each option. Please note that while we assess a national security situation and may provide options, we never recommend a specific option.
Below you will see a Call for Papers. If you are not interested in writing on this topic, we always welcome individual articles on virtually any national security situation an author is passionate about. Please do not let our call for papers cause you to hesitate to send us your idea. We look forward to hearing from you!
Call for Papers:
Divergent Options is calling for national security papers assessing situations or discussing options related to Societal, Organizational, and Personal Impacts of 2001-2021 National Security Decisions.
National security decisions made from 2001-2021 impacted both the victors and the vanquished. Let’s talk about those impacts. Below is a list of prompts that may inspire potential writers:
– Societal: Assess the impact of small unit technology developed during 2001-2021 becoming available to private citizens.
– Societal: Assess the impact of broad legislative authorities for the use of military force on future national security situations.
– Societal: Asses the impact of an authorization for the use of military force being used instead of a war declaration following the 9/11 attacks.
– Organizational: Provide options for the military recruiting process to assess mental resiliency to try to build a force that is less susceptible to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
– Organizational: Assess how rapid unit growth to meet combat demands negatively impacted that unit’s traditional mission / skill set.
– Organizational: Assess how years of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns negatively impacted the military’s ability to fight a near-peer competitor or perform any other missions.
– Personal: Assess how your service from 2001-2021 has personally impacted you.
– Personal: Assess how your service from 2001-2021 has impacted your professional group.
– Personal: Assess how your service from 2001-2021 has impacted your family.
– Personal: Assess whether, knowing what you know now, you would do it again?
Please limit your article to 1,000 words and write using our Options Paper or Assessment Paper templates which are designed for ease of use by both writers and readers alike.
Please send your article to submissions@divergentoptions.org by April 10, 2022.
