Irregular warfare focus of Naval War College symposium

NEWPORT, RI – U.S. Naval War College’s (NWC) Center for Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups (CIWAG) hosted its ninth annual symposium, “Rising Tides,” at the school in Newport, Rhode Island, recently.

CIWAG’s mission is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the challenges presented by irregular warfare and non-state actors in the 21st century.

"The inspiration for this year was the spectrum of challenges — rising tides – that scholars, operators, and practitioners will be dealing with in the short and long term,” said Andrea Dew, CIWAG co-director. “We looked at Russian influence operations and the Chinese maritime militia in addition to cutting-edge scholarship on ISIS, economic warfare, food security, and neuroscience."

The keynote address of the symposium was delivered by Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Joseph Osterman, deputy commander U.S. Special Operations Command, who spoke about the range and spectrum of irregular challenges in the world from a military perspective.

Symposium sessions included Hard Science and Dark Futures; ISIS: Ideology and Propaganda; Grey Zone Strategies: South China Sea, Economic Warfare and Capital Markets; Food Security—a Non-traditional Threat to Security and Stability; Assessing Irregular Environments; Nigerian Chameleon: The Many Faces of Boko Haram; and Gibridnaya: Russian New Generation Warfare on Land and Sea.

“Our participants come from military, education, academic, operational, and private business worlds, and we try to mix in up-and-coming new scholars with fresh perspectives,” said David Brown, CIWAG co-director. “You never know who you'll be sitting next to, and we deliberately keep the event limited in size to foster real communication. We follow up with a weekly subscription e-newsletter and our case studies.”