AU students compete in SecDef, CJCS essay competition

Published May 19, 2015
By Phil Berube
42nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Several Air University students placed in the top 15 of the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Strategic Essay Competitions, with an Air War College student writing the winning entry in one of the categories.*

The competition, conducted by National Defense University Press, is broken down into two categories: Secretary of Defense National Security Essay Competition and CJCS National Defense and Military Strategy Essay Competition, which includes the Strategic Research Paper and the Strategy Article options.

The competition is open to students from the military's intermediate and senior professional military education institutions and research program fellows.

Lt. Col. Wallace Turnbull III, AWC student, placed first in the Secretary of Defense essay competition with his paper titled "Time to Come in from the Cold (War): Nuclear Force Structure for an Uncertain War."

Turnbull's paper argues for a revamping of the nation's nuclear force structure to be useful in an increasingly dangerous world, said Dr. James Mowbray, an AWC professor and one of five university faculty members who selected the AU papers and articles to forward to the competition.

"This leaves us with the possibility of many threats emerging on short notice. He seeks a way for us to be ready for these threats," said Mowbray.

Following are the results for AU students:

Secretary of Defense essay competition (maximum 5,000 words)
1st- Lt. Col. Wallace Turnbull III, AWC, "Time to Come in from the Cold (War): Nuclear Force Structure for an Uncertain War"
2nd- Col. Patrick Dolan, AWC, "It is Time for an International Convention to Ban Permanent Human Enhancements for Warfighting Purposes"
8th- Lt. Col. Michael Sierco, AWC, "Operational Design and Grand Strategy: Putting Rigor in the Process"
10th- Maj. Max Johnson, Air Command and Staff College, "Refining United States Policy on Offensive Cyber Operations"
14th- Maj. George Cole, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, "The Essence of Cooperation: Establishing a Framework for Success in Military Regimes"

CJCS paper competition (maximum 5,000 words)
2nd- Lt. Col. Michael Miller, AWC, "Hybrid Warfare: Preparing for Future Conflict"
3rd- Maj. Jesse Hamel, ACSC, "Adaptive Airpower: Arming America for the Future Through 4D Printing"
5th- Maj. Max Johnson, ACSC, "Operational Reconnaissance for the Anti-Access/Area Denial Environment"
CJCS article competition (maximum 1,500 words)
4th- Maj. Shannon Cummins, ACSC, "A Garrison Domain? Civil-Military Relations and Cyberspace"
7th- Navy Cmdr. Patrick Count, AWC, "On the Viability of Military Offensive Cyberspace Operations"

Winning and other worthy essays will be published in NDU's Joint Forces Quarterly (4th quarter, 2015), or in Prism, the journal of NDU's Center for Complex Operations, or in other NDU Press publications as appropriate.

(*Editor's note: The results above are unofficial until after the NDU president approves the results.)