South America in Competition Conference
Carahsoft HQ, Falls Church, VA - July 16 & 17 2025 The Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) and the Special Operations Association of America (SOAA) are proud to present the South America in Competition Conference on July 16th and July 17th, 2025. Bringing together ~200 leaders from government, academia, private industry, and
Influence by Design: Reassessing U.S. Military Advising
The Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) Editorial Team is proud to present the second installment in our series featuring leading thinkers in the irregular warfare community critically engaging with recent IW-related publications. Curated by IWI editors Barbara Elias and Lewis Fraser, this series goes beyond traditional book reviews. Contributors are
Does China’s Growing Security Outreach Matter? Tracing Implications for Irregular Warfare and U.S. Security Cooperation
Editor’s Note: This article highlights key findings from a recent piece the authors published in MIT’s International Security Journal, titled “Security without Exclusivity: Hybrid Alignment in the Indo-Pacific”. The authors examine how states increasingly engage with both the United States and China for different forms of security
Five Years of IWI: From Podcast to Platform
Episode 128 marks a special milestone as the Irregular Warfare Podcast celebrates its five-year anniversary. Our guests reflect on the journey from a simple podcast idea in a graduate school classroom to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with over 70 volunteers worldwide. They share the origin story of
Chip War and the Battle for Technological Sovereignty: A Hybrid Warfare Perspective
Editor’s Note: this article is being republished with the permission of Small Wars Journal as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ. The original article was published on 04.16.2025 and is available here. Chris Miller’s Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most
Cybersecurity's Climate Crisis
In this article, originally published by the British Actuarial Journal, Irregular Warfare Initiative’s Tom Johansmeyer explores how the escalating effects of climate change may compromise global cybersecurity. Titled Bad Decisions Have Consequences: How Cyber Security Could Fall Victim to Climate Change, the article examines the underexplored intersection of cyber
Maritime Domain Awareness or Silent War?
By James Park President Trump’srecent bilateral summits with Japan and India underscore a tacit trend: the central role of US allies in the Indo-Pacific region. In particular, evolving US-India ties have significant implications for the rest of the Quadrilateral Dialogue (QUAD) member states and other US alliance
Semper Paratus and Special Forces: Why the Coast Guard Should be Part of the SOCOM Enterprise
Editor’s Note: this article is being republished with the permission of Small Wars Journal as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ. The original article was published on 03.21.2025 and is available here. “The idea of Coast Guard Special Forces is a foreign concept to
Winning Without Fighting: Resilience as National Security Imperative
The Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) Editorial Team is proud to launch a new series featuring leading thinkers in the irregular warfare community critically engaging with recent IW-related publications. Curated by IWI editors Barbara Elias and Lewis Fraser, this series goes beyond traditional book reviews. Contributors have been encouraged to
Streamlining US Army Security Cooperation: Why Coordination is Key to Global Influence
Coordination can mean the difference between success and failure in any military operation. Operation Eagle Claw, the ill-fated 1980 hostage rescue mission in Iran, famously exposed the dangers of disjointed efforts between military services—leading to major reforms in how US special operations forces and the larger joint force
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.
