Articles
Our articles cut through the noise on irregular warfare to connect strategic theory to operational reality and translate complexity into insight for practitioners and policymakers. No time to read? Check out our podcast, "Insider: Short of War," which transforms our articles into concise, engaging audio pieces you can listen to anywhere. Available directly in most of our articles and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms.
The Elder’s Gambit and the Practice of Narrative Warfare
"If one individual can be influenced by activating identity over ideology, then influence in modern conflict is less about information superiority and more about narrative precision." What is more powerful: a learned ideology or an inherited identity? For years, the U.S. national security apparatus has grappled with
Friendly Cyber Fire: How Much Did NotPetya Cost Russia?
In June 2017, a cyber attack spread malware across government, utilities, commercial, and financial websites across Ukraine and more than 60 other countries. In February 2018, the UK and US governments attributed the attack, since dubbed "NotPetya," as a Russian military operation. It’s been called (perhaps hyperbolically)
Proof Against the Clock: The Two-Hour Rule for Second Thomas Shoal
Salty air whips across the deck as the Philippine resupply vessel shoulders through turbulent swells, its bow locked onto the skeletal silhouette of the BRP Sierra Madre rusting atop the reef at Second Thomas Shoal. Dawn hasn’t yet fully broken, but the sea gives its warning anyway. Within seconds,
The Strategic Use of Drones in Pakistan–India Irregular Warfare
The rapid spread of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has changed the dynamics of the India-Pakistan rivalry. Instead of manned airpower and attritional land exchanges, the competition is now based on cheap precision, constant surveillance, deniable force, and escalation ambiguity. Drones of all types are now used constantly along the
Q&A with Former Israeli Shin Bet Director and Command-in-Chief of the Israeli Navy – Ami Ayalon on Iran, Gaza, and Posturing the Israeli Navy for the Future
✉️ 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. “The essence of victory is not to kill your enemy; it is to change your political reality.” — Ami Ayalon Editor’s Note: This article is
Arming Kurdish Resistance Fighters in Iran with Drones
✉️ 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. CNN reported on March 3rd that the Central Intelligence Agency had begun arming the Kurdish resistance as a ground force to support Iranian resistance. The
We Bombed the Wrong Target
✉️ 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 being republished with the permission of Small Wars Journal as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ.
The Guerrilla Leader Theory: A Data-Driven Approach to Winning within the Human Domain (Part 1 of a 3 part series)
✉️ 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. “True connectedness, the data argues, is not forged over a cup of tea. It is forged in shared hardship, demonstrated through mutual vulnerability, and sustained
Precision-Guided Predictions: Intelligence Risk in Prediction Markets
✉️ 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. What if an alarm in the presidential residence in Caracas didn't come from a radar hit or a defecting general, but came from
Cognitive Warfare Is Cheap—and That’s the Problem
✉️ 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 being republished with the permission of Small Wars Journal as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ.
Bridging the gap between irregular warfare scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.
