Three Proposals to Raise the Profile of Irregular Warfare (Book Review)
Those who want to see US performance improve in execution of population influence campaigns would do well to read The American Way of Irregular War: An Analytic Memoir by retired General Charles Cleveland, with research and cowriting from Daniel Egel. According to the authors, these Population-Centric Conflicts, or PCCs, can
Who's Watching the Watchmen? Congressional Oversight of Irregular Warfare
Episode 86 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast examines U.S. Congressional oversight of irregular warfare activities. Our guests begin by highlighting the difficulties associated with conducting congressional oversight of irregular warfare. They then unpack the complexities of the AUMF, the separation of Title 10 and Title 50 concerns, and the
How to Think about Proxy Wars in the Twenty-first Century
The recently published Routledge Handbook of Proxy Wars invites a reconsideration of the transformation of proxy wars, from ostensible Cold War relic to reality of war and warfare in the twenty-first century. As one of the editors of the handbook, I offer some reflections on the thinking behind the thinking
Hindsight and Foresight: A 20-Year Retrospective on IW and COIN
In what ways do irregular warfare and counterinsurgency overlap? Is China engaged in irregular warfare against its adversaries? What are some of the failures of the wars and conflicts of the last 20 years and why did they occur? What do IW practitioners need to do to avoid the mistakes
For More Effective Irregular Warfare, Bring Back the MAVNI Recruitment Program
With an annual budget in excess of $300 million and an immersive, full-time approach to instruction, the Defense Language Institute is rightly regarded as one of the nation's premier foreign language instruction programs in rigor and throughput. But how effective is that world-class language training when it comes
The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance
Episode 84 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast is our fourth installment of the IWI Project on Cyber where we look at Steven Feldstein's book The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance. Our guests delve into what digital repression is and how authoritarian
How to Win with Data: The US SOF-Cyber Partnership Supporting Ukraine
Winning the information war has been a strategic enabler for Ukraine since the Russian offensive began on February 24, 2022. Shortly after the invasion, various entities in Ukraine began systematically flooding Western news and social media with highlights of Ukrainian national resistance and tactical successes. These stories were sometimes false
Rethinking Counterinsurgent Force Design and Employment
Ryan C. Van Wie States rarely predict what their next war will look like. However, the choices they make regarding their military force structure have a lasting impact on their capabilities in future conflicts. This is clearly seen in the case of Russia, where systematic weaknesses in force structure, including
Reaching the Tipping Point: Lessons from Combining Kinetic and Information Operations
Iain Cruickshank, Kirk Windmueller, and Matt Benigni This article is part of a series hosted by Maj. Iain Cruickshank, Ph.D., that explores the idea of combining cyber operations with information operations to produce effects well beyond what each capability can accomplish alone. One dark night in a far-off country,
Treating or Feeding the Disease?: Elite Capture of the Security Sector
Is it possible to disentangle the problems contributing to elite capture of the security sector? What can and should the US government do when engaging with partners where the risk for elite capture is high? What does elite capture look like in Afghanistan versus Mexico? In Episode 83 of the
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.
