Crisis Response as Deterrence: Strategizing the Use of Elite Capabilities to Deter Adversary Aggression

by Joey Middleton | Jan 12, 2026 | SOF and Strategic Competition

By Spencer Meredith   The potential People’s Republic of China (PRC) takeover of Taiwan includes a full spectrum of military and non-military options. Yet the capabilities to do so are secondary to the will of China’s Communist leaders to accomplish it. Given the...

From Khorramshahr to Hezbollah: How Iran Learned to Win by Not Winning

by Joey Middleton | Jan 12, 2026 | SOF and Strategic Competition

By  Frzand Sherko Introduction: Redefining Victory When Iranian forces retook Khorramshahr in May 1982, the Iran–Iraq War could have ended. Iraq signaled readiness for a ceasefire, Iran had reversed the invasion, and the strategic balance no longer justified...

To Support an America First State Department, Establish a Deputy Secretary of State for Military Affairs

by Joey Middleton | Jan 12, 2026 | SOF and Strategic Competition, SOF Congress

By David Maxwell   Introduction  The raid that removed Nicolás Maduro and the sudden designation of Marco Rubio as the de facto steward of Venezuela did more than end a regime. It exposed a truth Washington prefers to avoid. Modern statecraft now lives in the...

Choke Points: Critical Minerals and Irregular Warfare in the Gray Zone

by Joey Middleton | Jan 12, 2026 | SOF and Strategic Competition, Uncategorized

By  Dino Garner Introduction In the situation rooms of Washington and the chancelleries of Europe, the future of warfare is often visualized as a contest of high-velocity hardware: the silent glide of a hypersonic vehicle, the swarm logic of autonomous drones, or the...

Operation Absolute Resolve: Anatomy of a Modern Decapitation Strike

by Joey Middleton | Jan 5, 2026 | SOF and Strategic Competition, SOF Operations, Uncategorized

By Josh Luberisse Introduction At 0201 local time this morning, helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment—the Night Stalkers—crossed into Venezuelan airspace carrying Delta Force operators toward a target in Caracas. Less than three hours later,...

F3EAD: SOF Specific Targeting in the Intelligence Cycle

by Joey Middleton | Dec 23, 2025 | SOF and Strategic Competition, SOF Operations

By Gabriel Fanelli 1.0 Introduction F3EAD: Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyse, Disseminate. It is an acronym known and used widely within special operations. It’s kinetic and sequential, and that surface simplicity is its power: it bundles the life-cycle of a target...