Amplify. Illuminate. Address.

The IWC serves as the central mechanism for developing the Department of Defense’s (DOD) irregular warfare knowledge and advancing the Department's understanding of irregular warfare concepts and doctrine in collaboration with key allies and partners.

Actively Engaged In Fulfilling Our Mission

  • August 2023: Attended an Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) seminar titled Irregular Warfare (IW) in the Australian Context to better understand how allies and partners conceptualize IW in the Indo-Pacific region.
  • August 2023: Sponsored a Hybrid Wargame for 14 nations including Ukraine government officials at the Helsinki Center of Excellence for countering Hybrid Threats in Finland.
  • August 2023: Facilitated the IW Sustainment Resiliency Working Group for 40 participants from the DoD, academia, and industry to discuss challenges associated with sustaining operations in contested and denied environments in Bethesda, MD.
  • August 2023: Hosted 50 medical professionals from across the Department of Defense (DoD), Non-Government Organizations, Department of State and partners and allies from Canada, Poland, and the United Kingdom for IWC’s Irregular Warfare (IW) Medical Resiliency Wargame event in Bethesda, MD.
  • August 2023: Funded senior Taiwanese Officers to attend the Strategic Leaders International Course designed for senior military leaders, diplomats, and senior government officials from U.S. partner nations.
  • August 2023: Presented Irregular Warfare (IW) case studies to U.S. and international universities at the International Studies Association – Asia Pacific Conference in Tokyo, Japan.
  • August 2023: Conducted a three-day tailored Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) for the Latvian National Resistance and Unconventional Warfare Working Group.
  • August 2023: Met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Military Liaison Office and Global Partnership Unit to discuss future domestic and transnational relationship to address threats to U.S. national security and develop a whole-of-government approach to resiliency for international partners and allies.
  • August 2023: Met with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to discuss increasing collaboration on intelligence support to irregular warfare, curriculum, and doctrine development.
  • July 2023: Participated in the Homeland Defense Awareness Symposium in Colorado Springs; developed relationships to collaborate on educating hybrid threat awareness for homeland defense practitioners.
  • July 2023: Supported the Special Operations Integration Course at the NATO School (NSO) in Oberammergau, Germany, educating 25 officers from 14 different countries.
  • July 2023: Held a series of European key leader engagements with the Commanding General of Poland’s Territorial Defense Forces, the United Kingdom Rangers and 77th I/O Brigade and the Commander of the Special Operations Command – Europe.
  • July 2023: Facilitated a five-day Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) for United States Special Operations Command medical strategists and campaign designers.
  • July 2023: Hosted national security scholars from 15 universities during the first IWC University Colloquium, a two-day event presenting irregular warfare research to IW professors and practitioners.
  • July 2023: Met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Military Liaison Office and Global Partnership Unit to discuss future domestic and transnational relationship to address threats to U.S. national security and develop a whole-of- government approach to resiliency for international partners and allies.
  • July 2023: Conducted a series of meetings with Latvian Special Operations Forces and the Latvian Ministry of Defense for IWC support to the implementation and development of the Latvian National Resistance Concept and national continuity of governances’ concepts.
  • June 2023: Met with representatives from Office of IWC and Foreign Service Institute to discuss cosponsoring a future Irregular Warfare/Strategic Competition Seminar to be held in November or December 2023 in Washington DC.
  • June 2023: Participated in the Phoenix Challenge working group on the 2023 Strategy for Operations in the Information Environment (SOIE) Implementation Plan Framework.
  • June 2023: Conducted a classified Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
  • June 2023: Participated in the Partnership for Peace Consortium IW Working Group which has the task to adapt an existing Swedish Defence University Senior Leader Program for Ukrainian senior military.
  • June 2023: Presented IWC’s mission to the Naval War College’s IW Maritime Symposium attended by DoD, IA, Allies, Partners, and civilian stakeholders.
  • June 2023: Met with representatives from Indo-Pacific Command’s Federal Bureau of Investigation Detachment, Homeland Security Investigation to discuss collaborative efforts to counter Chinese influence.
  • June 2023: Delivered a lecture on "Special Warfare Deterrence and Resistance" for the Higher Command Studies Course (War College equivalent) at the Baltic Defence College in Estonia.
  • June 2023: In conjunction with the West Virginia National Guard, hosted a Distinguished Visitor Day, providing government officials, allies and partners an overview of the full spectrum Ridge Runner IW training facility for U.S. and international forces to validate strategic and operational concepts to address global security concerns.
  • June 2023: Met with the Chief Technology officer of the U.S. Army Development Command (DEVCOM) Research Laboratory and staff to discuss partnering on the use of relevant IW emerging technology.
  • June 2023: Briefed the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) on areas of partnership including August 2023 Resilience Conference as means of countering the adversaries' use of irregular warfare.
  • June 2023: In partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), attended the Asia Pacific FBI National Academy Retrainer Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia presenting the importance of a Whole-of-Government approach to deterring hybrid threats to national security.
  • June 2023: Discussed collaborative opportunities with the Irregular Warfare Community of Interest (IWCOI) to introduce key leaders to the Center and establish the IWC's permanent membership on the IWCOI.
  • June 2023: Staffed DoD Directive 3000.07 Irregular Warfare Policy, updating DoD policy that assigns responsibilities for conducting irregular warfare (IW) across the full spectrum of conflict.
  • June 2023: Submitted Irregular Warfare Center 180 day Congressional Review report.
  • May 2023: The IWC participates in the Joint Staff Irregular Warfare Working Group collaborative monthly meeting with stakeholders from DoD, IA, and Allies to address and coordinate IW policy, doctrine, and other critical IW issues relevant to U.S. National Security.
  • May 2023: Conducted Cultural Evolution/Human Domain work and how this topic fits within IW and develop concepts for DoD.
  • May 2023: Ongoing engagements with WPS (Women, Peace and Security).
  • May 2023: Conducted key leader engagements with the Lithuanian Defense and Parliamentary Officials.
  • May 2023: Working with INDOPACOM, and Interagency liaisons to discuss security cooperation and collaboration.
  • May 2023: Coordinated with interagency offices to conduct a TILT-C.
  • May 2023: Conducted the first Counter Threat Finance (CTF) engagement with functional and global combatant leaders.
  • May 2023: Secured General Fenton’s Vision and Key Themes, with him stating that he is committing a significant portion of his resources to IW.
  • May 2023: Networked the IWC with all the Theater Special Operations Command teams and SOCOM staff to strengthen our network.
  • May 2023: Coordinated two Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) events with United States Army Special Operations Command and with the U.S. Army 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne).
  • May 2023: Completed a syllabus re-design for the Special Operations Force Integration Course (SOFIC) at the NATO School in Oberammergau (NSO).
  • May 2023: Co-sponsored NSIN, Critical Resource Summit addressing Chinese efforts to monopolize critical assets.
  • May 2023: Presented and participated at the Special Operations Medical Association conference.
  • May 2023: Sponsored international officers to attend the Colombian Regional Center for Strategic Studies, Irregular Warfare in a Complex Security Environment Seminar.
  • May 2023: Coordinated the IW Symposium at Ft. Liberty with National Defense University and U.S. Army Special Warfare Center.
  • April 2023: The IWC participated in the Joint Staff Irregular Warfare Working Group collaborative monthly meeting with stakeholders from DoD, IA, and Allies to address and coordinate IW policy, doctrine, and other critical IW issues relevant to U.S. National Security.
  • April 2023: Instructed the Irregular Warfare Campaigning course at the Lithuanian Military Academy and provided a brief to the Lithuanian Parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee.
  • April 2023: Participated with Moldovan Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) at the Moldovan Comprehensive Defense Cross-Sector Workshop in Chișinău Moldova.
  • April 2023: Coordinated with Department of Homeland Security at INDOPACOM to explore collaboration on security cooperation efforts.
  • April 2023: Coordinated with the Director of Counterintelligence & Security Integration and Representative to the National Counterintelligence Task Force to conduct a Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) focused on maintaining technological advantage.
  • April 2023: Participated in the University of North Georgia's conference on human security.
  • April 2023: Conducted the first Counter Threat Finance (CTF) engagement with the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) to explore CTF as a professional military education topic.
  • April 2023: Hosted fourteen Department of Defense Professional Military Education (PME) Institutions for the Center’s PME Day, identifying how the institutions can leverage the IWC to better prepare the department to conduct IW.
  • April 2023: Hosted the inaugural IWC University Week, attended by sixteen civilian universities to create partnerships with numerous academic institutions on transdisciplinary research.
  • March 2023: The IWC participated in the Joint Staff Irregular Warfare Working Group collaborative monthly meeting with stakeholders from DoD, IA, and Allies to address and coordinate IW policy, doctrine, and other critical IW issues relevant to U.S. National Security.
  • March 2023: Interviewed Counter Threat Finance (CTF) experts at SOCOM and CENTCOM on the transformation of CTF from the counternarcotics and counterterrorism domains to great power conflict.
  • March 2023: Briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency Joint Military Intelligence Training Center (JMITC) on IWC support to the Irregular Warfare Analyst Course redesign.
  • March 2023: Instructed a strategic IW course at the Baltic Defense College (PME) in Estonia.
  • March 2023: Met with the Lithuanian Parliament National Defense Committee to assist in developing national Total Defense.
  • March 2023: Supported the Ridge Runner Irregular Warfare Exercise by instructing the operational and strategic-level National Resistance Application Seminar (NRAS) to USSOF and foreign allies and partners.
  • March 2023: Supported a U.S. Special Operations Command engagement with Interagency to deconflict and provide transparency for an IWC regional USSOCOM event.
  • March 2023: Hosted the Georgetown IW seminar with students, cadres, and university staff from Georgetown, George Washington, American and Catholic Universities.
  • March 2023: Hosted an international panel of professors from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, and the Netherlands to discuss Europe’s approach to IW.
  • February 2023: The IWC participated in the Joint Staff Irregular Warfare Working Group collaborative monthly meeting with stakeholders from DoD, IA, and Allies to address and coordinate IW policy, doctrine, and other critical IW issues relevant to U.S. National Security.
  • February 2023: Collaborated with USASOC to develop IW operation concept for the Army.
  • February 2023: Met with the School of Advanced Military Studies to instruct an IW Strategic Thought Course (TILT-C) and develop a unified effort to teach IW curriculum in Professional Military Education Institutions.
  • February 2023: Collaborated with the government of Latvia and providing assistance on developing security cooperation efforts.
  • February 2023: Participated in the Georgian government’s Inter-ministerial Collaboration Forum focused on improving national resilience through inter agency collaboration.
  • February 2023: Conducted initial discussion with INDOPACOM and the IA partners regarding the Asian Pacific Retrainer.
  • February 2023: Participated in the USSOCOM IW Logistics Conference.
  • February 2023: Instructed an IW Strategic Thought Course (TILT-C) for USSOCOM.
  • February 2023: Engaged w/ SOCOM on Joint Collective Training to support Security Cooperation.
  • February 2023: Hosted the IW Medical Resiliency working group.
  • January 2023: Briefed the A/DASD SO/LIC on IWC’s achievements through Q1, FY3 which was met with praise for beyond-expected accomplishments.
  • January 2023: Conducted a KLE with the NATO Special Operations School to coordinate partnering and collaboration on current and future courses and other educational opportunities as well as review curriculum and identify educational gaps in IW.
  • January 2023: Worked with the George C. Marshal Center to evaluate IW curriculum and was invited to a Hybrid Threat course at the Regional Center.
  • January 2023: Conducted outreach with foreign partners and attended the SOCEUR-led Moldova Advisory Mission to provide solutions for the Moldova Ministry of Defense.
  • January 2023: Met with the West Virginia National Guard Commanding General and Chief of Staff to discuss IWC opportunities for strategic application during the Ridge Runner exercise.
  • January 2023: Met with IA partners in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command region to explore collaboration opportunities to address security concerns from a justice perspective.
  • January 2023: Conducted KLEs with the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to provide an overview of the IWC to USSOCOM leaders and staff members.
  • January 2023: Established relationships with ten U.S. Embassies and Foreign Defense Attachés to coordinate travel for 16 international attendees for upcoming IW events.
  • January 2023: Launched the IWC website, meeting all security requirements of the Department of Defense (DoD) and allowing access across all NIPR platforms within DoD.
  • January 2023: Established a partnership with NSI to work on Chinese Irregular Warfare activities report and a separate work on Russian Irregular Warfare Activities to provide the IW Community with in-depth analytical products.
  • January 2023: Published six organic IWC publications.
  • December 2022: Participated in the SOCEUR-led Moldova Advisory Mission.
  • December 2022: Attended the SOF & Worldwide Ops Conference in Tampa.
  • November 2022: Attended and presented at the Gray Zone Conference at GW University.
  • November 2022: Engaged with USAID to discuss the Global Fragility Act.
  • November 2022: Attended the NDIA SOLIC Conference.
  • November 2022: Participated in the IWSFA Working Group.
  • November 2022: Conducted PDSS to Lithuania to discuss and plan IW curriculum, IW Medicine and Counter-Hybrid Threats.
  • November 2022: Attended the USASOC and Global SOF Modern Warfare Week Engagement.
  • November 2022: Initial discussions with USAID Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization.
  • October 2022: IWC officially established.
  • October 2022: Provided Republic of South Africa IWC support options.
  • October 2022: IWC achieved Initial Operating Capacity.
Play Video

Watch this short informational video from
Acting Director Dr. Dennis Walters

WHAT WE DO

Creating innovation and adaptability in national security.

The IWC serves as the central mechanism for developing the Department of Defense’s (DOD) irregular warfare knowledge and advancing the Department's understanding of irregular warfare concepts and doctrine in collaboration with key allies and partners. Our mission is to AMPLIFY and collaborate to build an innovative and adaptable global networked IW community of interest;  To Strategically ILLUMINATE current and future irregular threats, crises, and obstacles; and to ADDRESS current and future irregular threats to the US, allies, and partners by providing optionality.

LEARN MORE
COORDINATION AND COOPERATION AMONG MANY

UNIFIED & COMPREHENSIVE

With our eyes over the horizon, the IWC is reaching beyond what was ever thought possible. We cut through the red tape and bring stake holders across the Irregular Warfare domain together to establish a distinct IW capability advantage. The IWC's elite corps of subject matter experts from the world of Intelligence, Academia, Defense, Special Operations, Industry, Medicine, Infrastructure, Agriculture, Logistics and much more are the key to the Center's effectiveness in multi-disciplinary cohesion.

GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT MAP

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Translations

The Irregular Warfare Center provides translations of original Russian and Chinese language primary source material on irregular warfare-related topics to facilitate fair use of the provided publication by researchers, practitioners, and partners upon request.

2023 Book Recommendations

In the spirit of the Chairman of the Joint Chief’s reading list and the Chief of Naval Operations Professional Reading Program, the leadership of the Irregular Warfare Center offers its irregular warfare reading recommendations for 2023.

LATEST NEWS

RECENT NEWS

August 2023 IWC Newsletter

Welcome to the monthly newsletter for the IWC. This newsletter is designed to keep our community up-to-date on the latest...

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE

Transformational Irregular Warfare
Leaders Thought Course
(TILT-C)

A course to develop select senior US Government leaders from across the departments and agencies to collectively understand and apply irregular warfare as both a tool of US policy (including policy design and implementation via the execution of strategies and campaigns), as well as its uses by near-peer adversaries against the US.

Learn More