Foreign Military Studies Office

Foreign Military Studies Office
Name	Foreign Military Studies Office
Formation	1986
Type	Research organization
Headquarters	Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Parent organization	United States Army Combined Arms Center

Foreign Military Studies Office is a United States Army research institution located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, focused on analysis of foreign armed forces, doctrine, tactics, and conflict trends. It supports strategic planners, intelligence communities, and operational commanders by producing open-source translations, studies, and wargaming inputs on international security issues. Its work intersects with historical case studies, contemporary operations, and regional security dynamics across Eurasia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.

History

The office was established during the Cold War era and developed amid debates sparked by the Soviet Union's interventions, the Yom Kippur War, and lessons from the Vietnam War that influenced U.S. force posture. Early efforts drew on methodologies refined by institutions such as the Rand Corporation, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Smithsonian Institution's military history programs. During the 1990s the office expanded research parallels with events like the Gulf War, Yugoslav Wars, and post-Cold War reorientation debates linked to the NATO enlargement and the Oslo Accords. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, analysts at the office contributed work relevant to the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), the Iraq War, and counterinsurgency studies drawing on precedents including the Malayan Emergency, the Soviet–Afghan War, and the Algerian War. Cold War archives, captured documents, and open-source translations paralleled scholarship on the People's Liberation Army, Russian Ground Forces, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Mission and Role

The office's charter centers on producing actionable analysis for the United States Army, the Department of Defense, and allied staffs, informing debates on doctrine, force modernization, and irregular warfare. It synthesizes primary-source material from militaries such as the People's Liberation Army Navy, Russian Aerospace Forces, Turkish Land Forces, and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps while engaging counterpart scholarship at the Royal United Services Institute, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Brookings Institution. Its mission intersects with policy processes in the National Security Council, planning cycles inside United States Central Command, United States Northern Command, and academic networks at institutions like Georgetown University, Harvard Kennedy School, and King's College London.

Organization and Leadership

Structured as a directorate within the United States Army Combined Arms Center, the office operates alongside entities such as the Command and General Staff College and the Leavenworth National Cemetery administration. Leadership has included civilian scholars, retired officers, and intelligence veterans with backgrounds tied to the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Defense University, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Its staff composition reflects interdisciplinary ties with historians from the U.S. Army Center of Military History, linguists trained in the Defense Language Institute, and analysts affiliated with the Foreign Service Institute and university research centers such as Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Research and Publications

The office publishes translations, monographs, and periodicals that appear alongside works by the Journal of Strategic Studies, Parameters (journal), and the International Security (journal). It has produced studies comparing doctrines from the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, the Bundeswehr, and the People's Republic of China's strategic writings, drawing on canonical texts such as Sun Tzu's treatises and Soviet operational manuals used during the Battle of Kursk. Publications have informed curricula at the United States Military Academy, influenced wargame scenarios at the Naval War College, and contributed to analyses employed by the United States Special Operations Command and NATO transformation efforts. The office maintains translation projects of memoirs by figures linked to conflicts including the Iran–Iraq War, the Falklands War, and the Arab Spring uprisings.

Partnerships and Collaborations

The office collaborates with academic partners such as Columbia University, Princeton University, University of Oxford, and think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It exchanges research with foreign military study centers like the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst's research units, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and the NATO Defense College. Cooperation extends to archival projects with institutions such as the National Archives and Records Administration, the British Library, and the Russian State Military Archive while participating in conferences hosted by the Munich Security Conference and the Aspen Institute.

Facilities and Resources

Located at Fort Leavenworth, the office leverages campus resources including the Combined Arms Research Library, access to the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College classrooms, and wargaming facilities used alongside the Serious Games Initiative and the U.S. Army Simulation and Technology (AS&T). It benefits from regional expertise at centers like the Evans Army Community Hospital research outreach and interfaces with the Kansas University Center for International Studies for language and area studies support. The repository includes translated documents, captured materiel reports, and digitized collections comparable to holdings at the Hoover Institution and the Wilson Center.

Notable Projects and Impact

Notable initiatives have analyzed the operational art of the Soviet Union and successor Russian Ground Forces, assessed maneuver concepts of the People's Liberation Army, and contributed to lessons on counterinsurgency informed by the Iraq Campaign. Products have shaped doctrine revisions in the Field Manual (United States Army), supported congressional testimony before committees such as the United States House Committee on Armed Services, and informed allied exercises like Operation Atlantic Resolve and Exercise Talisman Sabre. The office's translations and case studies have been cited in studies about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Syrian Civil War, and stabilization efforts in Somalia, influencing both operational planners at U.S. Africa Command and academic debates at forums like the International Studies Association.

Category:United States Army