The Irregular Warfare Center & Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Host Inaugural Intelligence Support to IW Symposium

The Department of Defense (DoD)’s Irregular Warfare Center (IWC), in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (OUSD(I&S)), recently hosted the first Intelligence Support to Irregular Warfare Symposium. Held from October 29-31, 2024 at the U.S. Naval Institute Jack C. Taylor Conference Center in Annapolis, Md., the symposium marked the beginning of an initiative to examine the U.S. Intelligence Community’s capability to address emerging global threats with a particular focus on adversarial activities in the gray zone.

The inaugural symposium provided a platform for government, industry, and academic leaders to engage on the role of intelligence in supporting irregular warfare activities, with a focus on collaboration across the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. The IWC and OUSD (I&S) drew participants from outside of the U.S., including South Korea, Australia, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Italy, Romania and Canada.

Erik Herr, IWC’s Chief of Operations, highlighted the advantage of an intelligence-specialized event, stating, “As our adversaries continue to push into the gray zone, our intelligence capabilities not only keep pace but are specifically aligned with the needs of our operators in the field. This symposium enabled us to focus on enhancing intelligence that supports irregular warfare directly, ensuring operators have access to the information and tools needed to gain advantage in contested environments.”

Day 1 examined China as a global competitor and featured prominent speakers well-versed in both irregular warfare and intelligence. Ms. Theresa Whelan, Director for Defense Intelligence Collections and Special Programs, delivered an address on the integral role of intelligence in support of irregular warfare, emphasizing that the intelligence community needs to be able to detect and deter ahead of a crisis. The Honorable Christopher Maier, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, addressed irregular warfare as a strategic deterrent, explaining how irregular warfare is not exclusively a special operations problem, but needs all aspects of DoD and the interagency.

“For over twenty years, we have trained and deployed intelligence professionals to work against a non-technical adversary in a semi-permissive environment. We have developed an entire generation of professionals who are accustomed to the U.S. exercising domain dominance in every facet of the battlefield. This new operating environment will be global in nature and categorized as contested and even denied territory,” said Anthony Gilgis, CEO Gray Zone Consulting, LLC, Principal Consultant to OUSD(I&S), Sensitive Activities & Special Programs, HUMINT & Sensitive Activities. “In this competition we no longer enjoy domain dominance, and many of the tools and capabilities we have come to rely on are either obsolete or vulnerable in this current environment. We must evolve.”

The second day of the event focused on examining China as a global challenge and featured keynote addresses and speakers from various backgrounds and disciplines. The Honorable Dr. Kevin Rudd, Australian Ambassador to the U.S., spoke on Chinese ideology and policy from an international perspective.

Participants also heard from General (Ret.) Hibat Alizai, former Afghan Army Chief of Staff, on China’s influence in Central Asia. Dr. Zenel Garcia, an Associate Professor at the U.S. Army War College, gave a keynote address on day two, centered on China’s political shaping. He stressed the significance of the symposium, “Value comes from multiple perspectives. You are bringing in people with expertise and interest, so you are able to share your findings. No matter how deep in the weeds you are in your research areas, you will always be able to learn something new from someone else.”

Along with keynote addresses, the range of panel speakers and topics proved to be beneficial in highlighting multiple perspectives. “Moderated sessions are especially helpful and provide a diversity of thought,” explained panelist Herm Hasken, Founder and CEO at High Ground Advisors. “There are experts in HUMINT, OSINT, and Cyber that are leveraging the diplomatic and military channels of DIME. From a high-level perspective, this approach allows for collecting information from various sources to advise senior policymakers on critical issues, such as those related to China.”

The final day of the symposium highlighted strategies to counter adversarial activities in the gray zone, emphasizing intelligence tools and capabilities that can support and shape the global operating environment. Participants from organizations within the intelligence community attended to exchange knowledge on the implications of industry support, intelligence gaps and opportunities, and vulnerabilities and access vectors.

Panelist Frank Miller, Vice President of EXOVERA, underscored the significance of collaboration. “We do best when we do it together. Too often, we try to do things in stove pipes, but the value of what we’re bringing together here is to look at a problem set, this one happens to be China Gray Zone, and look at it with a whole-of-society approach.”

The Center, in alignment with our key partners, continues to hold engagements across a range of issues and environments. “The Symposium has been instrumental in bringing together military, industry, and academia to build cross-functional solutions to irregular warfare in our strategic environment,” said participant Jason Heeg, Command Chief Warrant Officer, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne). “Along with other IWC engagements like the University Colloquium, this event is helping to build a network of irregular warfare scholars and practitioners.”

The inaugural Intelligence Support to Irregular Warfare Symposium successfully laid the groundwork for ongoing collaboration and innovation in addressing strategic competition. “We are proud to have partnered with OUSD(I&S) for the inaugural Intelligence Support to Irregular Warfare Symposium,” said Lori Leffler, IWC Deputy Director and Chief of Staff. “This event marks a significant milestone in advancing our understanding of the intelligence capabilities necessary to counter our adversaries.”

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.