WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of War (DoW) Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) concluded its fourth annual Scholars Colloquium at the National Defense University in Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., bringing together a select cohort of emerging scholars and defense practitioners to address irregular warfare’s growing impact on homeland defense. The two-day event held Sept. 1–2, 2026, directly advanced the 2026 National […]
Regime Change, Major Powers, and the Prospects for Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran Part I:
In recent months the media has been full of talk about regime change in Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran, but very few attempts to understand the post-World War II history of regime change operations, when regime change works, when it does not work, and why. This two-part article starts to correct the mistake. Part I (this Part) provides a very brief history of regime change operations and identifies the four factors that make regime change most likely to succeed in the long term. Part II uses the four factors to assess the prospects of successful U.S.-sponsored regime change in Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran. For the purposes of both parts, regime change operations are defined as operations by a major outside power to change the personnel and/or structure of a foreign regime.
China’s Irregular Warfare Strategy and Actions in the Bahamas
Chinese investment across the Caribbean over the past two decades, has been framed as development assistance, commercial expansion, or participation in global infrastructure initiatives. Ports, resorts, highways, telecommunications networks, and logistics hubs funded or constructed by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are often presented as mutually beneficial economic partnerships for small island states with limited domestic capital. This approach is very visible in the Bahamas, just 50 miles from the coast of Florida, where Chinese-backed projects have reshaped portions of the country’s economic and physical landscape.
August 2026 Newsletter
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The Agentic Olympus: The “Gods” of AI in Irregular Cognitive Warfare
The decisive battlespace of the twenty-first century will ever more entail the cognitive domain, wherein strategic advantage is achieved through the shaping of perception, informing judgment, influencing decisions, and governing the informational architectures that define operational understanding, emotion and actions. In this milieu, artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly function as an active participant to identify patterns beyond human perception, illuminate adversary behavior before it unfolds, synthesize operational knowledge, defend and contest digital terrain, and generate recommendations at operational tempos that exceed, and thus expand human capacity.
War of Position and Irregular Warfare: How Information Shapes Strategic Advantage Before Combat
Chinese information warfare strategists often describe the United Front Work Department (UFWD) as a “magic weapon” for advancing national objectives without direct coercion. In 2015, Xi Jinping described UFWD as an “important instrument” for achieving the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
The Laboratory of Terror: How Pakistan Became the World’s Frontline Against Industrialized Extremism
On the morning of December 16, 2014, six heavily armed militants scaled the walls of the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan and entered a place that should have been immune from war. By the time Pakistani security forces ended the siege, 149 people had been killed, including 132 children.
Orbital Data Centers Could Potentially Exacerbate the Risk of Escalation in Outer Space
China is engaging in tactics just short of war, unconstrained by any formal declaration of hostilities as it seeks weaknesses to exploit in the United States Farm Surveillance Program and Homeland Defense initiatives. The U.S. agricultural supply chain is under attack from global competitors seeking to degrade America’s ability to feed its populace and export products.
Preparing Populations for Hybrid Threats against Critical Infrastructure: The European Experience
One of the most persistent security threats the United States (U.S.) faces today is a range of hostile activities short of open armed conflict. These activities occur in what is often called the “grey zone,” which blurs the distinction between traditional war and peace and includes actions such as manipulating information, deploying hostile cyber activities, and working through proxy forces to achieve various effects.
Social Terrain: The Strategic Substrate of Irregular Competition
China is engaging in tactics just short of war, unconstrained by any formal declaration of hostilities as it seeks weaknesses to exploit in the United States Farm Surveillance Program and Homeland Defense initiatives. The U.S. agricultural supply chain is under attack from global competitors seeking to degrade America’s ability to feed its populace and export products.