Beyond Irregular Warfare
Beyond Irregular Warfare
A Strategic Concept for Countering Irregular Adversaries and Engagement in Complex Security Environments
by Colonel Joseph E. Osborne, Small Wars Journal Op-Ed
Beyond Irregular Warfare (Full PDF Article)
Irregular Warfare — As quickly as I say it, a preconceived notion entered the mind of every person in this room. I can say, based on some 18 months of giving presentations on this topic that none of you are fully correct and none of you are fully mistaken.
So I’d like to open with a brief update on where the evolution of our thinking has taken us in the past 18 months or so since we’ve established an irregular warfare Directorate at USSOCOM. It is also an undisguised attempt to get us all past the DoD term “Irregular Warfare” and get into the substance of this poorly named, but wholly valid concept.
The term itself often prompts visceral reactions. From the non-DoD side of the Inter-Agency (IA) the hue and cry is along the lines of “we don’t do warfare”. And I would argue that we need look no further than Iraq and Afghanistan let alone the absence of historical precedent to appreciate that comment. From the Defense side it usually centers on the word “irregular”; prompting a knee-jerk response that generally goes along the lines of “that’s what SOF does”. A correct assertion, but only if half right is considered correct.
