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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
National security and maritime leaders convened at Port Miami, Fla. on July 14-15 to discuss measures and strategies to counter irregular warfare threats targeting U.S. ports and shipping. Hosted by the Irregular Warfare Center (IWC), the workshop focused on identifying critical strategic gaps and building a cross-functional network between public and private sectors to counter and identify emerging threats like port sabotage, cyberattacks, and foreign exploitation of commercial logistics networks.
Among the five of us who teach the Irregular Warfare Center’s (IWC) advanced campaigning course (IW401), we have spent a long time watching capable people lose slowly. Not only on the battlefield, where American units almost always prevailed, but in the space above it, where campaigns are designed and where conflicts are so often lost prematurely.
Irregular Warfare (IW) goes by many names and definitions across the world. While some differences are only minor semantic variances reflecting the history of specific countries or the local culture of a particular state’s defense sector, other differences show widely divergent understandings based on who perpetuates and who are targeted by IW. Caught in the middle of these diverging views are U.S. warfighters, diplomats, and security cooperation professionals tasked with securing the United States from a myriad of IW threats that emanate far from America’s shores.
For centuries, irregular warfare has derived its power from a simple truth: populations matter. Whether a state seeks to coerce an adversary, support a resistance movement, or undermine the legitimacy of a rival government, every strategy ultimately depends on the human beings who staff armies, run factories, cultivate loyalty, and choose whom to obey.
Aug 19, 2026 10:00 AM EST
Join IWC researchers Dr. Alicia Ellis and Sarah Shoer for a virtual lecture on their new article, "Agriculture as a Domain of Hybrid Warfare," now published in the current issue of PRISM.
The authors will discuss how agriculture has become a critical front in modern strategic competition, exploring the vulnerabilities in the U.S. food supply chain from cyber threats, economic coercion, and intellectual property theft. Learn about their proposed "Agriculture Security" (AgSec) framework designed to protect this vital national resource.
