Small Wars Journal

Small Wars Journal would like to Congratulate the Advanced Capabilities for National Security Institute as they begin a new chapter in their history! Best wishes on all your endeavours ahead. A new chapter in national security research at ASU | ASU News, February 11, 2026 University’s defense research elevates to institute level “In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s …
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The post A new chapter in national security research at ASU appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Sheinbaum’s Dilemma: Mexico’s Security Choices After FTO Designation  | Journal of Strategic Security February 27, 2026 Authors Ghaleb Krame, Universidad Anáhuac México / El Colegio de Tamaulipas Tamaulipas John P. Sullivan, University of Southern California Magdalena Garcia, Escuela de Gobierno y Transformacion Publica, Tecnologico de Monterrey Download the article here. Abstract The US designation of six Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) …
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The post Sheinbaum’s Dilemma: Mexico’s Security Choices After FTO Designation appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Shahed drone meets clone in US war on Iran: The Feb. 28 strikes saw the first combat use of the LUCAS, a near-copy of Iran’s cheap and effective Shahed-136. The February 28 strikes on Iran marked the first combat use of the U.S.-made LUCAS, a low-cost, one-way attack drone modeled on Iran’s Shahed-136, writes Patrick Tucker of Defense One. U.S. …
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The post Shahed vs Clone: The Combat Debut of the LUCAS appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Mason Boycott-Owen writes in his recent Politico piece, ISIS teaching recruits how to use AI “responsibly,” that the Afghanistan branch of ISIS, known as ISIS-K, has started to encourage recruits to use artificial intelligence tools and chatbots as part of their campaigns. The group’s English-language magazine Voice of Khorasan includes guidance on using AI “responsibly,” advising supporters to use chatbots …
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The post ISIS-K and AI: Chatbots, Propaganda, Recruitment appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

According to reporting by German News outlet DW News, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given Anthropic a Friday deadline to grant the military full access to its AI models, or risk losing up to $200 million in contracts. Vanessa Vos, a researcher at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, says the Pentagon wants to go beyond last year’s limits on autonomous …
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The post What’s behind the Anthropic-Pentagon dispute? | DW News appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Karachi – The durability of a diplomatic “buffer state” is rarely tested by its successes, but by its ability to absorb shocks that its domestic population finds intolerable. For the Pakistani civilian and military establishments, that ability vanished on Sunday afternoon on Karachi’s Mai Kolachi Road. With at least 22 reported fatalities following a breach of the U.S. Consulate, the …
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The post Why the Karachi Siege Shatters the Pakistan-Iran Bargain appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Abstract  Russia’s Africa Corps failure in Mali demonstrates the limits of counterterrorism strategies that prioritize technical intelligence over human insight. JNIM’s fuel blockade of Bamako illustrates how TECHINT-rich but HUMINT-poor intelligence misreads insurgent intent, leading to reactive violence and misalignment with strategic aims. This article argues that early, AI-enabled fusion of HUMINT and TECHINT can restore analytic judgment, improve assumption …
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The post Глаза видят, руки делают “The Eyes See, the Hands Do”: Africa Corps Does Neither appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

A core challenge in modern great power competition is effectively responding to the ambiguous, non-military forms of activities characterized as part of the “gray zone”. Russia is actively engaging in these operations in critical areas where the West has its shared interest, such as the Western Balkans. Moscow’s goals in this tense region are to diminish European Union and the …
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The post Why the USSOCOM should establish a Western Balkans’ Denial and Resilience Program appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Access National Security News HERE. Access Korean News HERE. National Security News: 1. Special Iran Update: Joe Funderburke & ‘We Bombed the Wrong Target’ 2. U.S. Success Against Iran Could Be a Game Changer for World Oil Security 3. Trump hit Iran — but he’s really got China in his crosshairs 4. China’s ice-cold calculus over Iran 5. China’s Iran Strategy: A Proxy Laboratory for …
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The post 3/3/26 National Security and Korean News and Commentary appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

“Fading into the Background: From Risk Awareness to Technological Intuition,” by Anna Gielas, Joint Special Operations University, Report   26-5, March 3, 2026. In this latest JSOU report, Anna Gielas describes how sensor-rich environments leverage data fusion and ubiquitous tech to detect Special Operations Forces. The risks are also multidirectional and multi-temporal, with exposure emerging from automated inference, overhead sensing, …
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The post Fading into the Background: From Risk Awareness to Technological Intuition appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

In “Wars of the Greater Middle East, 1945–92” (Texas National Security Review, Winter 2026), Dr. Carter Malkasian argues that the Cold War transformed warfare in the greater Middle East in ways that weakened state consolidation and empowered non-state actors. He contends that while postcolonial states built conventional militaries modeled on European powers, the costs, limits of nationalism, and social fragmentation …
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On December 6, 2024, Romania’s Constitutional Court took what analysts have called an unprecedented step, annulling a presidential election due to documented Russian interference for the first time in an EU member state’s history. Declassified intelligence had revealed what many suspected: over 34 Russian hybrid attacks, 85,000 cyberattacks on electoral infrastructure, and a coordinated social media operation involving 25,000 TikTok …
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The post Nordic Lessons for Romania’s Information Defense: Adapting Psychological and Societal Resilience Models for Hybrid Warfare appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

US Special Operations Command must supplement expensive, high-signature military radios with disposable, low-power commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies like LoRa radios to compete with peer competitors. By utilizing the unlicensed sub-gigahertz spectrum and chirp spread spectrum modulation, these “electronic ghosts” allow operators to camouflage their electromagnetic footprint within civilian noise floors, effectively evading AI-driven detection. This organically built cheap solution is a …
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The post The $75 Radio: Why US Special Operations Command Needs to Buy Off the Shelf for the Next War appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Abstract. The School for Command Preparation (SCP) is the only school in the U.S. Army for graduate, executive-level education specifically designed to prepare future command teams for the gravity of responsibilities they are to assume. The resident courses run by SCP include the Chief of Staff of the Army Pre-Command Course, the Advanced Tactical Commander Development Course, the Command Team …
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The post Transforming Command Team Education to Prepare Leaders to Win on the Modern Battlefield appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

You can find Joe Funderburke’s “We Bombed the Wrong Target,” from Small Wars Journal.

The post Special Iran Update: Joe Funderburke & ‘We Bombed the Wrong Target’ appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

BBC reports from Mexican city turned into war zone by drug cartel feud | BBC News In this video, the BBC reports from Culiacán, Mexico, as rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel wage an open feud that has turned parts of the city into an active conflict zone. Gunmen move through neighborhoods in convoys and firefights erupt close to homes, …
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The post Culiacán on Edge: The BBC Reports From a Mexican City in the Throes of Cartel Conflict appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

Access National Security News HERE. Access Korean News HERE. National Security News: 1. Trump Spent Years Denouncing U.S. Intervention. Now He’s Toppling Foreign Leaders. 2. Khamenei’s Death Leaves Iran at Historic Turning Point—Without a Clear Successor 3. U.S. troops killed amid Iranian counterattack, fueling air defense fears 4. How Talks Between Anthropic and the Defense Dept. Fell Apart 5. U.S.-Israel Strikes on Iran: Preliminary Assessment …
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The post 3/2/26 National Security and Korean News and Commentary appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

In this March 1st Atlantic Council Dispatch, experts assessed the ongoing regional fallout following the US-Israeli campaign that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and openly aims at regime change. Iranian counterstrikes have extended beyond Israel to Gulf states hosting US forces, hitting both military and civilian infrastructure. The conflict is effectively a regional one, with second and third order …
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The post “What happens in Iran doesn’t stay in Iran”: Analysis from the Atlantic Council on the Ongoing US-Israeli Campaign appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

In “Criminal Kingpin ‘El Mencho’ Is Dead, What Comes Next?” (CSIS, Feb. 26, 2026), Henry Ziemer and Ryan Berg explain that while the death of CJNG’s leader, El Mencho, is a significant tactical success, it does not dismantle the cartel’s power. Through their line of questioning, they highlight that CJNG demonstrated operational resilience by responding with coordinated violence across multiple …
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The post Criminal Kingpin “El Mencho” Is Dead, What Comes Next? | CSIS appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.

In “The Regional Reverberations of the U.S. and Israeli Strikes on Iran” (CSIS, March 2026), the Director and Senior Advisor of CSIS’s Middle East Program, Mona Yacoubian, examines the immediate and long-term consequences of joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. The critical questions posed by Yacoubian explore the “prospects for a wider regional conflict with global reverberations.” Q1: What …
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The post The Regional Reverberations of the U.S. and Israeli Strikes on Iran | CSIS appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.