Changes Are Coming!

"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."
-- Old MOUT Adage
“It takes a brave man to be a coward in the Red Army.”
-- Joseph Stalin
“For Dave Dilegge and Bill Nagle, founders and editors of Small Wars Journal. They gave the counterguerrilla underground a home, at a time when misguided leaders banned even the word ‘insurgency,’ though busily losing to one. Scholars, warriors, and agitators, Dave and Bill laid the foundation for battlefield success: our generation owes them a debt of gratitude.”
-- David Kilcullen ('Counterinsugency' Dedication)
“With no other security forces on hand, U.S. military was left to confront, almost alone, an Iraqi insurgency and a crime rate that grew worse throughout the year, waged in part by soldiers of the disbanded army and in part by criminals who were released from prison.”
-- John Spratt
"In 1991 the Gulf War showed everyone how not to fight us, but the 2003 invasion of Iraq showed everybody how to fight us."
-- David Kilcullen

Small Wars Journal is in the process of some major changes. Small Wars Foundation is working closely with the new owners of the website at Arizona State University (ASU). We are transitioning to a new staff, a new website, and rebranding that will continue SWJ's work and vision while forging a powerful new discourse on small wars, irregular warfare, and competitive statecraft. Small Wars Journal will continue to publish original works from authentic voices across the spectrum of stakeholders in small wars.

Journal

Closing the Border to Terrorists: Cooperation between Mexican Cartels and International Terrorist Organizations

by Kelsey Warner, by Andrew Byers | Tue, 10/22/2024 - 8:19pm | 0 comments

In July 2024, three Palestinians and a Turk, all with possible connections to terrorist organizations, were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents while attempting to illegally cross the Southwest border from Mexico into the San Diego area. One of the two Jordanians who attempted to breach the USMC Marine Corps Base at Quantico in May 2024 was confirmed to have crossed the Southwest border illegally before being detained and then released into the United States. Eight Tajiks with ties to the Islamic State-Khorasan Branch (ISIS-K) were found to have crossed illegally into the United States via the Southwest border at various points in 2023 before being released into the United States. These are just a handful of the most recent incidents involving potential international terrorism-affiliated individuals entering the United States via the Southwest border in the past several years, all facilitated by the Mexican cartels that control the flow of human trafficking across the border.

From Insurgency to Illicit Trade: Analyzing FARC Dissidents in the Cocaine Market

by Camilo Pardo-Herrera, by Mahmut Cengiz | Mon, 10/14/2024 - 10:06pm | 0 comments

Colombia holds a crucial role in the global drug trade, serving as a major source of cocaine linked to its historical conflicts and ongoing violence. The nation has been marred by some of history's most notorious drug trafficking organizations, including the Medellín and Cali cartels, which have significantly affected Colombia's stability and safety. Additionally, Colombia has been home to several violent revolutionary groups. For decades, organizations like FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – National Liberation Army) engaged in armed conflict, exacerbating the country’s violence.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF FRONTLINE CIVILIANS

by Tom Ordeman, Jr. | Wed, 10/09/2024 - 4:24pm | 0 comments

If online comment sections frequented by America's veterans are any indication, a widening "civil-military divide" - the alleged cultural segregation of America's military/veteran and civilian communities - requires attention from all parties. Simultaneously, fraternal organizations dedicated to serving America's veterans face dwindling membership. Both of these challenges could be mitigated if the fraternal organizations took the radical step of offering limited membership to former frontline civilians.

How Ukraine’s Recovery From War Can Inform Kyiv’s Car-driven Chaos

by Russell W. Glenn | Mon, 10/07/2024 - 5:18pm | 0 comments

Urban operations specialist Dr. Russell W. Glenn provides insights into recovery from urban warfare from experience in Ukraine. Here, Dr. Glenn reviews the impact of urban conflict on traffic and parking. These insights draw from the research for Dr. Glenn's new book "Brutal Catalyst: What Ukraine's Cities Tell Us About Recovery From War" (KeyPoint Press, 2024).

Reflections on Buffalo Bill Cody: Lessons for Warfighters and Strategists

by Tom Ordeman, Jr. | Mon, 10/07/2024 - 5:10pm | 0 comments

In 2020, I had occasion to begin reacquainting myself with one of my childhood heroes: Buffalo Bill Cody. As a youngster, my family took occasional trips to the city in Wyoming that bears his name. We visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and I read the semi-apocryphal biography penned by Cody's sister. Then, in 2021, I watched as American troops concluded their two-decade-long campaign in Afghanistan. Like many members of my generation, the events that precipitated America's foray into that ancient land proved life-changing for me. When the entire enterprise collapsed, I found myself trying to make sense of it and Bill Cody's story has proved insightful.

SWJ El Centro Book Review – Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises

by Daniel Weisz | Mon, 10/07/2024 - 2:57pm | 0 comments

SWJ−El Centro Associate Daniel Weisz Argomedo Reviews of "Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises" by Jonathan S. Blake and Nils Gilman.

Time to Move Beyond Cannons

by L. Lance Boothe | Thu, 10/03/2024 - 10:09am | 0 comments

In the US Army, a struggle with math is happening, particularly in the Field Artillery. For a combat arm which demands meeting the five requirements for accurate predicted fire (target location and size, firing unit location, weapon and ammunition information, meteorological data, and computational procedures) as essential to putting steel on target, one would think arithmetic near reverential. Calculus and geometry, simply being able to count to ten, and doing math in increments of 10s, 50s, or 100s applies to just about every one of the “five requirements” in some form or fashion. Yet some artillerymen cannot seem to do the simplest math of all – merely counting munitions and systems.

Fire for Effect in Ukraine

by John Nagl, by Dan Rice | Tue, 10/01/2024 - 12:20pm | 0 comments

The United States has now approved the provision of air-to-ground AGM-154 precision cluster glide bombs to Ukraine. This completes the full family of cluster munitions for artillery, HIMARs rockets and aircraft thirty-two months after the Russian invasion of that country. Cluster munitions incorporate a number of smaller bomblets that scatter upon impact, vastly increasing the destructive power of the weapons. America has been slow to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, doing so sparingly and haltingly. It is now time to deliver all of these different types of cluster munitions in large quantities to destroy the Russian Army in Ukraine. In artillery terms, it is time to FIRE FOR EFFECT and provide the quantities of ammunition Ukraine needs to win the war

Is a Responsible Strategic Threat Assessment Too Much to Ask For?

by Al Dhobaba | Thu, 09/26/2024 - 2:41am | 0 comments

As early as 2008, Army Colonel and West Point history professor Gian Gentile led a chorus of voices that characterized counterinsurgency operations as a dangerous distraction from what might be characterized as “real soldiering”: combined arms maneuver, force-on-force combat, and engagements against what are popularly referred to as “near-peer threats.” By 2015, most of the American defense establishment was onboard! Counterinsurgency was over! Land wars in developing countries were passé! China was a rising power, and America would pivot its attention to the Pacific to contain it! Russia was resurgent, threatening the interests of America and American allies the world over! It was time to reconfigure the service branches to deter or defeat these strategic competitors!

Twin Insurgency, Irregular War, and Oil Theft in Nigeria and Brazil: An Overview

by Zachary Z. Horsington | Mon, 09/23/2024 - 12:11am | 0 comments

This article by SWJ−El Centro Intern Zachary Horsington reviews the concept of twin insurgency and its constituent components of criminal insurgency and plutocratic insurgency in order to illuminate case studies of oil theft in Nigeria and Brazil.