This strategic assessment seeks to go beyond a traditional comparative analysis of the military, technological, political, cultural, and economic factors governing the relationships and capabilities of the Asia Pacific environment. To make sense of the intrinsic complexities unique to this region, we endeavor to broaden our view and rely on a tool often overlooked in government studies: imagination. Moreover, we aim to offer a strategic document that is readable, instructive, and provocative. Pulling from a well-referenced piece of military teaching, this assessment borrows a learning concept first employed in 1904 by Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton in "The Defence of Duffer's Drift." This fictional story describes the plight of young Lieutenant Backsight Forethought as he commands a 50-man platoon tasked to hold a tactically critical piece of land called Duffer's Drift. The story unfolds in a series of six dreams, where the blunders of the unwitting lieutenant lead to disaster. As the dreams progress, he harnesses the lessons of each of his failures, and by applying these lessons, his platoon ultimately defends Duffer's Drift.

The series of six distinct dreams explore a progression of steadily escalating planning and con-tingency scenarios--from steady state security coop-eration activities, to piracy, human security, terrorism, environmental disaster, and major combat. The narra-tives challenge the reader to consider several regional dynamics, reflect on a multitude of intended (and un-intended) consequences of U.S. action, and share in the many strategic observations our protagonist makes during his hypothetical sleep-induced journey. The sixth and final dream weaves these themes and lessons together to comprehensively highlight the unique op-portunities for "collective assurance" borne through enhanced collaboration and understanding. Most sig-nificantly, the closing dream challenges our traditional definition of strategic "success" and encourages the development of a "better way."

The specific observations demonstrated in these short stories, represented by a sequence of dreams and leadership challenges may foster strategic insights for further consideration by policy analysts, strategists, and policymakers. Greater use of collaboration, negotiation, and collective assurance including regional trust between several agencies are the authors' recommendations for future paths to handle the situations presented in the challenging dreams.The primary audience is military operations and logistics staff, political scientists and public policy decision-makers. However, the content and dream scenarios could also offer some guidance to disaster response and emergency management planners on the local/state government levels, private maritime operators including shippers and freight forwarders that may encounter piracy in the open oceans as part of delivery routes and possibly other business planners operations that may have an impact from a national disaster or national security event.

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