Final Exam!

This was my Defense Statecraft final exam from last Thursday:

Defense Statecraft Final Exam

May 5, 2024

Please answer one of three questions, and return to Dr. Farley by 4:30pm today.

1. Under the aegis of NATO, military operations to protect civilians continue in Libya. Please evaluate the costs and benefits of conducting a war under the control of a major international organization relative to a unilateral intervention.
2. Four days ago, President Obama authorized a Special Operations Force mission to kill Osama Bin Laden. In terms of their utility as tools of military statecraft, compare and contrast SOF with strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft. In what context should a policymaker choose one over the other?
3. The time frame for developing new advanced weapon systems can now be measured in decades. Many defense analysts, however, have argued that we now live in an age of uncertain and unpredictable threats. What are the implications of this apparent contradiction for military procurement, doctrine, and grand strategy?

So what's the point?
The motivating concept behind the Defense Statecraft course is to give students who will become policymakers a sufficient grounding in defense issues such that they can understand and evaluate basic military and security questions. The Bin Laden question, in this context, is nearly perfect; it allows the students to tell me what they know about airpower and special forces, and to make a first cut evaluation as to the utility of either in a specific situation. The other two questions call for esentially the same kind of reasoning, with #1 giving the students the opportunity to discuss command and control as well as political issues, and #3 letting them talk about the budget, the defense industry, and any specific weapons systems they like.

Why the 2 hour time limit?

The exam is intended to mimic a minor comprehensive exam at the Patterson School. At the end of their Patterson careers, students write five essays over the course of eight hours, including two major, one minor, and two "professional" questions. This exam is intended to prepare the students for that experience. Also, we believe that most professional work that our students will be asked to do will involve producing coherent work under severe time pressure.

Which ones did they answer?

7 answered question 1, 5 answered question 2, and 3 answered question 3.

How were the answers?
Very good. The purpose of any exam is to reveal variance between students, and there's no question that this exam did so. However, the variance was in a narrow band that spoke well of the students' mastery of the subject matter and ability to produce coherent arguments in a short amount of time.