The Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) Hosts International Irregular Warfare Week

The newly established Irregular Warfare Center hosted its second IW-themed event, International Irregular Warfare Week, from March 16-17, 2023, in Arlington Va.

The IWC’s International Irregular Warfare Week was a follow-up event for the survey and interviews conducted by the IWC Engagements Department with the intent to compare and contrast the conceptualization of IW between different European institutions.

“The first thing that attracted me to this event was the brand new Irregular Warfare Center and its mission,” said LT COL Daniel Gomez, Army Reserves and Instructor at Joint Special Operations University. “I definitely wanted to experience the Center and meet everyone from the organization while taking the opportunity to learn great things about irregular warfare and network with a variety of IW experts across the European theatre.”

The 2-day event included a variety of guest speakers and irregular warfare SME’s, various briefs on IW-related topics, question and answer sessions, as well as wargaming activities.

The value of the event is to expose U.S. stakeholders involved in the development of the new definition of IW and/or in IW activities to the European conceptualization of IW to better understand differences and potential connection points enabling more effective international cooperation.

The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to establish the IWC as the security cooperation hub for Irregular Warfare. In July 2022, Secretary Austin directed its formation, and the IWC began operations on October 1, 2022. Among one of its first initiatives, the IWC aims to engage and coordinate with Federal departments and agencies and with academia, nongovernmental organizations, civil society, and international partners to discuss and coordinate efforts on security challenges in irregular warfare.

International Irregular Warfare Week directly contributes to the successful execution of the IWC`s task prescribed in the FY23 NDAA as “engage and coordinate with Federal departments and agencies and with academia, non-governmental organizations, civil society, and international partners to discuss and coordinate efforts on security challenges in irregular warfare.”

“At the culmination of the event international guests expressed gratitude and stressed the importance of continued cooperation in the field of IW,” said Dr. Sandor Fabian, Chair of Engagements, Irregular Warfare Center. “The IWC will publish the full study and event report on its website and will continue exploring the conceptualization of IW in other regions important for U.S. national security to improve U.S. government and DoD effectiveness in addressing IW threats and challenges.”

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.

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.

The Center’s foundation is built upon three Lines of Effort:

• AMPLIFY and collaborate to build an innovative and adaptable global networked IW community of interest.
• Strategically ILLUMINATE current and future irregular threats, crises, and obstacles.
• ADDRESS current and future irregular threats to the US, allies, and partners by providing optionality to leaders.

Through these LOEs, the Irregular Warfare Center addresses current and emerging security concerns and challenges with world-class research, rigorous analysis, top-tier strategic education and training for U.S. and international partners.