Collins Hall is home to
the Center for Strategic Leadership and Delevelopment (CSLD). A totally
new construction, the building was completed and dedicated in July 1994.
Collins Hall was named for General J. Lawton (Lightning Joe) Collins who
served the nation for nearly 40 years, from his West Point graduation
until his retirement in 1956. He was a member of the U.S. Army War
College Class of 1938 and faculty member, 1938-1940; Commander of the
25th Infantry Division on Guadalcanal; VII Corps Commander from Normandy
to the surrender of Germany; and Army Chief of Staff, 1949-1953. In
1950, through his personal efforts, General Collins reopened the Army
War College and positioned it at the apex of the Army educational
system, with a curriculum based on a deeper understanding of foreign
affairs and national security policy, the study of the nature of future
war, and the use of wargaming and simulation.
Collins Hall and
its principal resident, the Center for Strategic Leadership and
Development, serves as an education center and high technology
laboratory focused on the decision making process at the interagency,
strategic, and operational levels in support of the Army War College,
combatant commanders, and senior army leadership. While simulations and
wargaming have been used at the Army War College for many years, Collins
Hall expands this capability. Built as a result of the vision of the
Army's senior leadership, it represents a conscious decision to apply
modern information-age technology to strategic-level decision making
through wargames, simulations, conferences, seminars, and meetings in
both the educational and operational setting. The facility provides
computer and visual information tools, a talented staff, and
communications nodes to support senior leaders in tackling high-level
problems facing today's Army. Collins Hall is representative of the War
College's continuing dedication to excellence into the 21st Century.