Welcome to the monthly newsletter for the IWC. This newsletter is designed to keep our community up-to-date on the latest news and events happening within the organization. Please click here download a PDF version of the IWC Spotlight Newsletter.
Beyond Proxy Warfare: The Iraq Model of Institutionalized Irregular Competition
For much of the last two decades, irregular warfare in the Middle East has been viewed primarily through the lens of insurgencies, terrorism, and armed proxy conflicts. Yet Iraq’s evolving political and security landscape suggests that irregular warfare has become far more sophisticated than traditional models assume. The modern battlefield is no longer confined to remote terrain or clandestine militant cells. Increasingly, the most effective form of irregular competition operates from within the very state institutions it once sought to challenge.
Following the Money: Allegations of Cross-Border Networks in Northern Syria
In today’s world, financial systems are increasingly relying more on anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations as part of efforts to stop illicit cash flows. When those safeguards weaken, especially in conflict regions, the consequences can extend far beyond national borders.
The Algorithm and the Bomb: How AI Is Reshaping Nuclear Risk Across a Multipolar World
Shortly after midnight on September 26, 1983, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov sat at his console at the Serpukhov-15 command center outside Moscow and watched his early warning system report that the United States had launched five intercontinental ballistic missiles. The screen flashed “launch.” The siren howled. The automated alert registered at the system’s highest confidence level.
IWC Launches Its First Course on Irregular Warfare Approaches for IW Campaigning
In a move to harden the nation’s skies against evolving global threats, the Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) recently collaborated with American Airlines during a high-level strategic security meeting with regional airline partners and specialists, January 15, 2026. The summit shifted the focus from traditional security protocols to the complex realities of irregular warfare (IW), specifically addressing the proliferation of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and their potential to disrupt domestic aviation and transportation infrastructure.
The Human Bombs: The Untold Industrial History of Suicide Bombing
On March 13, 1881, a young man named Ignaty Grinevitsky stood outside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and watched his accomplice throw a small bomb at the convoy of Tsar Alexander II. The Tsar stepped out of his carriage, unhurt. Grinevitsky rushed forward and dropped a second bomb at Tsar’s feet. Both men died.
Drone Warfare’s Next Frontier: Is Pakistan Ready?
The ongoing conflict in West Asia has caught global attention for many reasons. In the domain of warfare however, the emergence of drones as central systems for offsetting technologically advanced adversaries appears to be one of the most consequential takeaways from this conflict.
U.S. Diplomacy Plays Critical Role in Irregular Warfare
Diplomacy in irregular warfare (IW) is not a supporting act; it is one of the main ways the United States competes for power and legitimacy below the threshold of conventional war. That claim matters even more now because the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has shown that contests over legitimacy, sanctions, coalition management, information, logistics, and economic resilience are not ancillary to war; they are central to it.
May 2026 Newsletter
Welcome to the monthly newsletter for the IWC. This newsletter is designed to keep our community up-to-date on the latest news and events happening within the organization. Please click here download a PDF version of the IWC Spotlight Newsletter.
The Race for Strategic Advantage in Space: A Hybrid Competition
The contemporary space race is primarily about securing strategic, military, technological, and economic advantages over rivals, more than scientific discovery or symbolic status. Although space has often been portrayed as a domain of international cooperation – embodied most visibly by the International Space Station – competition has always remained central to humanity’s expansion into orbit.