2026 – Page 2 – Irregular Warfare Center

Added on September 14, 2026 Perspectives

Can Europe Defend Itself?

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.

Added on September 10, 2026 Insights

Regime Change, Major Powers, and the Prospects for Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran Part II:

This is Part II of a two-part article. Part I provides a very brief history of post-World War II regime change operations and identifies the four factors that make U.S.-sponsored regime change most likely to succeed in the long term. Three of these factors concern the means and motives for sponsors of the old regime and spoilers of the new regime: pre-existing access and relationships, geography, and loss aversion. When sponsors and spoilers have the advantage over the U.S. in these three areas, the U.S. will struggle to achieve long-term success. The fourth factor concerns U.S. ambitions and recognizes that smaller changes are easier to achieve and sustain than larger ones.

Added on September 8, 2026 News

Irregular Warfare Center Concludes 4th Annual Scholars Colloquium Focused on Homeland Defense

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 […]

Added on September 8, 2026 Insights

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.

Added on August 31, 2026 Insights

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.

Added on August 18, 2026 Perspectives

The Agentic Olympus: The “Gods” of AI in Irregular Cognitive Warfare

Added on August 12, 2026 Perspectives

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.”

Added on August 11, 2026 Perspectives

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.

Added on August 10, 2026 Perspectives

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.