The Irregular Warfare Initiative
Kin Killing: When And Why Governments Target Family Members
by Emil Souleimanov, David S. Siroky and Peter Krause Sometimes, when it comes to civil war and insurgencies, it’s all in the family. Consider the example of Bashar al-Assad, in Syria. Assad appointed family members to prominent military positions to ensure institutional loyalty, while nearly one-quarter of
Redefining Irregular Warfare: Legitimacy, Coercion, And Power
by David H. Ucko and Thomas A. Marks The Department of Defense is working on a new definition of irregular warfare, and the stakes are surprisingly high. The danger lies not just in forgetting whatever was learned from twenty years of engagement with substate actors through counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. Rather,
Hiding In The Noise: Preparing The Irregular Warfare Community For The Age Of AI
by Matthew Moellering According to the 2020 Irregular Warfare Annex to the National Defense Strategy, the United States is underprepared to counter irregular warfare; the dawn of the AI age compounds this problem. As AI continues to transform human society by fundamentally changing how people experience reality, US adversaries are
Time, Space, And Material: Metrics For Assessing Irregular Warfare
Benjamin Jebb and Laura Jones Episode 62 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast explores the diverse concepts that undergird irregular warfare (IW) as a whole. These theoretical structures offer innovative ways to conceptualize and envision the wide array of unconventional activities that comprise IW. Our guests begin by addressing the various
The Pentagon's Reckoning With Civilian Casualties Is A Good Start—But It's Only A Start
by Paul Lushenko On August 25, the US Department of Defense announced sweeping changes to help minimize civilian casualties in war. The “Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan,” or CHMR-AP, followed the botched drone strike in Afghanistan in August 2021, which killed ten civilians. Following this tragedy, a
Another Forgotten War: America's Experience In Afghanistan
Jeff Phaneuf and Kyle Atwell Episode 61 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast contemplates lessons learned from America’s twenty years of war in Afghanistan. Our guests begin by discussing whether, in the year following the US withdrawal, the United States and its allies have sufficiently reflected on lessons learned from
Insurgents Rarely Win: Adaptation In The Face Of Failure
Kyle Atwell and Jeff Phaneuf Episode 60 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast explores both the recent history and the future character of insurgency. Our guests begin by arguing that insurgency will play an important role in great power competition, although states’ objectives will change from the transformational nation-building goals
The Next Variant Of Russia's Political Warfare Virus
by Joshua C. Huminski Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has provoked a belated immune response to Moscow’s political warfare campaign to subvert democracy and exploit systemic weaknesses in Europe and the United States. To be sure, there were attempts to halt or roll back the Kremlin’s efforts before
Will the Drone War Come Home? Ukraine and the Weaponization of Commercial Drones
Benjamin Fogel and Andro Mathewson Hours after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense appealed for civilian drone owners to donate or fly their commercially bought drones to help defend Kyiv. Donations poured in and consumer unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) took to the skies
The End of the War on Drugs? Re-imagining the US-Colombia Relationship
by Erin K. McFee On June 19, Colombia elected Gustavo Petro as its president. The election of the former mayor of Bogotá and ex-M-19 guerrilla fighter represents a historic break from a nearly uninterrupted two-hundred-year run of government by white mestizo elites. If implemented, the three
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