All Episodes
Insider: Short of War — 116 episodes
Kurdish Underground Resistance and Civil Disobedience Against the Iranian Security State
Gray Zone Contestation Between North and South Korea in the Yellow Sea
Information Disorder and Irregular Warfare: Three Things to Know
Between Scylla and Charybdis: The Gulf’s Irregular Tomorrow
Protocol Insurgency: Winning the War of Conditions in the Digital Age
Hidden Costs of Precision: What Drone Strikes Actually Do to Civilians
A Bed-ROC-k for Total Defense: Building a Practical Manual to Disrupt Hybrid Threats and Deter War
Is Cognitive Warfare Dead on Arrival?
Winning the Systems War: Why the Army Should Reorganize Itself for Modern Combat
Operationally Detached: Why Decentralization, Not Consolidation, Is the Future of U.S. Army Special Forces
We’ll Go No More Enriching
A New Vision for Special Forces
The Last A-Team: Special Forces Aren't Special Anymore
From Coal to Code to Reactors: How Wyoming’s State and Local Decisions Shape Irregular Warfare
Mercenaries, Private Security, and the Civilian Cost of Outsourced Coercion
Neutrality as Vulnerability: Russia’s Hybrid Playbook in Moldova
Economic Warfare Reimagined: Insurance as a Tool of U.S. Strategic Influence
Conflict Has Memory: Why Local Wars Follow Distinct Trajectories
Al-Hol’s Collapse: How Syria’s Detention Crisis is Enabling Islamic State Resilience
The Limits of Leadership Decapitation: Strategic Consequences of Overreliance on Military Force for Political Transformation
How Irregular Forces Exploit Commercial Pathways for Advanced Weapons
The Insurance Weapon: How Commercial Risk Logic Became an Irregular Warfare Tool at Hormuz
Friendly Cyber Fire: How Much Did NotPetya Cost Russia?
The Strategic Use of Drones in Pakistan–India Irregular Warfare
Arming Kurdish Resistance Fighters in Iran with Drones
Precision-Guided Predictions: Intelligence Risk in Prediction Markets
China’s Digital Yuan and the Fight for Southeast Asia’s Financial Infrastructure
What I Learned from Being a Planner in an Advisory Command: Reflections from the Security Assistance Group – Ukraine
Northern Approaches: Finland, Sweden, and the Growing Opportunities for Allied Irregular Warfare
American Samoa is America’s Strategic Hub in the South Pacific
Schrödinger's Security Partner: The Paradox of Measuring Security Force Assistance
NATO’s Latest Doctrine on Security Force Assistance: What’s New?
The Northern Ireland Peace Process: From Armed Conflict to Brexit, by Eamonn O’Kane
Cognitive Warfare and the Indo-Pacific
Q & A: Karl Marlantes on Vietnam, Leadership, and the Lessons America Still Hasn’t Learned
Angle of Attack: Apache Attack Helicopters in Unmanned Skies
Choke Points: Critical Minerals and Irregular Warfare in the Gray Zone
CFIUS: Thinking Creatively About National Security
The Cyber Wars that Weren't
Russian Maritime Sabotage: From Subcomponent of Special Operations to Evolving Form of Irregular Warfare
Japan’s Strategic Challenges: Historical Lessons and the Imperative for Comprehensive War Understanding
Pirates or Proxies? The Uskoks of Senj and Their Lessons for Irregular Warfare
Strategic Disruption from Orbit: Space-Based Capabilities for Irregular Warfare in the Indo-Pacific
Gray Zone Clarity: Building Irregular Maritime Intelligence through Civilian-Linked Networks
Chance and Necessity: Evolving the Supporting Role of SOF to Cyber Operations
Resistance is Victory: Taiwan’s 2025 National Defense Report and Resisting Cognitive Coercion
Sabotage as a “New Normal”
Proxies in Hybrid Operations: Insights from the Partnership for Peace Consortium Workshop Helsinki, Finland, August 2025
The Pentagon Just Issued New Guidance on Irregular Warfare: What Does It Say and Why Should You Care?
Review of “The Mad and the Brave: The Untold Story of Ukraine’s Foreign Legion” by Colin Freeman
Culture on the Front Line: Building Indo-Pacific Resilience through Cultural Property Protection Training
Media, Martyrdom, & Manipulation
Kings, Usurpers, and Shadow Wars: Lessons on Irregular Warfare from Shakespeare
Proxy Armies and Principal–Agent Problems: A Review of Militias in Eastern Ukraine
Policing the Pacific: How China Expands Influence Where the US Looks for Allies
Interwar Adaptations: Leveraging Partner Experiences for Future Conflicts
Failure Bias in Air Advisory Missions
Hezbollah’s Information Warfare in the Post-October 7 Era
Israel’s Irregular Warfare Paradox: Reconciling Precision Abroad and a “Killing Field” Next Door
Imposing Costs in the Indo-Pacific: Lessons from Operation Spider Web
Maximizing The Indigenous Approach: Using Secondment to Enable Our Partners and Constrain Our Adversaries
Applying the Alaska Territorial Guard Concept to Modern Indo-Pacific Irregular Warfare
Austronesian Identity as “Networked Deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific
Irregular Solutions for Irregular Threats: Maritime Lessons from Dutch Counterpiracy Operations in Colonial Indonesia
The History of U.S.-Iranian Irregular Warfare
Preparing for the Silent Surge: Countering North Korea’s Gambit in a Dual Contingency
Rebuilding Combat Electromagnetic Warfare for U.S. Ground Forces
Democratized Intelligence: How Open-Source Intelligence is Reshaping Asymmetric Advantage
Russia’s Shadow Fleet: The Dangerous Tanker Network Threatening Global Waters
Boko Haram and Beyond: The Paradox of Local Militias in Nigeria's War on Terror
Reclaiming U.S. Engagement in Latin America: Strategy Beyond Competition
Space and Ice: Envisioning Special Operations Forces’ Role in Future Operational Environments
Development or Dependence? Rethinking China’s Economic Playbook in the Americas
Hezbollah’s Hybrid Model Under Strain: Relative Decline and the Evolving Dynamics of Irregular Warfare in Lebanon
Exploring African Perspectives on Irregular Warfare
Preparedness and Parallels: Lessons in Crisis Preparedness from Sweden and Latin America
Putting Operation Spider’s Web in Context
Once Upon a Proxy War: Chinese Support to the People’s Army of Vietnam
The Balkans Model & Conditions for Peace in Ukraine
Influence by Design: Reassessing U.S. Military Advising
Does China’s Growing Security Outreach Matter? Tracing Implications for Irregular Warfare and U.S. Security Cooperation
Winning Without Fighting: Resilience as National Security Imperative
Streamlining US Army Security Cooperation: Why Coordination is Key to Global Influence
Hostile Influencing and Finland’s Vulnerabilities
Waterborne Assault: A Constant in Both Irregular and Conventional War
Secret Alliances and Silent Sabotage: Q & A with Dr Tony Insall
Strategy Through Action: Harriet Tubman as an Underappreciated Forebearer to Special Operations
Harnessing AI to Understand China's Grand Strategy
The UK’s New Take on Cyber
The Fall of Assad’s Regime Shakes Iran’s Proxy Network Across the Middle East
To Beat China’s Navy to the Punch, Defend Forward in Taiwan
Lessons from the Frontlines: Ukrainian SEAD Operations and Their Implications for Western Special Operations Forces
Dominating Conflict’s Leading Edge: Five Principles for an Assertive Irregular Warfare Doctrine
Enhancing USSOF Capacity to Foster Resistance: Aligning Authorities and Resources to Win the Gray Zone
How to Counter Russian Occupation: Building Multinational Resistance Networks Before a Crisis
The Necessary Evolution of U.S. Grand Strategy: Learning from the Past to Address Modern Challenges in the Era of Strategic Competition
A New Playbook for Irregular Warfare: How the United States Can Win Without Fighting
Assembling the A-Team: Creating an Interagency Office to Counter Irregular Warfare
Ethics, Integrity, and the Toll of Modern Irregular Warfare: A Conversation with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Dave Philipps
Irregular Warfare in 2024: Lessons Learned, Paths Forward
Money Talks and Hunger Walks: Buying Down State-Actor Influence Risk
The Day After Nasrallah: Succession and Strategic Opportunities
Beyond Binaries: Cyber Force Generation and the SOCOM-like Model
“I Want to Live”: Psychological Warfare for the Modern Era
Israel, Hezbollah, and Arab Hostility
Ukraine’s Railway Wars: How to Sabotage Russian Military Logistics
Bridging the Gap: Why Conventional Forces Need Irregular Warfare Training
Partners in Peril: Hybrid Threats Come for Jordan
Decapitating The Hydra: Iran’s Response Options To Israel’s Offensive
Call for Submissions: Policy Recommendations for the New Administration
Boxing with Shadows: Drawbacks in US Counterstrategies Against the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Russian Wagner Group
Shining a Light: Highlighting Successes in US Counterstrategies Against the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Russian Wagner Group
Autonomous Ghosts are Reshaping Irregular Warfare and Maritime Security
Uprooting the Enemy: A New Paradigm for Irregular Warfare Analysis
Burma's Quest for Drone Supremacy: A Cautionary Tale
Seize the Advantage: Three Models to Improve Security Cooperation Planning