Publications

“The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and the commander have to make is to establish…the kind of war on which they are embarking; neither mistaking it for, nor trying to make it...

Bottom Line The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has become a central pillar of the Kremlin’s political and informational warfare strategy, which shapes narratives by fusing spirituality with nationalism. Through doctrines like the “Russian World” (Russkiy Mir) and appeals to...

Introduction Jihadist insurgencies in Burkina Faso began in 2016-2017 and have escalated dramatically since 2019. Between 2018 and 2024, jihadists killed more than 25,000 people. From 2022 to 2023, fatalities attributed to terrorism increased by 68 percent, making Burkina...

Executive Summary Historically, Tehran has enjoyed outsized influence over Iraqi policy through the entrenchment of its Axis of Resistance (AOR) proxies in Iraq’s governing institutions and security apparatus. However, simmering domestic tensions and broader regional setbacks have converged at...

Two recent essays published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence and Nontraditional Warfare at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) rekindle interest in a perennial debate about whether covert action, particularly paramilitary operations, and other capabilities related...

Russia’s Balkan Approaches Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia’s involvement in Eastern Europe has garnered greater attention. Unlike the brutal territorial conquest and destruction seen in Ukraine, Russia’s methods in southeastern Europe are more subtle,...

A rebuttal to J.R. Seeger’s “A New Office of Strategic Services?” published by FPRI in May 2025. A recent piece in the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) penned by a retired Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer argues against proposals...

Key Findings Between World War I and II, Poland conducted a covert action program known as Prometheism to undermine the Soviet Union by supporting the national independence movements of non-Russian peoples within its borders. Poland hoped this program could...

Introduction In the past six months, two different opinion pieces, here and here, have raised the possibility of reviving the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). These recommendations are by no means new. Over the past 80 years, there have...

Introduction The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, “turned the international order upside down” by showing the world that a small non-state group can have a disastrous impact on a superpower. For years before 9/11, al Qaeda and similar...