Wartime Access: The Bedrock of U.S. Power Projection

Abstract: This talk focuses on security cooperation in the form of wartime access—decisions by states to let other states fight wars from inside their borders. It will discuss how wartime access helps the United States to mitigate the tyranny of distance and project power around the world, and will demonstrate the centrality of wartime access to the wars the United States' has waged since WWII, as well as to the war the United States military prepares to fight in a hypothetical Taiwan invasion scenario. Although permissive wartime access has been a defining feature of the post-1945 world, states do not always let the United States military in. States sometimes restrict access sharply or deny it altogether. The talk will conclude by discussing why states sometimes grant, restrict, or deny access to the U.S. military.

Rachel Metz is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University. Metz’s research and teaching focus on international security, security assistance and security cooperation, military effectiveness, nuclear strategy, and methods for studying military operations. Her book project examines the United States’ approach to building militaries in partner states, and her research has been published in International Organization, International Security, Security Studies, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Strategic Studies, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, H-Diplo, War on the Rocks, Lawfare, The National Interest, and The Washington Post, among other outlets.

Technical Contact: Brad Roberts            
Event Manager: Katie Thomas, thomas94 [at] llnl.gov (thomas94[at]llnl[dot]gov)