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The Agentic Olympus: The “Gods” of AI in Irregular Cognitive Warfare
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Preparing Populations for Hybrid Threats against Critical Infrastructure: The European Experience
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.
Social Terrain: The Strategic Substrate of Irregular Competition
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.
Cultivating Vulnerability: The Irregular Warfare Campaign Against American Farms and America’s Economy
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 Officials and Maritime Leaders Convene to Combat Irregular Warfare at the Maritime & Transportation
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.
Solving the Wrong Problem? A Practitioners’ Method for Campaigning in Irregular Warfare
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.