Irregular Warfare Podcast

The Great Equalizer: Irregular Warfare in the City

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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

After Mali: Learning from the French Experience of Irregular Warfare in the Sahel

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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

Time, Space, and Material: Metrics for Assessing Irregular Warfare

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.

Another Forgotten War: America’s Experience in Afghanistan

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

Insurgents Rarely Win: Adaptation in the Face of Failure

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

The Bin Laden Papers: The Inner Workings of Al-Qaeda’s Leadership

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.

Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: US Intelligence in a Changing World

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

Money Talks: How Nonstate Armed Groups Finance their Operations and Organizations

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.

Political Warfare and the Road to Invasion: Irregular Warfare in Ukraine since 2014

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

From Little Green Men to Tanks Outside Kyiv: Irregular Warfare in Ukraine since 2014

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