NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence: FourthGenerationWarfare

Fourth Generation Warfare - A Battalion’s Worth of Good Ideas

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:02:22 GMT

New York Times - John Nagl on the crucial importance of the small group of American military advisers who live and fight alongside foreign forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Expert on counterinsurgency leaves the military with battle plan for the future

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:22:46 GMT

Kansas City Star - An interview with LTC John Nagl.

Fourth Generation Warfare - High-Profile Officer Nagl to Leave Army, Join Think Tank

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:40:49 GMT

Washington Post - One of the Army's most prominent younger officers, Lt. Col. John Nagl, whose writings have influenced the conduct of the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq, said he has decided to leave the service to study strategic issues full time at a new Washington think tank.

Fourth Generation Warfare - John Robb: Keeping up with Terrorists

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:39:27 GMT

Esquire - Thomas P.M. Barnett describes John Robb's work on Global Guerillas.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Unheralded military successes

Michael D'Alessandro — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:57:58 GMT

Los Angeles Times - Robert Kaplan on how low-cost, low-risk operations such as those in Colombia and the Philippines show what the U.S. can achieve.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Open-Source Warfare

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:22:58 GMT

IEEE Spectrum - Terrorists are leveraging information technology to organize, recruit, and learn—and the West is struggling to keep up.

Fourth Generation Warfare - 12 Myths of 21st-Century War

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:18:52 GMT

American Legion - Raph Peters writes that "Unaware of the cost of freedom and served by leaders without military expertise, Americans have started to believe whatever's comfortable."

Fourth Generation Warfare - After smart weapons, smart soldiers

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:42:15 GMT

Economist - Irregular warfare may keep Western armies busy for decades. They will have to adapt if they are to overcome the odds that history suggests they are up against.

Fourth Generation Warfare - David Kilcullen

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:16:56 GMT

Charlie Rose - An hour interview with Counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen.

Fourth Generation Warfare - A Seam to Exploit?

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:28:51 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind puts the happenings in Anbar province in a wider context and shows how they may represent a path ahead in the battle against Fourth Generation opponents.

Fourth Generation Warfare - LTC John Nagl on Counterinsurgency

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:56:48 GMT

AfterWords - LTC John Nagl, interviewed by journalist Sean Naylor, on the topic of counterinsurgency and the new US Army field manual on the subject.

Here is an excellent essay from 2004 that introduces you to LTC Nagl:

New York Times Magazine - Professor Nagl's War

Fourth Generation Warfare - LTC John Nagl on Counterinsurgency

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:21:43 GMT

The Daily Show - Jon Stewart interviews LTC John Nagl.

Fourth Generation Warfare - The Coming Urban Terror

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:02:25 GMT

City Journal - John Robb nicely summarizes his work on Global Guerrilas in this essay where he notes that for the first time in history, a majority of the world’s population is living in urban environments. Cities - efficient hubs connecting international flows of people, energy, communications, and capital - are thriving in our global economy as never before. However, the same factors that make cities hubs of globalization also make them vulnerable to small-group terror and violence.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Institutionalizing Adaptation

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 08:24:50 GMT

Center for a New American Security - John Nagl writes that the counterinsurgency campaigns that are likely to continue to be the face of battle in the 21st century will require that we build a very different United States Army than the enormously capable but conventionally focused one we have today. The long-overdue increase in the size of the Army announced by President George W. Bush in December 2006 can play a pivotal role in helping build it. The best way to use the additional soldiers is not simply to create additional Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) as currently planned by the Army. Indeed, demand for such forces is likely to shrink as the American combat role in Iraq diminishes. Instead, the Army should create a permanent standing Advisor Corps of 20,000 Combat Advisors-men and women organized, equipped, educated, and trained to develop host nation security forces abroad.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Van Creveld's Latest

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 11:16:21 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Linds looks at the British Army's success in Northern Ireland, one of the few cases where the state's armed forces have prevailed over non-state forces.

Fourth Generation Warfare - A Tactics Primer

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:47:53 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind on why the US remains mired in Second Generation Warfare.

Fourth Generation Warfare - US helps fight against Abu Sayyaf

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 10:01:16 GMT

BBC - A look at how the US is successfully fighting non-state actors in the Philippines - Except for Humvees on the beach and armed guards, the US Navy Seals base in Jolo island in the southern Philippines looks more like a hang-out for surf bums than a military base for an elite anti-terrorist task force.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Why We Lose

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 10:16:53 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - An excellent analysis / refutation of George Packer's recent article in the New Yorker on new approaches to Fourth Generation Warfare that I previously linked to.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Officer finds new ways to fight insurgencies

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 09:55:54 GMT

Kansas City Star - By analyzing failures of the past, Lt. Col. John Nagl hopes to increase the chances of U.S. success in Iraq.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Knowing the Enemy

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:38:20 GMT

New Yorker - Can social scientists redefine the "war on terror"? An outstanding, insightful, thought-provoking article on the "long war" and how the US needs to think about it.

Fourth Generation Warfare - How to Beat Insurgents: Military Updates Playbook

Michael D'Alessandro — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:22:47 GMT

ABC News - John Nagl comments on the late Capt. Travis Patriquin's approach to the insurgency in Anbar Province.

View the Captain's PowerPoint presentation here.

Fourth Generation Warfare - US releases anti-insurgency guide

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 12:43:20 GMT

BBC - The US military has released a new manual on counter-insurgencies - its first guide on the topic for 20 years.

Read it in full: FM 3-24 / MCWP 3-33.5 - Counterinsurgency

Fourth Generation Warfare - The Way to Win a Guerrilla War

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:05:43 GMT

Washington Post - Thomas A. Hammes on how to win in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Army is training advisors for Iraq

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:12:18 GMT

Los Angeles Times - Within the Army's tightly knit community of counterinsurgency experts, Lt. Col. John Nagl is something of a star.

When the Army and Marine Corps decided to rewrite their field manual on how to fight insurgents last year, Nagl was chosen as one of its authors. His doctoral thesis on guerrilla wars was just republished in paperback with an approving foreword by the Army's chief of staff.

But when Nagl's two-year stint in the Pentagon ended this month, he did not, like most accomplished soldiers of his rank, take command of an armored battalion headed back to Iraq. Instead, he shipped out to this sprawling base in rural Kansas where the Army is attempting what some consider its most ambitious structural change since the Vietnam War.

Fourth Generation Warfare - It's the Tribes, Stupid

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:38:45 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - If we want to understand the enemy we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the magic word is "tribe."

Fourth Generation Warfare - Preface to Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 11:01:02 GMT

Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife - The preface to the new edition of Colonel John Nagl's acclaimed book. The first edition of the book was published before he served in Iraq, and in this new edition's preface he reflects on what he personally learned about insurgencies while serving in Iraq.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Military Hones a New Strategy on Insurgency

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 09:50:58 GMT

New York Times - Michael Gordon reports that the United States Army and Marines are finishing work on a new counterinsurgency doctrine that draws on the hard-learned lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and protection of civilians a bedrock element of military strategy.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Fourth-Generation Warfare and Network-Centric Warfare

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 11:38:56 GMT

Marine Corps Gazette - A formula for success in 21st century conflict.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Regression

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 09:30:11 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind describes how a third-generation military can revert to a second generation military...

Fourth Generation Warfare - Liberating Anah

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 08:40:06 GMT

Army Times - Sean Naylor gives a good example of "Less Clausewitz, More Sun Tzu" in Iraq.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Beginning to Learn

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:26:52 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind comments on the draft field manual, FM 3-24/FMFM 3-24, Counterinsurgency.

Fourth Generation Warfare - What US wants in its troops: cultural savvy

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 09:58:04 GMT

Christian Science Monitor - Another example of how the US military is trying to adapt for Fourth Generation Warfare.

Fourth Generation Warfare - The Book on Bad Apples

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:35:21 GMT

US News and World Report - More on the US Army and US Marines new manual on counterinsurgency.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Counterinsurgency by the Book

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 10:42:08 GMT

Slate - Two messages flutter between the lines of the U.S. Army's new field manual on counterinsurgency wars, its first document on the subject in 20 years. One is that Pentagon planning for the Iraq war's aftermath was at least as crass, inattentive to the lessons of history, and contrary to basic political and military principles as the war's harshest critics have charged. The other is that as a nation we may simply be ill-suited to fight these kinds of wars.

The manual is found here: Counterinsurgency FM3-24FD.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Further Reflections on Unrestricted Warfare

Michael D'Alessandro — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 09:26:38 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - It’s been seven years since two Chinese soldiers, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, released their treatise, Unrestricted Warfare. But their 228-page book should be read again by policymakers and warfighters because their points are directly relevant to the dangers facing the U.S. and its gargantuan military-industrial-Congressional complex.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Critics of the Fourth Generation: The Ugly

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 11:29:12 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind address critiques of Fourth Generation Warfare - Part 3.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Critics of the Fourth Generation: The Bad

Michael D'Alessandro — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:52:52 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind addresses the critiques of Fourth Generation Warfare - Part 2.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Critics of the Fourth Generation: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 11:53:00 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind responds to the critics of Fourth Generation Warfare - Part 1.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Operational IEDs

Michael D'Alessandro — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:03:47 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - A look at the role that Improvised Explosive Devices are playing in the defining the operational aspect of Fourth Generation Warfare.

Fourth Generation Warfare - It Ain’t Fair

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 12:19:11 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind reviews the use of suicide bombing in Fourth Generation Warfare.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Sichelschnitt

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 11:58:26 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - An interesting look, by William Lind, of what happens when two armies representing different generations of warfare fight each other...

Fourth Generation Warfare - Interview with Martin van Creveld

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:28:54 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - An interview with military historian Martin van Creveld.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Some Responses

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 09:02:24 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind shares some of the feedback he has gotten regarding his idea of a national militia being the best response to the Fourth Generation Threat.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Modern Warfare Symposium, continued

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:13:20 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - A continuation of the discussion of what a state armed service designed for Fourth Generation war might look like - a militia.

Fourth Generation Warfare - The Duke of Alba

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:58:42 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind on the interesting similarities between Spain's dealings with the Netherlands in the 16th century, and the United States' dealings with Iraq today.

Fourth Generation Warfare - Modern Warfare Symposium

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 11:11:03 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind on Part 1 of what a state armed service designed for Fourth Generation War may look like.

Fourth Generation Warfare - FMFM 1-A, Fourth Generation War, Is Now Available

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 10:32:17 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind gives the background to his new field manual on Fourth Generation Warfare.

The latest version can be found Here.

Fourth Generation Warfare - FMFM-1A Fourth Generation War

Michael D'Alessandro — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 09:51:44 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind posts the first draft of his Field Manual of Fourth Generation Warfare (Microsoft Word format).

Fourth Generation Warfare - Doing it Right

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 09:34:39 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind shows how the US is waging Fourth Generation Warfare successfully.

Fourth Generation Warfare - The Reality Gap

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 17 May 2005 10:06:18 GMT

Defense and the National Interest - William Lind on the disconnect between the Pentagon and reality today.