Journal

Western scholars have seemed reluctant to engage with Chechnya as a COIN success. Such hesitancy may be partly due to the extreme unpalatability of Russian tactics.

SWJ discussion with Daniel R. Green and William F. Mullen III, the authors of "Fallujah Redux: The Anbar Awakening and the Struggle with al-Qaeda".

Doran offers a persuasive and riveting revisionist history of President Eisenhower’s foreign policy approach to the Middle East.

Soft power is an expansive concept, and every one of Mr. Trump’s immature tweets stands to lessen U.S. credibility as the example of a moral force.

Part Four of Four of “What’s Wrong with SOCOM?”

The Mabus priorities have been making the naval services more caring, inclusive, and environmentally protective.

Have received some great entries so far - soliciting more for the SWJ-MWG writing contest. Continue on for all the details.

Part III of IV of “What’s Wrong with SOCOM?”

Part II of IV of “What’s Wrong With SOCOM?”

Just under three weeks left - continue on for all the details.

As the threat and effect of psychological warfare becomes more pronounced in cyberspace, policymakers must address this burgeoning security threat.

Part I: JSOC Winning the War Against White SOF and the Problems Massive Bureaucracy Gets You in the Conduct of Irregular Warfare

The new career course model is ultimately detrimental to the Special Forces Regiment. It deprives SF captains of some of the best training the Army has to offer.

Japan’s defeat at Guadalcanal was led by its “closed systems,” the military culture of Gekukojo, and a military strategy dismissive of operational art.

The United States should petition a reclassification of perfidy from the United Nations to ensure the legal protections and force protection of SOF while conducting clandestine operations.

As the Mosul operation grinds forward, it is vitally important for the US and its allies to double down on their commitment to supporting the Iraqi Army and the Counter Terrorism Service.

Operation Whirlwind: A paper simulation of the Soviet assault on Budapest designed by prolific wargame designer Brian Train.

Human factors in military operations must become a central consideration in Joint Force campaign planning and execution.

Scales on War exposes the reader to the ground truths and mortal realities of the politically unfavoured means and the un-pretty practice of dismounted close combat and intimate killing.

Trump's election has already forced the United States’ European allies to contemplate a future where the United States might no longer underwrite Europe’s security.

SOUTHCOM’s diplomatic actions are effective because it can operate at both ends of the spectrum within the realm of coercive diplomacy.

This paper was prepared in early 2010, when it might still have been possible to advance an agenda for a diversified private sector in Iraq.  We missed our opportunity.

This paper assesses maritime drug smuggling by Mexican drug trafficking organizations on the coast of California with an emphasis on the use of panga boats.

Ambassador Jonathan S. Addleton: The Dust of Kandahar: A Diplomat Among Warriors in Afghanistan.  Naval Institute Press, Annapolis.

The United States and Russia are already at war. At least, that’s what many in Moscow seem to think - and this war is not fought like past conflicts.

The key thesis of this book is to analyze the theory that it is possible to use irregular warfare as a national military strategy to adopt a ‘professional irregular defense force’.

The potential threat posed by Special Interest Aliens is receiving renewed emphasis, particularly in view of the recent terrorist attacks across Europe and North Africa.

The “info-agile” world is not myth. It is reality, and any institution concerned with advancing truth must deal comprehensively with the manipulative nature of information.

At the end of the Vietnam War the U.S. Army was in disarray. Racial animosities, drug abuse and rebellious attitudes caused CSA Creighton Abrams to reorganize the way the army prepares for war.

This essay focuses on noteworthy contributions that are essential for the operational artist to “better understand the problem or problems at hand.”

Continue on for a short excerpt and a link to this 31 October 2007 SWJ article. It is Small Wars Journal’s most read piece.

While frustrating to some, the United States’ increasing inability to dictate preferred outcomes should come as no surprise.

As past demobilization efforts show, significant segments of non-state armed actors who are supposed to disarm simply move on from ideologically inspired violence to economically driven violence.

Three nations in Central America’s Northern Triangle have implemented an integrated, multinational task force to combat the threat from gangs.

The United States has failed to appropriately respond to the gray zone so far, so what should the new administration strive for?

Are successful international companies and drug cartels so different after all? Apparently not.

The 2015 prison escape of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman demonstrated the degree to which Mexican drug cartels have penetrated a key institution of state control.

On Dr. Simpson’s excellent arguments, there is one that I must take exception to and I ask this question: If a President Trump will not listen to General Mattis to whom will he listen?

Military regulation and creativity are strange bedfellows. This is the second part of a three part series.

Continue on for more information. The topic is "warfare in 2030-2050". Submission deadline is 15 February.

Military regulation and creativity are strange bedfellows. This is the first part of a three part series.

Operationalizing cyber is not about linear thinking and lines of operation.

Presumption comes before the fall in sport and war. Trash talking never won a real fight in the real world. Adult leadership always matters.

Get writing! Generous prizes for three categories of authors. Continue on for the all the details.

If I could recommend one book to the Trump Transition Team it would be Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon’s The Art of Peace: Engaging in Complex World.

Secrets are the knowable unknowns and mysteries are the secrets that might never be known, or at least not until disaster strikes.

An annual SWJ Veterans Day post by the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. First published in 2012.

I still wish I could’ve done more but I did what I could given the time, resources, and understanding (by our leaders) available.  I say this in order to share the following.

Continue on for all the details.

Interview with Professor Stathis Kalyvas conducted during the Nafplio Olympia Summer Academy, Summer 2016, Greece.