FMSO – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Human Terrain System Video News: John Stanton, and the AGS Bowman Expeditions in Mexico

While still small, the number of YouTube videos that pertain in some way to the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System (HTS) is growing, and one can find a neatly arranged selection (which for some reason bears the exact title of one of my articles), on the World News Network. I will focus on only two, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

John Stanton: US Congress Rewards Failure, Puts Personnel in Harm’s Way

This is John Stanton’s 20th article on the Human Terrain System, with his previous ones available here at: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. John sent this article a few days ago, my apologies for being late. It is reproduced here with his permission, and has already been published in CounterPunch, which is also featuring an extended […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

U.S. Congress and the Human Terrain System

To supplement the report by John Stanton, “US Congress Requests Assessment of Army‘s Human Terrain System: Independent Assessment Due from SECDEF by March 2010,” one should note the following background documents to which the request for the assessment refers. The NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 points out that, In the committee report […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

John Stanton: U.S. Congress to Assess Human Terrain System

This is John Stanton’s 19th article on the Human Terrain System, with his previous ones available here at: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. Once again, this article was sent in by John and is gratefully reproduced here with his permission. I am also happy to advertise the fact that John has published a book of his work […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

“Useless Anthropology”: Strategies for Dealing with the Militarization of the Academy

The following is a copy of the paper I delivered at the CASCA-AES conference in Vancouver on Friday, 15 May, 2009, for a panel organized and chaired by Dr. Greg Feldman titled, “The Use of Culture and Anthropology in Counter-insurgency and Peacekeeping Operations.” The audio copy of this paper may contain minor discrepancies compared with […]