Journal

The Gray Zone is becoming less opaque, less undefined because emerging analytical frameworks are finding their footing in the Department of Defense.

In order to increase capacity, Congress should enact comprehensive reform legislation allowing DHS to reorganize its structure and broaden its leadership succession capability.

Congratulations to authors whose articles have been selected as the top essays submitted in our latest writers contest. Continue on for the listing.

The fight against Islamic terror has two faces today, public relations and strategic hokum. The Global Coalition on the Defeat of ISIS meeting illustrates these phenomena.

It is our national tar baby. Most simply, it is a mess. We are there. We would like to get out. What are our options?

The risks of Wi-Fi hotspots are compounded when users do not understand how Wi-Fi networks work, and thus do not comprehend the risks associated with connecting to a free hotspot.

The primary reason for studying a nation’s military abilities should not be to affirm and extol the pleasant, but to expose and critically analyze shortcomings.

The Security Council’s decision to lower the troop ceiling by 3,600 troops is not necessarily as drastic as it sounds. MONUSCO operates at well below its authorized troop levels anyway.

Where will ISIS be after Donald J. Trump? The President has forcefully asserted that he will destroy not only ISIS, but also vowed to “exterminate” all of Islamic extremism.

If success was measured by how often a subject is mentioned or written about the U.S. military would surely be a smart culture-savvy force to be reckoned with.

SWJ discussion with Seth G. Jones, Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation.

Revisited: A 2011 SWJ Discussion with Dr. Nadia Schadlow, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Strategy

The Desert Hawks are a hybrid entity, both SyAA strike force and Jaber brothers PMC. The latter role has allowed them to emerge as successful loyalist intermediaries.

General Milley is right. We need to take on the megacity combat challenge. If the enemy know we can fight there and win, he is much less likely to fight there at all.

Despite the growing emphasis on megacity contingencies, many question the premise of U.S. participation in megacity conflict.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #31: Use of Burreros to Scale and Lift Up Border Fencing

This paper presents a vision of future warfare by extrapolating technological trends and uniting them under an operational concept.

This paper explores the complexity surrounding the Syrian Civil War, current legislation that exists regarding cyber-warfare and ethics of cyber-attacks.

Scholar and war correspondent Bernard Fall liked to gather information about combat in the field, near the front lines, where the fighting was going on - and he had done a lot of it.

As shown in a memorable War On the Rocks article, the legacy of the United States’ Counterinsurgency doctrine includes a contentious foundation.

U.S. vital interests need to be addressed through strong relationships and alliances. The U.S. cannot be content to rely on past goodwill and must actively build and nurture its ties within the region.

The United States is losing the information war against Daesh. Communication professionals must better understand the Daesh narrative, how it is constructed and promulgated.

Warfighting functions do not integrate all five domains, adequately leverage emerging capabilities in electronic, information, and cyber-warfare, and do not provide a framework to synchronize them.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #30: Marijuana Kettlebells and Catapult and Air Cannon Projectiles

If, as President Obama asserted, “ideologies are not defeated by guns,” but by “better ideas,” then how should the U.S. military be used to help achieve strategic success.

Islamic State emphasis for hijrah in the immediate future bring support to previous observations regarding the theme of Urgency.

This essay addresses solutions for how the Army can strengthen its landpower in terms of the comprehensible understanding and awareness of the human dimension of the environment.

How does a nation facing a serious internal threat develop the security institutions needed to protect its populace and what does a modern military force postured to defeat hybrid threats look like?

As the Army looks to develop concepts on fighting wars in all domains, contributing to what has historically been an Air Force mission is paramount to our success in future wars.

Considering how resilient Boko Haram has been over the years and the recent spate of attacks, I believe the war is anything but won and has entered a new and much more perilous phase.

Any performance evaluation to date is probably premature. Nonetheless, early on, there are some good and bad omens.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #29: Vehicular Ramps Used to Bypass Border Fencing

The Navy should seriously consider developing a true maritime civil affairs capability, not only because it is required by Department of Defense policy, but because the evident demand and benefits.

This paper presents an analytical summary of the Yemeni Republican Guard’s adaptation to changing conditions in Yemen following the 2011 resignation of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Silencing the Middle Class: The Gradual Extinction of Tenure in American Universities

What is done and what should be done? Insights into political-criminal nexuses.

There are some good reasons to increase the U.S. military force level in Syria; but if we do, it should be a short and decisive intervention with a clear goal.

Elevate the study of resistance movements from a scholarly field of interest to a science. Resistance science is a science for everyone, because it addresses issues that shape and define modern life.

Understanding and engaging in the human domain is essential if you are trying to change, inform or shape human behavior.

The dual crises for now are: learning how to handle crises as a greenhorn, while deciding whether to give up or retain America’s global primacy.

Why do durable primordial-like identities persist? 

The increased ‘thinning’ of the middle class will mean that those born into the lower class will increasingly have fewer and fewer opportunities to leave it.

Federal countering violent extremism programming is more likely to harm than help build trust. Though well-intentioned, the Obama administration’s CVE strategy was flawed in its conception.

SWJ book review of “Special Forces Berlin: Clandestine Cold War Operations of the US Army’s Elite 1956-1990” by James Stejskal.

13 October 2014: I thought that I might build on the previous essay on how to develop an understanding of war and warfare through the study of military history in width, depth, and context.

29 May 2015: A Small Wars Journal discussion with Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster.

29 March 2014: Reflections on the Continuities in War and Warfare: SWJ Discussion with Major General H.R. McMaster

By mapping the historical development of FARC’s political agenda, this paper addresses how the 2016 Peace Agreement supports facets of the FARC’s political strategy.

This is a draft chapter from a military design book project that the author is working on pursuant to his doctoral degree completion.

This paper provides a survey of lessons learned on military roles in stabilization and reconstruction based on experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and seeks to highlight actions still required.