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Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! Somalia’s security landscape is complex, making the challenge of understanding the terrorist group al-Shabaab especially challenging. The group uses intricate methods to maintain its foothold in East Africa, complicating both international and indigenous efforts to counter the threat it poses. To examine al-Shabaab and the critical contextual influences unique to Somalia, this episode features a conversation with two guests. Mary Harper is the Africa editor at BBC World Service News and author of Everything You Have Told Me is True: The Many Faces of Al Shabaab. Sam Wilkins is an Army Special Forces officer with operational experience in Somalia. Together, their insights and expert perspectives help to paint a picture of the Somalia-based terrorist organization and its effects on security and stability in the region.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! What lessons can be found in India’s experience with counterinsurgency? Are there elements of India’s philosophical approach to counterinsurgency and its tactical innovations that can be applied by the United States in expeditionary counterinsurgency operations? In this episode, we’re joined by Sumit Ganguly, distinguished professor of political science at Indiana University Bloomington, and Sajid Shapoo, a decorated senior Indian Police Service officer and PhD candidate at Princeton University. Together, they tackle these questions and more as they assess the Indian approach to counterinsurgency.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! What are America’s interests in the Arctic? Are the traditional institutions that have governed interstate relations in the region equipped for an emerging period of intensified competition in the High North? And how is climate change affecting the strategic calculus of the United States, Russia, China, and other states? This episode tackles these questions and more as our guests—the Honorable Sherri Goodman, former deputy under secretary of defense for environmental security and current senior fellow at the Wilson Center, and Brigadier General Shawn Satterfield, commanding general of Special Operations Command North—join the podcast to examine the evolving relationship between climate change, Arctic security, and geopolitical competition.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! In this episode, we're joined by two guests to discuss how airpower can be a critical aspect of building partner capacity. Retired Brigadier General John Teichert and Colonel Tobias Bernard Switzer guests begin by highlighting past success of air advising and explaining aviation’s role in establishing access and influence with partner nations. They go on to explain how key air advising capabilities are being divested, presenting a capability gap between what combatant commanders are requesting and what the services can provide. Finally, they describe the implications of emerging technologies on future air advising and how models of air advising can adapt and be reprioritized.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! What role does promoting liberal values, such as human rights and democracy, play in security cooperation? How should the inherent tension between promoting liberal values and accomplishing national security objectives be managed when working with partner nations? Should policymakers deliberately seek to tie US values to security force assistance in the future? Our guests on this episode, Ambassador Dennis Ross and Dr. Renanah Joyce, share their insights on these questions and more.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! This episode explores how America’s security cooperation programs can help shape regional security environments by training foreign militaries. We're joined by two guests whose extensive practical and research experience is extraordinarily relevant to the subject. Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is a national security and military analyst for CNN who served thirty-eight years in the US Army, culminating in command of US Army Europe. Professor Derek Reveron is the chair of national security affairs at the US Naval War College and the author of the book Exporting Security. Together, they address why America settled on security cooperation as a pillar of its global strategy, describe the important nuances associated with the implementation of security cooperation efforts, and discuss how past military cooperation efforts have shaped today’s regional security environment in Eastern Europe and what America can do to optimize its approach to security cooperation in the future.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! Is peace the natural order of things for the human race and war an aberration? Our guests on this episode, Dr. Chris Blattman and Mr. Teny Gross, argue that it is. They describe five theoretical mechanisms that cause breakdowns in societies and discuss why different groups end up resorting to violence. They then compare and contrast the characteristics of violence at the interpersonal, communal, and international levels. Finally, they end by discussing how third-party mediation at the local and transnational echelons can effectively employ peace-building mechanisms to bring an end to violence at all levels.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! This episode explores the interplay between urban spaces and irregular warfare. Our guests are John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and Sergeant Major Charles Ritter, deputy commondant of the Noncommissioned Officer Academy at the US Army's JFK Special Warfare Center and School. They begin by examining how demographic and economic shifts are increasing the importance of urban centers around the globe. They then explore the realities of urban combat and discuss the ways that densely populated areas and local politics can complicate irregular warfare activities, including the question of whether urban spaces favor the insurgent or the government. They end by discussing how the United States can address shortcomings in its force structure and training to optimize its approach to urban conflict in the twenty-first century.   Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! This episode explores the French experience with irregular warfare in the Sahel region of Africa since 2013 and features two guests. Brigadier General François-Marie Gougeon is a career officer in the French army who served as chief of staff for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali from 2019 to 2020. Professor Will Reno is the chair of the Political Science Department at Northwestern University, the author of three books on African politics and warfare, and currently conducting research on foreign military assistance in weak states. They begin by explaining why the French were involved in combat operations in the Sahel and how their forces were organized against several armed insurgencies. They go on to explore the effectiveness, and shortfalls, of the light-footprint approach utilized by the French in Africa, to include in the area of building partner-force capacity, before emphasizing the essential role that local political dynamics play in irregular warfare success. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This episode explores the conceptual structures that undergird irregular warfare. Dr. Thomas Marks and Chief Warrant Officer Maurice "Duc" DuClos join our hosts, beginning the discussion by addressing the various ways the US government defines irregular warfare. They continue by examining the interplay between nations and nonstate actors—and how sovereign states are increasingly adopting methods traditionally employed by irregular actors to achieve their larger geopolitical aims. Finally, they reflect on different frameworks that strategic- and operational-level professionals can use to plan, implement, and evaluate irregular warfare campaigns more effectively.

This episode contemplates lessons learned from America’s twenty years of war in Afghanistan. To do so, we're joined by Dr. Carter Malkasian, author of The American War in Afghanistan: A History, and James Cunningham, a senior analyst with SIGAR—the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The discuss whether, in the year following the US withdrawal, the United States and its allies have sufficiently reflected on lessons learned from the war. They then describe various reasons why the intervention in Afghanistan failed, based on their extensive research and on-the-ground experience—to include multiple lessons from SIGAR reporting and Dr. Malkasian’s argument that the Taliban won because it fought for values close to what it means to be Afghan, including religion and resistance to occupation. Our guests conclude with policy implications we can draw from twenty years of strategy that ultimately resulted in failure. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This episode explores both the recent history and the future character of insurgency. Our guests are former US Ambassador to Iraq, Turkey, and Albania James Jeffrey and Dr. David Ucko, a professor at the National Defense University and author of the book The Insurgent’s Dilemma: A Struggle to Prevail. They begin by arguing that insurgency will play an important role in great power competition, although states’ objectives will change from the transformational nation-building goals of the post-9/11 era to more hard-nosed security and political objectives. They then argue that despite perceived recent failures in counterinsurgency in cases such as the US intervention in Afghanistan, insurgencies rarely win—this has led insurgent groups to adopt new theories of victory. Lastly, our guests discuss policy implications, especially how to balance military and civilian means to counter insurgency. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This episode dives into the internal workings and communications of al-Qaeda and uses that insight to draw lessons for counterterrorism strategies. From the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden to the recent strike against Ayman al-Zawahiri, targeting key leaders has been a cornerstone of recent counterterrorism strategies, but what do these terrorist leaders have to say about the effectiveness of the campaigns against them? Retired General David Petraeus and Dr. Nelly Lahoud join hosts Laura Jones and Jeff Phaneuf to discuss how decapitation strikes fit into broader counterterrorism strategies, including what insights we can glean from the treasure trove of digital information gathered from the Abbottabad compound after bin Laden's death.

This episode focuses on the US intelligence community and its role in supporting the spectrum of national security missions, from the heavy counterterrorism focus of the post-9/11 era to today's environment of strategic competition. Dr. Amy Zegart, author of the book Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence, and Ms. Susan Gordan, former principal deputy director of national intelligence, join the podcast to explore the evolution of the intelligence community, particularly since 9/11. They explain the increasing influence of technology and cyberspace and reflect on ways in which the intelligence community might continue to adapt and retain its competitive advantage while the United States continues to face a multitude of threats and missions across all domains of warfare. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

How do terrorist organizations and other nonstate armed groups finance their activities? And just as importantly, how can the United States and its allies counter those streams of money? Those questions are the focus of this episode. Our guests are Dr. Margaret Sankey, research coordinator at Air University's Office of Sponsored Programs, and John Cassara, a twenty-six-year of various federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies whose career focused on anti–money laundering and terrorist financing. They address both of these overarching questions before offering insight on interagency cooperation and tracking the money pushed into combat zones or to partner forces.

In this episode, the second in our two-part series focused on irregular warfare in Ukraine, we're once again joined by Michael Kofman and Kent DeBenedictis. After hearing them discuss Russia’s conception and employment of irregular warfare in Ukraine in the previous episode, the conversation now turns to the Ukrainian response to Russian attacks, to include how Ukraine has utilized irregular warfare to counter Russia and built resilience in the Ukrainian population and infrastructure. Our guests also discuss the effectiveness of external assistance provided to Ukraine before and during the 2022 invasion. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

In this first episode of our two-part series focused on irregular warfare in Ukraine, we're joined by Michael Kofman, the research program director in the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, and Kent DeBenedictis, a US Army officer and author of the book Russian ‘Hybrid Warfare’ and the annexation of Crimea: The Modern Application of Soviet Political Warfare. They begin by exploring how Russia conceptualizes and implements irregular warfare at the macro level. They then explain how it has been operationalized in Ukraine specifically over the past decade, before discussing the interaction between irregular and conventional warfare in Ukraine between 2014 and the lead-up to Russia’s invasion in 2022. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Plan Colombia has been described as a model of successful counterinsurgency and foreign internal defense at a time when large footprints in Iraq and Afghanistan have had mixed results. In this episode, we're joined by two guests. Alberto José Mejía Ferrero served as the general commander of the Military Forces of Colombia and has worked closely with American forces throughout his career. Dr. David Spencer is a professor at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at the National Defense University and coauthored of A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Divergence. They reflect on their extensive firsthand experience to outline the key components of Plan Colombia, and more broadly to discuss its successes and shortcomings as a model for counterinsurgency and military intervention in the future. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This episode explores how cyber tools and weapons are used at the tactical level within irregular warfare. Our guests, Dr. Trey Herr and Major Sally White, highlight some of the limitations of executing tactical cyber operations. They also provide insights into how information operations and cyber tools can be integrated together in the irregular warfare space for better utility and to influence target populations through both physical and digital effects. They conclude by noting that tactical cyber capabilities are still at the developmental stage and face constraints with authorities and legalities, and offer their takes on how to best utilize the domain for tactical irregular warfare operations.

Since completing its terraforming and island reclamation projects in the Spratly Islands in 2016, the People’s Republic of China has shifted its emphasis to asserting dominance over the South China Sea. A key component of this pivot has been the expansion of China’s maritime militia—a force of vessels ostensibly engaged in commercial activity, but which in fact conducts operations in concert with Chinese law enforcement and military institutions to help the party-state achieve its military and political aims in the South China Sea’s disputed waters. Gregory B. Poling and Colonel Sean Berg join this episode to discuss China’s gray zone strategy in littoral Asia, and the role that the maritime militia plays in advancing China’s illegal sovereignty claims. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0