Kevin McCauley
Kevin McCauley has served as senior intelligence officer for the Soviet Union, Russia, China and Taiwan during 31 years in the federal government. He has written numerous intelligence products for decision makers, combatant commands, combat and force developers, and contributions to the annual Report to Congress on China’s military power. Mr. McCauley currently writes on PLA and Taiwan military affairs.
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Articles by Kevin McCauley
The People’s Liberation Army Attempts to Jump Start Training Reforms
Introduction The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is attempting to reinvigorate lagging unit training and military education reforms to enable an integrated joint operations capability. A training conference, training mobilization order...
“Triad” Military Education and Training Reforms: The PLA’s Cultivation of Talent for Integrated Joint Operations
Introduction The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is currently implementing what it calls the “Triad” military education and training reform concept intended to develop more capable joint commanders and staff officers....
Amphibious Operations: Lessons of Past Campaigns for Today’s PLA
Amphibious operations are important components of current PLA doctrinal writings and exercises. With no recent experience in amphibious warfare, PLA military science examines foreign and historical operations for guiding principles....
The PLA Accelerates Modernization Plans
China is moving up plans for the completion of its military reforms and modernization. Shortly after the close of the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP General...
Himalayan Impasse: How China Would Fight an Indian Border Conflict
At the end of August, Chinese and Indian troops both pulled back from the Doklam region in Bhutan after weeks of tense posturing. The face off began in June when...
PLA Theater Joint Intelligence: Organization and Operations
China’s new theater command structure represents a major advancement in building a streamlined joint command structure. One key remaining bottleneck is intelligence sharing. Accurate and timely intelligence is always a...
Snapshot: China’s Western Theater Command
Despite continuing high-level meetings between China and India’s military, Beijing has not settled its border disputes with India, and continues aggressive military activity along the disputed border regions (China Military...
PLA Yijiangshan Joint Amphibious Operation: Past is Prologue
China and Russia are staging a Joint naval exercise in the South China Sea. The exercises are meant, in part, to practice joint island assaults and other amphibious operations (China...
Taiwan’s Military Reforms and Strategy: Reset Required
According to recently inaugurated President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s military is in need of “drastic” reforms to address a number of problems including military officers’ lack of strategic guidance, limited resources,...
PLA Transformation: Difficult Military Reforms Begin
President Xi announced a 300,000-personnel reduction at the 70th anniversary military parade (China Military Online, September 3). The reduction represents the most significant element of the current military reforms so...
PLA Special Operations: Combat Missions and Operations Abroad
This is the second PLA special operations article. The first article appeared in the previous edition of China Brief and addressed special operations forces, command and planning, training and future direction. Special...
PLA Special Operations: Forces, Command, Training and Future Direction
This is the first of two articles on PLA Special Operations Forces (SOF). The second article will explore SOF combat missions and potential for missions abroad. The People’s Liberation Army...
Incomplete Transformation: PLA Joint Training and Warfighting Capabilities
Western assessments of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) capabilities and ongoing transformation often fail to analyze two critical areas of concern to the PLA: development of new operational methods (operational...
President Xi Clears the Way for Military Reform: PLA Corruption, Clique Breaking and Making, and Personnel Shuffle
An unprecedented number of personnel moves and promotions within the PLA have occurred under President Xi. The Chinese press suggests that the promotions and shuffling of personnel are due to...
Xi’s Military Reform Plan: Accelerating Construction of a Strong PLA
Chinese President and Commander-in-Chief Xi Jinping’s military reform plan, announced at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee in November 2013, will take form...
Putting Precision in Operations: Beidou Satellite Navigation System
China recently announced the development of a fourth-generation Beidou satellite positioning chip providing an accuracy of 2.5 meters, for use initially with the military and police (Want China Times, August 18)....
Quality Over Quantity: A New PLA Modernization Methodology?
China announced a renewed push on military reforms in November 2013. A theoretical People’s Liberation Army (PLA) publication titled “Transformation of Generating Mode of Warfighting Capability” (official translation of zhandouli...
PLA Joint Operations Developments and Military Reform
During recent high-level political meetings, Chinese leaders have made repeated calls for “military reform.” While these speeches have given little detail about the content of such reform, the People’s Liberation...
Third Plenary Session Calls for PLA Reform and Restructuring
The reforms announced by the recent Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee were headlined by economic pronouncements, but also contained ambitious language on the reform and restructuring of...
A Tale of Two Volunteer Programs: China and Taiwan
Recent developments have shown the volunteer recruitment systems in Taiwan and China moving on decidedly different trajectories. The Taiwan military’s attempt to implement a volunteer transition fully by the end...
Taiwan Military Reform: Declining Operational Capabilities?
On June 6, Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) released its first “Blue Paper” evaluating Taiwan’s defense requirements. Although the report probably serves a political purpose, the DPP’s critical assessment of...
System of System Operational Capability: Impact on PLA Transformation
Several recent People’s Liberation Army (PLA) publications discuss requirements for implementing system of systems operations, which is considered the key enabler for integrated joint operations (IJO). The requirements are both...
System of Systems Operational Capability: Operational Units and Elements
Editor’s Note: This article as well as a subsequent article on the impact of System of Systems of Operations on Chinese military modernization are based upon Mr. McCauley’s presentation at...
System of Systems Operational Capability: Key Supporting Concepts for Future Joint Operations
A current focus of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) theoretical writings and exercises is information system-based system of systems operational capability, which they view as a key requirement and...
Developing a Framework for PLA Precision Operations
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has examined U.S. military precision operations (jingque zuozhan) in local wars with limited objectives since the 1990’s, believing that precision operations have become the...
The PLA’s Three-Pronged Approach to Achieving Jointness in Command and Control
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues to develop a more complex form of joint operations (“PLA Developing Joint Operations Capability (Part One): Joint Task Force Experimentation,” China Brief, May 20,...
Reforming the People’s Liberation Army’s Noncommissioned Officer Corps and Conscripts
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is in the process of reforming the Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) corps and the compulsory service system to attract personnel with higher education and skill levels...
Noncommissioned Officers and the Creation of a Volunteer Force
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is conducting a major reform of the Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) corps in recognition of the key role NCOs can play supporting force modernization, warfighting and...
PLA Developing Joint Operations Capability (Part Two): Military Training Coordination Zones
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is transitioning from a coordinated joint operations doctrine to ostensibly a more advanced form of joint operations capability: integrated joint operations (yithua lianhe zuozhan). Part...
PLA Developing Joint Operations Capability (Part One): Joint Task Force Experimentation
The White Paper on China’s National Defense in 2010, released by the Chinese government, discussed the foundation for an integrated joint operations (IJO) capability as part of its long-term, three...