Development or Dependence? Rethinking China’s Economic Playbook in the Americas

by Joey Middleton | Nov 14, 2025 | SOF and Strategic Competition

By Leland Lazarus Editor’s Note: this article is being republished with the permission of the Irregular Warfare Initiative as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ. The original article was published on July 16, 2025 and is available here. ...

Setting The Force: 10 Steps for Resolving The Special Forces “Identity Crisis”

by Joey Middleton | Oct 29, 2025 | SOF and Strategic Competition, SOF Operations, SOF Policy

By Robert C. Jones If Special Forces has an “identity crisis,” it is because we misunderstood and mislabeled the problems we were sent to resolve, and applied solutions rooted in how the problems were labeled and defined, rather than for what they were. The world had...

Hezbollah’s Information Warfare in the Post-October 7 Era

by Joey Middleton | Oct 22, 2025 | SOF and Strategic Competition

Hezbollah’s Pre-October 7 Strategy In the years prior to the October 7 attacks, Hezbollah developed a sophisticated information strategy based on several pillars, including mastery of traditional media, extensive use of social networks, and psychological warfare. This...

The Second Front: PRC Micro-Occupation in the Philippines, Part 2

by Joey Middleton | Oct 19, 2025 | SOF and Strategic Competition

By Chad Machiela, by Duc DuClos, by Anthony Bacus The Second Front: PRC Micro-Occupation in the Philippines Part 2a described the salami-slicing of features within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines and throughout the West Philippine Sea. We presented a...

How The Night Stalkers Are Planning To Survive In Future High-End Fights

by Joey Middleton | Oct 16, 2025 | SOF and Strategic Competition, SOF Units and Personnel

By Joseph Trevithick The U.S. Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), better known as the Night Stalkers, has been exploring ways to ensure it can operate in more heavily defended airspace in the future. This includes making increased use of...

The Ethical Imperative of Information: Just War Considerations for Global Information Strategy

by Joey Middleton | Oct 16, 2025 | SOF and Strategic Competition

By C.B. Duncan Abstract This article examines the implications of Just War Theory, an ethical framework governing the use of lethal force by governments, for the use of information warfare in the 21st century. The author posits that ethical considerations demand a...