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Irregular warfare (IW) seems to be a topic with an equal ability to generate enthusiasm, resistance, and confusion. While the topic is without question of critical importance within the US military, the challenge remains how to define it, how to translate a definition into practical application, and, perhaps most importantly, how to inculcate the force to embrace it as requisite professional knowledge. For my colleagues who would quickly point out the DoD Instruction (DODI) 3000.07 Irregular Warfare published in September 2025 as an answer to my concerns, I can only say, “Oh how I wish it were that simple.” The DODI is latest in a long line of noble attempts to resolve this situation with an official document (e.g., the 2007 Joint Operating Concept, the 2010 Joint Integrating Concept, the 2020 Annex to the National Defense Strategy, and the 2023 Department of Defense Implementation Guidance. to name only a few). It will take more than a strongly worded document insisting that the Department of Defense places a premium on this capability (and therefore you should too) when it simultaneously disbands 33 percent of its Security Force Assistance Brigades in the name of restoring proper warfighting capability.
TAMPA, Fla. — Modern competition rarely begins with open conflict. Instead, it unfolds in the gray zone, the space between peace and war, where influence, access and perception shape outcomes long before force is employed. That reality framed discussions at the 2025 SOF & Irregular Warfare Symposium, December 10 and 11, 2025, at the Chester H. Ferguson Law Center in Tampa Florida, where military leaders, senior defense officials and academic experts examined how the United States is adapting to strategic competition short of armed conflict.
“Information technology is expected to make a thousandfold advance over the next 20 years. In fact, the pace of development is so great that it renders our current materiel management and acquisition system inadequate. Developments in information technology will revolutionize-and indeed have begun to revolutionize-how nations, organizations, and people Interact. The rapid diffusion of information, enabled by these technological advances, challenges the relevance of traditional organizational and management principles. The military implications of new organizational sciences that examine internetted, nonhierarchical versus hierarchical management models are yet to be fully understood. Clearly, Information Age technology, and the management Ideas It fosters, will greatly Influence military operations in two areas – one evolutionary, the other revolutionary; one we understand, one with which we are just beginning to experiment. Together, they represent two phenomena at work in winning what has been described as the information war – a war that has been fought by commanders throughout history.” – Force XXI Operations
The solution to maritime logistics challenges may not be a purely military one but, rather, one pulled from the playbook used by ghost fleets, smugglers and other illicit networks.
Mobility, sustainment and logistics are the heartbeat of warfare because they are among the most important core functions that enable and empower operations, combat or otherwise. In other words, these functions help convert a nation’s resources into kinetic combat power. A military cannot fight effectively without the ability to move forces and maintain continuous resupply in an operational theatre. But in any war the unexpected and the overlooked can be relied on to assert themselves in ways that challenge commanders to think creatively about complex problems. In a future Indo-Pacific war, how can the United States military and its partners execute effective logistics in an environment which will almost certainly be contested from garrison to combat?
A Vision for Layered Continental Defense
For the U.S., North American security and homeland defense are top priorities in an era of great power competition. Hypersonic and cruise missile technology eludes the capacity of
legacy detection systems¹ and, along with emerging drone capabilities and swarm tactics, North American continental defense can no longer be assumed. The U.S. president issued
Executive Order 14186 in January 2025 that outlines a vision for layered continental defense due to the proliferation of advanced air and missile threats posing strategic dilemmas to the
U.S.² Known as Golden Dome, the concept encompasses forward base defense, asymmetric warfare, space integration, and collaboration with allies and partners.³ This presents new
challenges and opportunities for Special Operations Forces (SOF) as mission focus rebalances counterterrorism mission sets with active campaigning against peer and near-
peer adversaries like China and Russia.
Mobile, secure, and scalable mesh network technology significantly increases U.S. Army special operations forces’ (ARSOF) communications flexibility, operational security, resilience, and survivability during high-risk missions in hostile, denied, or contested operational environments. The purpose of this article is to explore an innovative tactical communications capability that can help inform the Army Transformation Initiative and enable “the ARSOF Advantage” five lines of effort by providing “ARSOF in Contact” with secure, off-grid mesh network technology.
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