This volume of papers begins with one of the central strategic issues facing the country--the lack of operational, deployable civilians. Many studies on ideal solutions to grow civilian capacity gather dust on credenzas. Until this utopian ideal is realized, however, the United States desperately needs to fill this gap with civilians trained, organized, and equipped to operate in these environments alongside their military counterparts, as Christie LaPlume writes in chapter one, "Plugging the Gap: A Comparative Review of Variables that Affect Civilian Deployment Capacity." LaPlume's innovative research took her to seven civilian agencies that currently deploy to war zones in an attempt to identify best practices that can be immediately implemented. For her outstanding efforts, LaPlume received MCWAR's 2010 best paper award. Chapter two by John C. Vara continues the exploration of civilian capacity, specifically by assessing and proposing alter-natives to the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS). The organizational analysis continues with Doug M. Hammer's call to establish a U.S. Stability Operations Command in chapter three. Harvey R. Robin¬son and Matthew G. St. Clair then examine missions that have new import yet historical roots in chapters four and five, on security force assistance and anti-piracy operations, respectively. Fritz W. Pfeiffer's chapter six uses Carl von Clausewitz's trinity (emotion, chance, reason) to look at strategic decision-making in this era of persistent conflict, using the decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 as a case study. The book concludes with Roger R. Laferriere's call for a National Risk Communications Strategy that would ultimately make the U.S. population more resilient to future attack in this era of persistent conflict. Laferriere's ground-breaking analysis earned him MCWAR's 2009 best paper award.

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