Weapons of mass destruction. Accelerating rates of technological change. Transnational organizations. Cyber warfare. Regional and globa competitor states. Violent extremism. Antiaccess and area-denial threats. Fiscal constraints. These are just a few of the security environmental conditions within which the future joint force will operate.

The world is awash with politica and strategic advice purporting to be remedies for current and anticipated ills. Rather less abundant are works that seek to render thought about strategic problems more robust. To that end, I examine strategic phenomena from five perspectives, each of which is seriously undertheorized for the explanation necessary as a basis for understanding.

When General Martin Dempsey released the Joint Operationa Access Concept (JOAC) in January 2012, it represented a strategic shift within the Department of Defense (DOD) following more than a decade of focus on irregular warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan