Systemic Army Environmental Issues: Perspectives and Interpretations

This paper provides perspectives and interpretations of systemic environmental issues believed to have most significantly influenced the US army's environmental program over the past decade. For the Army, systemic issues can be categorized into those problems centered on: people, resources, communication, and management and organization. These categories form a foundation for the Army environmental program, such that 'problem situations' in these areas can threaten the foundation's stability and affect the Army's ability to continue to develop a sound environmental program. These problems, as they are presented to the Institute staff, are known to policy analysts as problem situations. Problem situations change over time, and the possible analyses and interventions of these situations change accordingly. Many reported problems could be consolidated, but are intentionally presented separately to emphasize particular views and insights held on these various topics. The Army Environmental Policy Institute (AEPI) monitors these problems situations and analyzes them to help create a bases for understanding the various views that must be combined to form sound policy analyses. environmental monitoring, US army, environmental policy, environmental impact analysis.