The Shadow War Within the Larger Conflict
How U.S. Special Forces Must Posture for Deep Area Operations in Large-Scale Combat Operations “While the main armies clash, it is in the shadows—deep in the enemy’s rear—that wars are often decided.” Operation Overlord (D-Day), the largest military operation in modern history, is remembered for its
The Northern Ireland Peace Process: From Armed Conflict to Brexit, by Eamonn O’Kane
Editor's Note: This article is a book review of The Northern Ireland Peace Process: From Armed Conflict to Brexit by Eamonn O’Kane, examining the author’s analysis of how peace in Northern Ireland has evolved long after the Good Friday Agreement. When did the conflict in Northern
Cognitive Warfare and the Indo-Pacific
Editor’s Note: This article was submitted as part of the Irregular Warfare Initiative’s 2025 Writing Contest, in which authors were invited to explore how the United States and its partners can use irregular warfare to strengthen security cooperation, build trust, and enhance resilience among Indo-Pacific nations. This article
Beyond Lethality: The Primacy of Influence in Cognitive Warfare
“The decisive battles of modern warfare are no longer fought primarily on terrain, but in the minds of populations.” Introduction Twentieth-century warfare was defined by industrial-scale lethality: mass mobilization, mechanized destruction, and the pursuit of decisive battlefield supremacy. In contrast, the strategic environment of the twenty-first century reflects a profound
Venezuela Unbound: Economics & Influence in a Post Maduro Era
In this episode, Matthew Flug (Co-Director, IWI Economic & Legal Warfare) and Hamlet Yousef (Irongate Capital Advisers) host a roundtable on the immediate aftermath of Maduro’s removal in Venezuela and what it could mean for regional power dynamics, economic stabilization, and irregular competition in the Western Hemisphere. Joining him
The Future of War Part III: Strategic Sabotage in an Era of Great-Power
Episode 144 of theIrregular Warfare Podcast continues our four-part Future of War series with a focused examination of strategic sabotage, indirect action, and deterrence below the threshold of armed conflict. This episode centers on “Special Delivery,” a near-future short story by author and futurist August Cole, set in 2037 amid
Q & A: Karl Marlantes on Vietnam, Leadership, and the Lessons America Still Hasn’t Learned
✉️ Email header below is auto-generated from this post’s author tag. It only appears in the newsletter — please don’t edit or delete it. Editor’s Note: This article is presented in a question-and-answer format, with the Irregular Warfare Initiative interviewing Karl Marlantes. This piece has been edited for clarity
Angle of Attack: Apache Attack Helicopters in Unmanned Skies
United States Army Aviation, at a crossroads of equipment and identity as aerial warfare increasingly emphasizes unmanned systems, faces a difficult reckoning akin to a historical quote by General (Ret.) Eric Shinseki, “if you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.” To maintain utility in modernizing skies,
Choke Points: Critical Minerals and Irregular Warfare in the Gray Zone
Introduction In the situation rooms of Washington and the chancelleries of Europe, the future of warfare is often visualized as a contest of high-velocity hardware: the silent glide of a hypersonic vehicle, the swarm logic of autonomous drones, or the cryptographic shield of quantum computing. Yet, this fixation on the
CFIUS: Thinking Creatively About National Security
A solar farm. A pork facility. A hotel. A dating app. These things might not seem like they are connected, but they have more to do with national security than one might think. Foreign entities have been steadily acquiring American land and intellectual property for decades, quietly building leverage that
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