Journal

The strategic impact that India and Pakistan will bring to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should not go unnoticed by the United States and its allies.

A firsthand account of the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on August 7, 1998.

Russia’s actions in Eastern Europe have revived an era of limited war. Russia uses a hybrid warfare, nascent approach to warfare which levers information to achieve limited objectives.

The purpose of this article is to help tactically deployed soldiers engage in problem solving through conversational interviewing and application of qualitative methods.

Only a few examples exist where drug crops, to one degree or another, have played role in a war and where the conflict was resolved or appeared to be heading towards resolution.

Mad Scientist # 6: Social Media is becoming a powerful tool to recruit “foreign fighters” as well as to persuade groups and individuals to perform terrorist acts elsewhere.

The attritional war phase of our three modern wars is what distinguishes them from past conflicts.

Rare is the leader who has not heard the triumphant story of a man named Rowan who when tasked to deliver a message to Garcia set off and accomplished the mission.

This paper focuses on the actions of the counterinsurgent and examines several types of COIN - listing practitioners and the core requirements for success in each.

Foreign Policy named Gülen the world’s top living intellectual and described him as an inspirational leader to millions around the world and persona non grata in Turkey.

Mad Scientist # 5: The expanding use of armed, unmanned systems is not only changing the face of modern warfare, but is also altering the process of decision-making in combat operations.

The fluidity and adaptability of the BHG during multiple phases have made it difficult for Nigeria to evolve a coherent strategy to contain its activities.

This article argues that the proper place for new aviators to start flight training in is a simple, fixed-wing trainer.

This article is the fourth in the TRADOC/SWJ’s latest “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

One of history's most recent and successful COIN campaigns proved so successful that few, even in the military community, are aware that it ever took place.

Flynn is one of the few professional intelligence officers to cut through the fog of Obama era apologetics and tighten the focus on the war we are fighting, not wars we might fight.

The purpose of this paper is to discern why the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan, and why the United States and its allies delegated to the Mujahedin.

This article is the third in the TRADOC/SWJ’s latest “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

This article is the second in the TRADOC/SWJ’s latest “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

This is the first article in the second round of the TRADOC “Mad Scientist” call for papers.

This article presents a red team exercise that posits requirements for an Afghan Taliban victory in Afghanistan over a 5-year timeline.

Humans encroach on the wilderness, but nature extracts its own not so subtle revenge with the tools of drought and fire. Such as it is today.

Based on a request from SOCOM to the Director of the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies, the author and his instructor briefed this paper and its ideas to the J39 of SOCOM.

Alex first reported on this issue for The Washington Times.  Here's the rest of her story.

It is important to assess the progress of the PLAAF’s degree of progress toward achieving the capabilities it requires by the early 2030s and this paper intends to do so.

This article examines Islamic State’s decision-making, focusing specifically on its pivots between temporal and ideological priorities.

The role of CA in denied areas is a hotly contested topic among members of the special operations community. Feedback is mixed - in favor and against.

Only the withdrawal of American and NATO boots on the ground will begin to allow the process of near-frantic emotions to subside within Pakistan, and for the region to start to cool down.

This paper looks at the genesis, evolution and growth of the Syrian Army’s “Tiger Forces” and their leader Suheil al-Hassan.

American special operations support efforts aimed at building West African military capability over the last five years have been largely successful. 

Does the NATO treaty “automatically” require the U.S. use force to defend a NATO ally?  The short answer is “no”.

What happens when social protection runs awry – rather than enabling market-led development, al-Shabaab creates a structure that rejects it.

With catastrophe and resiliency, there is a clear movement away from bio-politics and the antics of social engineering.  Populations are becoming more viewed as interconnected networks.

As the US peers into the future of irregular conflict, there are historical trends of the likely prevalence of Unconventional Warfare in the coming decades as a policy tool of choice.

Scholars and students of warfare have yet to look at military occupations collectively to see if any common themes, trends or correlations emerge.

During the campaign against Islamic extremism, policymakers were more concerned about the conduct of organizations which wanted to assume power in various states.

As ISIS continues to employ capable means to radicalize individuals and encourage directed and inspired attacks, the threat of homegrown attacks is unlikely to cease anytime soon.

Given the military’s privileged position in Burma, US organizations experienced in capacity development could build partnerships that foster healthcare and professional military reforms.

If global government were possible today, the end of national and local democracy would begin.

ISIS supporters have taken to twitter to unofficially claim responsibility for the attacks as retaliation for the death of Abu Omar Shishani.

While the details of the current SOF mission in Yemen are few, there are several one can glean from recent press that assist in evaluation of the mission.

Asymmetric tactics are not Russia-Ukraine unique; they are employed against the United States and have been for quite some time.

As the Army transitions to a more flexible, adaptive force able to operate with little or no forewarning across a broad range of environments and conflicts, its PT program remains rigid and fixed.

A literature review and a description of three cases of ADM planners substituting alternative theoretical models to that of PMESII-PT in the process of the Army Design Methodology.

The Iran-Iraq War played a major role in the violence we see today and it is time to recognize just how much of an impact this conflict actually had.

The extremely confused land war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq continues to grind on, with the current situation trending somewhat against ISIS in Iraq, less so in Syria.

Rather than fall into the trap of starting with revolutions and working backwards, this paper starts from general theories of the state, society, and war and work forward.

Three types of trade relationships promote conflict - incompatible types of government, asymmetry of trade volume and possibilities for third-party influence.

Getting COIN training for host nation forces right is especially important given that instances of intrastate dynamics such as insurgency and civil war are on the rise.

Colonel Evgeny Messner, Russian Imperial Army, made a significant contribution to understanding irregular warfare. His flagship concept of myatezh voina remains relevant.