• The Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) supported the Ridge Runner and Ridge Healer academic week for members of the U.S. Special Operations Command, multiple allies, and partners. This is the third Ridge Runner and Ridge Healer event of FY 24 that reinforces the National Defense Strategy to work together with Allies and partners to modernize denial capabilities, increase interoperability, improve resilience against attack and coercion.
• Hosted the IWC Community of Interest Symposium in Northern Virginia, to collaborate across the Department, interagency, academia, industry, and international partners. Additionally, to introduce the IWC Functional Area Network to the IW community, which will provide the Department and key allies and partners with a rapid method for globally crowd-sourcing solutions to irregular challenges.
• Hosted the INDOPACOM IW Conceptualization Workshop in Northern Virginia, to collaboratively examine IW in the region as perceived by allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.
• Deliver TILT-C for SPACECOM at Patterson AFB.
• Attended the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfP-C) Steering Committee meeting in Europe, as a co-chair for the newly established Irregular Warfare and Hybrid Threats Working Group.
• Facilitated the Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) methodology for the non-DoD Intelligence Community’s strategic leadership development workshop.
• Led an academic week for the British Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) Brigade and multinational partners.
• Delivered the National Resistance Applications Course (NRAC) and an Irregular Warfare (IW) 101 course to multi-national European allies and partners SOF and intelligence personnel.
• Completed curriculum development of the first Irregular Warfare (IW) 101 course that will be used as a foundation for the Army University’s IW education elective program.
• Provided academic support to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s Silent Quest experimentation series academic week at Ft. Liberty, NC to deepen an understanding of the IW in SOF, Space and Cyber (TRIAD).
• Conducted a National Resistance Applications Course (NRAC) to participants to address national strategy design and campaigning focused on implementing a national resistance concept.
• Presented “Lessons from the Ukraine-Russia Conflict” during the U.S. Special Operations Command’s professional development week at MacDill AFB, Florida to provide an insight into current and relative, resistance to invasion strategies and tactics.
• Conducted introductory meetings with the Head of Strategic Foresight, at NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) to explore collaboration opportunities between IWC and NATO ACT on topics such as future warfare and Future Operating Environment(s) of NATO.
• Facilitated a one-day Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) for a classified operational unit of the Intelligence Community (IC) supporting a real-world strategy and campaign reframing at a TS/SCI compartmented level program.
• Hosted the third iteration of IW Medical Sustainment in Bethesda, MD that facilitated tabletop exercises and working group discussions to develop courses of action to provide policy and doctrine suggestions to meet medical community requirements to provide sustained, prolonged field care to casualties in denied areas.
• Facilitated a Comprehensive Defense Workshop and Wargame scenario with the Navy Post Graduate School in INDOPACOM, attended by 40 partner nation officers and non-commissioned officers, to assist regional Special Operations Command (SOF) in planning national comprehensive defense strategies.
• Conducted a 2024 and 2025 IWC strategic and operational-level resistance support planning with Special Operations Forces – Europe to continue developing and validating European national resistance planning concepts.
• Participated in the Partnership for Peace Consortium Annual Conference in Garmisch, Germany to contribute to regional stability through multinational defense education.
• IWC’s Director of Training at Finland’s Hybrid Center of Excellence (HCOE) conducted a virtual tele-conference with SWCS to convey the mandate of the HCOE and potential synergies between programs.
• Co-hosted the Irregular Warfare (IW) Forum with the U.S. John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) and the College of International Security Affairs, to provide a collaborative avenue bringing IW to the forefront of discussions within the Department of Defense (DOD), academia and the inter-agency.
• Conducted engagements with the Commander, Norwegian Special Operations Command to discuss collaboration to provide IW education in Europe’s High North to address Russian threats in the region.
• Briefed Special Operations Liaison officers from eight allied and partner nations assigned to United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) on the mission of the IWC and gathered key information on what their nations’ number one IW priorities are.
• Met with the Intelligence Community Irregular Warfare Community of Interests’ (IC IW COI) leadership to discuss the partnership between IWC and IC IW COI.
• Conducted an interview with Dr. Sinduja Jayaratne from the Sri Lankan Sir John Kotelawala Defence University as part of IWC`s Irregular Warfare (IW) Conceptualization in the Indo-Pacific Region Study.
• Conducted a National Resistance Design Course for the Moldovan Ministry of Defense General Staff and Inter- ministerial partners supported by Special Operations Command Europe and United Kingdom Special Forces.
• Met with the Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Hybrid Threat Resilience Group, Mobilization and Civil Resistance Department, and the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and his advisors to discuss the designing of a comprehensive defense education program.
• Participated in a combined IWC, Special Operations Command Europe, and United Kingdom Special Forces effort to support the Georgian General Staff develop their Chief of Defense-directed draft of the National Resistance Operations Planning Guidance.
• Moderated a roundtable at the National Defense Transportation Association/Transportation Command’s Fall Meeting and incorporated the IWC into TRANSCOM strategic education and training with a session on austere logistics. Met with USTRANSCOM Commander and set groundwork for collaboration regarding contested logistics.
• Attended the Information Operations – Phoenix Challenge in Honolulu, Hawaii and participated in classified discussions to identify gaps in current IW curriculum.
• Conducted the second Top Secret/Secret Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) in support of 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) and Task Force 40-25 Irregular Warfare Analysts Couse (IWAC) pipeline at Fort Liberty, NC.
• Led a collaborative effort involving Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR), US Ministry of Defense Advisor (MODA), United Kingdom Special Forces, and Romanian Special Forces, to assist the Republic of Moldova General Staff in developing their Moldovan National Resistance Concept.
• Attended the International Studies Association Annual Conference at the U.S. Air Force NCO Academy in Colorado Springs, CO to discuss IWC support to education and curriculum alignment across departments.
• Held classified discussions with the Office of the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Security (OUSD(I&S)) Directorate of Human Intelligence and Special Activities staff, to discuss IWC strategy and campaign planning support to sensitive OUSD(I&S) efforts.
• Facilitated a workshop for eight Scandinavian and Baltic countries, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) J3I, and NATO Allied Special Operations Forces (SOF) Command at the Swedish Defense University in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Met with Directorates of the National Security Council to discuss IWC efforts and capabilities and to discuss relevance and effectiveness of current U.S. irregular warfare efforts.
• Attended and participated in an irregular warfare panel hosted by U.S. Army Central in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to discuss the conceptualization of irregular warfare as it pertains to the Middle East.
• Supported the National Defense University`s College of International Security Affairs’ course titled, Strategic Competition in the Cognitive Domain: From Analysis to Action in Sofia, Bulgaria delivered to over 60 Bulgarians from civil society.
• Supported the 2023 Comprehensive Defense Working Group (CDWG) run by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia that assists with the nation’s development of a resistance handbook.
• Met with Estonian Special Operations Forces in Tallinn, Estonia to discuss IWC’s participation to hone the nation’s resilience and resistance capabilities to bolster Special Operations Command – Europe’s operational intent in the region.
• Presented at the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy’s annual Retrainer in Ghent, Belguim, hosting over 100 senior law enforcement officers from 22 European nations, to illuminate the necessity to develop a whole-of- government approach to resiliency in Europe.
• Presented at the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy’s annual Retrainer in Oman, Jordan with over 70 senior law enforcement officers from 17 Middle East and African nations, providing vignettes of real-world hybrid threats.
• Coordinated with Latvian military commanders in Riga, Latvia to develop understanding of application of Irregular Warfare (IW) to address and prepare for hybrid threats to their national security and sovereignty.
• Conducted a follow-up key leader engagement with the Lithuanian Parliamentary Chair for the National Security and Defence Committee (HASC and SASC equivalent) and the Head of Threat Management and Crisis Prevention at the Lithuanian Prime Minister’s Office in Vilnius, Lithuania to provide feedback regarding irregular warfare actions.
• 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.
• Sponsored a Hybrid Wargame for 14 nations including Ukraine government officials at the Helsinki Center of Excellence for countering Hybrid Threats in Finland.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Presented Irregular Warfare (IW) case studies to U.S. and international universities at the International Studies Association – Asia Pacific Conference in Tokyo, Japan.
• Conducted a three-day tailored Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) for the Latvian National Resistance and Unconventional Warfare Working Group.
• 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.
• 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.
• Participated in the Homeland Defense Awareness Symposium in Colorado Springs; developed relationships to collaborate on educating hybrid threat awareness for homeland defense practitioners.
• Supported the Special Operations Integration Course at the NATO School (NSO) in Oberammergau, Germany, educating 25 officers from 14 different countries.
• 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.
• Facilitated a five-day Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) for United States Special Operations Command medical strategists and campaign designers.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Participated in the Phoenix Challenge working group on the 2023 Strategy for Operations in the Information Environment (SOIE) Implementation Plan Framework.
• Conducted a classified Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Course (TILT-C) to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
• 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.
• Presented IWC’s mission to the Naval War College’s IW Maritime Symposium attended by DoD, IA, Allies, Partners, and civilian stakeholders.
• Met with representatives from Indo-Pacific Command’s Federal Bureau of Investigation Detachment, Homeland Security Investigation to discuss collaborative efforts to counter Chinese influence.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Submitted Irregular Warfare Center 180 day Congressional Review report.
• 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.
• Conducted Cultural Evolution/Human Domain work and how this topic fits within IW and develop concepts for DoD.
• Ongoing engagements with WPS (Women, Peace and Security).
• Conducted key leader engagements with the Lithuanian Defense and Parliamentary Officials.
• Working with INDOPACOM, and Interagency liaisons to discuss security cooperation and collaboration.
• Coordinated with interagency offices to conduct a TILT-C.
• Conducted the first Counter Threat Finance (CTF) engagement with functional and global combatant leaders.
• Secured General Fenton’s Vision and Key Themes, with him stating that he is committing a significant portion of his resources to IW.
• Networked the IWC with all the Theater Special Operations Command teams and SOCOM staff to strengthen our network.
• 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).
• Completed a syllabus re-design for the Special Operations Force Integration Course (SOFIC) at the NATO School in Oberammergau (NSO).
• Co-sponsored NSIN, Critical Resource Summit addressing Chinese efforts to monopolize critical assets.
• Presented and participated at the Special Operations Medical Association conference.
• Sponsored international officers to attend the Colombian Regional Center for Strategic Studies, Irregular Warfare in a Complex Security Environment Seminar.
• Coordinated the IW Symposium at Ft. Liberty with National Defense University and U.S. Army Special Warfare Center.
• 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.
• Instructed the Irregular Warfare Campaigning course at the Lithuanian Military Academy and provided a brief to the Lithuanian Parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee.
• Participated with Moldovan Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) at the Moldovan Comprehensive Defense Cross-Sector Workshop in Chișinău Moldova.
• Coordinated with Department of Homeland Security at INDOPACOM to explore collaboration on security cooperation efforts.
• 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.
• Participated in the University of North Georgia’s conference on human security.
• 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.
• 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.
• Hosted the inaugural IWC University Week, attended by sixteen civilian universities to create partnerships with numerous academic institutions on trans-disciplinary research.
• 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.
• 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.
• Briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency Joint Military Intelligence Training Center (JMITC) on IWC support to the Irregular Warfare Analyst Course redesign.
• Instructed a strategic IW course at the Baltic Defense College (PME) in Estonia.
• Met with the Lithuanian Parliament National Defense Committee to assist in developing national Total Defense.
• 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.
• Supported a U.S. Special Operations Command engagement with Interagency to deconflict and provide transparency for an IWC regional USSOCOM event.
• Hosted the Georgetown IW seminar with students, cadres, and university staff from Georgetown, George Washington, American and Catholic Universities.
• Hosted an international panel of professors from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, and the Netherlands to discuss Europe’s approach to IW.
• 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.
• Collaborated with USASOC to develop IW operation concept for the Army.
• 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.
• Collaborated with the government of Latvia and providing assistance on developing security cooperation efforts.
• Participated in the Georgian government’s Inter-ministerial Collaboration Forum focused on improving national resilience through inter agency collaboration.
• Conducted initial discussion with INDOPACOM and the IA partners regarding the Asian Pacific Retrainer.
• Participated in the USSOCOM IW Logistics Conference.
• Instructed an IW Strategic Thought Course (TILT-C) for USSOCOM.
• Engaged w/ SOCOM on Joint Collective Training to support Security Cooperation.
• Hosted the IW Medical Resiliency working group.
• Briefed the A/DASD SO/LIC on IWC’s achievements through Q1, FY3 which was met with praise for beyond-expected accomplishments.
• 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.
• Worked with the George C. Marshal Center to evaluate IW curriculum and was invited to a Hybrid Threat course at the Regional Center.
• Conducted outreach with foreign partners and attended the SOCEUR-led Moldova Advisory Mission to provide solutions for the Moldova Ministry of Defense.
• 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.
• Met with IA partners in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command region to explore collaboration opportunities to address security concerns from a justice perspective.
• Conducted KLEs with the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to provide an overview of the IWC to USSOCOM leaders and staff members.
• Established relationships with ten U.S. Embassies and Foreign Defense Attachés to coordinate travel for 16 international attendees for upcoming IW events.
• Launched the IWC website, meeting all security requirements of the Department of Defense (DoD) and allowing access across all NIPR platforms within DoD.
• 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.
• Published six organic IWC publications.
• Participated in the SOCEUR-led Moldova Advisory Mission.
• Attended the SOF & Worldwide Ops Conference in Tampa.
• Attended and presented at the Gray Zone Conference at GW University.
• Engaged with USAID to discuss the Global Fragility Act.
• Attended the NDIA SOLIC Conference.
• Participated in the IWSFA Working Group.
• Conducted PDSS to Lithuania to discuss and plan IW curriculum, IW Medicine and Counter-Hybrid Threats.
• Attended the USASOC and Global SOF Modern Warfare Week Engagement.
• Initial discussions with USAID Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization.
• IWC officially established.
• Provided Republic of South Africa IWC support options.
• IWC achieved Initial Operating Capacity.