The author is Daniel Sukman -- strategist in the U.S. Army and a member of the Military Writers Guild.
Interesting and ambitious look at US military operations since 1980, positing logical operational postures for the Combatant Commands on that basis. Starts off with a fascinating world map, and then goes through the COCOMs individually. Very nicely executed.
The conclusion caught Dave Emery's eye, so he sent it to me.
Conclusion
The New Map…The Non-Integrating Gap aligns with U.S. Operations over the past 30 years
Interestingly, this review of operations since 1980 confirms the Non-Integrating Gap theory proposed by Thomas Barnett in his seminal book, The Pentagon’s New Map. According to Barnett, areas of lesser development — Latin America, the Middle East, and areas of the Pacific — constitute this gap. Moreover, use of the military element of national power tends to occur in these areas. Nations outside of the gap tend to resolve conflict without outside intervention.
To address global requirements, Barnett introduced the concept of the Leviathan and Sysadmin force. In Barnett’s paradigm, the focus of the Leviathan force is major combat operations. The focus of the Sysadmin force is other missions ranging from humanitarian assistance to “Phase 4” nation building activities.
The creation of the Sysadmin and Leviathan force as envisioned by Barnett may not achievable in an era of fiscal constraints. However, the joint force should prioritize the ten missions outlined in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review per geographic area of responsibility. Using the past as a prologue indicates the feasibility of this approach.