UW Research and writing guide

        The purpose of this writing guide is to assist individuals tasked with writing case studies that examine unconventional warfare (UW). It is a companion to the Insurgency Study Research and Writing Guide, and both were developed by the National Security Analysis Department (NSAD) of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) under the direction of the US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), G-3X Special Programs Division. Over the past several years, JHU/APL has written several Tier I Insurgency Case Studies...

      The Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) series consists of a set of case studies and research conducted for the US Army Special Operations Command by the National Security Analysis Department of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The purpose of the ARIS series is to produce a collection of academically rigorous yet operationally relevant research materials to develop and illustrate a common understanding of insurgency and revolution. This research, intended to form a bedrock body of knowledge for members of the Special Forces, will allow users to distill vast amounts of material from a wide array of campaigns and extract relevant lessons, thereby enabling the development of future doctrine, professional education, and training. 

      The post-Cold War world has challenged the paradigm of Western great powers that have dominated world affairs since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which granted permanent and special status to sovereign states. Resistance movements targeting established governmental authority have existed since antiquity, but the prominence of internal conflict in world affairs has grown in the twenty-first century as civil wars have replaced interstate wars in frequency. Conventional warfare, though still relevant, demonstrated its limits in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and the prevalence of insurgencies, coups, popular uprisings, and revolutions clearly demonstrates that future threats are likely to include a complex brew of irregular conflict centered on resistance movements. Preparing to meet such a challenge requires a disciplined approach to understanding resistance movements.

      Various authors have noted that violence is often a double-edged sword within combat settings, particularly those involving a resistance movement fighting an asymmetric conflict against the security forces of a stronger incumbent government, with both sides vying for the sympathies of a local population. Atkinson and Kress noted that “on the one hand violence is needed to fight the other side and perhaps deter individuals in the population from supporting the other side, but on the other hand it can turn the population against the source of that violence.”

     This manual is for the US Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) soldier. Whether attending his/her first course at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) or already deployed, the ARSOF soldier must be a student-practitioner of his/her craft: providing support to or countering a resistance movement.

        The Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) series con- sists of a set of case studies and research conducted for the US Army Special Operations Command by the National Security Analysis Department of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The purpose of the ARIS series is to produce a collection of academically rigorous yet operationally relevant research materials to develop and illus- trate a common understanding of insurgency and revolution. This research, intended to form a bedrock body of knowledge for members of the Special Forces, will allow users to distill vast amounts of material from a wide array of campaigns and extract relevant lessons, thereby enabling the development of future doctrine, professional education, and training.

    This case study examines the Patriot insurgency that developed among the English colonies in North America in the mid-eighteenth century and that eventually declared, fought for, and achieved independence from the mother country. There is a wealth of historical studies of the American Revolution, but this case study offers a unique perspective. Instead of simply repeating the well-documented history of the Revolution, we scrutinize the Patriots through the lens of modern insurgency doctrine and concepts.

     Important weapons of the next major war will be the acquisition, denial, and employment of information. The explosive growth of the cyber domain, with its abilities to vector large quantities of information to billions of Internet users worldwide at trivial cost, exacerbated the importance of information operations across the spectrum of communications and conflict. In a world that witnesses the rise of insurgencies across the globe, the Internet is a weapon used not only by hackers seeking to empty the bank accounts of unwitting victims but also by governments dedicated to the defeat, or overthrow, of their enemies. This work explores the methods, successes, and failures of some recent resistance movements, as well as the efforts of their adversaries. 

 This study examines the Jewish insurgencies and irregular warfare in Palestine from 1890 through 2010. This first volume examines the Zionist insurgency as it evolved from the late nineteenth century through its culmination in the establishment of the State of Israel and the Zionist's transition to governance.

   The long-lived Arab–Israeli struggle continues to command the attention of the world. At the root of the issue is the simple but incontrovertible fact that two groups of people want the same piece of land. The conflict has, since 1947, occasionally boiled over into full-scale war. However, between those episodes, it continued to manifest as a multi- faceted Arab insurgency against Israel.

     The political and military contest black nationalists in Rhodesia waged against the white minority governments of Winston Fields (1962–1964) and Ian Smith (1964–1979) provides an interesting case study through which to examine the dynamics of an insurgency that had the training, support, and advisory assistance of external sponsors. The Rhodesian conflict is a unique case because the two external sponsors, the Soviet Union and China, provided support to two competing insurgent groups, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), respectively. This dichotomy allows for the comparison and contrast of two approaches to unconventional warfare and the corresponding strategies and tactics implemented by the recipients of that support.

 The objective of this study is to explore how to effectively prepare for and oppose unconventional warfare (UW) and/or military occupation in order to inform strategy formulation within vulnerable countries. The focus is on actual and potential aggression by the Russian Federation in Europe, and especially in Eastern Europe. The study looks at what measures a country can take to identify and resist both military and nonmilitary aggression. The latter can take many forms—from televised propaganda to coercive economic policies to the use of organized crime to the funding of political parties. With regard to military occupation, the study examines what actions a potential target state could take in the areas of logistics, communications, command, organization, intelligence, sabotage, subversion, and guerrilla operations so that if an aggressor invades and occupies the country, the population can begin to resist immediately.

  This study seeks to understand the nature of post-transition governance. In particular, we seek to explain why some post-transition governments are engulfed by recurring civil wars while other post-transition governments respect human rights, are stable, and are staunch allies of the United States. This data is important to a United States Army Special Operations Force (ARSOF) soldier because that operator must understand how different factors have interacted historically to produce different types of post-transition governments. 

This case study, focusing on Iran’s support of Hizbollah, will serve as a foundation to begin to understand how external nations or organizations support the efforts of insurgent movements (for example, in establishing and maintaining undergrounds, influencing relevant populations, etc.). The study will explore the means and methods of the support and the effects and outcomes that result from the external support.

This collection of studies will help the reader begin to understand a variety of topics related to revolution, resistance, and insurgency, as well as other topics germane to the mission of Special Operations Forces. The collection includes primers, exploratory papers, and longer analytical papers on topics such as phases of an insurgency; threshold of violence; the public component of an insurgency; transition from resistance to government; and how a resistance cultivates legitimacy.

 A companion to the study on Colombia, this case study presents a detailed account of revolutionary and insurgent activities in Sri Lanka from 1976 until 2009, with in-depth treatment of the two major insurgent groups operating during that time: the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and the JVP (People’s Liberation Front). 

This study synthesizes the prevailing issues and analysis concerning the legal status of persons involved in resistance— including individuals comprising the resistance element, US personnel supporting or countering the resistance, and the standing government— particularly in foreign internal defense, counterinsurgency, and unconventional warfare operations. 

   This annotated bibliography is arranged according to the core tasks associated with irregular warfare: foreign internal defense, counter-terrorism, unconventional warfare, and counterinsurgency. The bibliography provides readers a traditional military perspective as well as perspectives from political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists studying similar phenomena.

      This guide is a quick reference of Unconventional Warfare (UW) theory, principles, and tactics, techniques and procedures. It is not a complete treatment of the subject. To guide further study, it includes (in annotated form) as many references as possible starting with established law, policy and doctrine, includes scientific studies, and finishes with recommended reading on the subject.

       Since the original SORO publication in 1963, much has changed and much remains relevant. However, the original study's observation—that for every guerilla fighter, there are from two to twenty-seven underground members—is still true. Likewise, the study’s main thesis—that the underground part of an insurgency is the sine qua non of all such movements—is demonstrably accurate today. This updated edition educates the student and practitioner of insurgency and counterinsurgency, drawing on insights from the post-Cold War world to examine the anatomy of undergrounds in various insurgencies of recent history.