The Center to Host IWC Community of Interest Symposium & INDOPACOM IW Conceptualization Workshop

The Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) is scheduled to host its Irregular Warfare Center Community of Interest Symposium (IWCCOIS March 11-13, 2024) and INDOPACOM IW Conceptualization Workshop (March 14-15, 2024) events at the Hyatt Regency in Tyson’s Corner, Va.

IWCCOIS provides Irregular Warfare (IW) practitioners, industry leaders, and representatives from the interagency and academia an opportunity to gather to expand the IW-focused community of interest.

The three-day symposium will kick off with a keynote address, followed by a series of panels focused on the IWC’s three lines of effort: Illuminate, Amplify, and Address. Day 1 illuminates the IW efforts of Department organizations, with special attention to the TRIAD, operations in the information environment, and IW sustainment. Day two illuminates lessons learned and emerging trends in Europe, Asia, and Africa while the final day explores ways allies and partners can address IW threats moving forward and reconvenes the group for a high-level review.

“The vision for the IWC symposium is to facilitate the congregation of IW communities of interest, broadly defined, with the goal of illuminating emerging IW threats, opportunities, and amplifying current efforts,” said Dr. Dennis Walters, IWC Director. “One critical objective is to provide visualization of how the Irregular Warfare Center’s Functional Area Networks (FAN) can interact to collaboratively problem solve global, complex IW challenges.”

IWCCOIS Keys for Success:

• Interconnecting various IW communities to create a collaborative network to solve complex problems.
• Amplify IW community successes and introduce the concept of IW global networks as a strategic approach to complex problem solving.
• Illuminate emerging trends and threat trends to focus education and training to better prepare strategists and practitioners to address irregular activities that threaten national security and allies and partners.
• Improve integrated deterrence and capabilities with ally and partner nations, industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations.
• Explain the evolutionary concept of empowered Functional Area Networks (FANs) and solicit feedback on the concept.

For more IWCCOIS event information and agenda details, please visit: https://irregularwarfarecenter.org/event/coi-symposium/

The INDOPACOM IW Conceptualization Workshop is a follow-up to a study the IWC conducted, comparing and contrasting the conceptualization of irregular warfare (IW) between different academic institutions in the Indo-Pacific Region. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss the conceptualization of IW in order to better understand differences and potential connection points enabling more effective international cooperation on the topic.

“Our team has been working diligently in preparation for the upcoming IW Conceptualization Workshop by bringing in vital IW subject matter experts for all across the globe,” said Lori Leffler, IWC Chief of Staff & Deputy Director. “We are very much looking forward to hosting this event and feel it will provide many valuable and resourceful outcomes in support of the Center’s mission.”

Workshop attendees will include study participants from key academic institutions from the Indo-Pacific region, chiefly the Indian Manohar Parikkar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, the Sri Lankan Bandaranaike Center for International Studies, the Operations Research Center of the Philippine Army, the Singaporean S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University, The Malaysian National Defense University, the Australian University of New South Wales, the Australian National Defense University, and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies as well as U.S. stakeholders involved in constructing the definition of IW and/or in IW activities.

For more IW Conceptualization Workshop event information and agenda details, please visit: https://irregularwarfarecenter.org/event/indopacom-iw-conceptualization-workshop/

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.