Putting the strategy back in strategic communications

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 … Read more

Making the world safe for prosperity: State Department needs overhaul to become business-friendly

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 … Read more

‘Weaponizing ridicule’: Breaking ground in Army’s Military Review journal

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 … Read more

At the Atlantic Council, discussing how to combat Russian disinformation

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. … Read more

Teaching at JFK Special Warfare Center & School at Fort Bragg

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, … Read more

Time to up the ante on Russian subversion in America

By J Michael Waller / Forbes / January 4, 2017.  The real scandal about Russian subversion of the American political process is that the nation’s leadership has known about it for years and done nothing. Now is the time to put an end to it. Candidate Hillary Clinton uncharacteristically decried “Russian subversion” during the campaign. … Read more

Russia’s info war & what to do about it

“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 … Read more

State-of-the-art political & psychological warfare against US

‘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 … Read more

Helping the Army Special Operations Forces understand subversion in an age of countering violent extremism

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 … Read more

WikiLeaks game can turn Kremlin fortress into glass house

by J Michael Waller / Forbes / August 16, 2016. For the first time since the 1950s, Russian subversion of the American political process has become a presidential campaign issue. The Kremlin’s latest act of espionage-driven propaganda–document dump of Democratic National Committee emails via WikiLeaks–achieved its desired effect of immediate politicization. We should step back to learn two … Read more