Foreign Military Studies Office facts for kids

The Foreign Military Studies Office, or FMSO, is a special research group for the United States Army. It's like a think tank that studies what other countries' armies are doing. FMSO is part of the United States Army Combined Arms Center located at Fort Leavenworth. They also help manage the Joint Reserve Intelligence Center in the same place.

What FMSO Does: Studying Armies Around the World

The main goal of FMSO is to study foreign armies and security topics. They do this by looking at information that is publicly available, like news articles, books, and official reports. FMSO shares its findings on its website. Their experts also write articles for military and academic magazines. This helps their ideas be discussed and reviewed by others.

How FMSO Started and Grew

FMSO began in 1986. It was first called the Soviet Army Studies Office (SASO). Lieutenant General William Richardson created it. Dr. Bruce Menning was its first director. At first, SASO focused on how the Soviet Union's army planned its operations. Colonel David Glantz, a famous writer about the Soviet military in World War II, became the second director.

SASO was made up of US Army officers who specialized in foreign countries and civilian scholars. When the Cold War ended in 1991, SASO changed its name to FMSO. Its focus then grew to include countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

FMSO's Research Over Time

After the Cold War, FMSO studied many important topics. They looked at how the Cold War ended and how new countries formed in Europe. They also researched past military experiences, like the Soviet-Afghan War and the Wars in Chechnya.

Over time, FMSO started new research programs. These programs focused on military affairs in Latin America, China, and other parts of Asia. In recent years, FMSO has also studied how to deal with different types of military challenges. They have also looked at how understanding different cultures can help in military situations.

Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents: A Look at History

FMSO's website once shared a huge collection of documents. These were called the Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents. They included about 55,000 boxes of papers, audio tapes, and video tapes. These materials were from the government of Saddam Hussein. They were found during the Iraq invasion in 2003. The US government made them public to help understand the past.

However, in November 2006, these documents were removed from the website. News reports said this happened because some documents contained detailed information. This information could potentially be used to create dangerous weapons.