Irregular Warfare Initiative

The Army Is Not Ready to Win Without Fighting

The Army Is Not Ready to Win Without Fighting

For all its talk of great power competition, the US military—and the Army in particular—remains poorly structured to help the United States maintain a decisive advantage in contemporary strategic...

Checking Putin: How to Counter Russia in Ukraine

Checking Putin: How to Counter Russia in Ukraine

As Russian forces lay siege to Kyiv, the West appears impotent to take action beyond economic sanctions. Despite the explicit understanding in NATO that Ukraine falls outside its mandate, there...

A Ukrainian Insurgency Will Be Long and Bloody

A Ukrainian Insurgency Will Be Long and Bloody

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has proven to be a turning point in European security. As Ukrainians mount a stiff defense against a more heavily armed Russian invasion force, analysts and observers...

Hackers for Hire: Proxy Warfare in the Cyber Realm

Hackers for Hire: Proxy Warfare in the Cyber Realm

In February 2018, the cybersecurity firm FireEye published a report detailing the activities of a hacker group called APT37 (also known as Reaper, TEMP.Reaper, ScarCruft, or Group123), which had...

The Mirage of the Interconnected Battlefield

The Mirage of the Interconnected Battlefield

During an exercise in the California desert in October 2021 a special operations forces team hit the jackpot. Beneath the team’s observation post were almost a hundred enemy vehicles rolling through...

Who Really Chooses to Become a Suicide Bomber?

Who Really Chooses to Become a Suicide Bomber?

Why do suicide bombers sign up for their deadly missions? Beyond promises of paradise, there seems to be little in it for those who die carrying out attacks, while the organization that sent them...

The Future of US Security Force Assistance

The Future of US Security Force Assistance

On November 9, 2021, a panel of scholars and practitioners brought together by the Irregular Warfare Initiative and the West Point Department of Social Sciences International Affairs Forum sought to...