Journal

Despite ISIS releasing a map identifying areas where the Caliphate will be established in Asia, its ability to do so is substantially limited.

This paper was developed through the TRADOC G-2 Mad Scientist E-Intern Pilot in 2016.

Proxy selection in Syria will have a profound impact on the post-war political order: who wins, who loses, and how they govern.

If countering VNSAs such as ISIL will be a long-term campaign, we will need long-term goals and objectives.

The differences in how Mao, Guevara, and Al Qaeda tailored their approaches to suit the unique needs of the rebellions they led and the strategic environments in which they fought.

The phrase “best and brightest” is frequently used but ambiguously defined. SecDef’s Force of the Future aims to recruit and retain this group, but fails to define who they are.

It is time to unleash US irregular warfare capabilities. All the controversy over today’s “gray zone” challenges leads one to believe that the US is an amateur player in this game.

The mass use of inghamasi/inghamasiyinis an innovation on previously understood jihadi tactics seen in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This article analyses the growing range of threats posed to military organizations by violent jihadists within the West.

An update on week 7 of Stanford University’s Hacking for Defense course.

An inside look at the Defense Attachés assigned to the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and how they served on a diplomatic frontline alongside DoS diplomats and USAID colleagues.

At the national security and policy level of the United States government there is a gap in the theoretical underpinnings of special operations.

An update on week 6 of Stanford University’s Hacking for Defense course.

Small Wars Journal interview with Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

Did the addition of former Warsaw Pact states, and in particular Poland, as members to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization make NATO a stronger or weaker alliance?

Colombia will likely remain on the negative side of the security spectrum unless a comprehensive series of preventative measures are put in place to restrict the proliferation of violence.

A rebuttal to Gary Anderson’s ‘Time to Bring Counterinsurgency to Molenbeek’.

Three ghosts haunt the halls of the Pentagon and the central military administrations of most developed nations - three ghosts who drive policy in costly, counterproductive directions.

Political dissent smacks of religious transgression.  For these and other reasons, Iran should not be expected to survive in the long term in its current theocratic–run political system.

No matter how hard we think about the future, nor how many different versions of the future we posit, the future in reality will be different than we prognosticate.

This essay is an attempt to encapsulate lessons from the Long War beyond the timeframe operative in the NDU book Lessons Encountered: Learning from the Long War.

An update on week 5 of Stanford University’s Hacking for Defense course.

It wasn’t the trial of the century, but the strain of the pending verdict was apparent on the defendant’s face, a young, weary corporal.

According to Andrew Bacevich the central question to be investigated is how and where did we get our grand strategy for the Middle East wrong?

The Syrian Civil War is notable because communications and social technology have pervaded almost every aspect of this conflict.

A Redeye Man Portable Air Defense System seized was in the possession of armed personnel belonging to La Linea.

An update on week 4 of Stanford University’s Hacking for Defense course.

What we see in Belgium and Paris are first stage insurgencies that can still be handled by police and good intelligence efforts.

The time to put Libya back together is now; any delays will only further fragment the country and exacerbate the spread of ISIS.

An update on week 3 of Stanford University’s Hacking for Defense course.

As both national parties' primary campaigns have unfolded, “Mattis 2016” references have quickly shed their levity.

Conventional warfare is a dying platform by which asymmetric warfare and terrorism have replaced the conventional warfare dynamic.

While COIN doctrine might not be a magic bullet to end the war, it seems to be a better option than trying to kill one's way out.

An update on week 2 of Stanford University’s Hacking for Defense course.

The role of religion in peace operations is understudied and undertheorized. Needed by peace and stability operations leadership is a well-developed and nuanced understanding.

Although the military must be prepared to fight a conventional state on state conflict, it is an insurgency that the United States Government is more likely to confront.

Due in part to the rapid digital penetration of the Internet and social media over the past decade, there are novel ways of tracking cartel and gang activity.

A model for actively integrating deception planning into the brigade level orders process, specifically during mission analysis, course of action development, and course of action analysis.

America must take better advantage of its security structure and change the status quo of being the world’s first line of defense.

Mad Scientist series - If we put on our Mad Scientist hats, the Army’s “Win in a Complex World” stops short of how far we could push technology and a vision for 2025 and beyond.

The U.S. and our military should broaden its approach and adopt a more comprehensive response to the growing religious extremist threat.

Stanford University has just conducted its first Hacking for Defense class and 8 teams have hit the ground running.

Daesh's Wilaya AlForat, or the Euphrates State, along the Iraqi-Syrian border is the heart of the terrorist organization’s homeland, yet it is not understood and is easy to bypass.

Russia has increasingly tested the resolve of Europe and the West, inciting and then intervening in manufactured crises in Georgia and Ukraine. The Baltic States could be the next target of Russian enlargement.

Dedication is a learned quality and uncommonly common among those that do the heavy lifting for our society.

The US has adopted a more “direct action” approach to issues such as Boko Haram, and moved away from traditional skills sets such as Foreign Internal Defense.

Relatively junior civilian officials and NGO representatives are making decisions with long-term strategic ramifications on the “modern war battlefield”.

With varying degrees of urgency, history often returns to the question of whether Russia is Europe.

The unprecedented rate of technological change will significantly alter modes of logistical support in the future and this article aims to contribute to the dialogue.