What is a Combatant Command?
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in 2017 by SOF News . . . it has been updated to reflect the changes over the past decade. In addition, a recent story (Dec 15, 2025 – subscription) in The Washington […]
Defense
Competition in the Arctic
The Arctic region has emerged as a renewed area of strategic competition in recent years between the United States and Russia. In addition, China has also been making its presence known as well. Global warming and climate change has opened […]
SecDef Addresses Generals and Admirals
Transcript of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addressing general and flag officers at Quantico, Virginia on September 30, 2025. 48-minute long video of event at link at bottom of this page. ********** “Good morning and welcome to the War Department […]
US Department of State Duty to Plan and Execute Evacuations
By Charles Davis. “Nobody wants to sit where I am and think now about what ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda’ happened in order to avoid this.” – Secretary of State Hilary Clinton [1] The Department of State has an abysmal record of […]
Red Balloons and China’s Hybrid Warfare Challenge to International Law
By Michael J. Listner. The passage of an intelligence-gathering balloon from the Peoples Republic of China through U.S. sovereign airspace earlier this month created a Sputnik-conundrum in terms of international law and national sovereignty. The balloon, which was first detected […]
Irregular Warfare Center
In October 2022 the Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) reached initial operating capacity. The IWC serves as a central mechanism for developing DoD Irregular Warfare (IW) knowledge, concepts, and doctrine. The center will be featuring research, analysis, education, and international engagement […]
DoD’s Arctic Strategy and Global Resilience Office
By Jim Garamone, DoD News. The United States is an Arctic power, and the Defense Department has established an office to ensure U.S. strategy and policy protects U.S. interests in that crucial region. Iris A. Ferguson is the deputy assistant […]
The U.S. Army and the 2022 Budget
The House Armed Services Committee held a hearing about the U.S. Army’s 2022 budget. Secretary Wormuth and General McConville testified on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 – defending the Biden administration’s cuts to the Army’s budget for 2022. They both said […]
U.S. Army Arctic Strategy – 2021
The U.S. Army has announced the new Army Arctic strategy. On March 16, 2021 it released a document entitled Regaining Arctic Dominance. The strategy outlines how the Army will generate, train, organize, and equip its forces to secure U.S. national […]
U.S. Military Response to Coronavirus
The Department of Defense has been on top of the coronavirus pandemic from the start. Sure there were some missteps – and in some cases overreaction and late responses. Although training and operations were significantly affected – the military was […]
Irregular Warfare (IW) – Commentary (January 2021)
The last several years the term Irregular Warfare (IW) has gained increased prominence within the national defense community. It has become a buzzword meaning different things to a variety of people and organizations. Irregular warfare consists of unconventional warfare (UW), […]
ASD SO/LIC – Reform Needed Within DoD?
The Special Operations / Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC) office within the Department of Defense provides civilian advocacy and oversight over the U.S. special operations community. However, there are some in the SOF community that feel the Assistant Secretary of Defense […]
General Milley – Next Chairman of JCS
President Trump announced on Saturday, December 8, 2018 that General Mark Milley will be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Milley will replace General Joe Dunford at some point in the fall of 2019. General Milley […]
The Stabilization Assistance Review and Burden Sharing
Members of NATO-ISAF DCOS-STAB, US Army Corps of Engineers, and Donors Conduct a Coordination Meeting with the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water to Coordinate Projects (2011) The Stabilization Assistance Review and Burden Sharing “A Construct for Leveraging Stabilization Actors and […]
Implementing the Stabilization Assistance Review (SAR)
Implementing the Stabilization Assistance Review “Sacrificing Responsiveness for Cost Savings?” In June 2018 representatives from the Department of State (DOS), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Defense (DoD), academia, and other organizations met in Washington, DC and […]