Vigorously defending America’s national security preserves our free and democratic way of life. American policy makers have and will always make decisions about war and the threat of war to defend our homeland, stabilize regions abroad, and defend our allies. Thus, the American democratic system requires an electorate and leadership well versed in military affairs.

Unfortunately, many policy makers and the public do not understand military affairs. The study and teaching of military operations has become increasingly rare over the past several decades. Few elite American colleges and universities offer any courses in military history at all. Increasingly, those military history courses that are offered focus on the social aspects of war rather than on military operations. As a result, most of those who study the art of war are either ROTC cadets or students at service academies--in other words, those who will enter the military.

But in a healthy democracy it is as important for those outside the military to understand war as it is for those who are serving. Without such understanding, neither the electorate nor the civilian leadership can understand military challenges, formulate and choose among military policy options, recognize sound decision-making and understand the scale and cost of war. The abandonment of military studies at America's colleges and universities since the Vietnam War poses a serious challenge to civilian control of the military and to the well-being of the nation.

The current generation of senior U.S. policy makers did not have access to college and university education about military affairs. Only a few of the next generation’s leaders will have had the education in military affairs and strategy available at the finest colleges. It is necessary, therefore, to find an additional way to make the study of military operations available to Americans.

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