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I wrote this as a tribute to one of my best friends who just died. In another age and place, Paul Behrends would have been straight out of Rudyard Kipling. The extraordinary life of the retired US Marine Corps reserve colonel and longtime congressional staffer ended December 12 when Paul died from injuries near his
By J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / December 3, 2020 – Without announcement or public directive, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper shut down the intelligence community’s entity that monitored and combated foreign concealment, deception, and disinformation. At a time when disinformation became a major public concern, it is surprising to know
By J Michael Waller / American Greatness / November 23, 2020 – Foreign manipulation of America’s 2020 vote count to help Joe Biden is crazy talk. At least that’s what a lot of people believe, with even supporters of President Trump attacking the initial evidence and the messengers. After the debunked Russian collusion narrative, the
by J Michael Waller / November 17, 2020 – Reports of Cuban regime funding of tech companies that serviced America’s elections may indicate that foreign intelligence services have manipulated our presidential vote. A possible Chinese connection makes things even worse. The technologies were created to “manipulate” votes favorable to socialists, according to Sidney Powell, a
by J Michael Waller / American Greatness / November 7, 2020 – Mexican elections are cleaner than the one that’s still unfolding in the United States. One Mexican election authority is aghast at the fraud he has seen among Democrats in the 2020 election. “The fraud I have seen in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and some
by J Michael Waller / American Greatness / November 1, 2020 Far from being “spontaneous” or “mythical,” today’s militant political violence is not only organized, it even has user manuals. In destroying statues and other symbols of American history, the new violent extremist movement cultivates its own history:Indoctrinate people without them realizing it, gradually and
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / October 28, 2020 Former vice president Joe Biden showed the world just how politicized and sloppy much of the US intelligence community has become. During his final debate with President Donald Trump, Biden repeatedly called the revelation of his son’s laptop and email contents “Russian disinformation.”
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / October 23, 2020 The Biden family business group that partnered with a Communist Chinese company knew that it was working with Chinese intelligence. The Chinese partner was also closely tied to the Chinese regime and the People’s Liberation Army. Tucked in a Wall Street Journal feature that went online
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / October 19, 2020 The issue for this election is not whether presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter was involved in sketchy business deals. It’s about whether and how those business deals were criminal attempts to influence the foreign policy of the United States. Most of the
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / October 18, 2020 More than three years ago, the Center for Security Policy called for expanding bipartisan federal investigations into Russian interference in American politics. That didn’t happen. President Trump’s opposition didn’t want it to. It’s easier than ever to see in hindsight. Studying history, though,
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / September 15, 2020 – To understand Antifa and its broader movement free from the lenses of American politics, the German government is very helpful. German domestic intelligence has a warning: Antifa and its allies are going to get more destructive and more violent. “There is a
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / September 15, 2020 The deployment of military psychological warfare technology to defeat President Trump has taken on added meaning since the Washington Post first reported it last May. Now, prominent counterinsurgency practitioners from the Global War on Terror are calling on the American military leadership to overthrow the
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / July 31, 2010 – Antifa is an organized “left-wing violent extremist” network with ideological goals “to eliminate the existing state and social order and thus the free democratic basic order,” according to new German internal security report. The report comes out as the United States
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / June 16, 2020 – As gratifying as it might be to see a forceful response to the organized anarchy in places like Antifa’s enclave in Seattle, it’s better to wait. President Trump can defeat his adversaries by being patient and not intervening in Antifastan. His
By J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / June 3, 2020 – The only real difference between Antifa and the old Baader-Meinhof Gang of West Germany is that Antifa has no prominent leader and its members hide their identities, says German historian Bettina Röhl. Of all people, she should know. Röhl’s mother was
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / May 12, 2020 – A prominent pundit who pushed the discredited Russia collusion conspiracy theory is now promoting a range of well-established Chinese propaganda themes about the coronavirus. Soviet import Max Boot reinforced and laundered a range of Chinese Communist Party propaganda and disinformation themes
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / May 2, 2020 – The Chinese regime depends on foreigners to launder its propaganda to mask the original source. Many of these transmission belts are subtle. Peter B. Walker of the McKinsey & Company management consulting firm, may have set a new record for propaganda-laundering. Writing in the
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 29, 2020 – While accusing the US military again of causing and spreading the global pandemic, the Chinese government is getting tough on anyone who proposes an independent investigation into how it actually began. China, the regime says, is not an initiator of disinformation,
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 27, 2020 – China’s pandemic propaganda and disinformation are so extensive that we’re making our daily Wuhan Virus chronology project more usable by issuing updates at least twice a week as separate stories. This is the first of the series, covering April 23-25. Of course we’ll
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 17, 2020 – Monitoring Chinese regime propaganda about the Wuhan Virus pandemic allows insights into the Communist Party leadership and can reveal vulnerabilities to guide American strategists. That’s why we continue our extensive daily pandemic propaganda timeline. Some of the most important conclusions to draw
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 8, 2020 – The World Health Organization’s unprecedented attack on an American president featured a Chinese propaganda term that is now splashed across international headlines. Soon, Chinese propaganda will recycle it as a quote from the United Nations’ health organization, and not from the
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 7, 2020 – The Chinese regime’s secret sponsorship of a paid Facebook campaign to attack President Donald Trump during an election campaign gives the US the right to respond in-kind. Communist China has no elections except to ratify the Party, of course, but its
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 4, 2020 – Tracking official Chinese regime propaganda outlets shows that the Chinese Communist Party can’t stomach an American secretary of state with the guts to call it out. Regime messaging is dropping hints in English that relations with the US will improve only if American
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 1, 2020 – The Trump Administration’s outspokenness against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not to exploit the coronavirus pandemic, as some CCP sources allege. It began two years ago as it recognized the far greater strategic threat the Chinese regime presents to the United
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 31, 2020 – In a fine piece of reporting, the New York Times has published a detailed investigative report that spells out why the Chinese Communist Party – especially with Xi Jinping’s consolidation of control over it – is responsible for the global coronavirus pandemic. Steven Lee Myers’
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 31, 2020 – Beijing has now militarized its pandemic propaganda. The Chinese military has laid out a strong, harshly anti-US line, blaming the United States for the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and saying that the world should be grateful to the Chinese regime for its generosity
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 28, 2020 – For the first time in a generation, an American secretary of state has worked with foreign leaders to aggressively coordinate a strategy against foreign state-sponsored disinformation. Secretary Mike Pompeo worked with six of America’s closest allies and economic partners to counter Communist China’s
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 26, 2020 – The latest line from the Beijing is that criticism of the Chinese Communist Party from anywhere in the world will only serve to extend the agony of the global pandemic. The new party line came on March 25 in the CCP’s authoritative People’s
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 25, 2020 – The Trump Administration is taking precisely the right position on placing blame on the Chinese Communist Party for the new coronavirus pandemic. As the virus spread around the world from Wuhan, China, the CCP began an aggressive disinformation and propaganda campaign to blame the
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 22, 2020 – The Trump Administration is mounting the nation’s first challenge to the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party since President Nixon opened up to Chairman Mao. This crucial effort is in response to Beijing’s repeated accusations that the United States military is behind
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 21, 2020 – Tracking Western news reporting and Chinese Communist Party propaganda about the COVID-19 pandemic, we find an evolution of the use of “China” and “Wuhan” to define the deadly virus. Chinese official publications and statements, under heavy party censorship, regularly affixed Wuhan to
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 19, 2020 – The World Health Organization is one of the top multinational authorities on fighting the coronavirus, but it has damaged its credibility by acting like a propagandist for the Chinese Communist Party. Years ago, WHO bowed to CCP pressure and had the Republic
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 10, 2010 – The Trump administration backing an anti-US Marxist for a second term as head of the American hemisphere’s multinational security organization. The State Department is squeezing small Caribbean countries to vote for an anti-American radical for another five-year term as head of the
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 9, 2020 For all the vitriol and finger-pointing about Russia’s Vladimir Putin manipulating our political system, not a single policymaker or pundit has proposed a coherent strategy to turn the tables against him. “Putin, sadly, has got all of our political class, every single one
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / February 22, 2020. President Trump has reversed his predecessor’s weakness toward Russia and developed an impressive track record against the Putin regime’s aggressive behavior. Putin’s ability to project power is small and his economy is small, but the Russian leader has presided over a massive
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / February 20, 2020 The Putin regime has mapped out a plan to invade Ireland, a vital telecommunications and logistics hub linking North America and Europe. Agents of Russia’s GRU military intelligence have been observed for years across Ireland charting its rugged coastline, deep harbors, and
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / February 14, 2020 Russia’s security and intelligence organizations continue both to repress and recruit Christians for subversive work inside the country and abroad. “That this is the case should surprise no one because the threat of repression can be a powerful recruiting tool and the
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / January 30, 2020 Espionage against America’s universities surfaced again when the FBI arrested a prominent Harvard professor as an alleged part of a Communist Chinese spy operation. The recent arrests of Harvard Professor Charles Lieber, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army officer, and a second Chinese
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / January 21, 2020 Russia’s new prime minister is the ideal man to replicate China’s high-tech police state to keep Vladimir Putin in power for life. In purging his government, President Vladimir Putin has promoted Mikhail Mishustin as chief of government. Widely portrayed as a hockey
Josh Denmark / US Customs and Border Protection
by J Michael Waller / The Federalist / April 22, 2019 The country is so polarized that it seemed like a solution to the Mexican border crisis was impossible – until the past 10 days since President Trump tweeted an interim approach that makes everyone a winner. In a few short words on April 12,
The probable leak of the coronavirus from a Wuhan laboratory is China’s version of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl that led to the Soviet collapse, the Center’s J Michael Waller says on the “China Unscripted” podcast. The 1986 radioactive accident and the Soviet Communist Party’s coverup widened fissures throughout the Soviet system, ultimately leading to
“A national security strategist is calling for ‘reparations’ from China over the communist regime’s role during the ongoing outbreak,” One America News reported, introducing an interview with J Michael Waller, the Center’s Senior Analyst for Strategy. Chinese gangster-state is to blame “We’re all taking a look at China,” said interviewer Jack Posobiec. “How is it that
J Michael Waller and Fred Fleitz / Center for Security Policy / April 21, 2020 -Since the Wuhan Virus broke out, the Chinese government has waged a disinformation and propaganda campaign to defend the Communist Party leadership and attack the United States. The Center for Security Policy has been on top of this campaign since
Center Senior Analyst for Strategy, Dr. J Michael Waller appeared on Epoch Times’ American Thought Leaders to discuss the ongoing propaganda the Chinese Communist Party has been pushing throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Click here for an ongoing timeline documenting the CCP’s propaganda curated by Dr. Waller.
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / April 9, 2020 – Decision: Anticipating that the US will hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the Wuhan Virus pandemic, the US should next decide how to enforce that accountability. The Chinese Communist Party must immediately pay reparations for human and economic damages. Reason: The
J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / March 19, 2020 – All official Chinese government information about the coronavirus is created, vetted, and coordinated through a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entity called the Central Propaganda Department. The department is a rigid, top-down bureaucracy that issues and enforces the official party line. The Center
A study of psychological operations in US history shows 21st century warfighters how decisive the unconventional weapon has been in establishing and keeping our democracy. For more than a decade, Dr Waller has lectured on the subject, as one of a series of PSYOP topics in his curriculum, at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare
In a motion filed with those of his colleagues, an attorney, two Wall Street Journal reporters, and Dow Jones, Dr Waller explained why the evidence suggests strongly that Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui is a spy for Communist China. Guo, who goes by about 11 other names including Miles Kwok, sued the group for defamation. He
The Wall Street Journal broke the news that fugitive billionaire Guo Wengui (aka Miles Kwok) is allegedly a spy for the Communist Party of China, and not the dissident he claims to be. The allegation came in a July 19, 2019 counterclaim to a lawsuit that a Guo surrogate brought against a Virginia-based political intelligence
Strong strategic relations between the United States and Egypt are under attack from the Muslim Brotherhood and the jihadist regime of Qatar, Dr Waller told a panel in Congress. The April 4 event, sponsored by the London Center for Policy Research and American Pulse TV, took place in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol
Blood Money, the short documentary that chronicles the influence operations of the jihadist Middle Eastern regime of Qatar, is officially released. Mike Cernovich’s 23-minute documentary is an excellent exposé of how the gas-rich ministate funds terrorism, Muslim Brotherhood subversion, and other forms of Islamist extremism around the world and especially in the United States. Two
The trailer is out for the forthcoming documentary, “Blood Money,” about how a jihadist regime has flooded Washington with cash. Done by Mike Cernovich, the documentary features lengthy conversations with yours truly, with my colleague Dave Reaboi, and others. We focus on the jihadist dictatorship of Qatar, a Wahhabi radical Islamic regime adjacent to Saudi
Liz Wheeler and I talk about the future of the Mueller Probe on OANN’s “Tipping Point.” The interview here crops out the critical comments I made of the brown-nosers who populate much of FBI headquarters in Washington, and the supportive statements I made of agents in the field who work hard at their jobs.
An international media figure disappears in a Saudi consulate in Turkey and never comes out alive, and the only source of information is the Turkish Islamist secret police. With so much intrigue and just a single provider of facts, one can only speculate about who would stand to gain from abducting and murdering a shadowy
My most enjoyable discussion of today’s Russian subversion political warfare was not with a group of scholars, but with Glenn Beck of TheBlaze TV. Beck showed an extraordinary and deep grasp of the subject matter – more than any other American interviewer I’ve met. And certainly more than most Washington-based Russia “scholars.” How many have
Laying out an innovative strategy to counter and deter Kremlin subversion, the Center for Security Policy provided NATO countries with a new way to provide common defense against Moscow’s “hybrid threats.” Center Vice President J Michael Waller told the thousand or so participants at the Riga Conference that NATO should “map out and exploit the vulnerabilities”
Big Data search engine and social media companies have recklessly deputized a malicious organization as a “political police” to destroy the reputations of people and groups with whom they disagree, Dr Waller told PJ Media. Partnerships between Twitter, Facebook, and Google with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) come “as no surprise to J. Michael
New intelligence reports on China’s global threat to the United States are welcome and long overdue, Dr Waller tells Elizabeth Prann on Fox News. (http://video.foxnews.com/v/5812131802001/) Discussing senior CIA official Michael Collins’ statement at the Aspen Institute about China’s new “Cold War” against us, Waller said the intelligence executive “nailed it,” and that the US should
“I did not see Trump taking an ‘America First’ approach” to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Dr Waller told Lifezette after the Helsinki summit. Brendan Kirby reported, “J. Michael Waller, vice president of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, downplayed the significance of some of Trump’s policies. He said the arms sold to Ukraine, for instance,
It’s always a happy occasion to be back at Fort Bragg, teaching psychological operations courses to our special operations forces. Recently I was at the John F Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School for a two-day PSYOP session for officers and senior NCOs. Our PSYOPers keep getting better and better. Over the years, I’ve seen
Senator Marco Rubio and I discussed the dangers of “deepfakes” – artificial intelligence-powered fake videos that can impersonate real people. Bill Gertz broke the story in the Free Beacon. “Michael Waller, an information warfare expert, said deepfakes also could be used by U.S. intelligence agencies for offensive information warfare operations against hostile states or terrorist
Charles Payne had me on his “Making Money” show on Fox Business, to talk about the newly reported Russian cyberattack on our nation’s electrical grid and critical infrastructure. The show aired live on March 16. The American grid is extremely vulnerable to foreign cyber attack. Government and industry have wanted to avoid the issue
The BBC hosted Dr Waller to explain Russia’s illegal chemical weapons program that was apparently used to try to assassinate a former GRU officer who had taken refuge in Britain after a 2010 spy swap. In the early 1990s, Waller worked with three former Soviet chemical weapons scientists at the heart of the illegal Novichok
Acclaimed defense and security journalist Bill Gertz reports from CENTCOM that the US might have to negotiate peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan. But Gertz quotes former White House aide Sebastian Gorka and Dr. Waller as saying that such a strategy is doomed. “Sixteen years after invading Afghanistan, we find ourselves considering a way out
A new report on Russian trolling against NATO shows the important contributions that small frontline allies are making to the alliance, Dr Waller tells Bill Gertz in the Washington Free Beacon. Gertz reports: “‘While we provide the real military might, our smaller frontline allies focus on Russian information operations and psychological ops that we often
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s latest report on Russian military power is “a vital development in American military intelligence analysis,” Dr Waller told the Washington Free Beacon. “This is an important development, because the U.S. military has not adequately addressed the fact that Russia has a global psychological strategy to compensate for its relative military weakness,”
The proposed cut of Mandarin-language radio broadcasts into China will aid Chinese Communist Party censors, Dr Waller tells Bill Gertz at the Washington Free Beacon. The cuts are intended to reach a larger Chinese audience via online media. But government censorship is powerful online in China, and many millions of Chinese still listen to radio.
This week has Dr Waller back down at Fort Bragg, teaching at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Dr Waller is a frequent teacher and trainer for American special operations forces and others at Fort Bragg, and this week he is providing military officers and their interagency civilian counterparts with a historical,
A US federal appeals court handed down another victory to Dr Waller’s colleagues who are defendants the Devincci Hourani lawsuit. The 3-judge panel summarily rejected plaintiff Devincci Hourani’s appeal of a rejected federal court case against PsyberSolutions, its CEO Allison Blair, and two other defendants. “The court has accorded the issues full consideration and determined that
Veterans of the 1991 Soviet collapse met at Harvard University to mark the 25th anniversary of their disparate efforts to take down the USSR. Gennady Burbulis (right) was Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s right-hand man who was instrumental in arranging for Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia to secede from the Soviet Union on December 8, 1991, thus
WikiConference North America, an annual gathering to discuss the future of Wikipedia and other projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, took place this year in San Diego. Dr. Waller attended to see how defense and security experts could participate more effectively in the Wiki movement, and how the Wiki movement could benefit. The 300 or so
‘Islamism in America: State-of-the-art political & psychological warfare” was Dr Waller’s presentation at the 58th meeting of The Military Conflict Institute. The hour-long, conversational-style lecture focused on the Muslim Brotherhood and its infiltration national security and defense policymaking, as well as training of professionals throughout government. Documented with primary source material, the October 3 presentation
Returned from two days at Fort Bragg to teach a great group of officers and senior NCOs about psychological operations (PSYOP), still confusingly called military information support operations (MISO). There is no shortage of critical thinkers among the special operations soldiers in these units, a very encouraging thing to see, even though overall training doctrine
Political Warfare & Strategy was the title of Dr. Waller’s presentation at the Kennan-Donovan Initiative at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. The January 21 event, chaired by COL Dave Maxwell USA (Ret), involved about 40 civilian and military participants from the unconventional warfare field who focus on the “gray zone.” See the presentation slides
The Westminster Institute hosted Dr. Waller to give a presentation on how to use psychological warfare to defeat ISIS/Daesh and other jihadist movements. The October 21, 2015 presentation, titled “Defeating ISIS: The Missing Psychological Warfare Dimension,” demonstrated the low-cost, high-impact opportunities at hand to wipe out Daesh. Dr. Waller’s presentation also discussed how to retaliate
We just launched NATO’s new Defence Strategic Communications journal, a publication of the alliance’s new STRATCOM Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia. Our first editorial board meeting occurred during the inauguration of the Centre of Excellence, with the participation of civilian and military leaders from the entire NATO alliance and interested countries like Finland and
In the face of unprovoked danger from Moscow, NATO’s front-line states should exploit Russia’s internal weaknesses to deter external aggression. Visiting Lithuania as a guest of the foreign ministry, Dr. Waller urged the country’s leaders and its growing online community to be assertive in the face of Russian subversion of their small country. Moscow has
A team of veteran national security practitioners and scholars authored a Plan for Victory Over the Global Jihad Movement. The authors modeled the plan after President Ronald Reagan’s historic National Security Decision Directive 75, which laid out a strategy to defeat the Soviet Union without going to war. Published under the auspices of the Center
Ashleigh Banfield of CNN invited Dr Waller to appear on her show to discuss a segment on US propaganda efforts against the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists. The US State Department seems very proud of its “Just Say No”-style videos designed to persuade prospective ISIS recruits from joining the cause. [September 5, 2014] Ashleigh seemed very skeptical –
As a collective defense alliance, NATO is made up of members with their own strengths and weaknesses – mostly weaknesses. However, where NATO as an organization is terribly weak – defense against hostile propaganda and subversion – there is one ally that can add value far beyond its small size. That ally is Lithuania. Dr.
Fox News hosted Dr. Waller as a guest to comment on terrorism threats in a year’s-end episode of the O’Reilly Factor. With Laura Ingraham as guest host, Waller addressed the possibility of jihadist or other forms of terrorism at the upcoming Sochi Olympics in Russia, and the iron hand of Vladimir Putin to maintain order.
US policy toward Putin’s Russia is one of provocative weakness that plays into Russian pretensions of great power status and will diminish the power of the United States. That’s what Dr. Waller said in a Fox News interview with Bill O’Reilly on “The O’Reilly Factor.” The program aired September 13. American waffling on Syria provided Putin with
The US Capitol building was the venue for Dr. Waller to speak on the Muslim Brotherhood and the power of ideology as part of a Westminster Institute program. The September 6, 2013 event brought together a panel of distinguished speakers on a range of topics to battle Islamist aggression: Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, The Role of Religion in the
Iran’s elections are illegitimate because all candidates are approved by the mullahs who control the regime, an IWP professor tells a US public diplomacy TV channel. (Institute of World Politics news release) “It doesn’t matter who wins the presidential elections in Iran,” IWP Provost J. Michael Waller says on Alhurra, an Arabic-language satellite TV channel broadcast to the
(Institute of World Politics news release) On Sunday, June 2, the Professional Advancement for Security Strategists: Program on Reducing Threats (PASS:PORT) celebrated the completion of its inaugural year. Through the course of the May 31 to June 2 weekend, participants prepared and presented their capstone project. The project was the culmination of the nine-month series of evening seminars
The Wall Street Journal quoted Professor Waller in an article about a Guatemalan court’s decision to overturn the genocide conviction of a former Guatemalan dictator. The rushed trial of 86 year-old Efrain Rios Montt, who ruled Guatemala for 17 years in 1982-83, resulted in a verdict of crimes against humanity and genocide. The trial was controversial from
In an announcement that promises accelerated change amid strategic continuity, IWP founder and president John Lenczowski appointed Professor J. Michael Waller to serve as Vice President and Provost of the school. The interim position will give the IWP board time of find a professional to manage the school. “I am delighted that Dr. Waller will be helping
The Heritage Foundation sponsored a great talk on January 24, in which we discussed the international public opinion battlespace and how to operate within it. Helle Dale was our host, who invited Dr Amy Zalman, Department of Defense Chair of Information Integration at the National War College; Dr Ariel Cohen, of Heritage, Dean Cheng of Heritage,
After a decade of war, with many military victories to its credit, the United States continues to struggle with defining and combating ideological adversaries. It has been unable to dominate the psychological battlespace in which America’s enemies – both those practicing violence and those not presently violent – flourish. Dr. Waller outlines a strategic solution
(Institute of World Politics news release) Dr J. Michael Waller discussed “Foreign Propaganda, Perceptions and Policy: Countering Information Designed to Mislead or Persuade” at the 3rd Annual Irregular Warfare Summit in Washington, D.C. The summit is organized by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement. Dr Waller spoke as part of the summit’s Psychological Warfare Focus Day.
Our new Antifa monograph ranks #1 on Amazon for new titles about terrorism. Unmasking Antifa: Five Perspectives on a Growing Threat, hit the #1 mark within 24 hours of going on sale. It’s an important milestone also because Amazon, the world’s largest bookseller, now recognizes the study of Antifa as a study in terrorism. Center
I’ve seldom had the opportunity not only to respond to an article by someone who I admire, like Michael Anton, but to have it as a companion piece alongside one written by my lifelong hero, Edward Luttwak. The American Mind, published by the Claremont Institute, invited me to write a piece on a divisive strategy
By J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / July 13, 2020 – China is building a massive nuclear energy program that will ultimately enable the Communist regime to power a nuclear navy to take on America’s fleet worldwide. Just as US politicians and businesses allowed the nation to become dependent on China for
The National Intelligence University invited Dr Waller to teach a class on political warfare. The research university arm of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the NIU is the only accredited, federal degree-granting in the US intelligence community. Waller’s April 17 lecture focused on the strategy of political warfare.
Columbia University hosted the Second Annual Greater Good Gathering, focusing on technology’s far-reaching impact on the meaning of community. The event, organized by Eric B. Schnurer, was as diverse in viewpoints as it was collegial – a remarkably enjoyable gathering. I spoke as the last speaker of the last panel, giving a less happy assessment
My three-year term as a founding editorial board member of NATO’s Defence Strategic Communications journal is over. Published by NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia, the journal is part of Latvia’s small but outsized contribution to the Atlantic alliance. Like the Centre itself, the journal began as a Latvian initiative. The Centre
by J Michael Waller / Center for Security Policy / May 31, 2018 Thirty years of hard work paid off in January when President Donald Trump issued his America First National Security Strategy. In cooperation with others and often alone, Center for Security Policy had promoted most of the elements that President Trump has embraced
Volume 3 of our Defence Strategic Communications scholarly journal is out, published by NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia. This is an excellent, truly international journal containing a surprising range of original perspectives. I’m happy to be a founding member of the editorial board. Subjects for Volume 3 range from the eclectic
Credit: Mining.com
by J Michael Waller, PhD / Georgetown Research Summary. The State Department’s shift toward building “civil society” abroad has clashed with the mission to promote traditional US national interests. Occasionally it has harmed legitimate American business interests abroad. To illustrate the problem, this paper describes how international NGOs operated in a single country to target
The U.S. Army’s Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, asked Dr. Waller to expand on his pioneering work in 2006 to use ridicule as a weapon. Waller’s article, “Weaponizing Ridicule,” is published in USACAC’s bimonthly intellectual journal, Military Review, September-October 2017. It looks out of place in Military Review‘s table of contents, but that’s
The Atlantic Council sponsored an innovative and badly needed #DisinfoWeek to pay serious attention to Russian disinformation and how to combat it. The event, featuring speakers and experts from North America and Europe, wound up on Friday, June 30, with an off-the-record discussion about what to do next. Dr. Waller was among the invited participants.
Ample evidence exists of illicit and/or damaging Russian efforts involving the Kremlin’s interference in American governmental operations, domestic politics, the U.S. economy and often to the detriment of America’s national security. Dr Waller explains in this Center for Security Policy memo (download PDF: Broadening Russia probe) Whatever activities Vladimir Putin’s regime undertook in this regard with
The Air War College, which prepares US and allied Air Force officers with a solid graduate education, invited Dr Waller teach a class in its Strategic Leadership Communication course. Dr Waller’s April 25 class was a contrarian approach to strategic communication. Frank B. Kalupa, Director of the Center for Strategic Leadership Communication, hosted him to
The second issue of NATO’s Defence Strategic Communications journal is out, and we’re already having a surprisingly good impact. Published from the fortresslike former Red Army recruitment center that’s now NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia, the journal’s big focus is on information warfare pertaining to Russia. Dr Waller is a founding
“Russia’s New Information War: What It’s Like and What to Do About It,” by J. Michael Waller, Ph.D., in Fred Fleitz, ed., Putin’s Reset: The Bear Is Back and How America Must Respond (Washington: Center for Security Policy, 2016), is a policy essay that examines Moscow’s information and propaganda warfare against the West, with a list
Oxford University Press is republishing Dr Waller’s strategy to design an information warfare campaign against global jihadists. Dr. Waller wrote the strategy for the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, with Dr. Sebastian Gorka of the Threat Knowledge Group. The plan is titled “Designing an Information Warfare Campaign Against the
Subversion: Non-Violent Warfare in an Age of Countering Violent Extremism By J. Michael Waller, Ph.D. John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, Fort Bragg, NC, September 12, 2016 Abstract Subversion is an ambiguous form of conflict in war and peace that does not rely on violence. From the perspective of the target, subversion is so ambiguous
by J Michael Waller / Westminster Institute / 2016. Want to discover the vulnerabilities of the Muslim Brotherhood? Study its doctrine, strategy and operations worldwide. That’s what we set out to do in “The Muslim Brotherhood: Doctrine, Strategy, Operations and Vulnerabilities,” a chapter in the newly published book, Meeting the Ideological Challenges of Islamism: How to
Dr. Waller’s paper, “Designing an Information Warfare Campaign Against the Global Jihadi Movement,” was published as part of a report for the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, US Army Special Operations Command. The 2014 report was commissioned by the Threat Knowledge Group’s and published in 2015 as a chapter of The Islamic
[IWP news release] An IWP professor is part of the now-famous ‘Team B’ report on enemy threat doctrine and operations, including the Muslim Brotherhood penetration of the United States. Annenberg Professor of International Communication J. Michael Waller joins a range of noted defense, intelligence and security experts as a contributor to Shariah: The Threat to America, a new
chapter in Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda, and Political Warfare (Crossbow, 2010). In this vital book, thirteen experts in public diplomacy, counterpropaganda and political warfare lay out the components of what the U.S. and its allies need to win the war of ideas around the world. Revised in 2009. Strategic influence is much more than strategic
Strategic Influence is the work of 13 scholars and practitioners in the fields of public diplomacy, counterpropaganda and political warfare. The book surveys the subjects from the American Revolution, through the Cold War, to present-day wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We strove to make the book the best single volume on the subject. It’s a combination
Chapter in Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda, and Political Warfare (Crossbow, 2010). In this vital book, thirteen experts in public diplomacy, counterpropaganda and political warfare lay out the components of what the U.S. and its allies need to win the war of ideas around the world. Revised in 2009. Strategic influence is much more than strategic
by J. Michael Waller, editor (IWP/Crossbow Books, 2010/2011), 367 pp. Download PDF of full text here: Founding Political Warfare Docs 3 Public diplomacy and political warfare have been an American tradition since before the founding of the republic. The Continental Congress made its case to the world when it was founded in 1774. In this course
The Russian government’s actions raise too many questions about the April 10 airplane crash that killed many of the most anti-Russian leaders of Poland. My recent conversations with informed Polish sources reveal so many irregularities with how the Russian government handled the crash that nobody should presume that the disaster was accidental until all the
Testimony of J. Michael Waller, Ph.D. Annenberg Professor of International Security Affairs, Institute of World Politics; Vice President for Information Operations, Center for Security Policy Before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight March 4, 2010 Introduction Chairman Carnahan, Congressman Rohrabacher and other members of the panel, I
By J Michael Waller / Journal of International Security Affairs / December 2009. A decade has passed since the Clinton administration and the late Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) joined hands in destroying America’s public diplomacy machinery. The shocking development occurred for a combination of reasons: a turf-conscious State Department that wanted total control of public diplomacy
The Heritage Foundation hosted the official launch of The Public Diplomacy Reader, Professor J. Michael Waller’s 500-page compendium published by IWP Press. The event, held September 20, was organized by Helle Dale, Deputy Director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at Heritage. Dr. Waller gave a presentation about the book and its purpose, explaining that he
This ground-breaking monograph by J Michael Waller departs from the conventional view of public diplomacy and international communication in time of war and argues for deploying messages as weapons of attack against the terrorists and other extremists. Proposing an immediate-term strategy that requires no bureaucratic reorganization or major budgetary changes, Fighting the War of Ideas like
by J. Michael Waller, Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare White Paper No. 1, The Institute of World Politics, 2006. This article is the first in a series of White Papers about the transformation of American public diplomacy and strategic communication. Introduction One of the most contentious debates in the war on terrorism centers on the “hearts
Introduced by the moderator as “the only panelist who can say, ‘I told you so,’” Professor J. Michael Waller took part in a panel discussion on Russian politics as part of the annual convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS, pronounced “triple-A, double-S”). The question put forth before the November 18 panel was, “Is the
by J. Michael Waller, The Institute of World Politics, Occasional Paper, May 2006 Introduction The United States must draw the line when its foreign military suppliers endanger US national security interests. This is especially true when foreign defense companies aid and abet regimes that subvert their democratic neighbors and align with state sponsors of terrorism.
by J. Michael Waller / Occasional Paper / Center for Security Policy, April 2006 Every country has the right – and duty – to restrict the quality and quantity of foreign immigrants entering or living within its borders. If American policymakers are looking for legal models on which to base new laws restricting immigration and
by J. Michael Waller / Occasional Paper Series No. 6 / Center for Security Policy, May 2005. Among the more troubling legacies Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has inherited is one of neglect towards the Western Hemisphere, a legacy that has seriously diminished the United States’ stature and influence in most of the Americas This is due, in
Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council and J. Michael Waller edited a series of articles on the legacies of totalitarian secret police systems. Those articles were published in August, 2004, in Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. Berman and Waller co-wrote the following introduction to the series: When a totalitarian group seizes power, whether by parliamentary maneuver or
by J Michael Waller, Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2004, pp. 333-355. The George Washington University is the repository of Demokratizatsiya journal. The roots of all of the most efficient political police systems in modern his- tory can be traced to December 20, 1917. On that day, the new Bolshevik
by J. Michael Waller Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Summer 2004 As a revolutionary regime, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) that overthrew strongman Anastasio Somoza in 1979 swept away all vestiges of the old order. Virtually every single government structure, including the constitution, judiciary, legislature, and all instruments of security and force, was
J. Michael Waller, Annenberg Professor of International Communication Testimony before the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs Subcommittee International Relations Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, November 5, 2003. Text TK
Testimony of J. Michael Waller, Ph.D. Annenberg Professor of International Communication Before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Senate Committee on the Judiciary 14 October 2003 Thank you, Chairman Kyl, and members of the Subcommittee for holding this important series of hearings. Thank you also for inviting me to testify on the subject
[IWP news release] A year-long series of conferences, dedicated to the memory of former Director of Central Intelligence William J. Casey, is a major IWP forum from which to discuss ways to improve U.S. intelligence capabilities. The series was convened in light of the intelligence and policy failures that led to the September 11, 2001, terrorist
