In Russia’s Grinding War in Ukraine: Massive Losses and Tiny Gains for a Declining Power, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Seth G. Jones and Riley McCabe argue that Russian claims of battlefield momentum mask severe military and economic strain. The authors report that Russian forces have suffered roughly 1.2 million casualties since 2022 while advancing only … Read more
China and Russia are increasingly portraying their relationship as a stabilizing “strategic partnership”, defined by mutual resistance to US hegemony, and what both characterize as Western-led containment. This alignment is especially appealing in space because it is both symbolic and strategic, and it can be used for both military and civilian purposes. For example, satellites support precision strikes, intelligence, communications, … Read more
Abstract Cognitive warfare is frequently referred to as a derivative of influence, information, or emerging technologies. This essay, instead, posits that one of its most destabilizing aspects, often an untouched aspect, is economic: Cognitive warfare is relatively cheap to initiate but rather costly to counter. This disparity in costs subverts conventional deterrence logic and compels military and policy institutions to … Read more
Introduction: The Problem Is Not Blind Obedience—It Is Premature Certainty Much of the literature on leadership failure begins with a familiar diagnosis: followers obey when they should resist. This framing is intuitively appealing, but analytically incomplete. It treats obedience as a terminal moral condition—something followers are—rather than as the outcome of a cognitive and social process unfolding under pressure. In … Read more
Access National Security News HERE. Access Korean News HERE. National Security News: 1. Xi Jinping Is Stripping Down His Military Command and Starting Over 2. China targeting three U.S. ‘centers of gravity’ 3. Pentagon urged to wage decision-based AI warfare 4. Talking or Fighting, All of Iran’s Options Are Bad 5. Field Observation: Succession Without Peers – What the removal of peer authority inside the … Read more
Yesterday, Secretary Marco Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stating that U.S. forces removed Nicolás Maduro to eliminate a hemispheric security threat tied to drug trafficking and to adversaries including China, Russia, and Iran. Secretary Rubio said the United States conducted a limited operation under lawful authorities and sought to establish stability rather than impose regime change by … Read more
Editor’s Note: this article is being republished with the permission of the Field Artillery Professional Bulletin. The original article can be found here. In the bustling corridors of military educational institutions, faculty members often find themselves racing against time, juggling multiple responsibilities while striving to grade hundreds of papers each week. The sheer volume of work can overwhelm even the most … Read more
The “scramble for the Arctic” would be a story of “high farce” rather than “high North” but for the current United States (U.S.) administration threatening to forcibly annex Greenland, the territory of NATO ally Denmark. U.S. President Donald Trump claims that the island is ‘covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place’ and that the U.S. must ‘own’ … Read more
Abstract The Nuremberg Trials transformed international law by establishing individual criminal responsibility for wartime atrocities and rejecting defenses based on orders or state policy. This article argues that Nuremberg’s enduring relevance lies not only in legal doctrine but in its integration of accountability with an implicit understanding of human psychology under conditions of war. By examining the trials, behavioral research, … Read more
Drug cartel operatives snuck into Ukraine for drone training: report | Linus Höller, July 30, 2025 How cartels are adopting drone tactics from Ukraine | Zita Ballinger Fletcher, November 14, 2025 Criminal Organizations and Battlefield Learning Both of these articles document a shift in how transnational criminal organizations acquire tactical knowledge. Ukrainian counterintelligence services investigated the deliberate infiltration of Latin American … Read more
Absent serious challengers, strategists dropped it as a planning factor after World War II. That has changed—and so must planning. In What Happened to Command of the Sea?, published in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings, Captain Robert C. Rubel, U.S. Navy (Retired), argues that the U.S. Navy dropped command of the sea as a serious planning concept after World War … Read more
This SOFX Report discusses new counter-drone guidance from the Pentagon that expands U.S. base commanders’ authority to protect installations and personnel by removing prior fence-line limits and allowing broader defensive action. The guidance treats unauthorized drone surveillance as an immediate threat and allows commanders to respond before drones cross installation boundaries, with Brigadier General Matt Ross stating, “Drones are a … Read more
Access National Security News HERE. Access Korean News HERE. National Security News: 1. How Computer Warfare Is Becoming Part of the Pentagon’s Arsenal 2. A Winter Lull in the Fighting? Not in the Age of Drone Warfare. 3. Troop Casualties in Ukraine War Near 2 Million, Study Finds 4.Key Gulf Allies Say They Won’t Aid U.S. in an Iran Strike, Limiting Trump’s Options … Read more
A Persistent Conceptual Mismatch A unit prepares to deploy as a deepfake video begins circulating online, amplified by bot accounts and picked up by mainstream outlets and influencers within hours. As staff officers coordinate a response, lawyers review courses of action, and platforms deliberate content moderation, the narrative mutates, spills across audiences, and triggers legal challenges, partner hesitation, and public … Read more
Carl von Clausewitz wrote about centers of gravity in an era of monarchies, armies, and capitals, yet his insight remains unsettlingly current. Power, he argued, does not rest everywhere at once. It concentrates. It binds. And when it fractures, the state weakens from within. His warning was blunt. The blow must be directed against those elements that hold a system … Read more
Iran is at a turning point. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 86 years old (born in 1939). The 12-Day War with Israel and the United States in June 2025 was a catastrophic defeat for Khamenei and his regime. The economy has been deteriorating fast in 2025. Rather than changing course, Khamenei’s response has been to rebuild Iran’s missile … Read more
Kim Jong Un’s war narrative is authored by Ri Jong-ho for the Korean Regional Review. This should be of interest to all who work in the information environment as it helps us understand north Korean propaganda and Kim Jong Un’s intent. Ri jong-ho says “The politics of isolation is behind sending troops to Russia.” “Jan. 27 (UPI) — Kim Jong Un … Read more
Countering the Drone Swarm: Protecting the Joint Force in the Drone Age, by Stacie Pettyjohn and Molly Campbell, Center for a New American Security. Executive Summary After decades of air dominance and a near monopoly on precision strike, the United States now faces a dramatically different, more hostile world as the proliferation of cheap drones has democratized mass precision fires. … Read more
Want Influence? Control the Story is Dr Ajit Maan‘s latest analysis on narrative warfare featured in Homeland Security Today. National Security Requires Narrative Competence, says Dr. Maan. “The new Director of Cognitive Advantage is tasked with winning the battle for influence, perception, and decision-making, “in an era where foes don’t need tanks or missiles to shape the world, they just need a meme … Read more
In How Should We Combat China’s Economic Coercion, CSIS experts argue that China weaponizes trade to shape the sovereign choices of states and firms through economic pressure and political signaling. The panelists describe this coercion as a persistent tool that drives fear and self-censorship across governments, companies, and public debate. The discussion emphasizes that policymakers must pair de-risking and early … Read more