Recent Posts
News•Mar 1, 2026
WEBINAR (3/10/26): American Peacebuilding at a Crossroads
The University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, in partnership with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, are hosting a full‑day virtual webinar on March 10, 2026 titled “American Peacebuilding at a Crossroads.” The event will convene leading scholars, civil‑society leaders, and national‑security officials, including former heads of the U.S. Institute of Peace, to examine the field’s origins, bipartisan roots, and emerging challenges. Participants will discuss lessons learned, risks ahead, and a strategic roadmap for the next decade of U.S. peacebuilding. Registration is open online and free to all interested parties.
By Small Wars Journal
News•Mar 1, 2026
2/28/26 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
The Small Wars Journal roundup highlights a surge in U.S.-Iran tensions, citing a CIA assessment that hard‑line IRGC elements could replace Ayatollah Khamenei if he is killed, and President Trump’s reaffirmed red line leading to a massive strike plan. Israeli...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 27, 2026
Pakistan–Afghanistan Escalation Signals Shift From Proxy Conflict to Open Hostilities
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan erupted into open hostilities after Pakistani forces conducted airstrikes on key Taliban‑run military installations in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia. The strikes, announced by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, were framed as a response to a...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 27, 2026
Paradigm Change in the 2025 National Security Strategy
The 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) reorients U.S. competition with China from a primarily military focus to an economic‑centric paradigm, emphasizing political warfare, gray‑zone activities, and supply‑chain resilience. It calls for leveraging alliances, reindustrialization, and civilian tools such as the...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 27, 2026
The Connector Problem in Resistance Networks: Why Decentralization Fails in Practice
The article argues that decentralized resistance networks collapse not because combat cells are penetrated, but because connector roles—couriers, logistics, safe‑house managers, communications technicians, and external liaisons—create high‑centrality nodes that become single points of failure. Modern counter‑network tactics such as F3EAD...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 27, 2026
SOF-Ening the ICE: The Domestication of Special Warfare
Federal immigration agents have begun adopting Special Operations Forces aesthetics and tactics, a shift highlighted by two fatal shootings in Minnesota in early 2026. Data shows only about 5‑6% of ICE arrests involve violent offenders, yet the agency has expanded...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 26, 2026
The Purges Within China’s Military Are Even Deeper Than You Think | CSIS Report
The Center for Strategic and International Studies reports that President Xi Jinping has launched a second, far more extensive wave of purges within the People’s Liberation Army, removing 36 generals and lieutenant generals and bringing the total number of senior...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 26, 2026
Closing the Tactical Connectivity Gap
U.S. defense leaders face a persistent tactical edge communications vulnerability as near‑peer adversaries enhance electronic warfare. Elsight’s Halo platform offers a multi‑bearer, beyond‑line‑of‑sight solution that maintains low‑signature, resilient connectivity for unmanned systems and edge sensors. The system has logged more...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 26, 2026
Going on the Offensive: Rethinking US SOF’s Mission Set for the Age of Strategic Competition
The article argues that the United States must restructure its Special Operations Forces (SOF) to confront adversaries’ gray‑zone tactics. It proposes dropping counterinsurgency and foreign humanitarian assistance from SOF’s core activities and adding Persistent Gray Zone Operations (PGZO). PGZO would...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 26, 2026
WEBINAR (3/4/26): When Nuclear Danger Becomes Background Noise: A Conversation with W.J. (“Bill”) Hennigan and Amy J. Nelson
New America’s Future Security Scenarios Lab released a report titled “Threat Complacency and Nuclear Risk,” examining how repeated nuclear warnings have dulled urgency among policymakers and the public. The lab will host a virtual conversation on March 4, 2026, featuring lab director...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 25, 2026
Resilience and Resistance: Interdisciplinary Lessons in Competition, Deterrence, and Irregular Warfare
The Joint Special Operations University released "Resilience and Resistance," the first comprehensive canon guiding SOF, interagency, and conventional forces on irregular warfare, competition, and deterrence. The volume blends military science, political science, sociology, and history, offering case studies from Cuba...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 25, 2026
Lessons From an Intelligence Officer on Ukraine’s Frontline
The essay by Austin Gray in Proceedings draws on his experience with Ukrainian intelligence near Bakhmut, highlighting four lessons for modern warfare. He argues that countertargeting, a survivable‑or‑attritable platform paradigm, organic information‑warfare capabilities, and resilient leadership are essential for naval...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 25, 2026
Dr. Nathan Jones of SWJ El Centro on El Mencho
Dr. Nathan Jones, associate professor at Sam Houston State University and senior fellow at SWJ El Centro, has been featured in major media outlets discussing the fallout from the reported death of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes,...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 25, 2026
Call for Papers: Special Issue on Sources and Archives for Intelligence History in Cold War Europe | Intelligence and National...
Intelligence and National Security announces a special issue dedicated to sources and archives for Cold War European intelligence history. Editors Matteo Giurco and Christopher Moran seek papers that examine institutional archives, open‑source material, memoirs, and the gaps left by classified...
By Small Wars Journal
News•Feb 24, 2026
The National Security Case for Judicial Review | Lawfare
Lawfare’s new article argues that judicial review of executive national‑security claims enhances democratic legitimacy and strengthens defense outcomes. The authors contend courts can competently assess sensitive security matters without compromising classified information, preventing abuse and improving decision‑making. They link judicial...
By Small Wars Journal