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:
The Joint Warfighting Concept (JWC) is meant to provide the military with a roadmap to the future. Yet each military service creates its own future operating concept (e.g., Agile Combat Employment, Distributed Maritime Operations, Army Operating Concept 2040, Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations) while military departments pursue the development of concept required capabilities. Divergent Options is calling for national security papers assessing the situation or discussing options related to the challenges of operationalizing the Joint Warfighting Concept.
Below is a list of prompts that may inspire potential writers:
– Assess the Joint Warfighting Concept’s relevancy in addressing the changing character of warfare.
– Assess how well the Joint Warfighting Concept achieves its stated goals of ensuring the military has the right technology, leaders, and doctrine.
– Assess the Joint Warfighting Concept’s impacts on sharpening the military’s competitive edge through adaptability and innovation.
– Provide options to enable the adoption of service-specific concepts into future iterations of the Joint Warfighting Concept.
– Provide options on weighing service-produced future operating concepts against the Joint Warfighting Concept when developing acquisition plans.
– Assess the impact of documents like the Joint Warfighting Concept and service-produced future operating concepts on military decision-making external to the United States.
– Provide options for novel approaches to test and evaluate future operating concepts.
– Assess the periodicity of developing and promulgating future operating concepts against programmatic timelines.
Please limit your submission 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 15, 2025.
