tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/armed-forces-10040/articlesArmed forces – The Conversation2023-09-07T22:08:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2125682023-09-07T22:08:14Z2023-09-07T22:08:14Z‘Male soldiers can’t help themselves’ is among many rape myths that need debunking<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/male-soldiers-cant-help-themselves-is-among-many-rape-myths-that-need-debunking" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2023/judges-and-rape-myths/">Rape myths</a> are stereotypes and false beliefs associated with all forms of sexual assault. Popular rape myths include “she was asking for it,” “good guys don’t commit rape,” and “women lie about being raped to ruin men’s reputations.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/10/nsw-study-rape-sexual-assault-harassment-trials-myths-victims-stereotypes">Recent research on sexual assault trials</a> in Australia found that defence lawyers rely on, and reproduce, rape myths. But until now, it wasn’t clear if some rape myths are unique to sexual violence in the military. </p>
<p>Identifying military rape myths is essential to help reduce sexual violence committed by service members against their fellow soldiers. </p>
<p>Research focused on civilian rape myths has revealed that when rape myths are accepted, there are increased negative perceptions of rape survivors, <a href="https://theconversation.com/jurors-who-believe-rape-myths-contribute-to-dismal-conviction-rates-but-judge-only-trials-wont-solve-the-problem-205066">lower conviction rates</a>, shorter sentences for perpetrators and more police reports that reproduce rape myths. </p>
<p>It makes sense that there might be rape myths unique to the military. Sexual violence perpetrated internally in the military is distinct from civilian sexual violence in terms of how often it happens, how it can impact victims’ careers, the military justice system and public trust of — even reverence for — military institutions.</p>
<h2>The scourge of military sexual assault</h2>
<p>Sexual violence within most western military forces has been increasing despite increased attention and resources devoted to the problem. </p>
<p>In Australia, female service members have a one in four chance of being harassed or assaulted over the course of their careers. The United States Army saw a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/politics/sexual-assault-military-report/index.html">26 per cent increase in sexual assaults</a> between 2020 and 2021. </p>
<p>The Canadian government recently <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9403493/military-sexual-misconduct-class-action-deadline/">extended the deadline for submitting claims to a sexual misconduct class-action lawsuit</a> worth almost $1 billion after more than 19,000 victims came forward with claims. </p>
<p>There is strong evidence that available data on military sexual violence is merely the tip of the iceberg. Research from several countries indicates that <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1318-1.html">more than 80 per cent of victims do not report their assault</a>.</p>
<h2>Three military rape myths</h2>
<p>To better understand if there are specific rape myths associated with public conversations about military sexual violence, I studied 30 years of media coverage of the problem in three countries: the U.S., Canada and Australia. </p>
<p>I published the results of this work in a recent book, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/good-soldiers-dont-rape/249E4FAF0D8C067E473B9C0404211F8E"><em>Good Soldiers Don’t Rape: The Stories We Tell About Military Sexual Violence</em></a>. </p>
<p>One of my biggest findings is that there are distinct military rape myths that pervade international media coverage. Here are three of the biggest ones:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Sexual violence is a natural, if unfortunate, by-product of a military culture that requires tough, combat-ready “good” warriors.</p></li>
<li><p>Women who choose to join the military should know that sexual violence is a risk because men can’t be expected to control their urges, particularly in high-pressure situations.</p></li>
<li><p>Only military leaders know how to handle the problem of sexual violence. The public often misunderstands or overreacts to the unique nature of sexual violence within defence forces. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>To be clear, this isn’t merely a media coverage problem. The media coverage reflects public conversations, including statements by military leaders and opinion pieces by prominent figures.</p>
<h2>‘Men will be men’ justification</h2>
<p>An example was in 2015, when Gen. Tom Lawson, then the Canadian chief of the defence staff, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-sexual-misconduct-due-to-biological-wiring-gen-tom-lawson-tells-cbc-news-1.3115993">suggested sexual violence would naturally be present in any institution dominated by men</a>. </p>
<p>He claimed that male soldiers are “biologically wired in a certain way … (to) believe it is a reasonable thing to press themselves and their desires on others.”</p>
<p>Another example was in 2012 in Australia, when a former Air Force pilot claimed that you cannot expect <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/there-will-be-women-in-foxholes-20120106-1po7m.html#ixzz1ijDYt8Uj">“testosterone to remain dormant” when men and women are “at the peak of their sexuality, then training them to be warriors … and putting them together in a semi-cloistered environment.”</a> </p>
<p>Military rape myths are similar to the rape myths associated with civilian sexual assault. Both sets of rape myths create a series of excuses that remove institutional accountability, evade the acknowledgement of a systemic and persistent institutional problem and diffuse or weaken efforts to address the problem. </p>
<h2>Gaslighting victims</h2>
<p>They also shift the blame of the problem away from perpetrators and military institutions and gaslight victims and the public.</p>
<p>They send a message that internal military sexual violence should be expected and that women’s presence in the institution is the problem, not perpetrators. Military rape myths also call into question issues raised by victims and the public by portraying concerns about military sexual violence as poorly informed or overreactions. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-taking-canadas-armed-forces-so-long-to-tackle-sexual-misconduct-196869">What's taking Canada's Armed Forces so long to tackle sexual misconduct?</a>
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<p>Identifying rape myths is a first step towards unravelling them and encouraging public conversations that avoid perpetuating stereotypes that let military forces and perpetrators off the hook.</p>
<p>Dispelling rape myths should be a top priority for all national armed forces, especially like those in the U.S., Canada and Australia that claim to be implementing cultural reform aimed at addressing systemic forms of discrimination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan MacKenzie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rape myths dominate international media coverage of internal military sexual violence.Megan MacKenzie, Professor and Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085052023-06-29T10:40:14Z2023-06-29T10:40:14ZNigeria’s new national security bosses: 5 burning issues they need to focus on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534434/original/file-20230627-38612-66qldg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Bola Tinubu takes oath of office at his inauguration ceremony in Abuja on 29 May 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently <a href="https://punchng.com/full-list-newly-appointed-service-chiefs-others/">appointed</a> new military service chiefs alongside a new national security adviser and inspector general of police. </p>
<p>They are expected to play a critical role in the national security architecture of the new administration. The appointment means the president has a technical team to assist him in securing the country.</p>
<p>Public expectation of the team is <a href="https://dailytrust.com/what-nigerians-expect-from-the-new-service-chiefs/">quite high</a>. This is because of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-spiralling-insecurity-five-essential-reads-186696">precarious state</a> and trajectory of Nigeria’s national security over the years.</p>
<p>Tinubu’s government has inherited dire internal <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigeria-insecurity-2022-was-a-bad-year-and-points-to-need-for-major-reforms-194554">security challenges</a>. These include <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-terrorism-continues-in-nigeria-and-how-to-turn-the-tide-143479">terrorism</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-bandits-are-not-unknown-gunmen-why-the-label-matters-166997">banditry</a>, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-triggered-new-conflict-between-farmers-and-herders-in-nigeria-145055">farmer-herder crisis</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-factors-that-foster-conflict-in-nigerias-kaduna-state-109899">communal conflicts</a> and militancy. There is also <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-breakdown-of-biafra-separatism-and-where-kanu-fits-into-the-picture-166235">separatist violence</a> in the south-east.</p>
<p>The government canvassed votes using the mantra of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/bola-ahmed-tinubu-promised-to-renew-hope-for-nigeria-5-ways-he-can-achieve-this-200306">renewed hope</a>” for Nigerians.</p>
<p>The public appears to have <a href="https://nigeriannewsdirect.com/expectations-of-nigerians-from-new-service-chiefs/">welcomed</a> the new appointments, especially as they seem to represent a fairly balanced national spread. </p>
<p>Almost all the geo-political zones of the country are represented. They include the south-east, which was left out of such appointments during the eight years of Muhammadu Buhari’s reign. </p>
<p>The inclusive spread is crucial for national cohesion. It gives the various parts of the country a sense of belonging. This allays the fear of ethnic or sectional domination or marginalisation.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/al-chukwuma-okoli-388182">political scientist and researcher in liberal security studies</a>, I propose some measures the security chiefs could take to deliver on their mandates. The proposals highlight the need to reform the workings of the security sector to make it more effective.</p>
<p>I suggest the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>separate the military from politics</p></li>
<li><p>get civilians more involved in security</p></li>
<li><p>give the forces what they need to operate</p></li>
<li><p>motivate the rank and file better </p></li>
<li><p>work smarter, using technology.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The reform is indispensable to revitalise the Nigerian security sector, which has lacked logistics, personnel and strategy.</p>
<h2>Depoliticise the military and allied security institutions</h2>
<p>There is a need to keep security institutions consciously and deliberately away from politics. This can be achieved by making sure they remain under the control of the civilian authority without losing their ethos and vitality. </p>
<p>They need to be powerful enough to defend the country. But, loyal enough to follow the legitimate dictates of the democratically constituted authority.</p>
<p>The institutions should be professional in their deportment, conduct and operations. For instance, recruitment, placement, promotion, posting and retirement should not be subject to partisan or political influences. </p>
<h2>Demilitarise the security sector</h2>
<p>Nigeria’s security sector has been so militarised that it works like a sort of praetorian circuit - a close guardian setup exclusive to the combatants. The sector needs to be moderately demilitarised to encourage civilian participation and contributions. The services of un-uniformed technocrats with cognate expertise in aspects of military strategy and allied technical resourcing need to be enlisted in national security governance.</p>
<p>Contemporary security threats are more civil-oriented than military. Non-military occurrences such as armed criminality and violent extremism are much more prevalent than threats of civil war or external aggression. Hence, the involvement of civilians in the national security processes as technical volunteers and undercover agents is crucial. </p>
<h2>Motivate rank and file</h2>
<p>Nigerian soldiers are arguably poorly equipped, <a href="https://leadership.ng/40-pay-rise-our-salaries-last-reviewed-under-yaradua-soldiers/">motivated and paid</a>. They are not well looked after, considering the risks and sacrifices that their duties entail. </p>
<p>Most non-commissioned personnel in the Nigerian military, for instance, earn less than <a href="https://www.mysalaryscale.com/blog/nigerian-army-ranks-and-salaries-2019/">N100,000 (about US$130)</a> a month. The average member of the South African National Defence Force earns <a href="https://www.rateweb.co.za/career-advice/average-sandf-employee-salary-in-south-africa/#:%7E:text=As%20a%20member%20of%20the,2%20billion%2C%20with%20R3.">R17,074 (about US$918)</a> a month.</p>
<h2>Enhance capacity for combat operations</h2>
<p>Armed violence is becoming increasingly complex and asymmetrical. Countering such threats does not merely require the might of arms. It requires adroit deployment of tactics, intelligence and advanced technology to gain a strategic advantage. </p>
<p>There is a need for a shift in strategy from the current approach, focused on arms and men, to something technically smarter. </p>
<p>There is also a need to build capacity for preemptive, proactive and rapid response to threats.</p>
<h2>Optimise operational capabilities</h2>
<p>The operational effectiveness and efficiency of the security institutions largely depend on the quality and adequacy of their enabling resources. </p>
<p>Optimal supplies and use of personnel, materials, logistics and funds are a necessity for the improved performance of the institutions. </p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>The newly appointed Nigerian security service chiefs work in a climate of intense public expectation. They are called to succeed where many have failed before. They must fix the systematically distressed national security situation.</p>
<p>The task before the service chiefs is enormous. There is no quick fix. But enhancing the operational efficacy of the national security systems through deliberate structural reforms, no matter how incremental, is imperative.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Al Chukwuma Okoli teaches Political Science at Federal University of Lafia. He has received funding from the Tertiary Education Development Fund. His a member of Amnesty International as well as Conflict Research Network West Africa (CORN-WA). </span></em></p>For Nigeria’s new security chiefs to succeed, there is the need to depoliticise, demilitarise, and optimise operational capabilities of the armed forces.Al Chukwuma Okoli, Reader (Associate Professor), Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Federal University of Lafia, Nigeria, Federal University LafiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086052023-06-28T08:36:25Z2023-06-28T08:36:25ZWagner debacle in Russia raises red flags for African states and how they manage their security<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534398/original/file-20230627-15-qy37yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">10 tons of ammunition previously laid in civilian settlements by Libyan militia and Wagner group mercenaries . </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The brief rebellion led against the Kremlin by the head of the Wagner mercenary forces in Russia last week sent <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/short-lived-wagner-mutiny-will-undermine-russias-ukraine-invasion/">shock waves</a> across the world. </p>
<p>This was no less true in Africa, where <a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/what-russias-wagner-group-doing-africa">some countries</a> have, over the last decade, turned to the Wagner group for security support.</p>
<p>Many states in Africa are contending with <a href="https://www.usip.org/events/security-challenges-africa-2021-and-beyond">multidimensional insecurity</a>. This includes violent extremism, terrorism, insurgency, banditry, communal clashes, sea piracy, separatist violence, kidnapping and oil theft. Non-state actors have entered the scene as security providers. </p>
<p>As a coordinator of observations of organised crime in central Africa at the Institute for Security Studies based in Dakar, Senegal, I believe the recent events in Russia could have three implications for African countries that depend on non-state armed groups for security. These are: rebellion, increased human rights abuses and insubordination to state military authorities. </p>
<p>African countries engaged with Wagner, and with Russia, should take heed. The aborted Wagner rebellion offers distinct lessons for African countries that have invited mercenary troops onto their soil.</p>
<p>Private armies might sometimes prove effective in the battlefield. And militias might be useful in intelligence gathering. But the inability of state authorities to bring them under control casts serious doubt on their overall usefulness. </p>
<p>African states should rather take full responsibility for their security sector reform. This must include repositioning their military and law enforcement agencies to respond effectively to internal and external security challenges.</p>
<h2>Non-state actors</h2>
<p>African countries have come to depend on non-state actors like Wagner for security in three ways:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>co-option of militia groups by the state</p></li>
<li><p>the voluntary incursion of vigilante groups into the security space as service providers </p></li>
<li><p>state partnership with private military mercenaries.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>As security nosedives, some governments have co-opted militia groups to strengthen the state security architecture. </p>
<p>There are a number of examples.</p>
<p>In 2015 the Nigerian government <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/179208-we-got-new-pipelines-protection-contract-two-weeks-ago-opc-leader.html">awarded</a> a multi-million naira contract to Oodua Peoples Congress, an ethnic militia, to secure oil pipelines. </p>
<p>Seven years later the Nigerian Senate lent legislative support to the <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/11/23/senate-backs-n48bn-pipeline-surveillance-contract-awarded-to-tompolos-company">N48 billion</a> pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Global West Vessel Specialist Limited. This is a private maritime security firm founded and owned by <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/555830-government-ekpemupolo-the-only-government-that-works-in-nigeria-by-osmund-agbo.html">Government Ekpemupolo</a>. He was the former commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, popularly known as Tompolo. </p>
<p>These contracts were akin to handing over national assets to armed gangs for protection. They were an affront to the Nigerian constitution, which empowers the law enforcement and security agencies as ultimate providers of security. </p>
<p>Voluntary policing to fill the vacuum left by the state is another example. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-kenyans-have-embraced-vigilante-cops-an-ineffective-police-force-is-to-blame-196449">recent study</a> showed that where people feel insecure and unprotected, they find innovative ways of responding to crime. Some rely on private security and others, especially the poor, rely on community vigilantism. Kenya is an example. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/23311886.2023.2174486?needAccess=true&role=button">My recent study</a> showed that vigilantes performed strategic duties in Nigeria’s north-west. They repelled attacks from bandits, rescued kidnap victims and arrested criminals. They also sometimes participated in joint security operations with the police and army. </p>
<p>Borno state has used the Civilian Joint Task Force and hunters to complement military efforts in counter-terrorism operations. They are on <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/zulum-pays-salary-bonus-to-12735-borno-civilian-jtf-members-others/">government’s monthly payroll</a>.</p>
<p>Wagner’s involvement fits into the third category: state partnership with private military mercenaries.</p>
<p>Wagner has been operating in over a <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/world/africa/russias-wagner-groups-presence-in-africa-goes-beyond-libya">dozen countries</a> in Africa.</p>
<p>In Mali, the state opted to <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/tracking-arrival-russias-wagner-group-mali">partner</a> with it for security provision. This was prompted by <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15253.doc.htm">heightened insecurity</a>, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220720-%F0%9F%94%B4-mali-expels-spokesperson-of-un-peacekeeping-mission-minusma">diplomatic rows</a> with the peace-keeping mission and the <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/france-partners-troop-withdrawal-mali/">ejection</a> of foreign counter-insurgency forces.</p>
<p>In the Central African Republic (CAR), the mercenaries <a href="https://acleddata.com/2022/08/30/wagner-group-operations-in-africa-civilian-targeting-trends-in-the-central-african-republic-and-mali/#s4">reportedly</a> started operating in 2018. This was after the government and Moscow <a href="https://adf-magazine.com/2023/05/wagner-groups-car-mining-operations-help-russia-evade-sanctions/">agreed</a> to exchange Russian military support and weapons for mining concessions. </p>
<p>In late 2020, CAR’s security situation deteriorated ahead of general elections. Wagner’s role switched from support and training to combat. </p>
<p>In 2019 Wagner fighters <a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/what-russias-wagner-group-doing-africa#:%7E:text=Similarly%2C%20Wagner%20Group%20forces%20deployed,area%20after%20a%20few%20months.">were deployed</a> to Mozambique to help contain Islamist militants operating in the northern Cabo Delgado province.</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>The Wagner rebellion in Russia has three possible implications for African countries.</p>
<p><strong>Rebellion:</strong> States in which the Wagner group is operating could witness armed rebellion. In some, the military and police have already ceded critical security operations to the group. For instance, in the CAR, Wagner mercenaries <a href="https://adf-magazine.com/2023/05/wagner-groups-car-mining-operations-help-russia-evade-sanctions/">permeate all levels</a> of the country. </p>
<p><strong>Increased human rights abuses:</strong> There’s the potential for an increase in human rights abuses and impunity. In countries with Wagner footprints, relevant agencies <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/download/IF/IF12389/IF12389.pdf/">are increasingly impeded</a> from monitoring and reporting on abuses in areas of Wagner’s operations. </p>
<p>A human rights investigative mission conducted by the UN in Mali has provided strong evidence that more than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/20/russian-mercenaries-behind-slaughter-in-mali-village-un-report-finds">500 villagers</a> were killed by Malian troops and Wagner mercenary fighters.</p>
<p>In the CAR the <a href="https://acleddata.com/">Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project</a> has recorded <a href="https://acleddata.com/2022/08/30/wagner-group-operations-in-africa-civilian-targeting-trends-in-the-central-african-republic-and-mali/#s4">180 civilian targeting events</a> involving Wagner mercenaries since December 2020. </p>
<p><strong>Insubordination to military authorities:</strong> The Wagner rebellion unfolded in Russia <a href="https://lieber.westpoint.edu/contracts-wagner-group-russias-defense-ministry-international-law-implications/">partly</a> to resist an attempt by the Russian defence ministry to bring the group under state control. </p>
<p>This bodes ill for most African states in which Wagner operates. In most, the country’s army is subordinate to the mercenary group. The rebellion by Wagner against the Kremlin shows the group can support discordant elements in weaker African states to subvert democracy. </p>
<p>In addition, non-state armed groups could draw their cue from the Wagner group and become unaccountable to the military. </p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>African countries that have invited the mercenary troops in should review their security architecture. This must begin with a decoupling of their security policies and operations from mercenaries and non-state security service providers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oluwole Ojewale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Wagner rebellion in Russia has implications for African countries that depend on mercenaries and non-state armed groups for security.Oluwole Ojewale, Regional Coordinator, Institute for Security StudiesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1925802022-10-26T15:09:06Z2022-10-26T15:09:06ZPoland dreams of building Europe’s largest army, against backdrop of Russia’s war against Ukraine<p>By supporting Ukraine at a time of need, the Polish government has chalked up points with other European governments. Soon after Russia invaded, in late February, Poland welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees and drummed up support for arming Kyiv. In March, it <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/03/16/visite-surprise-a-kiev-de-trois-premiers-ministres-europeens_6117720_3210.html">sent its prime minister to Kiev</a> alongside Czech and Slovenian counterparts. Three months later, Germany, France and Italy were playing catch-up, bolstering the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party narrative that <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/28/poland-now-true-leader-free-europe/">European leadership was shifting to the East</a>. Warsaw’s <a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/05/05/exclusive-poland-s-pm-on-ukraine-war-imperial-russia-and-short-sighted-eu-states">harder stance on Russia</a> also increasingly appears vindicated, as the conflict sheds light on the security issues of NATO’s eastern flank. </p>
<p>But Russia’s war against Ukraine has also spurred less liberal ambitions. The Polish Defence Minister has repeatedly trumpeted its <a href="http://www.opex360.com/2022/08/31/la-pologne-va-plus-que-doubler-ses-depenses-militaires-en-2023/">plans to more than double its security budget in 2023</a> with the view to building up a “great army” capable of withstanding the shock of a Russian armed attack. </p>
<h2>Europe’s most powerful army</h2>
<p>Analysts believe such plans could make the Polish army the most powerful in Europe. French defence website Méta Défense <a href="https://meta-defense.fr/2022/07/26/pologne-et-coree-du-sud-sassocient-sur-le-long-terme-pour-une-cooperation-industrielle-defense-ambitieuse/">highlights</a> a “spectacular reinforcement of the Polish army’s overall capacity, which, by the end of the decade, will include 1,500 modern tanks, an equal number of infantry combat vehicles, 1,200 mobile artillery units and several thousand light armoured vehicles to exceed the arms capacity of the French, German, UK, Italian, Dutch and Belgian forces combined”.</p>
<p>The government, which is expected to spend 3% of the national budget on defence, now intends to grow its land army from <a href="https://www.gov.pl/web/national-defence/new-divisions-of-the-polish-army-equipped-with-modern-weapons-will-be-established">four to six divisions</a>, equivalent to 300,000 soldiers, compared with the current figure of 115,000. It will also see a significant boost in firepower. <a href="https://www.gov.pl/web/national-defence/polish-defence-in-the-perspective-of-2032">The national defence policy</a> excludes pre-emptive strikes but seeks to deter any armed aggression.</p>
<p>Warsaw will rely not only on purchasing existing technology, but also on partnerships that are likely to strengthen the Polish national arms industry. Plans have been made to acquire US tanks and helicopters, as well as HIMARS missiles, the latter of which proved <a href="https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/l-artillerie-de-precision-modifie-l-equilibre-en-ukraine-selon-des-experts-15-07-2022-2483421_24.php">highly effective during combat in Ukraine</a>. </p>
<p>Other contracts have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/poland-expected-buy-skorean-rocket-launchers-after-tank-howitzer-sales-2022-10-19/">signed with South Korea</a>, including shipments of tanks and howitzers and as recent orders of 288 artillery rocket launchers. More importantly, these purchases from Seoul appear to include technology transfers and cooperation deals that could increase the autonomy of the Polish defence industry, perhaps even to rival that of the country’s western European counterparts.</p>
<p>All along, the EU’s defence industries have been systematically disregarded in favour of US, UK and South Korean equipment (with Poland switching from Airbus to Italian brand Leonardo, only to drop them for <a href="https://www.flightglobal.com/helicopters/poland-to-buy-almost-100-apaches-as-defence-spending-accelerates/150126.article">Boeing Apache helicopters</a>). </p>
<h2>The PiS favours overseas kit</h2>
<p>These plans chime with the <a href="https://www.e-ir.info/2018/02/27/introducing-realism-in-international-relations-theory/">realist</a> “geopolitical ideology” driving PiS and large swaths of the Polish conservative landscape. They also clarify the country’s position on Europe.</p>
<p>Ever since the early 1990, the Polish right wing has considered NATO membership more significant than EU membership, whereas liberals and moderates have been more open to the political integration of Europe. These discrepancies have long beenblurred by Poland’s more general concern to be part of the international organisations of Europe and the western world, but they are now becoming more and more salient.</p>
<p>For the PiS, the EU appears as a secondary arena, particularly given the bloc’s readiness to confront Poland when it considers its government violates certain European principles. The new arms deals with South Korea are a clear indication the PiS government no longer wishes to depend upon, or show internal solidarity with, the EU in matters of defence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490594/original/file-20221019-18-u9w420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490594/original/file-20221019-18-u9w420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490594/original/file-20221019-18-u9w420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490594/original/file-20221019-18-u9w420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490594/original/file-20221019-18-u9w420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490594/original/file-20221019-18-u9w420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490594/original/file-20221019-18-u9w420.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Polish and US troops take part in the so-called Defender-Europe 20 joint military exercise at Drawsko Pomorskie training grounds in Poland on June 17, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP/Janek Skarzynski</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These developments may be linked to attempts that were made back in January to create a <a href="https://kafkadesk.org/2022/05/30/uk-proposes-european-commonwealth-with-poland-ukraine-and-baltics/">new alliance with Ukraine and the UK</a>. It is evident PiS sees the EU simply as a stepping stone on the path toward liberal globalisation, rather than a means of integration and new solidarity between member states.</p>
<h2>Full-on rearmament</h2>
<p>News of the military expansion have <a href="https://tvn24.pl/polska/warszawa-spotkanie-liderow-opozycji-donalda-tuska-wladyslawa-kosiniaka-kamysza-szymona-holowni-i-wlodzimierza-czarzastego-6120960">come under fire</a> from the Polish opposition. Opposition parties unanimously supported a <a href="http://dziennikzbrojny.pl/aktualnosci/news,1,11684,aktualnosci-z-polski,nawet-137-mld-pln-na-obronnosc-w-2023-roku">move that allocates 3% of the national budget to defence</a>, but Jarosław Kaczyński, the PiS President and effective leader of the government wants it to <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/poland-to-spend-5-of-gdp-on-defence/">reach 5%</a> in the future. </p>
<p>Some former defence ministers have <a href="https://www.rmf24.pl/tylko-w-rmf24/siedem-pytan-o-7-07/news-siemoniak-o-modernizacji-polskiej-armii-mamy-tylko-festiwal-,nId,6295603#crp_state=1">said the current approach</a> will <a href="https://defence24.pl/przemysl/prezes-hsw-zlozyl-rezygnacje">damage</a> local industry. A <a href="https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/industrie/aeronautique-defense/helicopteres-caracal-quand-la-pologne-fache-tout-rouge-la-france-605889.html">scandal involving French-made Caracal helicopters</a>, dating back to 2016, has also resurfaced, following a leak of old government e-mails that plotted <a href="https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,27990878,jak-mowic-o-klesce-caracali-medialna-instrukcja-w-mailach-dworczyka.html">a smear campaign against the French equipment</a>. These Airbus helicopters were due to be delivered to Poland between 2017 and 2022, whereas 96 new US Apaches have just been commissioned, with only 18 deliveries confirmed so far. All this has occurred outside the usual bidding procedure.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1568275564007505921"}"></div></p>
<p>Opposition leaders also denounce PiS’s anti-Europeanism, revealing cracks within what was once a pro-Atlantic consensus. Opposition parties have <a href="https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,28760915,po-chce-po-wygranych-wyborach-przejrzec-wojskowe-kontrakty-blaszczaka.html">pledged to review the government’s military contracts</a> should they emerge victorious from elections in 2023.</p>
<h2>Could the plans be scrapped?</h2>
<p>The current rearmament policy is being rolled out ahead of an election that, <a href="https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/poland/">according to polls</a>, looks less positive for the PiS. The country has seen the highest <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/polish-inflation-could-rise-september-finance-minister-says-2022-09-24/">inflation</a> (at almost 16.4%) since the 1990s. Various other crises that have been mismanaged by the government, including the <a href="https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/110698-000-A/catastrophe-de-l-oder-la-pologne-en-eaux-troubles/">Oder environmental disaster</a>.</p>
<p>Rocketing household energy prices and <a href="https://tvn24.pl/biznes/z-kraju/wegiel-braki-w-polsce-lukasz-horbacz-z-izby-gospodarczej-sprzedawcow-polskiego-wegla-podaje-liczby-6126542">coal shortages</a> are liable to hurt the groups likeliest to vote for PiS (e.g. elderly people, rural areas and regions of economic stagnation), who may turn out in fewer numbers during the legislative election.</p>
<p>In light of this difficult situation, the PiS is pushing its defence position and nationalist rhetoric to reinvigorate rifts and polarise politics, especially by <a href="https://goodwordnews.com/polands-kaczynski-raises-the-german-threat">playing an anti-German card</a>. The PiS has even managed to bring the issue of <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/09/01/la-pologne-veut-negocier-avec-berlin-des-reparations-pour-les-pertes-liees-a-la-seconde-guerre-mondiale-qu-elle-estime-a-1-300-milliards-d-euros_6139858_3210.html">German reparations back to the fore, for the devastation caused to Poland in WWII</a>. But these all-too-obvious electoral gimmicks may not work as well as they did in the past.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Enda Boorman for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frédéric Zalewski ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>By the end of the decade, Poland’s arms capacity could exceed that of the French, German, UK, Italian, Dutch and Belgian forces combined.Frédéric Zalewski, Maître de conférences en Science politique, membre de l'Institut des sciences sociales du politiques (ISP, CNRS), Université Paris Nanterre – Université Paris LumièresLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650602021-07-29T20:18:07Z2021-07-29T20:18:07ZCongress moves to reclaim its war powers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413621/original/file-20210728-15-mzwlos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C1988%2C1497&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The aftermath of a U.S. drone strike in January 2020 that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IraqUS/2a0966ca247441c8b59e2b6013ce7803/photo">Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office, via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In mid-July 2021, a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/20/bipartisan-senators-congress-war-powers-500214">bipartisan and ideologically diverse group of senators</a> proposed a new bill that, if passed, would dramatically shift the relative amount of power <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/National%20Security%20Powers%20Act%202021.pdf">the president and Congress have over U.S. military operations</a>. </p>
<p>Whether this bill passes as is, or with significant changes, or not at all, its proposal signals an effort by lawmakers to reclaim power over military action and spending that Congress has gradually surrendered over decades. It also puts pressure on presidents to evaluate their foreign policy objectives more clearly, to determine whether military action is, in fact, appropriate and justified.</p>
<p>As I’ve demonstrated in <a href="https://sarahmburns.com/research/">my research</a>, even though the <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/warpower.asp">1973 War Powers Resolution</a> attempted to constrain presidential power after the disasters of the Vietnam War, it <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/06/16/137222043/why-the-war-powers-act-doesnt-work">contains many loopholes</a> that presidents have exploited to act unilaterally. For example, it allows presidents to engage in military operations without congressional approval for up to 90 days. </p>
<p>As a result of this shift from legislative oversight to presidential control, <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/bulr88&div=24&id=&page=">U.S. foreign policy has become less deliberative</a> and administrations from both parties enjoy a significant amount of control over whether the U.S. calls in the armed forces to address developments overseas.</p>
<h2>Setting new standards</h2>
<p>This bill would end that loophole, requiring presidents to explain their actions more clearly to Congress and the public. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt, presidents have attempted to circumvent oversight and restraints from Congress by citing vague concerns like <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/21/letter-president-regarding-commencement-operations-libya">“national security,” “regional security” or the need to “prevent a humanitarian disaster,”</a> when launching military operations. But they haven’t typically given Congress more concrete information about the nature of the operation or its expected duration. </p>
<p>The new bill sets out a clear definition of which military activities need to be reported to Congress, and how quickly. This is especially important given the ambiguities that prior administrations have exploited. In 2011, a State Department lawyer argued that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/opinion/sunday/harold-kohs-flip-flop-on-the-libya-question.html">air strikes in Libya could continue beyond the War Powers Resolution’s 90-day time limit</a> because there were no ground troops involved. By that logic, any future president could carry out an indefinite bombing campaign with no congressional oversight.</p>
<p>The bill would also require the president to provide an estimated cost of the operation and describe the mission’s objectives – both of which could help Congress determine whether a military operation had <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-drawdown-of-u-s-forces-in-afghanistan/">stayed within its intended bounds or gone beyond them</a>.</p>
<h2>Executive power grows</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a coat and tie signs a document." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413620/original/file-20210728-21-dyp49y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the U.S. declaration of war against Japan on Dec. 8, 1941.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/520053">U.S. National Archives</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before the Pearl Harbor attack forced the U.S. into World War II, Congress had <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/id/99849.htm">exercised its war powers</a>, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/this-president-bucked-norms-and-fought-his-own-party-he-wasnt-named-trump/">preventing President Franklin D. Roosevelt</a> from joining Britain, Australia and other nations in battle.</p>
<p>But in the wake of the attack, Congress began giving the president more control over the military, <a href="http://www.lynneolson.com/those-angry-days/">engaging in less oversight</a> for fear of being <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jeannette-rankin-casts-sole-vote-against-wwii">painted as undermining the war effort</a>.</p>
<p>After World War II ended, unlike in previous eras, <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-11-11/presidents-were-never-meant-have-unilateral-war-powers">Congress continued to relinquish those powers</a>, largely by declining to rein in presidential actions that overstepped into congressional power.</p>
<p>Congress never authorized the war in Korea; Harry Truman used a <a href="https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/presidential-inquiries/united-nations-korea">U.N. Security Council resolution</a> as legal justification. Congress’ vote explicitly opposing the invasion of Cambodia <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/30/president-nixons-invasion-cambodia-50-years-ago-spurred-congress-act/">didn’t stop Richard Nixon from doing it anyway</a>. Even after the Cold War, Bill Clinton regularly acted unilaterally to <a href="https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/57169">address humanitarian crises</a> or <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/clinton-orders-air-attack-on-iraq">continuing threats coming from leaders like Saddam Hussein</a>.</p>
<p>After 9/11, Congress gave up more of its power much faster. A week after those attacks, Congress passed a sweeping <a href="https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ40/PLAW-107publ40.pdf">Authorization for Use of Military Force</a>, giving the president permission to “<a href="https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ40/PLAW-107publ40.pdf">use all necessary and appropriate force</a> against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.” </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ243/PLAW-107publ243.pdf">followup 2002</a> authorization, Congress went even farther, allowing the president to “use the Armed Forces … <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/11/national/text-joint-congressional-resolution.html">as he determines to be necessary and appropriate</a> in order to defend national security” and “enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.” </p>
<p>In the two decades since their passage, four presidents have used those authorizations to justify all manner of military action, from <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/no-pinpricks-we-em-only-em-do-pinpricks/280566">targeted killings</a> of terrorists to the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/us-bets-old-foe-taliban-fight-new-isis-threat-afghanistan-1609873">years-long fight against the Islamic State group</a>, which continues to this day. This approach <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12729">provides few, if any, congressional checks</a> on the control of military affairs exercised by the president.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Demonstrators hold signs opposing war." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413624/original/file-20210728-17-x12fq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol in January 2020 called on Congress to limit the president’s powers to use the military.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TrumpWarPowers/717fffe2ed8e425798e8177403ae0b97/photo">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Threats of war</h2>
<p>The Biden administration has called for <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/11/biden-aumf-limit-war-powers/">more congressional oversight of military actions</a>, saying the powers granted in 2001 and 2002 were too broad and invite abuse by power-hungry presidents. </p>
<p>And yet Biden has said he <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/560640-biden-airstrikes-heat-up-debate-over-war-powers">did not need anything beyond the Constitution</a> to launch attacks in Syria in February and June 2021, saying he was doing so to defend U.S. forces. In mid-July 2021, Biden used the authorizations’ power to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/us/politics/us-drone-strike-shabab-somalia.html">launch a drone strike in Somalia</a> against fundamentalist al-Shabab fighters.</p>
<p>But perhaps the most frightening use of these broad authorities was in January 2020, when President Donald Trump used the 2002 authorization to justify a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/02/middleeast/baghdad-airport-rockets/index.html">lethal drone strike against a respected member of the Iranian government</a>, Major General Qassim Soleimani, without consulting Congress or <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21011723-redacted-olc-memo-justification-of-soleimani-strike">publicly explaining why the attack was necessary</a>, even to this day.</p>
<p>The killing of Soleimani, who held a position in Iran equivalent to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/04/what-is-irans-revolutionary-guard-corps-that-soleimani-helped-lead/">director of the U.S. CIA</a>, was described by the Trump administration only as “<a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-iran/">decisive action to stop a ruthless terrorist from threatening American lives</a>.” Trump’s subsequent promises that Iran would “<a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-iran/">never</a>” have a nuclear weapon were also backed up by the idea that Congress had effectively authorized him to take military action against Iran’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>Tensions – and fears of war – <a href="https://twitter.com/JZarif/status/1214736614217469953">spiked but then slowly faded</a>, when Iran responded with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-base-iraq-comes-under-attack-missiles-iran-claims-n1112171">missile attacks on two U.S. bases in Iraq</a>, and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/number-u-s-troops-brain-injuries-iranian-missile-attack-now-n1134491">Trump downplayed the severity of resulting injuries</a> to American service members. But Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei has continued to vow to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/16/khamenei-renews-revenge-vow-before-soleimani-killing-anniversary">get revenge for Soleimani’s killing</a>, leaving open the possibility of an Iranian attack at any time. Under the current legal structure, a U.S. response to that could come without congressional notification or approval.</p>
<p>The current congressional effort is noteworthy because it seeks to make presidents answerable to Congress for a wider range of military action, and to end the broad and sweeping power of the 2001 and 2002 authorizations that have effectively let presidents do anything with the U.S. military anywhere in the world without being held accountable at home.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand what’s going on in Washington.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-most">Sign up for The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Burns is affiliated with the Quincy Institute and the Institute for Humane Studies. </span></em></p>A new proposal also puts pressure on presidents to evaluate their foreign policy objectives more clearly to determine whether military action is, in fact, appropriate.Sarah Burns, Associate Professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1651362021-07-28T13:10:14Z2021-07-28T13:10:14ZWomen have served in armed forces for decades, but the military is still a man’s world<p>Women have served in Britain’s armed forces for more than a century, in every war since the first world war. They currently comprise about <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2020/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-1-april-2020">11% of regular forces</a>, and since 2018 have been able to apply for <a href="https://www.army.mod.uk/news-and-events/news/2018/10/women-in-ground-close-combat-roles/">all military roles</a>. </p>
<p>But a <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/6959/documents/72771/default/">recent report</a> from the House of Commons Defence Committee has found that the Ministry of Defence is still unable to provide women soldiers with uniforms and equipment that fit them properly – among a host of other difficulties. </p>
<p>The report is the outcome of an inquiry that took evidence from both veterans and currently serving military women as well as civilian experts. Although it praises the defence ministry for recent progress, it makes clear that there is a long way to go before a level playing field is achieved for Britain’s women soldiers.</p>
<p>The report details the many challenges women soldiers face at every stage of their military careers – from poorly fitting body-armour and the unavailability of menstrual products to bullying, harassment and sexual assault from their male peers and commanders. The willingness of some officers to ignore or cover up the physical and emotional abuse of women in their units means that the chain of command all too often supports perpetrators instead of the soldiers who are brave enough to make complaints.</p>
<p>Members of the committee punctuated their report with expressions of shock and surprise at their discoveries, but these problems are neither recent developments nor unique to the UK armed forces. Research into the experiences of women soldiers globally has been underway since at least <a href="https://newint.org/features/1991/07/05/khaki">the 1980s</a> and reveals a great deal of consistency both over time and across national boundaries.</p>
<h2>A global challenge</h2>
<p>In the US, the recruitment of women was an essential component of the shift from the draft to an all-volunteer force in the 1970s. However, generations of women soldiers, from the first wave of <a href="https://networks.h-net.org/node/5376/reviews/36940/janda-dean-warriors-without-weapons-victimization-military-women">mass recruitments</a> during the Vietnam War to women who <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/206171/the-lonely-soldier-by-helen-benedict/">served in Iraq</a>, have faced relentless hostility from their male comrades in arms. </p>
<p>In a 2011 case, a US judge ruled that the US Department of Defense could not be held accountable for the extent and severity of sexual harassment and physical abuse in the military because rape is an “<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/05/invisible-war-rape-not-occupational-hazard-serving-military">occupational hazard</a>” for women in the armed forces.</p>
<p>Researchers have identified a dominant “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23337486.2017.1411117">warrior culture</a>” among many male soldiers in the Canadian armed forces, especially those in combat arms. Adherence to this way of thinking equates women with weakness, an excess of emotion and the need to be protected. By extension, the acceptance of women into the military implies the undermining of the institution, explaining why Canada’s women soldiers continue to be resented, marginalised and subjected to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sexual-misconduct-canadian-forces-vance-mcdonald-1.5980394">harassment and abuse</a> by their male counterparts more than 20 years after they were first permitted to serve in combat roles. </p>
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<p>Despite Sweden’s reputation for promoting gender equality, an <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X07088541">in-depth study</a> of Swedish women officers found that many were subjected to intimidation, harassment and threats from male officers. Even in Israel, where women are subject to conscription, they do not serve on <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Women-Soldiers-and-Citizenship-in-Israel-Gendered-Encounters-with-the-State/Lomsky-Feder-Sasson-Levy/p/book/9780367264772">an equal basis</a> to men. Women serve for shorter periods than men, both in active service and in the reserves, and are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0891243207303538">concentrated in administration</a> despite the recent opening of some combat roles to women. </p>
<p>Why do militaries find it so difficult to tolerate the presence of women, even as they seek to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2020/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-1-april-2020">recruit more</a> of them? </p>
<p>The UK committee report rightly identifies the prevailing culture and attitudes within the forces, as well as failures of leadership, for the extent and persistence of the problems. It recommends a long list of specific, common-sense measures to address them, such as providing suitable uniforms and equipment for all women service personnel, removing the chain of command from complaints of sexual harassment or assault, and funding more specialist services for women veterans.</p>
<h2>A man’s world</h2>
<p>But while institutional cultures and attitudes can be changed and leadership improved, there is a more fundamental factor that prevents militaries from truly welcoming women into the ranks. </p>
<p>The association of war, militaries and soldiers with men and certain <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Women+and+Wars%3A+Contested+Histories%2C+Uncertain+Futures-p-9780745642451">types of masculinity</a> as “normal” or “natural” is deeply rooted in social attitudes. This connection has been traced back to ancient Greece and ideas of <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo3646038.html">men as citizen-warriors</a> while women remain in the private sphere of the home and family. This means that women who seek to become soldiers can always be found wanting, despite <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/war-and-gender-how-gender-shapes-the-war-system-and-vice-versa-by-joshua-s-goldstein-cambridge-cambridge-university-press-2001-496p-3995/E6240ED7F96266F1029DC9F0B6B7804E">extensive studies</a> demonstrating that women can perform in roles across the military.</p>
<p>Women and femininity do not “fit” the military in the same way that men and masculinity do, leaving them <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814735480/camouflage-isnt-only-for-combat/">permanent outsiders</a>. This lack of “fit” with the model British soldier is also experienced by <a href="https://apply.army.mod.uk/what-we-offer/what-we-stand-for/lgbt">LGBT soldiers</a> and those from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/07/people-like-you-still-uttered-bame-armed-forces-personnel-on-racism-in-services">black and ethnic minority</a> communities. </p>
<p>This creates a particular problem for the UK armed forces, which needs to draw on the skills and abilities from the widest possible pool of talent, as it wrestles <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/90856/politically-correct-army-recruitment-campaign-slated">with the challenge</a> of developing a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-british-armys-belonging-campaign-finally-recognises-that-masculinity-has-changed-90259">new institutional identity</a>.</p>
<p>The commons defence committee deserves praise for its thorough inquiry and report. The solutions it proposes would improve the professional lives of women soldiers and perhaps also lead to an increase in the number of women recruited into the services. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233023045_Understanding_Men's_Attitudes_Toward_Women_in_the_Swedish_Armed_Forces">Research has demonstrated</a> that male soldiers who have professional interactions with their female counterparts are more likely to develop positive attitudes towards women in the military. Such findings provide hope that the British military will not always be a man’s world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Mathers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite serving for decades, women in the armed forces around the world still face obstacles throughout their military career.Jennifer Mathers, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1628672021-06-17T11:29:20Z2021-06-17T11:29:20ZBrazil: inside Jair Bolsonaro’s militarised democracy – podcast<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a>, we look at just how politicised Brazil’s military has become since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019. And we speak to a zooarchaeologist studying animal bones from 700-year-old trash in Spain to learn about people left out of history. </p>
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<p>Jair Bolsonaro is openly nostalgic for the era of Brazil’s military dictatorship, which ended in 1985. Since the former army captain was elected president in 2018, he’s maintained a close relationship with the armed forces – but in recent months it’s not always been straightforward. With Brazil heading towards presidential elections in 2022, and Bolsonaro <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-bolsonaro-idUSKBN2B9317">slumping in the polls</a>, some of those military officers who’ve tasted political power may be assessing their options. </p>
<p>We speak to two experts to understand the history of relations between the military and politics in Brazil – and what’s at stake. </p>
<p>Maud Chirio, lecturer in history at Université Gustave Eiffel in Paris, is a specialist in Brazil’s military dictatorship and the recent growth of extreme right ideologies within the military. She believes Brazil’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, that has left more than <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/brazil">490,000 people dead by mid-June</a>, could cause some high ranking military officers to distance themselves from Bolsonaro. While some believe he can – and should – be re-elected, and that he’s the best guardian of their interests, she tells us “some military do not want to sink with Bolsonaro’s ship”. </p>
<p>Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho is director of King’s Brazil Institute at King’s College London, and served as a lieutenant in the army technical corps during Lula’s presidency in the early 2000s. He explains that despite the legacy of the military dictatorship, many Brazilians still have a positive view of the armed forces and so Bolsonaro’s military background helped him get elected. Yet De Carvalho says Bolsonaro appears not to fully understand the role of the military in a civilian democracy. “Sometimes the president talks about the military almost as his praetorian guard that he can use to do whatever he wants.” </p>
<p>De Carvalho thinks part of the longer-term solution is to reduce Brazil’s dependence on the military for tasks that should be left to civilian authorities. He tells us that when there is a change of minister, it’s common for Brazilians to wonder what the military thinks about it. “That’s a question we should never ask.”</p>
<p>And in our second story (24m20s), we travel back to 12th century Islamic Iberia with the help of zooarchaeologist Marcos García García, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of York in the UK. He’s part of a project examining household garbage at Cercadilla, an archaeological dig outside Córdoba in Spain. Garcia explains what studying this ancient waste is revealing about the people who lived there – including <a href="https://revistaselectronicas.ujaen.es/index.php/ATM/article/view/5797">evidence of pork</a>. This suggests that there were Christians living in Islamic Al-Andalus, contrary to the previous historical consensus that Christian communities had disappeared by this point. </p>
<p>And Nick Lehr, arts and culture editor at The Conversation in the US, tells us about a new series of articles on <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/trans-youth-2021-102529">transgender young people</a> (34m15s). To go alongside it, The Conversation has put together an email newsletter course to help shed light on the issues that transgender young people and their families face. Anyone of any age, gender or sexuality that is interested in learning about the latest research on transgender youth can <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/transgender-youth-77/">sign up here</a> to receive the mini-course in the form of four emails over about a week. </p>
<p>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Mau Loseto. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a>. or via email on podcast@theconversation.com. You can also sign up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter?utm_campaign=PodcastTCWeekly&utm_content=newsletter&utm_source=podcast">The Conversation’s free daily email here</a>.</p>
<p>News clips in this episode are from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcaMUX0FnPk">Journalismo TV</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PccBZ-yVvQ0">France</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkfdbpCYvHU">2</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxhuo7Jt3AE">4</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAQZvlaNF4s">Al Jazeera</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAQZvlaNF4s">English</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG5zfZLG8XI">TRT News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNilKUvBDo">CNN</a> News, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5VOuJK7Aag">VICE</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNyIMUc5nSA">CGTN News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S6BawcbbaM">The Guardian</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ajzCq2lMk">BBC News</a>. </p>
<p><em>You can listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a>, or find out how else to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Plus, what the study of 700-year old garbage is revealing about who lived in Islamic Andalusia. Listen to episode 20 of The Conversation Weekly.Gemma Ware, Head of AudioDaniel Merino, Associate Breaking News Editor and Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly PodcastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1616212021-05-26T19:02:40Z2021-05-26T19:02:40ZInside Mali’s coup within a coup<p>On the afternoon of May 24, the Malian transitional president, Bah Ndaw, and his prime minister, Moctar Ouane, were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57236104">arrested</a> by members of the armed forces and taken to the Soundiata Keïta military facility in Kati, a camp that has <a href="https://www.lci.fr/international/tensions-au-mali-le-camp-de-kati-deja-a-l-origine-du-coup-d-etat-de-2012-2162015.html">been at the heart of every coup</a> that has taken place in the country. Two days later, Ndaw and Ouane resigned, according to a spokesperson for the military junta, known as the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP).</p>
<p>Mali has been under a transitional government for 18 months, following the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53830348">coup d’état of August 18, 2020</a>, in which the military overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita. General elections are <a href="https://www.france24.com/fr/afrique/20210415-mali-le-pouvoir-fixe-les-%C3%A9lections-pr%C3%A9sidentielle-et-l%C3%A9gislatives-%C3%A0-d%C3%A9but-2022">scheduled for early 2022</a>, between February and March.</p>
<p>This current situation seems to be taking the country back to the starting point of August 2020. So how did Mali get here?</p>
<h2>A tense background</h2>
<p>The popular fervour that accompanied the 2020 coup d’état faded very quickly. The junta, which had initially embodied the much hoped-for change, eventually appeared to be a repeat of the system it overthrew. None of the dignitaries of the old regime were questioned, including those against whom there were strong accusations.</p>
<p>On May 14, Ouane submitted the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/14/mali-to-form-new-broad-based-transition-government">resignation of his government</a> to Ndaw, who then immediately reappointed the prime minister to his post and asked him to begin discussions with the political class with a view to forming the next government. This was seen as a welcome step, because it re-established a dialogue between the new authorities and the political class, which had broken down in the months since the 2020 coup. But it seems to have gone badly.</p>
<p>The May 14 cabinet reshuffle took place in an extremely tense context. The M5 protest movement – which opposes the transitional government and is calling for the <a href="https://www.studiotamani.org/index.php/themes/politique/26776-mali-le-m5-rfp-demande-le-limogeage-du-pm-et-la-dissolution-du-cnt">dissolution</a> of the National Transitional Council – had already scheduled a demonstration for June 4.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Mali National Workers’ Union (UNTM) had begun a <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/fr/afrique/mali-la-centrale-syndicale-entame-la-deuxi%C3%A8me-phase-de-sa-gr%C3%A8ve/2252494">second straight week of strike action</a>, which was to continue until May 28. Given the political situation, and having no one to talk to in the absence of a government, the union suspended its strike and called on its members to return to work on May 26 until the situation returned to normal.</p>
<p>The colonels of the “ex-CNSP” were informed of the new government at the same time as ordinary Malians – that is, through the media when the list of new ministers was published on May 24. They were surprised to see that two of their members: the minister of defence, Sadio Camara, and the minister of security and civil protection, Modibo Koné, had been left out.</p>
<p>Their reaction was not long in coming: barely an hour after the publication of the new composition of the government, Ouane and Ndaw were arrested and taken to the military camp in Kati.</p>
<h2>The role of the vice-president</h2>
<p>Colonel Assimi Goita, the vice-president of the transitional government, who is also the leader of the junta, could not have been clearer in a communiqué which was read out on national television on May 25. In it, he denounced the prime minister and the president for forming the new government “without consultation with the vice-president”, namely himself.</p>
<p>Goita also underlined his attachment to the <a href="https://www.dw.com/fr/mali-que-pr%C3%A9voit-la-charte-de-la-transition/a-55134016">transition charter</a>. But this charter clearly stipulates that he does not have the right to replace the transition president. The post of vice-president did not exist before the coup, and was created specifically to be occupied by a member of the junta – it’s therefore seen as a way for the junta to plan for the possibility of leading the transition.</p>
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<p>For this reason, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made the lifting of sanctions on Mali <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/fr/afrique/mali-la-cedeao-veut-des-pr%C3%A9cisions-sur-les-pouvoirs-du-vice-pr%C3%A9sident-/1992288">conditional</a> on adding to the charter a provision clearly stipulating that the vice-president cannot himself replace the president of the transitional government.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether the detention of the president and prime minister is a temporary impediment or a permanent removal. In the second case, which seems to be the most likely, Mali is facing a coup d’état within a coup d’état.</p>
<h2>Courting M5</h2>
<p>On May 25, ECOWAS sent its <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/05/26/us-mali-politics">transitional envoy</a>, former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, to Mali. The attitude of ECOWAS, and more generally of the international community – France, the United States and the UN through its Malian mission, <a href="https://minusma.unmissions.org/">Minusma</a> – will be decisive in the outcome of events.</p>
<p>The coup plotters are aware of this and are now seeking to secure the support of the people and political actors, in particular M5 – the protest movement that, in weakening Kéita’s power, allowed the 2020 coup to take place.</p>
<p>Although M5 was at the heart of the earlier coup, it ended up being mostly excluded from the transition, with the exception of a few of its members. Things may not be the same this time. The junta invited the M5 movement’s leaders to Kati just hours after the arrest of the president and prime minister. This may have been a way for the military to offer the leaders of the movement new positions in government, both to secure their support and to make amends for excluding them in the past.</p>
<h2>France v Russia</h2>
<p>Since the president and his prime minister were arrested, a certain opinion has been formed by supporters of the junta who believe that the current situation comes down to a confrontation of two divergent points of view.</p>
<p>The first, represented by the arrested executive, is seen as beholden to the interests of France – the publication of the new cabinet came barely 48 hours after Ndaw’s return from Paris. The second, representing the junta, opposes the influence of Mali’s former coloniser, promoting instead a rapprochement with Russia.</p>
<p>This latter argument carries a lot of weight with those who have a negative view of the French military presence in Mali, and who regularly <a href="http://lhistoireenrafale.lunion.fr/2021/01/20/mali-une-manifestation-contre-la-presence-de-la-force-barkhane/">protest</a> against operations in the country.</p>
<p>An immediate analysis that can be made regarding this latest power grab is that the members of the junta are worried they have not been sufficiently involved in the formation of the new government, especially after the dismissal of two of its members.</p>
<p>Beyond the simple loss of these ministerial posts, it’s probable the junta saw the announcement of the new government as the beginning of the process of its removal from Mali’s political affairs. This could also have meant the beginning of legal problems for those involved, given that the Malian constitution makes coup d’état a crime for which there is no statute of limitations.</p>
<p>What happens next? The transitional government will probably receive the support of ECOWAS and of Mali’s international partners, first and foremost France. It is now up to these different players to intervene, because they are the only ones able to resolve this fast-moving situation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Boubacar Haidara ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Mali’s president and prime minister have just been arrested and dismissed by the military junta which brought them to power in the first place a few months ago. How did this happen?Boubacar Haidara, Chercheur associé au laboratoire Les Afriques dans le Monde (LAM), Sciences-Po Bordeaux., Université Bordeaux MontaigneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1513342020-12-07T13:27:18Z2020-12-07T13:27:18ZSexism in the military: more women needed in senior roles to force cultural change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373075/original/file-20201204-17-ef9mma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4196%2C2832&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This is not the first time that sexual harassment and abuse in the UK Armed Forces has been the subject of inquiry</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-female-british-soldier-181422674">John Gomez/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The challenges faced by women in the UK Armed Forces are being considered by the country’s Defence Select Committee, which has <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/24/defence-committee/">launched an inquiry</a> examining issues from recruitment to transition. As a significant part of this inquiry, servicewomen will be invited to give testimony of their experiences during military service to MPs, for the first time. </p>
<p>While not the sole focus of the inquiry, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/29/women-soldiers-set-give-testimony-parliament-rape-bullying-armed/">media interest</a> has centred on the platform this may provide for complaints of sexual harassment and abuse by servicewomen. </p>
<p>It is not the first time that sexual harassment and abuse in the UK Armed Forces has been the subject of inquiry. Following a number of high profile media scandals, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/may/26/gender.military">intervention by the UK Equal Opportunities Commission</a>, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) published a <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121018171845/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/538E55EE-9CA4-4177-9A0B-6853A431B283/0/20060522SRReport.pdf">report in 2006</a> suggesting sexualised behaviour against female service personnel was common in the armed forces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="British army soldier's shoulder with union jack flag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373077/original/file-20201204-17-1vgxup8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373077/original/file-20201204-17-1vgxup8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373077/original/file-20201204-17-1vgxup8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373077/original/file-20201204-17-1vgxup8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373077/original/file-20201204-17-1vgxup8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373077/original/file-20201204-17-1vgxup8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373077/original/file-20201204-17-1vgxup8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has lifted the usual restrictions that stop service personnel from speaking to parliamentarians.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/flag-united-kingdom-on-military-uniform-1579267837">Bumble Dee/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.thehrdirector.com/legal-updates/diversity-updates-2008/investigation_into_sexual_harassment/">In 2008, the commission decided</a> that the implementation of new policies and procedures by the MOD had effectively tackled the issue. However, the publication of the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817838/20190607_Defence_Report_Inappropriate_Behaviours_Final_ZKL.pdf">MOD Report on Inappropriate Behaviours</a>, over a decade later, suggested that inappropriate sexual behaviours remain a problem. <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817838/20190607_Defence_Report_Inappropriate_Behaviours_Final_ZKL.pdf">This report</a>, published by Air Chief Marshal Wigston in July 2019, highlighted a disproportionate over-representation of women in the service’s complaints system. </p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/736177/20180821_Sexual_harassment_report_2018_OS.PDF">Survey data from the Army in 2018</a> also painted a concerning picture: in the 12 months prior to the survey, 73% of servicewomen reported inappropriate sexualised comments, 20% had experienced inappropriate sexual touching, 8% had been involved in a serious sexual assault and 3% reported being raped. </p>
<h2>Reluctance to report</h2>
<p>To enable servicewomen to speak to the committee, <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/24/defence-committee/news/136800/defence-committee-launch-inquiry-on-women-in-the-armed-forces/">Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has lifted</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/may/28/military-chief-restrict-contact-mps">the usual restrictions</a> that stop service personnel from speaking to parliamentarians. However, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/16/mod-promises-changes-after-report-into-harassment-in-army">historical reluctance</a> to challenge the masculine military culture raises questions as to how empowered servicewomen will feel in sharing their experiences with the committee. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Soldiers standing in a row" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373078/original/file-20201204-21-gj3k8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373078/original/file-20201204-21-gj3k8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373078/original/file-20201204-21-gj3k8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373078/original/file-20201204-21-gj3k8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373078/original/file-20201204-21-gj3k8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373078/original/file-20201204-21-gj3k8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373078/original/file-20201204-21-gj3k8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Changing the culture will be a challenge in the face of dwindling trust in the complaints procedure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://webgate.epa.eu/?16634349628007773501&MEDIANUMBER=50256971">Andy Rain/EPA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817838/20190607_Defence_Report_Inappropriate_Behaviours_Final_ZKL.pdf">the Wigston Report</a> and recent surveys from the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/522906/20160512_RN_RM_2015_Sexual_Harassment_Report.pdf">Royal Navy</a> and the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/736177/20180821_Sexual_harassment_report_2018_OS.PDF">British Army</a> highlight a significant lack of trust in the service complaints process, and fear of repercussions on their career when reporting those responsible. In addition, conviction rates for rape in military courts are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/08/ben-wallace-to-review-policy-of-trying-uk-cases-in-military-courts">up to six times lower than those of civilian courts</a>, providing little confidence in this system for those who do report serious incidents.</p>
<p>It is unclear how this inquiry will safeguard servicewomen who come forward to provide evidence of sexual harassment and abuse to the committee, and whether they will feel comfortable doing so. </p>
<h2>A change in culture?</h2>
<p>Can this inquiry help to challenge or even shift the masculine military culture? </p>
<p>In 1989, the political scientist <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/250/4986/1455/tab-article-info">Judith Hicks Stiehm suggested</a> that women in the military, especially in positions of agency and strength, make it much more difficult for male service personnel to objectify and sexualise women. Shifting ingrained masculinist perceptions and culture through these positive female role models is a challenge for any military. Although there have been enormous advances in the UK, according to the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/894196/Biannual_Diversity_Statistics_Apr20.pdf">latest defence statistics</a> women still only occupy 13.6% of officer positions. Furthermore, only 22 out of the 447 senior officer positions in the UK Armed Forces are occupied by women. </p>
<p>If the committee is able to highlight the challenges that are faced by women in the military and make recommendations for change, there will need to be recognition that this change will take time. This will, in part, be driven by the gradual appointment of women into more senior positions. If the culture remains anachronistic, the challenge will be to recruit women in the first place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Godier-McBard receives funding from NHS England via the Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO) to carry out research looking at the evidence-base for the health and wellbeing of ex-servicewomen in the UK. Lauren is a member of the COBSEO Female Veteran Cluster.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Fossey is affiliated with NATO and is the co-chair of the NATO research group on military sexual violence and harassment </span></em></p>Previous enquiries into inappropriate behaviour have painted a concerning picture.Lauren Godier-McBard, Research fellow, Veterans and Families Institute for Military Social Research, Anglia Ruskin UniversityMatt Fossey, Director, Veterans and Families Institute, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508752020-11-25T14:59:29Z2020-11-25T14:59:29ZSpending Review 2020: the experts react<p>“The health emergency is not yet over, and the economic emergency has only just begun.” With a global pandemic for a backdrop, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a short-term spending review for the year 2021. With a freeze on public sector pay, an economy declining more than it has in 300 years and no mention of Brexit, experts from across the country share their reactions. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Economy</h2>
<p><strong>Drew Woodhouse, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Sheffield Hallam University</strong></p>
<p>Rishi Sunak <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/spending-review-to-fight-virus-deliver-promises-and-invest-in-uks-recovery">announced</a> £280 billion in his spending review to be spread across several sectors, with little mention of Brexit or the climate crisis. This included £18 billion for COVID-19, £250 million for rough sleepers, £2 billion for transport and £3 billion to local councils.</p>
<p>This came in the context of the <a href="http://cdn.obr.uk/CCS1020397650-001_OBR-November2020-EFO-v2-Web-accessible.pdf">highest levels</a> of borrowing “in peacetime”. What was most stark was that the government cut more channels to growth than it did create them. This spending review focused on short-term government spending policy “plasters”, with considerations of longer-term sustainability measures. </p>
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<p>The most important question in the review was how bad economic forecasts are looking. Economic output is expected to contract by 11.3% this year - the worst result for <a href="http://cdn.obr.uk/CCS1020397650-001_OBR-November2020-EFO-v2-Web-accessible.pdf">300 years</a>. With no expectations to match our pre-crisis trend level until late 2022 and the “<a href="https://obr.uk/box/the-equilibrium-unemployment-rate/">natural level of unemployment</a>” not being met until 2024, this is indeed dire. </p>
<p>There was an undertone in the chancellor’s comments that, to improve the economy’s health, his response should target real growth through indirectly supporting the productive “supply” <a href="https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/newsroom/2020/10/outlook-for-trade-after-brexit">capacity</a> of the economy – the amount businesses and workers can produce. There was also a formal acceptance that deeply ingrained structural issues, that have gripped the UK for years, should also be at the forefront of a “reform” effort. </p>
<p>At the heart of the crisis is the <a href="https://www.icaew.com/technical/economy/economic-insight/coronavirus-uk-economic-outlook-differences-across-regions">uneven</a> effect it has on regions and communities. So introducing a levelling up fund and <a href="https://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/articles/spending-review-infrastructure-bank-nhs">an infrastructural bank</a> based in the north of England is a welcome approach.</p>
<p>Then there was contradiction on wages. He announced measures to protect wages of those who earn lower incomes, citing that this could fuel some “marginal” growth, whilst also accepting that this recession has been far worse for low-paid workers than anyone else. Yet by freezing public sector wages (except for NHS nurses and doctors), Sunak restricted a source of economic stimulus at the time we need it most. </p>
<p>Private sector wages <a href="https://www.niesr.ac.uk/publications/dynamics-public-and-private-sector-wages-pay-settlements-and-employment">decline quicker</a> and do not pick up the demand slack, while public sector wages can act as an “automatic stabiliser” in a downturn because they typically <a href="https://www.niesr.ac.uk/publications/dynamics-public-and-private-sector-wages-pay-settlements-and-employment">grow more quickly during recessions</a>. The freeze will also have a worse affect on regions with a <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/march2019">higher proportion</a> of public sector jobs, which are the same regions already <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/inequality/the-geography-of-the-covid-19-crisis-in-england/">worst affected</a> by the crisis.</p>
<p>While effective economic support is vital, it must be part of a wider plan to get the economy going again, restarting growth and supporting job creation. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Jobs</h2>
<p><strong>Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi, Senior Lecturer, York Business School, York St John University</strong></p>
<p>Early on in his speech, the chancellor stated that, despite the pandemic, the UK still has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe. But this statement is highly misleading as, in the UK, people in precarious and insecure work – such as those on zero-hours contracts – are considered employed. Indeed, these types of <a href="https://theconversation.com/zero-hours-contracts-have-a-devastating-impact-on-career-progression-labour-is-right-to-ban-them-123066">contracts can have</a> a hugely devastating impact on people’s lives – yet a ban on them has been ignored by the government.</p>
<p>But the headline statement of the day was the pay freeze for all public sector workers – apart from nurses and doctors in the NHS. The chancellor talked of restraining public sector pay levels to retain consistency with the private sector. Yet compared to the private sector, public sector pay has <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/BN263-public-sector-pay-and-employment1.pdf">fallen drastically in the past decades</a>. </p>
<p>Employees in the public sector, especially frontline services, have worked incredibly hard throughout this pandemic. And a pay freeze would likely affect <a href="https://www.iaeme.com/MasterAdmin/uploadfolder/IJMHRM_08_04_005/IJMHRM_08_04_005.pdf">worker morale and performance</a>. </p>
<p>The pay freeze will be interpreted as a lack of recognition and appreciation for the work public sector employees are doing. There is also the risk that this will affect <a href="https://theconversation.com/emergency-service-workers-are-already-at-high-risk-of-burnout-coronavirus-will-make-this-worse-136006">frontline staff’s mental health</a> – which has already been impacted during the pandemic. </p>
<p>The government needs well motivated workers to rebuild the economy that has been hit hard by COVID-19. But this will not be achieved by damaging the morale of workers. </p>
<p>There’s also the fact that the public sector has, for some years, been struggling to recruit and retain staff in areas like the NHS and teaching, and this pay freeze will most likely exacerbate difficulties with <a href="http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/From-pay-squeeze-to-a-staffing-crisis.pdf">recruitment and retention of workers</a>. </p>
<p>In this sense, it seems the government still hasn’t learnt its lesson from the impact of the <a href="https://www.epsu.org/sites/default/files/article/files/Impact_of_cuts_final_report.pdf">two-year pay freeze</a> imposed across the public sectors in 2010, that resulted in increased gender inequality and widened the gender pay gap. With the UK economy in its steepest decline for centuries, while a pay freeze may seem like a good solution, it’s likely to create more problems in the long run.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Personal finance and pensions</h2>
<p><strong>Jonquil Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance, The Open University</strong></p>
<p>Income is the key driver of personal finances. The chancellor has announced an income freeze for all public sector workers apart from NHS doctors and nurses and a small flat-rate increase of £250 for those earning less than £24,000 a year. </p>
<p>The lowest earners who are on the national living wage or minimum wage will also see an increase in their hourly rate from April of 19p to £8.91 an hour. But this still trails behind the <a href="https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage">“real” living wage</a> that people are estimated to need to meet their living costs of £9.50 an hour (£10.85 in London).</p>
<p>The income tax personal allowance and national insurance thresholds and bands are being increased from April in line with inflation (0.5%). This will give most benefit to people on modest earnings.</p>
<p>The government has also confirmed that changes to the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/search?q=retail%20price%20index">retail prices index</a> (RPI), a commonly used measure of inflation, will go ahead – though not until 2030. This will see the formula for calculating RPI brought into line with the more commonly used <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices">consumer price index</a> (CPI) that typically records inflation rates around 1% a year lower than RPI. The retired, in particular, will be affected, if they have private pensions and annuities that are “increased” each year in line with the RPI. </p>
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<img alt="Row of terraced brick houses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371353/original/file-20201125-23-y9e4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371353/original/file-20201125-23-y9e4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371353/original/file-20201125-23-y9e4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371353/original/file-20201125-23-y9e4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371353/original/file-20201125-23-y9e4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371353/original/file-20201125-23-y9e4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371353/original/file-20201125-23-y9e4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Consumers will be enouraged to decarbonise their homes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/english-row-terraced-house-spring-season-601569743">Pompaem_Gogh/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>On the spending side of household budgets, the spending review confirmed funding for the government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ten-point-plan-for-a-green-industrial-revolution">ten point plan</a> for green recovery <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uk-has-bold-plans-to-reach-net-zero-emissions-but-it-must-go-beyond-just-turning-off-the-co-taps-150399">recently announced</a> by the prime minister. In addition to the big push towards electric vehicles, this includes encouraging homes – whose heating and cooking account for around a <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/875485/2019_UK_greenhouse_gas_emissions_provisional_figures_statistical_release.pdf">fifth of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions</a> – to give up their gas boilers in favour of ground and air-heat pumps. But it seems likely that, even with the current <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-the-green-homes-grant-scheme">Green Homes Grant</a>, most households will eventually find they need to invest heavily in “greening” their home heating system – though running costs thereafter may be lower.</p>
<p>Overall, personal finances are likely to come under pressure over the next few years as the government starts to bring its finances back to more sustainable levels. But at last it seems this government is taking the need to tackle climate change seriously, which is important as the green industrial revolution holds the promise of jobs and incomes to replace those lost in the pandemic.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Infrastructure and levelling up</h2>
<p><strong>Anupam Nanda, professor of urban economics and real estate, University of Manchester</strong></p>
<p>Infrastructure is key for unlocking economic opportunities and supporting prosperity. Infrastructure investments tend to have very long-term implications for the economy and society. Today’s announcements have put emphasis on using infrastructure spending to support and accelerate economic recovery from the pandemic. </p>
<p>Sunak has tried to address concerns of funding inequality across and within regions with the creation of a £4 billion “Levelling Up Fund”. Local areas can bid directly for support for projects from this fund. </p>
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<p>Using national and regional infrastructure investments to close the regional inequality gap is welcome, as areas such as the north of England continue to suffer heavily from the ongoing pandemic. However, whether this is enough remains to be seen and will depend on how the fund is administered. </p>
<p>The creation of a new infrastructure bank – to be headquartered in the north of England – is good news. This will replace the UK’s involvement with the European Investment Bank and, by encouraging private sector involvement in infrastructure projects, will lead to more streamlined investment. </p>
<p>The spending review also placed emphasis on green and digital infrastructure and renewable energy use. This is very much needed.</p>
<p>Much will depend on the choices and types of specific infrastructure projects, as well as the mixture of national, regional and local investment. The success of these projects will rely on skill development and cooperation across the government departments and agencies involved. It will also demand collaboration across all government levels, down to local authorities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-local-governments-will-feel-aggrieved-by-this-spending-review-150695">Why local governments will feel aggrieved by this spending review</a>
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<hr>
<h2>COVID-19</h2>
<p><strong>Alex de Ruyter, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Brexit Studies, Birmingham City University</strong></p>
<p>For this fiscal year, the government is still very obviously in “whatever it takes” mode. That remains partially true in certain areas for 2021-22, although in other respects the government is very much looking to scale back support.</p>
<p>Total support due to COVID-19 is estimated to be around £280 billion this financial year. The largest portion is job support – an estimated £53.7 billion on the furlough scheme and a further £19.6 billion on support for the self-employed. A total of £113 billion has been allocated to government departments, of which almost half is for health. A further substantial amount goes directly to the devolved administrations, who have the power to decide how it is spent.</p>
<p>However, this is misleading, since the vast majority is being spent on COVID-related procurement rather than frontline services. Test and trace, operated by the private sector, has been allocated £22 billion (a very large increase from the initial £12 billion). A further £15 billion is for personal protective equipment (PPE), which is eye-catching given the government’s poor record in getting value for money on this. Likewise £2.7 billion is being spent on developing and procuring vaccines. </p>
<p>Next year sees COVID-related support scaled back to a “mere” £55 billion, with nearly half set aside as contingency. The additional recovery money for the NHS seems miserly – that only £1 billion is being spent on addressing the backlog for elective treatments is particularly concerning.</p>
<p>Funding for councils – £5.4 billion in 2020-21 and £3 billion in 2021-22 – likewise seems tiny relative to increases in demand.</p>
<p>All of the money will be borrowed, although the spending review suggests this won’t be a problem, with government spending on debt interest actually expected to fall very substantially over the next few years.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Armed forces and foreign aid</h2>
<p><strong>Simon J. Smith, Associate Professor of Security and International Relations, Staffordshire University</strong></p>
<p>The chancellor claimed the spending review “strengthens the United Kingdom’s place in the world”, and that the UK will remain “open and outward looking”. However, the financial resources required to make a convincing case for a global Britain were lacking.</p>
<p>Rishi Sunak said the foreign aid budget would be cut to 0.5% of national income (down from 0.7%) in 2021, as retaining the current budget would be “difficult to justify to the British people”. Some of these savings, however, will be allocated to defence. It was announced soon after that there would be £24 billion investment in defence over the next four years, “allowing us to provide security not just for our country but around the world”. </p>
<p>Although it is not stated as such, it would seem there has been a reduction to the foreign aid budget in order to provide savings to boost defence investment. Neither of these announcements came as a surprise, as the prime minister signalled “the biggest defence investment since the end of the cold war” <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/684a9881-c964-478b-b87b-84aa697810f2">on November 19</a>, saying that “the defence of the realm must come first”.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that this is a serious escalation of investment and a demonstration that defence secretary Ben Wallace and chief of the defence staff General Sir Nick Carter have <a href="https://rusi.org/commentary/britain-defences-biggest-spending-boost-cold-war">convinced the Prime Minister to confirm four-year funding for the military</a>.</p>
<p>What will be prioritised for investment? Current suggestions are that the money is for a national cyber force, a space command and an artificial intelligence agency. An even larger question is for what grand strategic purpose these capabilities will be used.</p>
<p>In any case, tough decisions will need to be made in terms of pursuing savings elsewhere in the force. As Michael Clarke, former director general of the Royal United Services Institute thinktank <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/684a9881-c964-478b-b87b-84aa697810f2">put it</a>, which older areas of the armed forces are going to “have to be cut to be able to afford the new bells and whistles”? Moreover, will the British people think these eye-watering costs are justified in the age of COVID and when the government <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-55062425">is set to borrow £394 billion this year alone</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cuts-to-uk-foreign-aid-budget-are-shortsighted-and-could-damage-british-interests-150899">Cuts to UK foreign aid budget are shortsighted and could damage British interests</a>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339451/original/file-20200603-130917-1phwlgk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339451/original/file-20200603-130917-1phwlgk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339451/original/file-20200603-130917-1phwlgk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339451/original/file-20200603-130917-1phwlgk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=150&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339451/original/file-20200603-130917-1phwlgk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339451/original/file-20200603-130917-1phwlgk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339451/original/file-20200603-130917-1phwlgk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Listen to Recovery, a series from <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Anthill Podcast</a>, to hear more about how the world recovered from crises including the Lisbon earthquake, world wars, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the 2008 financial crisis. Start here with <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-europe-recovered-from-the-black-death-recovery-podcast-series-part-one-139896">episode one on the recovery after the Black Death</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anupam Nanda's research has been sponsored by UK and international public and private funding bodies and companies, including UKRI/Innovate UK, the Real Estate Research Institute in the US, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Investment Property Forum and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is a board member of the European Real Estate Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon J Smith received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for research on the Drivers of Military Strategic Reform.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex de Ruyter, Drew Woodhouse, Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi, and Jonquil Lowe do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The chancellor’s spending review and what it means for you.Alex de Ruyter, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Brexit Studies, Birmingham City UniversityAnupam Nanda, Professor of Urban Economics & Real Estate, University of ManchesterDrew Woodhouse, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Sheffield Hallam UniversityErnestine Gheyoh Ndzi, Senior Lecturer at York Business School, York St John UniversityJonquil Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance, The Open UniversitySimon J Smith, Associate Professor of Security and International Relations, Staffordshire UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1465882020-09-21T12:19:58Z2020-09-21T12:19:58ZProposed changes to British law could prevent armed forces from taking legal action against the government<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359037/original/file-20200921-14-176fmdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2000%2C1334&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages/32112683438/">Defence Images/Ed Lowe</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Westminster parliament is currently considering one of the most ill-conceived and misleadingly presented pieces of legislation ever introduced. It purports to do something that it cannot while doing several things it should not.</p>
<p>The legislation in question is the <a href="https://services.parliament.uk/Bills/2019-21/overseasoperationsservicepersonnelandveterans/documents.html">Overseas Operations Bill</a>, introduced by Johnny Mercer, minister for defence people and veterans. This bill is intended to protect members of the armed forces from what the government believes to be vexatious legal action. However, it also severely limits the ability of members of the armed forces to hold the government to account when it fails to provide adequate equipment or fails to protect them while they are serving. </p>
<p>New rules would prohibit people from suing for negligence more than six years after an incident or six years after gaining knowledge about, for example, a medical condition. The bill also seeks to ban claims under the Human Rights Act more than six years after a particular event, or just 12 months after gaining knowledge about the event. Most importantly the bill makes no exception for claims by members of the armed forces themselves. This would drastically limit the options for bereaved families such as those who complained about the fatally inappropriate deployment of lightly armoured <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40958686">“Snatch” Land Rovers</a> in very hostile settings. </p>
<p>It is presented as an attempt to shield, “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/armed-forces-protected-from-vexatious-claims-in-important-step">military personnel and veterans from vexatious claims</a>” pursued by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/feb/02/iraq-human-rights-lawyer-phil-shiner-disqualified-for-professional-misconduct">dodgy lawyers</a>. But this is nonsense, because such claims – vexatious or otherwise – are not brought against individual soldiers: they are brought against the Ministry of Defence or relevant secretary of state. And it is abundantly clear that while British armed forces operate to the highest legal standards, <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/asia/emails-implicate-elite-british-sas-in-afghan-massacres-1.1057968">there have in fact been some bad apples</a>, so not all claims are “vexatious”.</p>
<h2>Misleading claims</h2>
<p>In July, Mercer failed to dispel concerns about the bill’s impact on claims by the armed forces in answer to an <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-07-16/debates/3E07526B-72EC-4FDB-9898-A3CA6E103428/BritishOverseasTroopsCivilLiabilityClaims">urgent question</a> in the House of Commons. Mercer said that “the issue around limitation is, I am afraid, misunderstood, because it is not from the point of when the injury happened or the incident that caused the injury; it is from the point of awareness or the point of diagnosis”. </p>
<p>There are two major problems with this statement which mean Mercer, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/johnny-mercer">a veteran himself</a>, may well have unwittingly misled parliament. First, on a close reading of the bill that statement is only correct in relation to claims for negligence: there is a much shorter time limit for human rights claims, as noted above (the question was specifically about “civil liability”, meaning negligence, but Mercer’s answer addressed both types of legal action). The two types of legal action have different conditions for “winning”, so it would be possible for one claim to succeed and the other to fail. That is why it is so important that both are available.</p>
<p>Second, we know that there are very good reasons why people may take longer than six years to come forward after an incident. That’s particularly true if it means speaking out against superiors or employers, for example in relation to harassment. These are legislative changes that should not be made.</p>
<p>In a further sleight of hand, the bill purports to discourage judges from allowing members of the armed forces to be prosecuted under criminal law for historical offences more than five years after they are alleged to have taken place. It would also require the attorney general to consent to a prosecution. These measures really are about legal action against individual members of the armed forces. </p>
<p>But note that, unlike with the claims against the MoD, this is not an absolute time limit (a “statute of limitations”). Instead, the bill merely states that the prosecution of historical offences should be “exceptional” and gives judges a list of factors that they must consider. The bill cannot provide an absolute time limit for prosecutions or it would breach our international legal obligations to prosecute genocide, torture, and war crimes. In fact, even the bill as it currently stands is legally debatable in international law and has been accused of <a href="https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/why-torture-survivors-fear-new-government-law">harming our international standing</a>.</p>
<p>It is to be hoped that this lamentable bill will be stopped in its tracks before it undermines the legal position of members of the armed forces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Sweeney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When troops are injured in the line of duty as a result of negligence, they would have a limited time to take legal action, according to proposed changes.James Sweeney, Professor, Lancaster Law School, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1358762020-05-11T11:49:35Z2020-05-11T11:49:35ZWhy the military can use emergency powers to treat service members with trial COVID-19 drugs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331536/original/file-20200429-51489-1s4lh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5431%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Military medical personnel have helped support hospitals with heavy patient loads.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/military-medical-personnel-including-u-s-army-reserve-and-news-photo/1221203883?adppopup=true">John Moore/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225082/#ddd00035">Infectious</a> <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/44/3/424/314476">disease</a> has always been one of the military’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225082/">greatest threats</a>. By <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/210420/worldwide_flu_outbreak_killed_45000_american_soldiers_during_world_war_i">its own</a> estimates, the U.S. Army lost almost as many soldiers from the 1918 flu as died on the battlefields of the first World War.</p>
<p>Troops are at risk during an outbreak due to the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-abstract/82/1/72/824150?redirectedFrom=fulltext">tight quarters</a> in which they <a href="https://phc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/Barracks%20Layout%20Jan%202010.pdf">live</a> and <a href="https://maritime.org/doc/submed/chap20.htm">work</a>. It is therefore not surprising that all branches of the service – <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/coronavirus/2020/04/23/public-health-emergency-declared-for-us-troops-stationed-across-djibouti-base-cluster/">Army</a>, <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/04/23/more-25-navy-ships-now-have-sailors-infected-coronavirus.html">Navy</a>, <a href="https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/coronavirus/2020/04/22/the-corps-has-halved-the-number-of-recruits-shipping-to-boot-camp-and-wants-them-to-self-isolate-for-14-days/">Marines</a>, <a href="https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/04/01/air-force-academy-eases-restrictions-after-2-suicides/">Air Force</a> and <a href="https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/32-U-S-Coast-Guard-members-have-coronavirus-as-15177316.php">Coast Guard</a> – have been <a href="https://time.com/5816219/white-house-hydroxychloroquine-covid">hit hard</a> by COVID-19. The military has also played an important role in responding to the virus, from evacuating State Department officials from Wuhan in <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Spotlight/Coronavirus/DOD-Response-Timeline/">January</a> to its current role <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2154305/corps-of-engineers-takes-on-28-covid-19-bed-facilities/">building and staffing civilian field hospitals</a> and <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2146685/army-deploys-medical-task-forces-to-help-hard-hit-communities/">augmenting</a> civilian research teams.</p>
<p>To <a href="https://time.com/5821729/coronavirus-hits-us-military/">mitigate any risk</a>, the Department of Defense has enforced rigorous <a href="https://www.armytimes.com/news/coronavirus/2020/04/24/west-point-plans-to-mass-test-and-soft-quarantine-cadets-coming-back-to-graduate/">social distancing policies</a> and a <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/04/18/dod-travel-ban-extended-to-june-30/">military-wide travel ban</a> halting nonessential deployments.</p>
<h2>New treatments</h2>
<p>But in addition to measures aimed at keeping people away from sources of infection, the military is also treating active duty personnel who become infected. Because the COVID-19 virus is new, there are as yet no FDA approved treatments. As a result, military physicians are turning to either treatments approved for other <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/military-gives-covid-patients-chloroquine-and-surges-assets-to-new-york-city">conditions</a> or seeking <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT04302766">access</a> to <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.militarytimes.com_news_your-2Dmilitary_2020_03_10_army-2Dsigns-2Dagreement-2Dwith-2Ddrug-2Dgiant-2Dgilead-2Don-2Dexperimental-2Dcovid-2D19-2Dtreatment_&d=DwMFaQ&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=yV7ArXT4ooMMfCcV3fg-GA&m=Q2qM-rfW9kd79x3mKFw_7oXsZ0231HlqPy2n6GJHNQE&s=3LaRfCeF9eoIT4u47VM2mng-qqqjpWNNd6v6ukn8NVo&e=">newly developed treatments,</a> such as the <a href="https://www.wearethemighty.com/news/army-success-covid-ebola-drug">antiviral Remdesivir</a>, which to date has received FDA <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/137564/download">emergency use approval</a> only for COVID-19 patients with severe conditions. That presents a significant legal challenge due to existing laws protecting military personnel by recognizing that their obligation to follow orders reduces their ability to provide informed consent.</p>
<p>As an expert in <a href="https://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/jennifer-bard">public health law</a> and human subject research, I study the tension between protecting participants of biomedical research and responding quickly to emerging threats. But I have also had personal experience with the events that led to the passing of the law that allows the military to work with the FDA in order to get emergency authorization to respond quickly to emerging threats.</p>
<h2>Gulf War Syndrome</h2>
<p>In 1998, I was working for now U.S. Senator, then Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal when I met <a href="https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1999-01-15-9901150362-story.html">Russ Dingle</a> and <a href="https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/anthrax-vaccine-a-deadly-defense/article_696fe42f-17f7-5626-9703-ecaee934431f.htm">Thomas “Buzz” Rempfer</a>, two remarkable airmen who filed a whistleblower complaint seeking protection from what they described as forced participation in an unlawful research experiment. Specifically, they asserted that the Department of Defense was mandating that all active duty personnel be vaccinated against anthrax using a product, <a href="https://www.warrelatedillness.va.gov/education/factsheets/anthrax.pdf">AVA</a>, <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/8965604">not yet approved by the FDA</a> for the purpose the Army was now using it.</p>
<p>The vaccine had been in use <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8965604/Corrigan.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">since the 1970s</a> to <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB7534.html">protect wool workers and veterinarians</a> at risk from touching naturally occurring anthrax spores, but had not been approved for protection against inhaling them, a method of spread <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001161,00.html">reportedly developed by</a> Iraqi scientists as a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/100/8/4355">bioweapon</a>. But many in the military were reluctant to be vaccinated because of their concern that it might be a cause of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2003/12/10/anthrax_20/">Gulf War Syndrome</a>. To <a href="https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/sources/vaccinations.asp">this day</a>, there is no agreement about the <a href="https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/sources/vaccinations.asp">specific symptoms</a>, let alone cause, of Gulf War Syndrome.</p>
<p>A 2000 <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/9953/gulf-war-and-health-volume-1-depleted-uranium-sarin-pyridostigmine">report by the well-respected Institute of Medicine</a> found <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2001/jul/30/internationalnews">“no conclusive link to the vaccine</a>.” But the causal connection seemed plausible to many sufferers, especially given the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-children-of-agent-orange">continuing emergence</a> of long-term harm suffered by veterans of the Vietnam War and their children from exposure to Agent Orange. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331799/original/file-20200430-42903-vosv76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331799/original/file-20200430-42903-vosv76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331799/original/file-20200430-42903-vosv76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331799/original/file-20200430-42903-vosv76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331799/original/file-20200430-42903-vosv76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331799/original/file-20200430-42903-vosv76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331799/original/file-20200430-42903-vosv76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">U.S. soldiers in the first Gulf War complained of a series of acute and chronic conditions after the conflict.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/soldiers-arrive-at-a-burning-oil-refinery-in-al-khafji-news-photo/541790116?adppopup=true">Patrick Durand/Sygma via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The whistleblower’s primary claim was that the anthrax vaccination program was “research” and therefore the army was required to abide by two different protections. The first, called the <a href="https://mrdc.amedd.army.mil/assets/docs/orp/irbo/IRB_Policies_Procedures_2018_Common_Rule.pdf">Common Rule</a>, is a law establishing that all research conducted by the federal government require the informed consent <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1197/j.aem.2005.05.037">of participants</a>. Their second claim was that even if it was being used as a preventative measure, the Department of Defense was constrained by a 1998 law passed in direct response to concerns over possible links between unapproved drugs and Gulf War Syndrome. It prohibited “the <a href="https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/vaccines/Doe_v_Rumsfeld_I.htm">administration of investigational new drugs</a>, or drugs unapproved for their intended use, to service members without their informed consent” unless consent was waived by the president.</p>
<p>Blumenthal <a href="https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2001-03-23-0103231252-story.html">wrote</a> to the secretary of defense warning him that administering an unapproved vaccine risked violating both laws and demanding that the research be stopped. That letter became part of <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1018z9/MR1018.9.chap2.html">a larger debate over whether the military’s need for force protection exceeded the risks to any individual serviceperson</a>.</p>
<h2>Emergency use</h2>
<p>In 2003, Colonel Rempfer and six other <a href="https://www.nti.org/gsn/article/plaintiffs-in-anthrax-vaccine-lawsuit-are-named/">at first unnamed</a> plaintiffs <a href="https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/295/">brought suit</a> in federal court which resulted in a preliminary <a href="https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/vaccines/Doe_v_Rumsfeld_I.htm">injunction</a> halting the vaccine program. Responding to the lawsuit, the Department of Defense denied that they were conducting research and <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB7534.html">claimed the authority</a> to waive consent because it was necessary to prevent infection with weaponized anthrax.</p>
<p>But in winning the battle, those seeking to stop the vaccine program lost the war. The Department of Defense appealed to Congress for a workaround. It resulted in the passing of the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-108publ276">BioShield Act in 2004</a>, creating the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/mcm-legal-regulatory-and-policy-framework/mcm-emergency-use-authorities">Emergency Use Authorization</a>. This gave the FDA authority to recharacterize the status of a drug or vaccine from investigational to approved for emergency use. In December of 2005 it issued a “<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2005/12/fda-reaffirms-worth-dod-anthrax-vaccine">final order concluding that [the Anthrax Vaccine] was the best available medical countermeasure to the potential military emergency</a>.” Although Col. Rempfer filed <a href="https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/vaccines/rempfer.pdf">a lawsuit</a> to protest the FDA’s decision, it was to no avail and shortly afterwards the Department of Defense resumed the vaccine program. <a href="https://www.journalinquirer.com/connecticut_and_region/efforts-continue-to-posthumously-promote-ehartford-man-who-opposed-military/article_f6607ffd-3b84-55cb-9570-e1dc3b6e9339.html">Col. Dingle</a> died of cancer in 2008, but Col. Rempfer <a href="https://www.hsaj.org/articles/102">remained critical of the </a><a href="https://www.hsaj.org/articles/102">anthrax vaccine</a> program and still actively advocates on behalf of past and future military personnel.</p>
<h2>A compromise</h2>
<p>Since the passage of the BioShield Act, Congress <a href="https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/mcm-legal-regulatory-and-policy-framework/mcm-emergency-use-authorities">has continued to support the FDA’s </a> authority to make unapproved drugs available in response to new threats. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/11/09/controversy-erupts-over-plan-to-let-pentagon-use-unapproved-drugs-on-battlefield/">In 2017</a>, the Department of Defense sought power to unilaterally authorize use of unapproved drugs in battlefield situations. In the face of FDA objections to this level of autonomy, Congress created <a href="https://www.fdli.org/2018/08/update-public-law-115-92-a-new-era-of-collaboration-between-dod-and-fda/">a compromise measure</a> memorialized in a <a href="https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/domestic-mous/mou-225-19-001">Memorandum of Understanding</a> that allows the Department of Defense broad authority to declare the need for emergency use permission and <a href="https://www.engage.hoganlovells.com/knowledgeservices/news/fda-and-dod-strengthen-collaboration-for-medical-products-with-military-applications-that-could-also-be-expanded-to-the-general-population">request that the FDA</a> “take actions to expedite the development of a medical product.” But final authority to issue an emergency use order rests with the president.</p>
<p>It is because of the servicemen committed to the preservation of informed consent that troops today have early access to potential COVID-19 drugs and vaccines while still respecting their vulnerability as patients without the complete ability to give informed consent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Bard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Army physicians are turning to drugs approved for other conditions or newly developed treatments such as the antiviral Remdesivir to treat infected personnel.Jennifer Bard, Visiting Professor of Law, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1286092020-02-18T13:54:51Z2020-02-18T13:54:51ZA military perspective on climate change could bridge the gap between believers and doubters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311882/original/file-20200124-81395-18z14f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6404%2C3984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A soldier stands guard at the damaged entrance to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida, Oct. 11, 2018, after Hurricane Michael.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Tropical-Weather/925de2623b9f49778674638453ee8de7/24/0">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As experts warn that the world is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">running out of time</a> to head off severe climate change, discussions of what the U.S. should do about it are split into opposing camps. The <a href="http://katharinehayhoe.com/wp2016/biography/">scientific-environmental</a> perspective says global warming will cause the planet severe harm without action to slow fossil fuel burning. Those who <a href="https://www.beforetheflood.com/explore/the-deniers/top-10-climate-deniers/">reject mainstream climate science</a> insist either that warming is not occurring or that it’s not clear human actions are driving it. </p>
<p>With these two extremes polarizing the American political arena, climate policy has come to a near standstill. But as I argue in my new book,“<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781627792486">All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change</a>,” the U.S. armed forces offer a third perspective that could help bridge the gap.</p>
<p>I’ve studied <a href="https://www.hampshire.edu/faculty/michael-klare">military and security issues</a> for decades. Although President Trump has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51213003">called climate change a hoax</a> and worked to <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-slams-brakes-on-obamas-climate-plan-but-theres-still-a-long-road-ahead-75252">reverse the Obama administration’s climate initiatives</a>, senior U.S. military officers have long been aware of warming’s detrimental effects. </p>
<p>Military leaders believe climate change seriously threatens U.S. national security. They contend it is stirring up chaos and conflict abroad, endangering coastal bases and stressing soldiers and equipment, which undermines military readiness. But rather than debating the causes of climate change or assigning blame, they focus on how warming undermines security, and on practical steps to slow its advance and minimize damage.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314640/original/file-20200211-146686-1o4wkbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Marines board the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima to provide disaster relief and humanitarian aid to Haiti following Hurricane Matthew, Oct. 8, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/N1WFnh">U.S. Navy/ Petty Officer 2nd Class Hunter S. Harwell</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Pentagon knows about climate impacts</h2>
<p>Senior Pentagon officials are familiar with the scientific literature on climate change and know about its expected impacts. Many also have served in climate-ravaged areas of the world, including North Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands.</p>
<p>People in those regions have experienced prolonged and crippling <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-not-conflict-drove-many-syrian-refugees-to-lebanon-127681">droughts</a>, severe <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/searing-heat-made-could-make-countries-north-africa-along-persian-n899921">heat waves</a> and <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2164523/its-official-typhoon-mangkhut-was-most-intense">catastrophic storms</a>. In many cases, these developments have been accompanied by humanitarian disasters, resource disputes, and armed conflicts – phenomena that impinge directly on the overseas operations of U.S. forces.</p>
<p>“Changing weather patterns, rising temperatures, and dramatic shifts in rainfall contribute to drought, famine, migration, and resource competition” in Africa, General Thomas D. Waldhauser, then commander of the U.S. Africa Command, <a href="https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Waldhauser_02-07-19.pdf">told the Senate Armed Services Committee</a> in February 2019. “As each group seeks land for its own purposes, violent conflict can ensue.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314911/original/file-20200212-61981-1fafk75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">FBI Director Christopher Wray; CIA Director Gina Haspel; Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats; and Defense Intelligence Agency director Gen. Robert Ashley testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on worldwide threats, including climate change, Jan. 29, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/director-christopher-wray-cia-director-gina-haspel-and-news-photo/1125948369?adppopup=true">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bases and troops at risk</h2>
<p>Military leaders are also contending with climate change impacts on bases, forces and equipment. Hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018 and heavy inland flooding in the spring of 2019 caused an <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18122018/tyndall-military-hurricane-cost-2018-year-review-billion-dollar-disasters-wildfire-extreme-weather-drought-michael-florence">estimated US$10 billion</a> in damage to <a href="https://www.lejeune.marines.mil/">Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina</a>, <a href="https://www.tyndall.af.mil/">Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida</a> and <a href="https://www.offutt.af.mil/">Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska</a>. Scientists widely agree that climate change is making storms like these <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/19/us/climate-change-hurricane-florence-wxc/index.html">larger, more intense and longer-lasting</a>.</p>
<p>Threats to other bases – particularly those located along U.S. coastlines, such as the giant <a href="https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrma/installations/ns_norfolk.html">naval station at Norfolk, Virginia</a> – are bound to grow as sea levels rise and major storms occur more frequently.</p>
<p>Rising temperatures generate other challenges. In Alaska, many facilities are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/25/697615977/how-climate-change-is-affecting-alaskas-military-radar-stations">at risk of collapse or damage</a> as the permafrost on which they sit begins to thaw. In California, <a href="https://apnews.com/f3941e09d9ae4bb1b4769e79229816ca/2nd-wildfire-breaks-out-on-California-military-base">wildfires burn on or near key bases</a>. Extreme heat also poses a <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/11/12/how-rising-temps-could-cause-even-more-heat-casualties-at-military-bases/">health risk to soldiers</a>, who must often carry heavy loads during sunlit hours, and to the safe operation of helicopters and other mechanical equipment.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">NBC News reports in March 2019 on extensive damage to Camp Lejeune, six months after Hurricane Florence.</span></figcaption>
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<p>“Climate change is an urgent and growing threat to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters, refugee flows, and conflicts over basic resources,” the Defense Department told Congress in a <a href="https://archive.defense.gov/pubs/150724-congressional-report-on-national-implications-of-climate-change.pdf">2015 report</a>. “These impacts are already occurring, and the scope, scale, and intensity of these impacts are projected to increase over time.”</p>
<h2>Practical steps to adapt</h2>
<p>Recognizing these dangers, the armed forces are acting to reduce its vulnerability. They have built seawalls at Langley Air Force Base, adjacent to Norfolk Naval Station, and are relocating sensitive electronic equipment at coastal bases from ground level to upper stories or higher elevations. </p>
<p>The Defense Department also is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-green-energy-insight/u-s-military-marches-forward-on-green-energy-despite-trump-idUSKBN1683BL">investing in renewable energy</a>, including solar power and biofuels. By the end of 2020, the armed forces expect to generate 18% of on-base electricity from renewables, up from 9.6% in 2010. They plan to <a href="https://www.denix.osd.mil/sustainability/dod-sspp/unassigned/department-of-defense-strategic-sustainability-performance-plan-fy-2016/">increase that share substantially in the years ahead</a>. </p>
<p>Military planning for climate change does not dwell on threats to habitats and species. It emphasizes the social strife, state collapse and armed violence that are likely to occur in countries already suffering from scarce resources and ethnic friction. </p>
<p>As this outlook suggests, human communities face far greater risks from climate change in the short term than scientists’ habitat loss projections into 2100 and beyond may suggest. <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-will-displace-millions-in-coming-decades-nations-should-prepare-now-to-help-them-89274">Vulnerable societies are crumbling</a> under the pressure of extreme climate effects, and the scale of chaos and conflict is certain to grow as global temperatures rise. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1206967376798982151"}"></div></p>
<h2>The armed forces as climate mediators</h2>
<p>The military’s approach to climate change could bridge the divide between believers and doubters. People who assert that protecting endangered habitats and species is trivial next to health and economic problems, and that society has time to tackle whatever threats may develop, might be persuaded to take action when they hear from respected generals and admirals that the nation’s security is at stake.</p>
<p>This is already happening in some communities, such as Norfolk, Virginia, where base commanders and local officials have found common ground in addressing the area’s extreme vulnerability to <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/02/08/dod-could-start-funding-base-infrastructure-fixes-sea-level-rise.html">sea level rise and hurricane-induced flooding</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, congressional Republicans – many of whom have long opposed addressing climate change – are starting to issue <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/how-house-republicans-won-over-conservatives-to-gain-consensus-on-a-climate-agenda">plans to curb it</a>. Framing climate policy in national security terms might help win conservative support. </p>
<p>The armed forces continue to plan for conventional conflicts abroad, while recognizing that climate change will affect their ability to perform their combat duties. They must, like it or not, take steps to overcome warming’s damaging impacts. In my view, it’s a message all Americans need to heed. </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Klare receives funding from the Samuel Rubin Foundation. Michael is affiliated with the Arms Control Association as an unpaid visiting fellow.</span></em></p>US military leaders have to plan for operations all over the world, so they can’t afford to ignore climate change or debate its causes.Michael Klare, Professor Emeritus and Director, Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1243012019-10-02T11:01:32Z2019-10-02T11:01:32ZDepression and binge-drinking more common among military spouses and partners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294823/original/file-20190930-194829-wuso4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C6016%2C3998&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/depressed-beautiful-woman-drinking-wine-692074012?src=1pf9L49xDGDOugHsFri3Yg-1-6">shutterstock/Dmytro Zinkevych</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For those in the military, high levels of dedication and commitment are expected from day one on the job – and this includes the risks that come with combat deployments. There can also be demands on the partners and children of those in service: including regularly moving, family separation, worries about deployed personnel, and problems during homecoming. All can be frequent experiences for military families and can adversely affect <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1745-7599.2012.00809.x">the health and well-being of family members</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/mental-health-outcomes-at-the-end-of-the-british-involvement-in-the-iraq-and-afghanistan-conflicts-a-cohort-study/E77CCC4B6D0B2A3B6A481C0980D29E93">Previous research</a> has found alcohol is a common problem in the UK armed forces. And <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20008198.2019.1654781">our latest study</a> has also found that alcohol is a problem for female spouses and partners of military personnel – who are more than twice as likely to report binge-drinking and depression than women in the general population.</p>
<p>There are approximately <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/330339/PUBLIC_1405331876.pdf">70,000</a> military families in the UK. But not a lot is known about families’ experience of military life, as most research to date has been based in the US. Some of these studies have found high levels of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23997822">depression</a> and <a href="https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/ps.62.1.pss6201_0028">post-traumatic stress disorder</a> (PTSD) among military partners, especially when personnel are on combat missions. But there are <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/2018/gribble2018.pdf">few studies</a> looking at levels of alcohol use in this group. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20008198.2019.1654781">Our study</a> is the first to find out more about the health and well-being of UK military partners. We used data from <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/impact-of-paternal-deployment-to-the-conflicts-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-and-paternal-posttraumatic-stress-disorder-on-the-children-of-military-fathers/0175F9117E1BFA4136C28F2DB7A3BD6C">studies</a> at the <a href="http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr">King’s Centre for Military Health Research</a>, King’s College London. We looked at mental health problems – including depression and PTSD among 405 female military partners – all of whom had children. We also looked at their alcohol use. </p>
<p>We then compared the number of military partners showing signs of mental health and alcohol problems to women in the general population who also had children. For this, we used data from the 2007 <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-in-england-2007-results-of-a-household-survey">Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294825/original/file-20190930-194832-1gbk5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294825/original/file-20190930-194832-1gbk5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294825/original/file-20190930-194832-1gbk5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294825/original/file-20190930-194832-1gbk5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294825/original/file-20190930-194832-1gbk5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294825/original/file-20190930-194832-1gbk5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294825/original/file-20190930-194832-1gbk5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At times, life can be challenging for military families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sad-african-daughter-mother-sitting-on-1332865535?src=iUTPe_QTiaQpNIYTMNyzCw-1-6">Shutterstock/fizkes</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that generally most UK military partners were doing well but that female spouses and partners of military personnel were more likely to have depression and to report binge-drinking than women in the general population. Further tests found that binge-drinking in military partners was linked to longer absences of military personnel from the family home – suggesting poor coping during this time. </p>
<p>We did not find any factors linked to depression but military partners in some of our other research have talked about how some parts of military life, such as regular <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/reports/files/gribble2019.pdf">family separation</a>, difficulties <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/reports/files/gribble2017-report.pdf">with social connections</a> and <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/2019/Gribble2019.pdf">partner employment and training</a> have negatively affected their health and well-being. The stresses of <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/2016/Thandi-2016.pdf">caregiving</a>, especially for former service personnel with <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/2018/murphy2018a.pdf">PTSD</a>, can also negatively affect military partner mental health. </p>
<h2>Alcohol interventions</h2>
<p>More research is now needed to help find out more about what drives depression and problem drinking among military partners. But GPs and other professionals who have regular contact with military families would also benefit from being aware of these findings so they can help support military partners who may be struggling. </p>
<p>To better understand the health of this population and target support where needed, the NHS should also routinely collect data on whether someone is the spouse or partner of someone in the UK Armed Forces. The mental health of the <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/reports/files/gribble2018.pdf">other family members</a>, – such as parents and siblings – who are not often thought about in research, should also be looked at to better understand the impacts of service life on the wider family.</p>
<p>Campaigns aimed at reducing alcohol use in military families would also be beneficial. This could include adapting programmes and <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630184/20170718_Alcohol_Usage_bulletin__-_O.pdf">interventions</a> that address drinking among service personnel. Research, for example, has found that <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/2018/Leightley2018a.pdf">mobile apps</a> can be helpful in tracking and reducing alcohol use among former service personnel – so a similar approach may also work for military partners. </p>
<p><em>Military spouses or partners who feel they are having problems should speak to their GP or to the <a href="https://nff.org.uk/">Naval</a>, <a href="https://aff.org.uk/">Army</a> or <a href="https://www.raf-ff.org.uk/">RAF</a> Family Federations</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The main findings of this piece relating to mental health and alcohol use among UK military partners were part of a PhD studentship funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Army Families Federation. </span></em></p>New research suggests the partners of UK military personnel may experience greater levels of depression and binge-drinking compared to women in the general population.Rachael Gribble, Lecturer, War & Psychiatry, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1212682019-08-01T12:30:54Z2019-08-01T12:30:54ZBenefits stigma putting veterans off claiming after leaving armed forces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286590/original/file-20190801-169714-mki1r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Boris Johnson recently announced <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-creates-new-office-for-veterans-affairs-to-provide-lifelong-support-to-military-personnel">the creation of the UK’s first-ever Office for Veterans’ Affairs</a>. This new office will focus on lifelong support for those who have served in the armed forces, to ensure no veteran is disadvantaged because of their service. It will make sure veterans “get the medical treatment they require”, along with access to “further training and skills” needed “to keep them in good jobs”. </p>
<p>For the vast majority of those leaving the armed forces, the transition to civilian life is relatively straightforward. But for those who do experience difficulties, <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-misuse-is-more-common-in-the-armed-forces-than-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-110676">the issues can be complex</a>. <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/armed-forces-veterans-homeless-crime-prison-mental-health/">Recent analysis</a> suggests that some 50,000 veterans are coping with mental health conditions and 10,000 are in prison or on probation. While the British Legion estimates that there are about 6,000 homeless veterans in the UK. </p>
<p>So while the government’s move to do more to support veterans in health, employment and training is good news, it fails to recognise that veterans with complex needs will need support from the benefits system at some point during their transition to civilian life. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.fim-trust.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20190610-FiMT-Final-Report-WEB.pdf">our new research</a> –- funded by the <a href="https://www.fim-trust.org/">Forces in Mind Trust</a>, which commissions research on the challenges faced by the armed forces community – found that many veterans find the system bewildering and require additional support to ensure their needs are appropriately met. </p>
<h2>A system of shame</h2>
<p>Throughout our two-year project, we carried out 120 in-depth interviews with veterans and their families. Overwhelmingly, our participants found the benefits system complex and difficult to navigate. They struggled to understand the benefits available along with the conditions attached to continued eligibility. And it was evident that information about the benefits system was largely absent from the information provided when leaving the armed forces. As one veteran explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When you join… you lose track of what’s going on, especially in the benefits system… After 15 years’ service, I came out [and] I’ve ended up on benefits, but it’s a minefield.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Veterans with complex needs reported overwhelmingly negative experiences of the benefits system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Navigating the benefits system was often made more difficult due to <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-surprising-truth-about-benefits-stigma-in-britain/">the stigma attached to claiming benefits</a>. In some cases, this stigma prevented veterans from initially claiming benefits. A number of people we spoke to said benefits had been a “last resort”. One of the participants explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I survived for two years without a penny… I didn’t claim anything, I was totally against it. I was too proud… My first appointment [at] the Jobcentre was horrific. The woman [spoke] to me like I was [a] child that didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning… It is massively degrading, when you do something as proud as serving in the army.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our research also showed how mental and physical health issues can significantly impact some veteran’s ability to enter and sustain paid work. And another significant concern related to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/work-capability-assessment-is-a-toxic-failure-heres-a-better-way-38733">assessments of capability to work</a> that are a feature of the social security system.</p>
<p>Veterans’ experiences of these assessments were overwhelmingly negative – with a perceived focus on physical rather than mental health issues. Many veterans also felt there to be a lack of awareness of service-related impairments. It was also confusing as to why their existing service-related medical information did not appear to feed into the process. As one veteran explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I went in for an assessment with both a medical record and a mental health record. Neither were looked at. Was that person qualified to score me zero without looking at the documents?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>In transition</h2>
<p>Over the course of our project, some veterans had moved from <a href="https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/legacybenefits">legacy benefits</a>, (employment and support allowance, Jobseeker’s allowance) to Universal Credit. All had found this move problematic and highlighted problems with the waiting period for the first payment, reductions in benefit entitlements and <a href="https://theconversation.com/military-veterans-should-not-be-subject-to-benefits-sanctions-new-study-95168">difficulties with the online system</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everything was online… I wasn’t sure what to do, and things weren’t made very clear. I forgot to [logon] to my account and tick a box… so I was sanctioned.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the migration to <a href="https://theconversation.com/universal-credit-is-built-around-flawed-incentives-that-are-doing-real-damage-fixing-it-is-essential-105202">Universal Credit</a> continues, there is no better time to ensure that the benefits system is appropriately supporting those who have served in the armed forces – ensuring that information on the UK social security system is included as a routine part of the resettlement support would be a good start. As would changes to the assessment process to ensure that assessors have an understanding of service-related impairments. </p>
<p>More importantly, the notion that claiming benefits is a “failure” for ex-service personnel needs to change. Without such changes, veterans will continue to struggle within the benefits system. And the government will fail on the commitments made to those who have served their country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Scullion received funding for a project called ‘Sanctions, Support and Service Leavers: Welfare Conditionality and Transitions from Military to Civilian Life’. This was funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), a £35 million funding scheme run by the FiMT using an endowment awarded by the Big Lottery Fund.</span></em></p>Spare a thought for Britain’s veterans navigating the minefield that is the UK’s benefits system.Lisa Scullion, Professor of Social Policy, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1206192019-07-23T11:02:48Z2019-07-23T11:02:48ZSexual harassment is a real problem in the armed forces – and offences are not being ‘properly recorded’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285130/original/file-20190722-11343-zpi3he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s been a 35% rise in Ministry of Defence <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/790324/20190321-Sexual_Offences_Statistics_2018_report-FINAL.pdf">sexual offence investigations</a> over the past two years – with 60% of those in the British Army. These figures, published earlier this year by the UK government, show that 153 investigations were conducted in 2018. Of these, 18 were for historical offences – and the most common form of investigation was for sexual assault, followed by rape.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817838/20190607_Defence_Report_Inappropriate_Behaviours_Final_ZKL.pdf">review</a> also found a “significant number” of military personnel have experienced “bullying, discrimination and harassment” – with women and ethnic minorities more likely to be involved in disputes.</p>
<p>The Wigston review <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817838/20190607_Defence_Report_Inappropriate_Behaviours_Final_ZKL.pdf">by air Chief marshal Wigston</a>, which was published in July 2019, investigated inappropriate behaviour in the UK’s armed forces. The review also highlighted a woeful lack of data on sexual offences within the military. And that the data that is available indicates there is a significant problem. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48993201">According to the human rights group</a> Liberty, the Ministry of Defence is not recording allegations “properly or accurately”.</p>
<p>Indeed, after the <a href="https://metoomvmt.org/">#MeToo</a> campaign, the 2018 <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/736177/20180821_Sexual_harassment_report_2018_OS.PDF">Army Sexual Harassment report</a> found that 73% of women questioned reported inappropriate and unwelcome comments and that 20% had experienced inappropriate sexual touching. It also found that 8% of women had been involved in a serious sexual assault and 3% reported being raped. Only 10% of these women made a formal complaint – and of those complaining 70% said they were dissatisfied with the outcome.</p>
<p>The Wigston review makes it clear that the few who persist in orchestrating inappropriate behaviour have no place in the armed forces. And to meet this challenge the report makes <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wigston-review-into-inappropriate-behaviours">36 recommendations</a>. These are focused towards prevention, improved training and better support for those affected by incidents of inappropriate behaviour. </p>
<p>As someone who has served in the army, looking at the 36 recommendations gives me some optimism. But while I applaud a zero tolerance approach to this, it must be questioned why previous policies and training have failed to erase this blight on the British armed forces.</p>
<h2>Not properly recorded</h2>
<p>The Wigston review came about because of a series of allegations of inappropriate behaviour by members of the British armed forces. One allegation involved a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/army-sexual-assault-soldiers-arrest-attack-mod-military-a8857571.html">17-year-old female soldier</a> and a group of six male soldiers. </p>
<p>When the Wigston inquiry was commissioned in April 2019 by the then secretary of state for defence <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2019-04-10/debates/19041011000007/ArmedForcesStandardsAndValues">Gavin Williamson</a>, the primary focus of the review was clear, sexual misconduct in any form was not to be tolerated in the armed forces. Williamson said that more needed to be done to prevent inappropriate behaviour – with <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48993201">better support</a> for those affected. </p>
<p>The 2018 House of Commons <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwomeq/725/725.pdf">Fifth report</a> into sexual harassment in the workplace mirrored some of the findings from the Wigston report. It also highlighted that there is no clear understanding of the extent of the problem, due to no single way of collecting data. The report also said that employers must do more to protect their workers and provide better training for their staff.</p>
<h2>Scale of the problem</h2>
<p>High profile campaigns such as #MeToo and <a href="https://www.timesupnow.com/">Time’s Up</a>, have placed a spotlight on sexual abuse in the workplace. So it’s not surprising that the second largest employer in the UK – the British armed forces – is also under scrutiny. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285133/original/file-20190722-11339-10s95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285133/original/file-20190722-11339-10s95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285133/original/file-20190722-11339-10s95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285133/original/file-20190722-11339-10s95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285133/original/file-20190722-11339-10s95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285133/original/file-20190722-11339-10s95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285133/original/file-20190722-11339-10s95o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Wigston report found that service personnel kept quiet about bullying and other abuses for career reasons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sexual misconduct is not a new problem within the military. The Ministry of Defence has collected data since 2006, as part of their agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission. While data collection alone does not alter behaviour, all members of the armed forces also undertake service level equality and diversity training, which covers sexual harassment and abuse. </p>
<p>Yet after 20 years of education, hard-hitting campaigns and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mod-anti-rape-campaign-launched-with-shocking-posters-of-army-sex-attacks-10413865.html">an anti-rape focus</a> inappropriate behaviour continues. </p>
<h2>Tackling the issue</h2>
<p>But of course, the military ultimately reflects wider society: that’s where the armed forces recruits from and once military service ends, ex-service personnel then rejoin that same society. So while it’s clear the UK armed forces has its own specific problems surrounding rape and sexual harassment, this is of course a much wider issue.</p>
<p>Indeed, a BBC survey found <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41741615">half of women</a> in the UK workplace had been sexually harassed. <a href="https://www.crimesurvey.co.uk/en/index.html">The Crime Survey for England and Wales</a> estimates that 20% of women and 4% of men have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16. This is equivalent to <a href="https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-informed/about-sexual-violence/statistics-sexual-violence/">3.4m female and 631,000 male victims</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps then the fact that there has been a rise in sexual assault and rape investigations from the Ministry of Defence – including historic cases – is a good sign, as it shows more people feel able to speak out on this difficult issue.</p>
<p>This is important because for things to change, everyone in the armed forces must play their part in prevention and helping to change the culture. Perhaps this is where one of the Wigston report <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817838/20190607_Defence_Report_Inappropriate_Behaviours_Final_ZKL.pdf">recommendations</a> – that being a passive bystander is not acceptable – will really help to make a difference.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120619/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Dodds is a member of the Royal British Legion and is a member of the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps Association.</span></em></p>There’s a woeful lack of data on sexual offences within the military. And the data that is available indicates there is a significant problem.Christina Dodds, Graduate Tutor, Social Work, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1192192019-06-28T12:58:54Z2019-06-28T12:58:54ZWe need to talk about suicide in the military<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281763/original/file-20190628-94700-1fn44e3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/british-soldier-portrait-face-deep-shadow-589564871?studio=1">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1916, a young British private in northern France wrote home to his parents explaining his decision to take his own life. A survivor of the early days of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/timelines/ztngxsg">the Somme</a>, considered one of the most brutal battles of World War I, Robert Andrew Purvis apologised to his family before praising his commanding officers and offering the remainder of his possessions to his comrades. Purvis’s surviving suicide note remains one of the only documents of its kind from World War I. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/68300">research</a> into suicide during World War I has shown that it was not uncommon – although reporting of it was rare. For the armed forces, recognition and support for these cases has been a longstanding struggle. From 1923, the Scottish charter for the <a href="https://www.snwm.org/">honour roll of the fallen</a> explicitly forbade the inclusion of suicide cases, which meant that reported cases from World War II were also omitted from the honour roll in the Scottish National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281761/original/file-20190628-94712-9wwvfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soldiers who took their own lives in World War I were not included in the honour roll of those who died in service of their country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/british-world-war-1-soldiers-front-248204680?studio=1">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An ‘illness’</h2>
<p>A the turn of the 20th century, suicide was often regarded as a symptom of mental illness. Cases of suicide, if recorded at all, were almost always marked as being a case of “temporary insanity”. Britain stood at the forefront of treatment for conflict-related mental illness as the <a href="https://www.qaranc.co.uk/Craiglockhart-Edinburgh-Psychiatric-War-Hospital-World-War-One.php">Craiglockhart War Hospital</a> in Edinburgh became famous for treating shell-shocked soldiers.</p>
<p>The hospital evolved to advance the fledgling understanding of conflict-related psychosis and specialised in practical recovery techniques including sports, model-making, writing, photography and the “talking cure” pioneered by psychologist <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/w-h-r-rivers-on-the-treatment-of-shell-shock-from-the-lancet">William Rivers</a>.</p>
<p>Craiglockhart is also known for treating famous patients, including war poets <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/sassoon_siegfried.shtml">Siegfried Sassoon</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/owen_wilfred.shtml">Wilfred Owen</a>. Sassoon remains the only recognised war poet to have published on the controversial topic of soldier suicide.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aLuTiITZykg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Haunted men</h2>
<p>Due to the stigma, controversy and inflammatory nature of the topic, discussions surrounding mental health and suicide in the British military were limited for much of the 20th century. Victor Gregg, a serviceman in World War II, recounted in an interview in 2015 how psychological aftercare for demobilised men in 1945 was non-existent, lamenting: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My brain was filled with images of suffering that were to haunt me for the next 40 years… The final gift from a grateful country was a civilian suit, a train ticket home and about £100 of back-service pay.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sixty-four years later, fortunately much has changed. At the turn of the 21st century, both the military and governments in the UK have come to recognise the issue of military-related suicide.</p>
<p>But despite the increase in mental health awareness and support campaigns for both serving soldiers and veterans over the past two decades, concerns over deaths continue. The Ministry of Defence spends <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-secretary-shows-commitment-to-armed-forces-mental-health-with-over-220-million-funding-and-new-helpline">£22m a year</a> on mental healthcare for veterans, with a further £6m annually for support within the NHS. But military charities argue that this is not enough – particularly as focused statistical recording and analysis of veteran suicide cases only began in earnest after 2001.</p>
<p>In March 2019, Scottish warrant officer Robert McAvoy, a veteran of 20 years’ service, took his own life. The following month 18-year-old Highlander Alistair McLeish died by suicide at Catterick Garrison in York. These tragedies are by no means unique.</p>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/soldier-suicide-epidemic-catastrophic-waste-13384968">research</a> by a Scottish newspaper demonstrated that a former member of the forces takes their own life in Scotland every six days. This prompted the Scottish mental health minister Clare Haughey to <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/soldier-suicide-epidemic-tackled-national-13485986">publicly pledge</a> closer consideration of the mental healthcare of Scottish soldiers and veterans.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281765/original/file-20190628-94716-1lmqn7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281765/original/file-20190628-94716-1lmqn7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281765/original/file-20190628-94716-1lmqn7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281765/original/file-20190628-94716-1lmqn7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281765/original/file-20190628-94716-1lmqn7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281765/original/file-20190628-94716-1lmqn7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281765/original/file-20190628-94716-1lmqn7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 worldwide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/emotionally-depressed-young-male-sitting-on-320788322?studio=1">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Concerns over the <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-15/veteran-soldier-mental-health-suicide/">suicides of 71</a> British veterans and serving personnel in 2018 led UK defence secretary, Tobias Ellwood, to tell ITV News:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m truly sorry. I’m sorry that they feel the armed forces, NHS, government, have let them down. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was not an admission of responsibility for a lack of duty of care. It was a poor excuse for an apology which undercut the severity of the issue and role of the establishment within it, by insinuating that the “lack of support given” was a matter of perception. However, Ellwood also admitted: “We must improve.”</p>
<h2>Addressing the issues</h2>
<p>Suicide is currently the <a href="https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/get-help/suicide/">biggest killer of men under the age of 45</a> in the Western world – and the concerns of suicide related to service are by not limited to Britain.</p>
<p>In the US, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/26/suicide-rate-young-us-veterans-jumps">6,000 veterans took their own lives in 2018</a>, on top of the suicides of 275 active service personnel. In the American media and public eye, service and veteran suicide is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/veterans-suicide-prevention.html">perceived as a growing issue</a> as cases of mental illness and post-traumatic stress continue to go untreated.</p>
<p>Military service and veteran suicide are not new issues, but there are crucial conversations to be had about the subject publicly, politically, socially and medically. Claiming there is a suicide “epidemic” would be an exaggeration as the numbers do not support that kind of term, but the issue remains pertinent and in need of public attention.</p>
<p>Bluntly, men and women have died, are dying and will continue to die if society does not examine the issue of military suicide. Only through open discussion, active research and recognition of service and veteran mental health-related deaths can these tragedies be prevented in the future.</p>
<p><em>The veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress is available 24 hours on 0800 138 1619 for veterans and their families; 0800 323 444 for serving personnel and their families; via text on 07537 404719; or at www.combatstress.org.uk</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Simon Harold Walker previously received funding from the Wellcome Trust and The Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p>Only through discussion and recognition of service and veteran mental health issues can these tragedies be prevented in the future.Simon Harold Walker, Associate Researcher, University of Strathclyde Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1180172019-06-12T10:05:11Z2019-06-12T10:05:11ZThe Defense Department is worried about climate change – and also a huge carbon emitter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278736/original/file-20190610-52758-t5kq63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet launching from the USS Theodore Roosevelt on full afterburner.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterburner#/media/File:FA18_on_afterburner.jpg">U.S. Navy/Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientists and security analysts have warned for more than a decade that global warming is a <a href="https://www.cna.org/CNA_files/pdf/National%20Security%20and%20the%20Threat%20of%20Climate%20Change.pdf">potential national security concern</a>. </p>
<p>They project that the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">consequences of global warming</a> – rising seas, powerful storms, famine and diminished access to fresh water – may make regions of the world politically unstable and prompt <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-will-displace-millions-in-coming-decades-nations-should-prepare-now-to-help-them-89274">mass migration and refugee crises</a>. </p>
<p>Some worry that <a href="https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/071105_ageofconsequences.pdf">wars may follow</a>.</p>
<p>Yet with <a href="http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/the_pentagons_hidden_impact_on_climate_change/">few exceptions</a>, the U.S. military’s significant contribution to climate change has received little attention. Although the Defense Department has significantly reduced its fossil fuel consumption since the early 2000s, it remains the world’s <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/smart-transportation-solutions/us-military-oil-use.html">single largest consumer of oil</a> – and as a result, one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters.</p>
<h2>A broad carbon footprint</h2>
<p>I have <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GHR_WW8AAAAJ&hl=en">studied war and peace</a> for four decades. But I only focused on the scale of U.S. military greenhouse gas emissions when I began co-teaching a course on climate change and focused on the Pentagon’s response to global warming. Yet, the Department of Defense is the U.S. government’s largest fossil fuel consumer, accounting for between 77% and 80% of all <a href="https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/dataunits.php">federal government energy consumption</a> since 2001.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2019/Pentagon%20Fuel%20Use,%20Climate%20Change%20and%20the%20Costs%20of%20War%20Final.pdf">newly released study</a> published by Brown University’s <a href="https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/">Costs of War Project</a>, I calculated U.S. military greenhouse gas emissions in tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from 1975 through 2017.</p>
<p>Today China is the <a href="https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/overview.php?v=booklet2018&dst=CO2emi&sort=des9">world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter</a>, followed by the United States. In 2017 the Pentagon’s greenhouse gas emissions totaled <a href="https://ctsedwweb.ee.doe.gov/Annual/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fAnnual%2fReport%2fSiteDeliveredEnergyUseAndCostBySectorAndTypeAndFiscalYear.aspx">over 59 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent</a>. If it were a country, it would have been the world’s 55th largest greenhouse gas emitter, with emissions larger than Portugal, Sweden or Denmark. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1695&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1695&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=2131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=2131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278741/original/file-20190610-52780-5or9mp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=2131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The largest sources of military greenhouse gas emissions are buildings and fuel. The Defense Department maintains over 560,000 buildings at approximately 500 domestic and overseas military installations, which account for about 40% of its greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>The rest comes from operations. In fiscal year 2016, for instance, the Defense Department consumed about <a href="https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/Downloads/OE/FY16%20OE%20Annual%20Report.pdf">86 million barrels</a> of fuel for operational purposes. </p>
<h2>Why do the armed forces use so much fuel?</h2>
<p>Military weapons and equipment use so much fuel that the relevant measure for defense planners is frequently gallons per mile.</p>
<p>Aircraft are particularly thirsty. For example, the B-2 stealth bomber, which holds more than 25,600 gallons of jet fuel, burns 4.28 gallons per mile and emits more than 250 metric tons of greenhouse gas over a 6,000 nautical mile range. The KC-135R aerial refueling tanker consumes about 4.9 gallons per mile. </p>
<p>A single mission consumes enormous quantities of fuel. In January 2017, two B-2B bombers and 15 aerial refueling tankers traveled more than 12,000 miles from Whiteman Air Force Base to <a href="https://theaviationist.com/2017/01/20/all-we-know-about-the-u-s-b-2-bombers-30-hour-round-trip-mission-to-pound-daesh-in-libya/">bomb ISIS targets in Libya</a>, killing <a href="https://fox4kc.com/2017/01/19/stealth-bombers-take-off-from-whiteman-a-f-b-kill-80-isis-militants/">about 80 suspected ISIS militants</a>. Not counting the tankers’ emissions, the B-2s emitted about 1,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iqTr_dCwtuo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Petroleum Oil and Lubrication Airmen deployed to RAF Fairford refuel B-52 and B-2 bombers training in the United Kingdom.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Quantifying military emissions</h2>
<p>Calculating the Defense Department’s greenhouse gas emissions isn’t easy. The Defense Logistics Agency <a href="https://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/Energy/Publications/E_Fiscal2017FactBookLowRes2.pdf?ver=2018-03-29-073051-897">tracks fuel purchases</a>, but the Pentagon <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/679682.pdf">does not consistently report</a> DOD fossil fuel consumption to Congress in its annual budget requests. </p>
<p>The Department of Energy publishes data on DOD energy production and fuel consumption, including for <a href="https://ctsedwweb.ee.doe.gov/Annual/Report/HistoricalFederalEnergyConsumptionDataByAgencyAndEnergyTypeFY1975ToPresent.aspx">vehicles and equipment</a>. Using fuel consumption data, I estimate that from 2001 through 2017, the DOD, including all service branches, emitted 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. That is the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator">rough equivalent</a> of driving of 255 million passenger vehicles over a year.</p>
<p>Of that total, I estimated that war-related emissions between 2001 and 2017, including “overseas contingency operations” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Syria, generated over 400 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent — roughly <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator">equivalent</a> to the greenhouse emissions of almost 85 million cars in one year.</p>
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<h2>Real and present dangers?</h2>
<p>The Pentagon’s core mission is to prepare for potential attacks by human adversaries. Analysts argue about the likelihood of war and the level of military preparation necessary to prevent it, but in my view, none of the United States’ adversaries – Russia, Iran, China and North Korea – are certain to attack the United States. </p>
<p>Nor is a large standing military the only way to reduce the threats these adversaries pose. Arms control and <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2010/04/140674.htm">diplomacy</a> can often de-escalate tensions and reduce threats. Economic <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781403915917_2">sanctions</a> can diminish the capacity of states and nonstate actors to threaten the security interests of the U.S. and its allies. </p>
<p>In contrast, climate change is not a potential risk. It has begun, with real <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/">consequences</a> to the United States. Failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will make the nightmare scenarios strategists warn against – perhaps even “climate wars” – more likely.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1126037520817577989"}"></div></p>
<h2>A case for decarbonizing the military</h2>
<p>Over the past last decade the Defense Department has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/science/earth/05fossil.html">reduced its fossil fuel consumption</a> through actions that include using renewable energy, weatherizing buildings and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-green-energy-insight/u-s-military-marches-forward-on-green-energy-despite-trump-idUSKBN1683BL">reducing aircraft idling time on runways</a>. </p>
<p>The DOD’s total annual emissions declined from a peak of 85 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2004 to 59 million metric tons in 2017. The goal, as then-General James Mattis put it, is to be <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/defense-industrialist/unleash-us-from-the-tether-of-fuel">“unleashed from the tether of fuel”</a> by decreasing military dependence on oil and oil convoys that are <a href="https://www.forbes.com/2009/11/12/fuel-military-afghanistan-iraq-business-energy-military.html#788c31ec4562">vulnerable to attack</a> in war zones. </p>
<p>Since 1979, the United States has placed a high priority on protecting access to the Persian Gulf. About <a href="https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/Downloads/OE/2016%20OE%20Strategy_WEBd.pdf">one-fourth of military operational fuel use</a> is for the U.S. Central Command, which covers the Persian Gulf region.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/crude-strategy">national security scholars have argued</a>, with dramatic <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-01-renewables-world.html">growth in renewable energy</a> and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-exporter-opec-20181206-story.html">diminishing U.S. dependence on foreign oil</a>, it is possible for Congress and the president to rethink our nation’s military missions and reduce the amount of energy the armed forces use to protect access to Middle East oil. </p>
<p>I agree with the military and national security experts who contend that <a href="https://climateandsecurity.org/">climate change should be front and center</a> in U.S. national security debates. Cutting Pentagon greenhouse gas emissions will help <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4373">save lives in the United States</a>, and could diminish the risk of climate conflict.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118017/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neta C. Crawford is Co-Director of the Costs of War Project, based at the Watson Institute at Brown University, and a Board Member of the Council for a Livable World. </span></em></p>Many current and former US military leaders call climate change a serious national security threat, but few of them mention the Defense Department’s big carbon footprint.Neta C. Crawford, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048552018-12-24T18:37:49Z2018-12-24T18:37:49ZThe Army has a public perception problem. Here’s how it can regain trust with society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247637/original/file-20181128-32208-jxunaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In recent years, the purpose of the Army has diverged from the priorities of broader Australian society.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Do something for yourself, join the Army Reserve.”</p>
<p>This was one of the Army’s most iconic campaigns, broadcast on Australian television throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVOdAPWxvz4">advertisements</a> were set to Tchaikovsky’s rousing battle hymn, the 1812 Overture, and portrayed an Army that was as comfortable displaying its militarism as it was exhorting the perks of enlistment. </p>
<p>But as every child of that era knows, the ads were particularly memorable because of the irreverent lyrics they inspired. In households across Australia, a chorus of children’s voices entered the refrain “join the Army get your head blown off” into the annals of Australian history.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iVOdAPWxvz4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Do something for yourself’ Army campaign.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For a long time, the identity of the Army was inextricably connected to the <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/anzac-voices/landing">landing at Gallipoli</a> in 1915 and the sacred legends of the first world war. The institution stood for such <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG1069871/">ANZAC values</a> as: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>reckless valo[u]r in a good cause … enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship, and endurance that will never own defeat </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This lore nourished the public’s broad-based support for the institution. </p>
<h2>What Australians think of the Army today</h2>
<p>But as the spectre of war has faded in recent years, the purpose of the Army has diverged from the priorities of broader Australian society. A tension between the two has become more apparent: civil society now has the expectation of peace, whereas the military is still preparing for possible war.</p>
<p>In truth, the process of dislocation was well underway when the “Do something for yourself” campaign was launched. Overall support for the armed forces was in decline, and a review conducted prior to the release of the 1987 Defence White Paper indicated the Army “<a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p68061/mobile/ch01s02.html">was having difficulties adjusting to the post-Vietnam War era</a>”. </p>
<p>As Australia’s strategic circumstances became more stable in the 1990s, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09592319108423002">the public shifted its focus</a> to domestic priorities. National defence and security matters became detached from public discourse.</p>
<p>Today, the public’s connection with the Army is largely exercised through abstract or ceremonial means. ANZAC Day continues to capture the public’s imagination, as is demonstrated by the growing attendance at <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/media/press-releases/anzac-day-2018">dawn services</a>. This, however, has not translated into greater appreciation for the tasks and objectives of the institution. Australian society lacks an anchor by which to make sense of its own modern Army.</p>
<p>Under these circumstances, <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ad-aspi/import/ASPI_attitude_matters.pdf?mXbJerEKbfYVaQW8Mqw8N5sNFKAgOCKV">public attitudes</a> towards the Army are influenced by ideology and politics, individual experience and contemporary values. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247639/original/file-20181128-32185-1rzug9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247639/original/file-20181128-32185-1rzug9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247639/original/file-20181128-32185-1rzug9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247639/original/file-20181128-32185-1rzug9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247639/original/file-20181128-32185-1rzug9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247639/original/file-20181128-32185-1rzug9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247639/original/file-20181128-32185-1rzug9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Army is struggling to rebrand itself and attract new recruits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francois Nascimbeni/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To be sure, the Army is still praised for its courage and integrity, its aptitude to “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=rRKqAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=anzacs+dirty+dozen&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2kMOxmYreAhWEA4gKHb3DCZMQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=anzacs%20dirty%20dozen&f=false">punch above its weight,</a>” and its readiness to fight hostile nations and protect vulnerable people in the region.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-naval-upgrade-may-not-be-enough-to-keep-pace-in-a-fast-changing-region-105044">Australia's naval upgrade may not be enough to keep pace in a fast-changing region</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Extensive public consultations with everyday Australians prior to the release of the 2016 Defence White Paper showed that people viewed the armed services with a <a href="http://www.defence.gov.au/Whitepaper/docs/GuardingUncertainty.pdf">high degree of respect</a> and took “pride in the professionalism, operational record and achievements” of military personnel.</p>
<p>Yet, the Army is also criticised for its adherence to outmoded traditions. As the <a href="https://www.news.com.au/news/australian-defence-force-scandals/news-story/2f963221eee6f430f23f5043469cc562">media has exposed</a> numerous scandals involving sexual harassment, bullying, hazing and allegations of rape in recent years, the Army has been chastised for allowing a toxic internal culture to develop. </p>
<p>In addition, the Army has increasingly been accused of involvement in “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=rRKqAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=anzacs+dirty+dozen&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2kMOxmYreAhWEA4gKHb3DCZMQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=anzacs%20dirty%20dozen&f=false">other people’s wars</a>”, a reproach frequently heard during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to some <a href="http://honesthistory.net.au/wp/reynolds-henry-unnecessary-wars/">historians</a>, Australia’s participation in “unnecessary wars” is a distinguishing feature of the nation’s history.</p>
<h2>Why this divide is problematic</h2>
<p>Such conflicted characterisations are, in part, a product of the public’s <a href="http://www.defence.gov.au/Whitepaper/docs/GuardingUncertainty.pdf">segregation from military life</a>. Unless one lives in Canberra or Townsville, where the Army is an ordinary and established part of daily existence, the military is seen as someone else’s remit. </p>
<p>This separation has been exacerbated by the Army itself. While the military shares the same core democratic values as civilians, it largely accepts the traditional <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Soldier_and_the_State.html?id=1PqFe0rsfdcC&redir_esc=y">ideological divide</a> between its conservative leadership and liberal, individualistic civil society. </p>
<p>The Army remains <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=247064382518339;res=IELAPA">a closed, insular system,</a> committed first and foremost to producing first-class soldiers. The belief is the Army <em>should</em> operate in a separate domain so it can remain effective and apolitical. But as the inner workings of our liberal democracy become more convoluted, the disconnect is proving obstructive. For both sectors. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-australia-goes-to-war-public-trust-depends-on-better-oversight-62163">When Australia goes to war, public trust depends on better oversight</a>
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<p>The public sees an institution inclined to living in its own myth, and more concerned with integrating with the wider Australian defence force and other allied armies than interacting with Australian society. </p>
<p>The Army sees a society that does not understand what it does, or what it needs. It believes there is general support for its role in counter-terrorism actions, border protection, peacekeeping and restoring order after natural disasters, but limited appreciation of its operational realities, resourcing and equipment challenges, or other activities that are absent from the public discourse.</p>
<h2>Solutions for re-engaging with society</h2>
<p>So, how might this disconnect between the Army and society be ameliorated?</p>
<p>In an effort to keep pace with societal expectations, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-military-embraces-diversity-in-new-ad-campaign">modern recruitment campaigns</a> highlight a military that reflects the community it seeks to protect and the importance of a diverse and multicultural workforce with a broad skill base. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A Navy recruitment add emphasising the service’s multicultural make-up.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Likewise, the military leadership’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaqpoeVgr8U&feature=youtu.be">strong condemnation</a> of misconduct among some personnel suggests that the institution is committed to improving its image and being more in line with the nation’s norms and standards.</p>
<p>An approach embraced by other liberal democracies, including the UK, US and Canada is to work within the myth-making paradigm to construct a <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/03/how-to-build-a-strategic-narrative">strategic narrative</a> that emphasises the Army’s value to society. Although such a narrative is only likely to resonate with those who already have a vested interest in the Army, it may well produce greater general awareness of its roles and missions.</p>
<p>These methods ignore the key strength of the Army, however. The service is in the business of direct engagement. Even as scandal, exclusivity and a sense of disconnection have undermined its reputation in recent years, the public continues to admire the institution’s readiness to put boots on the ground. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-china-us-tensions-on-the-rise-does-australia-need-a-new-defence-strategy-106515">With China-US tensions on the rise, does Australia need a new defence strategy?</a>
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<p>Perhaps the answer, then, lies in an intensification of direct associations with society. A more visible presence in communities, an expansion of the reserves and more engagement in activities that foster shared experience could ease the degree of separation between the sectors, and rekindle mutual trust.</p>
<p>That <a href="http://www.defence.gov.au/ADC/Publications/Shedden/2012/AGNEW%20CM%20Relations%202.pdf">trust needs to be present</a>. The Army is reliant on society for its very existence. Indeed, if the Army becomes segregated from its future ranks, and from the society it is entrusted to protect, it has lost its <em>raison d'être</em>. </p>
<p>The bond between the Army and society should be carefully nurtured and protected as a vital element of national security.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104855/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marigold Black is a Research Fellow with the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University who is assigned to work on contract with the Australian Army Research Centre.</span></em></p>There is a troubling disconnect between a once-iconic institution and broader society.Marigold Black, AARC Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1042842018-10-08T10:37:03Z2018-10-08T10:37:03ZIncrease in PTSD among UK veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239391/original/file-20181004-52681-1b71xpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Soldiers of C Company 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment are silhouetted against the setting sun during operations in Afghanistan in June 2014.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soldiers_of_2_Royal_Anglian_Silhouetted_in_Afghanistan_MOD_45157880.jpg">Ministry of Defence</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has increased among the UK’s armed forces in the last ten years, our latest <a href="http://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2018.175">research</a> shows. </p>
<p>We have been following military service men and women since 2003 in one of the largest ongoing studies of its kind in the UK. Our work explores the potential impact of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan on the health and well-being of UK military personnel. </p>
<p>Results from two earlier phases (in <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/iraqafghan/Hotopf2006-thehealthofUKmilitarypersonnel.pdf">2004-2006</a> and <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/iraqafghan/Fear2010-consequencesofdeployment.pdf">2007-2009</a>) have already been published. Outcomes from the latest phase of our study, based on data gathered from over 8,000 military personnel between 2014 and 2016, tell us that the overall rate of PTSD among serving personnel and veterans is 6%, compared with 4% in the earlier two phases. While levels of PTSD in our military sample were similar to those in the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/556596/apms-2014-full-rpt.pdf">general population</a> in 2004-2006 and 2007-2009, the rates have now risen.</p>
<p>It’s important to note that in large-scale studies, such as this one, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, it is not possible to conduct individual clinical assessments for PTSD. Participants are considered to have the condition if they score 50 or higher on the 17-item <a href="https://www.mirecc.va.gov/docs/visn6/3_ptsd_checklist_and_scoring.pdf">National Center for PTSD Checklist (PCL-C)</a>, a cut-off in line with international research standards.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239493/original/file-20181005-72097-13tlo86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239493/original/file-20181005-72097-13tlo86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239493/original/file-20181005-72097-13tlo86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239493/original/file-20181005-72097-13tlo86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239493/original/file-20181005-72097-13tlo86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239493/original/file-20181005-72097-13tlo86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239493/original/file-20181005-72097-13tlo86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rates of probable PTSD, common mental health disorders and alcohol misuse since 2004 in the British Armed Forces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">KCMHR</span></span>
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<h2>The rise of PTSD</h2>
<p>The increase in PTSD was mainly seen among veterans who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The rate of PTSD among these veterans was 9%, compared with 5% for veterans who did not serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. About 5% of those currently serving reported symptoms of PTSD, whether they had been deployed to conflict zones or not. </p>
<p>For veterans, the role undertaken while deployed was associated with their risk of PTSD: 17% of veterans deployed in a combat role reported symptoms of probable PTSD, compared with 6% in a support role – for example, medical or logistical teams. </p>
<p>This is the first time the risk of PTSD for veterans deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan has been identified as substantially higher than the risk for those still serving. Although the increase is a concern, not every veteran has deployed, and only about one in three serve in a combat role. There is no single reason why PTSD is more common among veterans, but <a href="https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/15/2/175/567104">one possible explanation</a> is that those who are mentally unwell are more likely to leave the armed forces. </p>
<p>It seems that the legacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on mental health has taken time to reveal itself. But it would be wrong to say there is a “<a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4689244/britains-stretched-armed-forces-are-now-losing-an-entire-battalion-a-year-to-mental-health-problems/">time bomb</a>” of PTSD in the UK military and veteran community. In fact, PTSD remains less common than either alcohol misuse or common mental disorders.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tetris-and-other-surprising-ways-to-help-emergency-workers-cope-with-trauma-50862">Tetris ... and other surprising ways to help emergency workers cope with trauma</a>
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<h2>Other mental health problems</h2>
<p>Our analysis did reveal some good news: alcohol misuse has decreased, from 15% in 2004-2006 to 10% in 2014-2016. Although this rate is still much higher than the rate of 4% found among the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/556596/apms-2014-full-rpt.pdf">general population</a>. </p>
<p>The observed reduction is in line with a <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/bulletins/opinionsandlifestylesurveyadultdrinkinghabitsingreatbritain/2005to2016">similar trend</a> of people drinking less in the UK, but it is also possible that efforts by the armed forces to reduce alcohol consumption are beginning to pay off. </p>
<p>In terms of common mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, substantial rates emerged for veterans who held a combat role – 31% compared with 22% overall. However, overall rates of these disorders have not increased from previous phases.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bodyguard-there-are-accounts-of-ptsd-in-warfare-from-homer-to-the-middle-ages-103306">Bodyguard: there are accounts of PTSD in warfare from Homer to the Middle Ages</a>
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<h2>The bottom line</h2>
<p>Our findings suggest that the transition back to, and the maintenance of, a happy and successful civilian life may be difficult for some veterans. Leaving the service after many years in a supportive and structured environment may result in stresses that contribute to poor mental health, particularly if a veteran struggles to find housing or meaningful employment. So it’s important that research into the longer-term health repercussions of military service continues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Leightley works for the King's Centre for Military Health Research</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharine Mary Mark and Marie-Louise Sharp do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The true impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on soldiers’ mental health revealed for the first time.Katharine Mary Mark, Post-doctoral Research Associate, King's College LondonDaniel Leightley, Postdoctoral Research Associate, King's College LondonMarie-Louise Sharp, Senior research associate, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/902592018-01-18T14:20:16Z2018-01-18T14:20:16ZThe British Army’s belonging campaign finally recognises that masculinity has changed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202414/original/file-20180118-158531-v7n76s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/soldier-ptsd-182931479">John Gomez/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Though it was built around a message of inclusiveness and “belonging”, the British Army’s latest recruitment campaign has provoked considerable criticism. </p>
<p>The advertisements were created to encourage all kinds of people to join the armed forces – regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender. In one of the video segments, a woman soldier discovers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7zJ4dTQE4E&list=PLT7MnaHh-LAky3FC_0ew46yC-a3t-TcvX&index=2">opportunities for leadership and respect</a> for her achievements. In others, the army is shown as welcoming <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzar5C88YVw&list=PLT7MnaHh-LAky3FC_0ew46yC-a3t-TcvX&index=5">gay men</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Sh7JSxPdM&list=PLT7MnaHh-LAky3FC_0ew46yC-a3t-TcvX">Muslims</a> into the ranks. Potential recruits are reassured that soldiers are not expected to be emotionless machines. They will not be shunned for experiencing fear, anxiety or sorrow. </p>
<p>Previous recruitment drives have portrayed scenes of soldiers facing pressured and challenging situations, using sophisticated and expensive equipment. The new campaign, by contrast, focuses on addressing everyday concerns rather than immersing its audience in the adrenaline rush of combat.</p>
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<p>Much of the disapproval has focused on the suggestion that the army supports soldiers who are struggling with mental health issues. Some critics have warned that the army is becoming “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/10/army-accused-of-political-correctness-in-recruitment-campaign">soft</a>”, is too concerned about being “<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/ex-army-chief-force-must-be-tough-not-jolly-nice-to-everyone-a3736366.html">jolly nice</a>” to its recruits, and is losing sight of its fundamental mission. </p>
<p>Others, such as retired colonel Richard Kemp, warn that this shift in emphasis means the British Army will not attract the right sort of recruits – those who are excited by the prospect of fighting wars. Instead, he argues, the army should continue to focus its attention on its traditional core of prospective soldiers, “<a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/90856/politically-correct-army-recruitment-campaign-slated">those who want to fight</a>”.</p>
<p>This kind of criticism – especially the accusations that a once-great institution is <a href="https://www.forces.net/news/new-british-army-adverts-criticised-being-too-politically-correct">pandering to political correctness</a> – can be found whenever efforts are made to encourage greater diversity. But here it also reveals the persistence of romanticised ideas about what it means to be a soldier. These ideas have a strong hold on society’s imagination. But they are, in fact, far from the reality of the modern army, and the needs of individual soldiers.</p>
<h2>A modern army</h2>
<p>These responses are very telling of who these critics think are the right sort of soldiers: men who will show a stiff upper lip in any circumstances. Kemp and his fellow critics are not the only ones to associate being a soldier with being a man, and a certain type of man. We might think this is because militaries are mainly staffed by men, but it is much more complicated than that.</p>
<p>Being a soldier is not simply a job that some men do. Instead, becoming a soldier is often equated with becoming a man, even in a society like Britain where very few young men <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39968776">join the armed forces</a>. The traits that are regarded as necessary or admirable in a soldier – strength, courage, aggressiveness and the ability to use violence and show stoicism in the face of physical and emotional pain – are also held up as an ideal of masculinity that all men are measured against.</p>
<p>One reason for the strong reaction against the recruitment campaign is that it calls into question very basic ideas about what it means to be a “real man”. If we cannot count on the notion of the soldier as a manly man, what other assumptions about gender, identity and behaviour might not be what we thought?</p>
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<p>There is evidence to support the idea that the way British (male) soldiers think about their own masculinity is changing – as a result of the different types of tasks that they are now required to carry out. Research indicates, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Forces_for_Good.html?id=6HeklwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">for example</a>, the development of “peacekeeper masculinity” within the British Army, which encourages and values qualities such as care, empathy, equality and mutual respect.</p>
<p>In addition to being out of date, the traditional notion of the soldier as tough, aggressive and unemotional is damaging – both to the soldiers themselves and to others around them. It creates enormous pressures on men to live up to impossible standards of masculinity. Those pressures can contribute to antisocial behaviour, such as <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/62026/1/Domestic%20abuse_British%20military.pdf">domestic violence towards their partners</a> and sexual abuse against fellow soldiers, both <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/446224/ADR005000-Sexual_Harassment_Report.pdf">male and female</a>. </p>
<p>When soldiers do find they are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or other forms of mental illness, these ideas about keeping a stiff upper lip and denying their emotions <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publications/assetfiles/2014/murphy2014b.pdf">can stop them</a> from seeking and getting the help that they need.</p>
<p>The “belonging” campaign does not mark an end to the pressures on soldiers to live up to unachievable stereotypes of masculinity. It does, however, suggest that the British Army is willing to challenge those stereotypes and put forward a more varied and realistic set of alternatives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Mathers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Soldiers can now be more than just the best to join the British Army.Jennifer Mathers, Reader in International Politics, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/855782017-10-17T13:36:44Z2017-10-17T13:36:44ZJob cuts at BAE Systems is a part of wider trends in the defence industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190408/original/file-20171016-31002-pd2x5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The breaks are on for BAE's Eurofighter Typhoon production.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/richard_deakin/5970543263/in/photolist-a6AAv6-4VTAqL-8ebots-oSGTdE-J4gFYC-WiEjCU-2hQMQL-pNBD14-5gZNXi-Y25Vp-2gJJiX-6zUZcz-RPi3J-pMsR1L-UwyV1T-69E8GQ-5wA9i1-PAsb5S-UP7iBM-9yyWK9-6U1uXk-MWUY9D-8mVszA-optYGd-8TTxmy-oFA1iH-iiswVH-UXm7d8-4bKVCi-VZgaDz-ocWPEE-kv2TSe-a6wjSu-NRPCPb-6S5oLH-fmzhcM-QGnG8a-cxfeR1-a6twVk-K2XdVW-NB6GVn-cuEFqQ-eHeemv-czqRus-omHrZg-PAsbdY-QnT4Lm-8otTNj-fmPuf9-px89VZ">Richard Deakin</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK is the third largest defence industry exporter in the world in a global market valued at over £60 billion a year, behind the US and France. It exports around <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/541330/20160727_-_Official_Statistics_-_UKTI_DSO_Core_Slides_for_2015_-_Final_Version.pdf">£7.7 billion worth of orders</a> annually.</p>
<p>The biggest contractor in the UK is BAE systems. Despite a successful track record of international sales in recent years, times have been hard for the British company, compelling it to cut <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41566841">nearly 2,000 jobs</a> across various sectors. </p>
<p>Increasing political sensitivity to arms sales to the Middle East may have been a factor, but a big reason for this is stiff competition in what is a lucrative global market. A number of governments are also trying to gain the political influence that this business brings and BAE is under pressure to, <a href="http://www.baesystems.com/en/article/announcement-of-organisational-changes">as it has said</a>, “boost competitiveness”.</p>
<p>BAE’s role in the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft programme has been a core part of its offering, proving very popular with countries in the Middle East especially. But alternatives are being offered by both US and French contractors. US company Lockheed Martin’s F-35 “Lightning II” fighter jets <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/farnborough-airshow/10977537/Everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-F-35-Britains-70m-new-stealth-fighter.html">are proving popular</a> – even selected by the UK government for its new Queen Elizabeth aircraft class carriers. Lockheed Martin also offers the F-16 fighter which has already been sold <a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.co.uk/us/products/f16.html">to 27 other countries</a>. Plus, there is the French Dassault Rafale fighter, operated by its own air force and also offered into the export market. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190448/original/file-20171016-30993-1gex3j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190448/original/file-20171016-30993-1gex3j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190448/original/file-20171016-30993-1gex3j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190448/original/file-20171016-30993-1gex3j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190448/original/file-20171016-30993-1gex3j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190448/original/file-20171016-30993-1gex3j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190448/original/file-20171016-30993-1gex3j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Under construction: HMS Queen Elizabeth which will host F-35 jets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages/16551116695/in/photolist-rdyNmX-VPuAy7-VPuAuu-XstgSh-XstgJG-WiL4v9-XjHjxy-8mFKpJ-V8mi23-W9N7dw-SwCif4-T75dZj-odHqWG-odHqBd-odHrsS-ouVKqP-Xwvdvt-XnrNoX-XnrNrx-WiL4dA-Xvvbij-WiL529-XjHjNU-WiL4U5-WiL4mS-VPuAkb-VPuAg3-W9N77j-V8mi9C-W9N79U-VtdfAQ-Ui7YLD-Ui7Ypr-WmduY1-WmduT1-dqyGJu-dqyz5F-dqyziV-dqyJMf-dqyJbm-dqyHGm-dqyHUW-dqyGwb-dqyAiH-dqyAYn-XnrFQg-VtdgsQ-XnrLma-WYvmEG-XnrLvD">Defence Images</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Maintaining viability</h2>
<p>Every business has to ensure that its operations remain efficient and viable. No more so is this true than in the defence sector. Orders are generally made well in advance. Given the complexity of the products, there are significant lead times before fighter jets enter into service. Several years is not uncommon, during which time decisions can be amended or even reversed. For example, although the intent to acquire F-35s for the UK was first signalled in 2006, initial orders were placed in 2012 with potential delivery extending out towards 2030. Each aircraft will cost <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/19/uk_buys_17_more_f35b_lrip_12_14/">around US$120m</a> (although the exact price is kept secret).</p>
<p>Global political dynamics also have a big impact on orders. The costs of manufacturing aircraft, the type or version required and the industrial capability to produce it must be continuously scrutinised. Meanwhile this is balanced with the strategic nature of a domestic defence business – leading edge design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities which ensure, among other things, that as a nation the UK is able to defend itself when threatened. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190453/original/file-20171016-31016-pz0i5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190453/original/file-20171016-31016-pz0i5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190453/original/file-20171016-31016-pz0i5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190453/original/file-20171016-31016-pz0i5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190453/original/file-20171016-31016-pz0i5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190453/original/file-20171016-31016-pz0i5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190453/original/file-20171016-31016-pz0i5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stiff competition from Lockheed Martin’s F-35.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/diorama_sky/4550817985/in/photolist-7W98D4-4jcWx2-F9iFM1-pWnMsL-uPj36e-pXzNXn-apZcX9-pDP7XB-hVDfwt-bTpfDa-qohmKr-knDZRK-vdQKvy-s9ZBVT-J5Y22S-5uT2PV-qodQwd-9GRTtX-eckCcm-V7m6JE-ZbdWRE-9GUKem-VDuiCd-mDUyEX-76rd5C-iYYhN8-78697R-4CM3n3-nRjPY8-pywJiC-fHngoJ-XZG11k-nzagXY-iYXnde-a42Hkd-fRPu5x-V4z2JL-XWWAjG-pywLGA-6RgSR3-78a3bU-4CLZQ1-iYX5rZ-5ZUbeQ-5WATiB-fHnhtL-pAxBiN-pj5zqA-fRPMpk-ns564M">Jeff Stvan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The cost of sustaining that level of innovation, engineering and manufacturing capability is a significant undertaking. It is also difficult to resurrect once competitive advantage is lost so it becomes a complex challenge for all defence contractors and their supporting governments to navigate.</p>
<h2>Wider shifts</h2>
<p>The bottom line for BAE is that the original market expectations for Typhoon sales have been revised down. Against this backdrop, the announcement to cut jobs is in no way unusual and reflects the overall competitive intensity in which all businesses, but particularly the defence sector operate today. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the 2,000 BAE jobs figure fails to reflect the true scale of cuts if you then take into account the subsequent impact on jobs within the lower tiers of the BAE supply chain. </p>
<p>For the British defence industry this is part of a wider strategic shift. The Typhoon was designed and brought to production in the context of the Cold War. It is an air superiority aircraft designed to defend UK airspace against attack. Since its launch, new aircraft – most notably from the US – provide other options in today’s potential combat scenarios. In particular, the ability to launch carrier-based aircraft in out-of-area operations is key. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190450/original/file-20171016-30957-130r37c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190450/original/file-20171016-30957-130r37c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190450/original/file-20171016-30957-130r37c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190450/original/file-20171016-30957-130r37c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190450/original/file-20171016-30957-130r37c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190450/original/file-20171016-30957-130r37c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190450/original/file-20171016-30957-130r37c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Waiting in the wings: drones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The wider use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) or “drones” is another factor in this strategic shift. It is transforming the nature of modern conflict and, as a result, the nature of the defence industry as a whole. The focus is moving towards technology which enhances the role of drones as a very efficient and surgical weapon platform. </p>
<p>Painful though that may be, we could be witnessing the wider transformation of the defence business into one which more widely embraces new weapon systems, demanding very different design, engineering and manufacturing infrastructure. With Brexit on the horizon – and with it an environment of <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-why-uncertainty-is-bad-for-economies-64334">increased political and economic uncertainty</a> – the UK government has an increased incentive to secure international business. No doubt BAE and all other UK defence contractors will be seeking the necessary guidance and reassurances in order for them to remain competitive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85578/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Hirst does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We are witnessing the transformation of the existing defence business into one which embraces the new.Andy Hirst, Senior Lecturer, Staffordshire UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/799802017-06-28T23:58:03Z2017-06-28T23:58:03ZThe battle to get more women into the military<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175440/original/file-20170623-12623-umhfx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Canadian Armed Forces wants to attract more women to join its ranks. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dene Moore)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Trudeau government released a <a href="http://dgpaapp.forces.gc.ca/en/canada-defence-policy/docs/canada-defence-policy-report.pdf">new defence policy</a> in early June, after months of speculation about the size of the defence budget, purchase of major equipment and Canada’s future role in military operations. </p>
<p>The election of Donald Trump in the U.S. no doubt threw the process off course and forced certain revisions to the policy, which was initially due in January. The policy offers guidelines on the types of operations the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) might undertake and promises a steady increase in funding over the next decade. But its main focus is on people — the women and men who dedicate their life to military service. </p>
<p>Highlighting the importance of diversity, the policy pays special attention to female service members and aims “to further increase the representation of women in the military by one per cent annually towards a goal of 25 per cent in 10 years.” Driving this shift is the assumption the CAF is in need of culture change — and that more women and the use of gender perspectives will improve the effectiveness of the armed forces. </p>
<h2>Reflecting the community it serves</h2>
<p>Why are women now seen as critical to the military enterprise?</p>
<p>First, greater diversity in the CAF is key to maintaining a healthy connection between the military and the rest of society. The <a href="http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about-reports-pubs-op-honour/2016/second-progress-report-overview.page">CAF Diversity Strategy</a> recognizes this and envisions an armed force representative of the community it serves to ensure public legitimacy and keep support for the military strong. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175442/original/file-20170623-7817-14uyq7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175442/original/file-20170623-7817-14uyq7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175442/original/file-20170623-7817-14uyq7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175442/original/file-20170623-7817-14uyq7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175442/original/file-20170623-7817-14uyq7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175442/original/file-20170623-7817-14uyq7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175442/original/file-20170623-7817-14uyq7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan unveiled the government’s long-awaited vision for the Canadian Armed Forces in June 2017, including a big increase in defence spending.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How can the CAF attract more women? There are <a href="http://www.ourcommons.ca/en/parliamentary-business">formal commitments</a> to recognize the importance of retaining diverse personnel, but informal barriers remain. The CAF already has some of the longest parental-leave policies in the world. But single parents and women still face <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-single-moms-1.4157353">professional setbacks</a>. </p>
<p>The CAF must quickly recognize and address the pressures of military careers on families, which includes frequent moves and prolonged absences from loved ones during deployments. Counting parental leave toward promotion will also be necessary for the professional advancement of women, who <a href="http://time.com/money/4561314/women-work-home-gender-gap/">disproportionately take on the role of primary caregiver</a>.</p>
<p>Women are also <a href="http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2017/02/28/canadian-women-not-interested-in-military-jobs-says-survey-.html">less likely than men</a> to consider a military career in the first place. </p>
<p>To address these well-known challenges, the CAF’s new recruitment strategy will aim to showcase the wide variety of occupations it offers, in an attempt to make the military more attractive to women. The <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2017/05/the_women_in_forceprogramanewcanadianarmedforcesinitiativeforwom.html">Women in Force Program</a> will also allow for a “try it before you buy it” program for women interested in joining but not ready to commit. </p>
<h2>Seeking buy-in among the ranks</h2>
<p>Second, a more diverse CAF is good for the entire organization, men included. Although adding more women will not result in immediate and transformative changes in the way the CAF does business, research has shown that <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter">diverse teams work better</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175443/original/file-20170623-12636-1dg4a24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175443/original/file-20170623-12636-1dg4a24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175443/original/file-20170623-12636-1dg4a24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175443/original/file-20170623-12636-1dg4a24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175443/original/file-20170623-12636-1dg4a24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175443/original/file-20170623-12636-1dg4a24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175443/original/file-20170623-12636-1dg4a24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Accounting for the roles women and men play on the ground will be crucial for operational success.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/James McCarten)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Military leaders will have to constantly promote these initiatives, but will also have to assuage <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/22/letter-to-the-editor-dempsey-rule-for-marine-women/">fears about the maintenance of physical and performance standards</a>. All members of the armed forces must trust that standards will be enforced fairly if the diversity strategy is to have buy-in at all levels.</p>
<p>This kind of broad-based buy-in has proven elusive in the past. Even if no formal professional barriers remain, there is still organizational resistance to women’s presence in non-traditional roles, such as combat. And women are still disproportionately affected by sexual misconduct, as a <a href="http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/caf-community-support-services/op-honour-survey.page">recent survey showed</a>. Discriminatory and sexist attitudes, thus, persist. </p>
<h2>‘Hop on Her’ controversy</h2>
<p>These common narratives can be tempered with <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/01/4-things-successful-change-leaders-do-well">dedicated leadership</a>. In the military context, these challenges need a commitment to addressing hard-to-answer questions. </p>
<p>For example, the Chief of the Defence Staff issued Operation Honour, an order meant to eradicate harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour in the CAF’s ranks. This was a leadership decision that addressed a difficult and pervasive challenge for the military. But some members of the armed forces started undermining the initiative by calling it <a href="http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/operation-honour-dubbed-hop-on-her-by-soldiers-mocking-militarys-plan-to-crack-down-on-sexual-misconduct/wcm/57c790e3-5eba-4abd-9d3e-03ac2abe0fb8">“Hop on Her.”</a>. </p>
<p>This is where leaders in the military — who are mostly men — must be included in the discussion of promoting gender perspectives and women’s participation in the armed forces. For these reasons, the burden of change cannot rest on women’s shoulders, but must be spread evenly across the entire organization. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175445/original/file-20170623-12623-1awfwdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175445/original/file-20170623-12623-1awfwdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175445/original/file-20170623-12623-1awfwdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175445/original/file-20170623-12623-1awfwdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175445/original/file-20170623-12623-1awfwdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175445/original/file-20170623-12623-1awfwdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175445/original/file-20170623-12623-1awfwdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Canadian Forces began opening up its occupations, including combat roles, to women in 1989.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Capt. Ashley Collette)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Education and training are key. Including feminist texts in the military curriculum or challenging the warrior ethos might lead to greater gender awareness amongst the upper cadre of military leaders, but most operators will only pay attention if they see how gender matters on the battlefield. </p>
<p>To this end, highlighting the link between gender (as opposed to women) and operational effectiveness is necessary. When soldiers are on the ground, accounting for the roles played by women and men — and their unique needs and power differences — is critical to operational planning and securing lasting outcomes. Understanding how gender intersects with social and cultural factors leads to greater situational awareness. Gender roles in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/world/asia/us-soldiers-told-to-ignore-afghan-allies-abuse-of-boys.html">Afghanistan</a> and in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/kurds-with-u-s-aid-push-to-take-mosul-dam-1408322338">Iraq</a>, for example, had clear operational implications. </p>
<p>Promoting the operational and social benefits of women in the CAF is just the first step toward increasing their numbers in the military. To move beyond commitments and toward organizational change and buy-in, the CAF must go beyond women’s representation in the ranks and become aware of how gender relations are constructed, at home and on the battlefield.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stéfanie von Hlatky receives or has received funding from NATO, the Canadian Department of National Defence, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Public Safety, the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation and Fulbright Canada. She is affiliated with the Centre for International and Defence Policy, Women in International Security - Canada and the Global Security Innovation Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meaghan Shoemaker receives funding from the Department of National Defence through Calian Group Ltd as a research assistant. </span></em></p>The Canadian Armed Forces has called for women to make up 25 per cent of its ranks by 2026. Attracting and retaining female recruits will require better gender awareness in the military at all levels.Stéfanie von Hlatky, Assistant Professor of Political Studies and Director of the Centre for International and Defence Policy, Queen's University, OntarioMeaghan Shoemaker, PhD Student, International Relations and Gender and Politics, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/693262016-12-14T07:36:00Z2016-12-14T07:36:00ZIsraeli Defence Force struggles to promote women’s equality in the face of religious opposition<p>In one sense, women are making great strides in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). In October, the army declared it was examining the possibility of allowing women to serve in new combat positions, <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21711509-they-see-it-secularist-step-too-far-plans-let-women-israeli-soldiers-serve">including in tank crews</a>. </p>
<p>In the same month, Major Reut (whose last name is not allowed to be published for security reasons), was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and made <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.754097">commander of the Sky Rider battalion</a>, becoming the second Israeli woman to be appointed commander of a combat unit. The first was Major Oshrat Bachar, who was <a href="http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/1.2205858">appointed in 2014</a>.</p>
<p>Such news may give the impression that the IDF is persistently advancing, if somewhat slowly, towards a decisive goal of gender equality. The reality, however, is much more complicated.</p>
<p>The intention to provide extended combat roles for women stirred some furious responses. Former commander of the Ground Forces Command, Major General Yiftah Ron-Tal, referred to it as “<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.754460">scandalous</a>” and “led by someone wishing to weaken the IDF”. Decorated general and former member of parliament, Avigdor Kahalani, said that women’s place should be at home, and warned that the “horrors of war” might damage women’s <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221039">ability to become mothers</a>. </p>
<p>Other protesters came from the religious sphere. Former IDF chief rabbi Israel Weiss <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221039">stated</a>: “We can’t put … a male soldier and a female soldier, into a closed box for a week and expect that nothing will happen. You’ll get a little tank soldier in another nine months.” </p>
<h2>A controversial rabbi</h2>
<p>To make matters worse, at the same time, the IDF announced the promotion of Rabbi Colonel Eyal Karim to the position of chief rabbi, the top religious role in the IDF. This announcement met strong opposition from human rights and feminist groups, due to Karim’s past remarks. </p>
<p>Karim had <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-taps-chief-rabbi-who-once-seemed-to-permit-wartime-rape/">implied in 2012</a> that wartime rape might be excused, given “consideration for the soldiers’ difficulties” when out fighting. He also maintained that it is “entirely forbidden” for women to serve in the army for reasons of modesty and has opposed female singing at army events. </p>
<p>Israel’s High Court of Justice, following a petition served by Meretz (a left-wing party), delayed Karim’s appointment, demanding an affidavit clarifying his <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.754356">past remarks</a>. The petition was withdrawn after Karim released a <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.755175">written clarification</a> stating: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have made a mistake … sometimes I didn’t word my comments precisely and there have been those who were hurt by them … I hereby sincerely apologize. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Israel’s President of the Supreme Court, Justice Miriam Naor, while clearing Karim’s appointment <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.755850">noted</a>: “It is a shame that the clear words of the respondent in his affidavit did not receive expression earlier … but better late than never”. </p>
<h2>Women and conscription</h2>
<p>The IDF was the first army in the world to introduce mandatory military service for both man and women. Conscription is anchored in the <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/defenselaw.html">Israeli Defence Service Law</a> of 1949, which reflects the perception of the IDF as “the army of the people”. </p>
<p>Though debates about where they can serve abound, Israel has always taken pride in the central role women played in military organisations, voluntarily, even before the establishment of the state of Israel. </p>
<p>Serving in the IDF is generally considered not merely a legal requirement but also and perhaps mainly as a social standard. It is a consensual, honourable rite of passage in Israeli society. Though this consensus <a href="http://newsblaze.com/world/israel/mandatory-military-service-works-in-israel_11173/">has weakened during the last decade</a>, public debates about the scope of women’s positions in the IDF do not question, at least within the mainstream discourse, the primary principle of women’s conscription. </p>
<h2>Men-only zones</h2>
<p>While the debate rages about what role women should play in the army, another important development looms in the background. In 2000, an <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/brief/Women.html">amendment to the Military Service Law</a> determined that women have an equal right to serve in any military role. </p>
<p>According to the law, a woman could be denied a certain military role only if such denial is required due to the specific nature of that role. Yet, religious demands for a “non-women” military environment can prompt the exclusion of women from certain military tracks and roles, even when such exclusion is not required by the nature of the job.</p>
<p>This apprehension was sharpened in face of an order issued by Chief of General Staff, Gadi Eisenkot, granting religious soldiers the right to <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.744502">avoid doing military tasks with women</a>. </p>
<p>This order was a revision of the 2003 “appropriate integration order”, which constituted the rights of religious soldiers to an army environment that is in affinity with their religious needs, mainly the need to <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.744502">avoid contact with women</a> “under circumstances of seclusion or immodesty.”</p>
<p>The fact that the Israeli government and the IDF are committed to ongoing efforts to enhance the participation of Haredi (Jewish Ultra-Orthodox) men soldiers into the army, complicates matters further. The precondition for such service is more often than not male-only units. </p>
<p>Aiming to increase religious youth’s enlistment, the IDF has introduced a “female-free”, defined area for religious male soldiers throughout the entire process of recruiting and enlisting. Following demands from Haredi leaders, a new military camp is to be built for these soldiers, in which a hard line of Jewish rules will be observed, including the <a href="http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/.premium-1.2206076">complete exclusion of women</a>.</p>
<h2>Religion vs gender equality</h2>
<p>Gender equality principles and religious leaders’ demands are pulling the IDF in opposite directions. </p>
<p>The dilemma raises interesting questions. If circumstances require placing religious infantry corps under a female commander, say, in battle situation, will the troops demand the battle be “timed-out” until the women are expelled from it? Will they be entitled to? And if the answer is yes, can an army that allows “no women” spaces stand as professionally uncompromising body, fully capable of addressing the country’s complex security needs?</p>
<p>As the polemic continues, the number of religious soldiers and officers in combat units is <a href="http://mepc.org/journal/middle-east-policy-archives/israeli-military-imprisoned-religious-community?print">constantly increasing</a>, as is the number of women. Over the past five years, the number of women in the IDF has doubled, and each year we see a new record in the <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.655146">drafting of Orthodox women</a>.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.themarker.com/markerweek/1.3139992">recent interview</a>, Professor Yagil Levy, a leading scholar on the trajectory of the army, society and politics in Israel, explained why the increasing presence of women in the IDF is essential: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>From the army’s perspective women became an asset not because of feminism, but because the IDF realises that when there is economic pressure to shorten the obligatory service and the toll of the missions is not alleviated … one mechanism the army can use in order to slow down the shift towards a professional army is creating attractions to women, and opening new options. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>If Levy is right, it might well be that the IDF, <a href="http://www.themarker.com/markerweek/1.3139992">facing consistent budget cuts</a>, will introduce more new positions for women, including in combat units, in spite of a vociferous coalition of religious and conservative veterans. But Israel’s ultra-religious will not let this happen without a fight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shulamit Almog does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The IDF wants to encourage more women to enlist, but it also wants to encourage Orthodox men, who avoid contact with the opposite sex. How will it manage the conflict?Shulamit Almog, Professor of Law, University of HaifaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/655352016-10-07T01:13:52Z2016-10-07T01:13:52ZA military view on climate change: It’s eroding our national security and we should prepare for it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140358/original/image-20161004-20196-123m542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The guided missile destroyer USS Barry deploys to sea from Naval Station Norfolk ahead of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/8148296714">U.S. Navy/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In this presidential election year we have heard much about some issues, such as immigration and trade, and less about others. For example, climate change was discussed for an estimated <a href="http://grist.org/election-2016/climate-airtime-presidential-debate/">82 seconds</a> in the first presidential debate last week, and for just 37 minutes in all presidential and vice presidential debates since the year 2000. </p>
<p>Many observers think climate change <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/column-when-will-the-candidates-pay-attention-to-the-biggest-environmental-issue-facing-america/">deserves more attention</a>. They might be surprised to learn that U.S. military leaders and defense planners agree. The armed forces have been studying climate change for years from a perspective that rarely is mentioned in the news: as a national security threat. And they agree that it poses serious risks.</p>
<p>I spent 32 years as a meteorologist in the U.S. Navy, where I initiated and led the Navy’s Task Force on Climate Change. Here is how military planners see this issue: We know that the climate is changing, we know why it’s changing and we understand that change will have large impacts on our national security. Yet as a nation we still only begrudgingly take precautions. </p>
<p>The Obama administration recently announced several actions that create a framework for addressing climate-driven security threats. But much of the hard work lies ahead – assuming that our next president understands the risks and chooses to act on them.</p>
<h2>Climate-related disruptions</h2>
<p>Climate change affects our security in two ways. First, it causes stresses such as water shortages and crop failures, which can exacerbate or inflame existing tensions within or between states. These problems can lead to state failure, uncontrolled migration and ungoverned spaces. </p>
<p>On Sept. 21 the <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php">National Intelligence Council</a> issued its <a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Reports%20and%20Pubs/Implications_for_US_National_Security_of_Anticipated_Climate_Change.pdf">most recent report</a> on implications of climate change for U.S. national security. This document represents the U.S. intelligence community’s strategic-level view. It does not come from the <a href="http://ipcc.ch/">Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change</a>, politicians of either party or an advocacy group, but from nonpartisan, senior U.S. intelligence professionals.</p>
<p>The NIC report emphasizes that the problem is not simply climate change, but the interaction of climate with other large-scale demographic and migration trends; its impacts on food, energy and health; and the stresses it will place on societies, especially fragile ones. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140603/original/image-20161005-20152-18fqnz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140603/original/image-20161005-20152-18fqnz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140603/original/image-20161005-20152-18fqnz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140603/original/image-20161005-20152-18fqnz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140603/original/image-20161005-20152-18fqnz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140603/original/image-20161005-20152-18fqnz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140603/original/image-20161005-20152-18fqnz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aftermath of a bomb attack in 2014 in Jos, Nigeria by the militant group Boko Haram. Analysts have linked Boko Haram’s rise to climatic shifts and resource shortages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/diariocriticove/14234700921/in/photolist-nFSyDX-q8NDt9-qqewKB-q8PehU-ndT5gn-ndTgjy-ptDKgn-nv5U9R-qo66nW-q8MVX3-ndT5UC-nvnEFP-njeWoz-qqm1Ff-q8WNog-ndT4AT-nv7753-qqimH5-q8PsKf-ndT9p3-q8V7Dk-qo5SQw-qo5xA9-ndSVU2-q8Nfjd-qqiehd-pto53U-qqc6sg-qqiz2y-nv6NgY-q8WzGz-qqchy4-q8WF5D-q8NhRC-r4kKaG-nqdkQ2-aFUXuT-rfLwFm-scLBbp-qeNLAf-rVcyxL-scLBsM-rfXZXH-qqi8PQ-npEQFJ-qqnb5M-qo5TBS-q8Wyrt-ptBaCe-qqnmS8">Diariocritico de Venezuela/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As examples the report cites diverse events, ranging from mass protests and violence triggered by water shortages in Mauritania to the possibility that thawing in the Arctic could threaten Russian oil pipelines in the region. Other studies have identified climate change as a contributing factor to events including the <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-and-drought-a-spark-in-igniting-syrias-civil-war-38275">civil war in Syria</a> and the <a href="https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/climatechangearabspring-ccs-cap-stimson.pdf">Arab Spring uprisings</a>.</p>
<p>Second, climate change is putting our military bases and associated domestic infrastructure in the United States under growing pressure from rising sea levels, “nuisance flooding,” increasingly destructive storm surges, intense rainfalls and droughts, and indirect impacts from wildfires. All of these trends make it harder to train our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to deploy and fight the “away” game and to keep our forces ready to deploy. </p>
<p>These changes are not hypothetical. Consider Hurricane Matthew: although we cannot directly attribute this storm to climate change, scientists tell us that as climate change worsens, major hurricanes will become more severe. As Matthew moves up the Atlantic coast, the armed forces are evacuating thousands of <a href="https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/articles/marine-recruits-being-evacuated-from-parris-island-ahead-of-hurricane-matthew">service members</a> and <a href="https://www.navytimes.com/articles/navy-families-evacuate-cuba-ahead-of-hurricane-matthew">dependents</a> out of its path, and the Navy is <a href="https://news.usni.org/2016/10/05/navy-sends-3-mayport-ships-sea-ahead-hurricane-matthew">moving ships out to sea</a>. Other units are preparing to <a href="https://www.navytimes.com/articles/us-military-staged-for-massive-relief-effort-is-called-upon">deliver hurricane relief</a> to hard-hit areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140604/original/image-20161005-20139-692r3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140604/original/image-20161005-20139-692r3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140604/original/image-20161005-20139-692r3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140604/original/image-20161005-20139-692r3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140604/original/image-20161005-20139-692r3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140604/original/image-20161005-20139-692r3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140604/original/image-20161005-20139-692r3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marines from the 8th Engineering Support Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, participate in relief efforts in New York after Hurricane Sandy, November 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/8179954532/in/photolist-dsQpuQ-3Wm4s-foFiuY-aQW9sV-fpm5Ny-foFivf-oZM4WY-5n7TLB-cEEbkm-dqUvXq-dpZGbT-dpZKYx-drrRyZ-ajX6D5-dpZwN9-5mBqGY-dqTS8n-drrRC8-5mBo5W-dpZxFM-aggtL6-5oAZfK-5oAtDJ-8RHXiX-drtY8X-dpHeYF-dpJaiS-dpc2JC-dpHcoB-8F5gHf-drMDmY-5mxadz-ai6FSe-fv9yHf-agja53-9acdPW-5mxbz6-3T4gb3-6ZKChP-3T4gqq-5owc2k-6ZKBZF-5mBpid-dsXM42-5i17aC-5mBidi-dtTorL-g7u7Lr-domgCS-5owbMp">U.S. Navy/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of us who work in this field have written and talked about risks like these for years. Along with 24 other retired senior officers, civilian defense officials from Republican and Democratic administrations, and well-respected academics, I recently signed a <a href="https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/climate-and-security-consensus-project-statement-2016_09.pdf">consensus statement</a> that calls climate change a strategically significant risk to our national security and international stability. We called for “a robust agenda to both prevent and prepare for climate change risks,” and warned that “inaction is not an option.” </p>
<p>The “change” part of climate change is critical: The more ability we have to adapt to and manage changes and the rate of change in our climate, the greater our chances are to avoid catastrophic chaos and instability.</p>
<h2>Meeting the challenge</h2>
<p>Simultaneously with the NIC report on Sept. 21, the White House released a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/09/21/presidential-memorandum-climate-change-and-national-security">Presidential Memorandum</a>, or PM, on climate change and national security. This document formally states the administration’s position that climate change impacts national security. </p>
<p>Building on past executive orders and policies, it directs senior climate officials at 20 federal agencies to form a working group on climate change and national security, cochaired by the president’s national security adviser and science adviser. This working group will analyze questions such as which countries and regions are most vulnerable to climate change impacts in the near, medium and long term. </p>
<p>That’s high-level attention! In the words of a senior administration official, the PM “gives permission” for career civil servants and military professionals to work on this challenge, just as they address myriad other security challenges daily. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140612/original/image-20161005-20110-8uft58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140612/original/image-20161005-20110-8uft58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140612/original/image-20161005-20110-8uft58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140612/original/image-20161005-20110-8uft58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140612/original/image-20161005-20110-8uft58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140612/original/image-20161005-20110-8uft58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140612/original/image-20161005-20110-8uft58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Destroyed tanks in front of a mosque in Azaz, Syria, 2012. Climate scientists have identified the 2006-2010 drought in Syria as a factor in the civil uprising that began in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christiaantriebert/7955551210/in/photolist-d81hd3-2kF2um-mQPFqL-pd9LmU-9chSab-81TTf9-i2oSVN-81QLxV-p6vQv5-fFFfgq-81FYed-nHo56C-81TTHN-81CN12-3m857P-oYzXUt-ogfxkE-nFygpF-fhmtse-fLDJHo-fNKZvf-jDsP5g-81G4ZC-nY421x-81Foxs-gXprFQ-81FnxJ-81QBK6-aGe71P-aGdZsp-cKqYWC-ghS8Us-nXWhLG-fFEeyu-fNuLVz-fXvryk-fXtCiv-pHa2Wx-fhmuJF-nXWw9d-eMr4XD-fLkw3X-nXWi7S-fFEfW3-efj4Le-fhmwtM-fNuMbe-g775j8-81TSaA-81FC4h">Christiaan Triebert/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But we need to do much more. I am a member of the <a href="https://climateandsecurity.org/policy/">Climate and Security Advisory Group</a> – a voluntary, nonpartisan group of 43 U.S.-based military, national security, homeland security, intelligence and foreign policy experts from a broad range of institutions. We have produced a comprehensive <a href="https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/climate-and-security-advisory-group_briefing-book-for-a-new-administration_2016_091.pdf">briefing book</a> for the next administration that makes detailed recommendations about how to expand our efforts to address security risks associated with climate change. </p>
<p>Our top-line recommendation is to “mainstream” this issue by ensuring that U.S. leaders consider climate change on an equal basis with more traditional security issues, such as changing demographics, economics, political dynamics and other indicators of instability – as well as with low-probability, high-consequence threats like nuclear proliferation. We also recommend that the next president should designate senior officials in key departments, the intelligence community, the National Security Council and within the Executive Office of the President itself to ensure this intent is carried out.</p>
<p>What’s next? As a retired naval officer, I find myself drawing on the words of American naval heroes like <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX90.html">Admiral Chester Nimitz</a>. In 1945, while he was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Nimitz <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/pacific-typhoon-18-december-1944/admiral-nimitzs-pacific-fleet-confidential-letter-on-lessons-of-damage-in-typhoon.html">wrote</a> about a devastating storm near the Philippines that had sunk three ships and seriously damaged more than 20 others, killing and injuring hundreds of sailors. He concluded by observing that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The time for taking all measures for a ship’s safety is while still able to do so. Nothing is more dangerous than for a seaman to be grudging in taking precautions lest they turn out to have been unnecessary. Safety at sea for a thousand years has depended on exactly the opposite philosophy.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The next president will have a choice to make. One option is to continue down the path that the Obama administration has defined and develop policies, budgets, plans and programs that flesh out the institutional framework now in place. Alternatively, he or she can call climate change a hoax manufactured by foreign governments and ignore the flashing red lights of increasing risk. </p>
<p>The world’s ice caps will not care who is elected or what is said. They will simply continue to melt, as dictated by laws of physics. But Americans will care deeply about our policy response. Our nation’s security is at stake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Titley is an advisory board member of Citizens' Climate Lobby, the Center for Climate and Security, and is affiliated with the Hoover Institution's Arctic Security Initiative. </span></em></p>Politicians are still debating whether climate change is real, but military planners call it a serious threat. A retired rear admiral explains how climate change affects U.S. national security.David Titley, Professor of Practice in Meteorology & Director Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Center for New American Security, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.