Examining the Intricate Web: Deep Insight into the National Defense Strategy
The National Defense Strategy (NDS) has a significant impact on the approach to irregular warfare, shaping priorities, resource allocation, and operational concepts aimed at countering non-traditional military threats such as insurgencies, terrorism, hybrid warfare, and criminal activities.
The NDS, a strategic document distilled from the National Security Strategy, sets the framework for integrating irregular warfare considerations into broader defense planning. It emphasizes resilience, adaptability, and partnership building to address complex, multifaceted security challenges.
From insights related to the Irregular Warfare Podcast and affiliated sources like the Irregular Warfare Center (IWC), key impacts of the NDS on irregular warfare include:
- Emphasizing Total Defense and Resilience: The NDS promotes a total defense framework where military, civilian sectors, and international partners coordinate to enhance national resilience against irregular threats. This includes protecting critical infrastructure such as aviation and transportation sectors vulnerable to irregular tactics.
- Integration of Intelligence and Hybrid Threat Response: The NDS guides prioritization of intelligence support specifically tailored to irregular warfare scenarios. The IWC symposium on Intelligence Support to Irregular Warfare (2024) exemplifies efforts driven by the NDS to enhance situational awareness and response to hybrid threats.
- Civilian Participation and Legal/Ethical Considerations: The strategy’s encouragement of civilian engagement in defense activities poses challenges for irregular warfare as civilians may become combatants under international law, raising ethical and legal questions.
- Strategic Clarity and Adaptation: The NDS provides a clear roadmap to counter modern threats by calling for innovative warfighting concepts and adaptable force posture that account for irregular threats alongside great power conflicts.
- Global and Regional Focus: Theater-specific implications, such as the threats posed by groups like Hezbollah and regional proxies, are embedded within the NDS’s irregular warfare focus to inform localized campaigns and partnerships in irregular warfare theaters across the globe.
The Irregular Warfare Podcast, a production of the Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI), recently released Episode 73, focusing on the National Defense Strategy and its impact on irregular warfare. The discussion involved the unclassified version of the National Defense Strategy and featured Retired Brigadier General Chris Burns, the senior advisor to the Irregular Warfare Center, as well as Dr. Kori Schake, a senior fellow and the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
IWI, a team of volunteers dedicated to bridging the gap between scholars and practitioners in the field of irregular warfare, coordinates events for the IW community and hosts critical thinkers in the field as IWI fellows. Subscribing to IWI's monthly newsletter provides access to written content, upcoming community events, and other resources. IWI can be followed and engaged with on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn.
Retired Brigadier General Chris Burns has nearly four decades of experience leading organizations in both the public sector and private industry. Dr. Kori Schake has a distinguished career in government, including work at the State Department, Pentagon, and National Security Council at the White House.
[1] Source: IWC workshop in Arlington, date unspecified. [2] Source: IWC symposium on Intelligence Support to Irregular Warfare, 2024. [3] Source: Unspecified. [4] Source: Unspecified. [5] Source: Unspecified.
- The National Defense Strategy (NDS) places emphasis on total defense and resilience, encouraging coordination among military, civilian sectors, and international partners to strengthen national resilience against irregular threats.
- Intelligence support is prioritized under the NDS, specifically tailored to irregular warfare scenarios, aiming to enhance situational awareness and response to hybrid threats.
- The NDS encourages civilian engagement in defense activities, leading to debates on the ethical and legal implications of civilians becoming combatants under international law within irregular warfare.
- The NDS provides a strategic roadmap, advocating for innovative warfighting concepts and an adaptable force posture that addresses both irregular threats and great power conflicts.
- The NDS considers regional security threats, such as those posed by groups like Hezbollah, to inform localized campaigns and partnerships in irregular warfare theaters worldwide.
- Policy-and-legislation, politics, general-news, and war-and-conflicts continue to intersect as experts like Retired Brigadier General Chris Burns and Dr. Kori Schake discuss the NDS's impact on irregular warfare in various forums, including the Irregular Warfare Podcast.
