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What do you do with an idea? SWCS, CISA co-host Irregular Warfare Forum

By Steve Morningstar USAJFKSWCS Public AffairsMay 17, 2024

Brigadier General Guillaume "Will" Beaurpere, commander, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, speaks during the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Brigadier General Guillaume "Will" Beaurpere, commander, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, speaks during the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum on the Schoool's campus May 15, 2024 at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. Senior leaders, academia, and Department of Defense representatives discussed all aspects of Irregular Warfare during the three-day event with an emphasis on doctrine, training, education and leadership. (U.S. Army photo by K. Kassens) (Photo Credit: K. Kassens) VIEW ORIGINAL
Colonel Nathan Whitfield, commander, 2nd Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne), USAJFKSWCS, speaks during the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Colonel Nathan Whitfield, commander, 2nd Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne), U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, speaks during the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum on the Schoool's campus May 15, 2024 at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. Senior leaders, academia, and Department of Defense representatives discussed all aspects of Irregular Warfare during the three-day event with an emphasis on doctrine, training, education and leadership. (U.S. Army photo by K. Kassens) (Photo Credit: K. Kassens) VIEW ORIGINAL
The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School hosts the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School hosts the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum on the Schoool's campus May 15-17, 2024 at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. Senior leaders, acedemia, and Department of Defense representatives discussed all aspects of Irregular Warfare with an emphasis on doctrine, training, education and leadership. (U.S. Army photo by K. Kassens) (Photo Credit: K. Kassens) VIEW ORIGINAL
A student from the National Defense University, who is in the College of International Security Affairs Masters Program, delivers a speech during the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A student from the National Defense University, who is in the College of International Security Affairs Masters Program, delivers a speech during the Spring Symposium/Irregular Warfare Forum on the campus of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Liberty, North Carolina May 16, 2024. Senior leaders, acedemia, and Department of Defense representatives discussed all aspects of Irregular Warfare during the three-day event with an emphasis on doctrine, training, education and leadership. (U.S. Army photo by K. Kassens) (Photo Credit: K. Kassens) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. - The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in collaboration with National Defense University's College of International Security Affairs (CISA), and the Irregular Warfare Center hosted the Spring Symposium Irregular Warfare (IW) Forum on the SWCS campus at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, May 15-17.

The theme for this symposium was “What do you do with an idea?”

Brig. Gen. Guillaume “Will” Beaurpere, SWCS commanding general, introduced the topic to the symposium and posed his thoughts to the crowd, “What do you do with an idea? You think about it, you debate it, and you write about it so others may learn.”

The Spring Symposium IW Forum focuses on developments in education, research, and practice relevant to Irregular Warfare. The symposium features CISA student research presentations, connecting current research with the community of interest and practitioners.

Forty-six CISA students representing the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. State Department, and foreign partner students from Egypt, Germany, Iraq, the Netherlands, Romania, and Thailand presented their thesis to research panels.

Irregular Warfare is not unique to special operations or the U.S. military. It is a combined effort focused on partnerships, including the Department of Defense, interagency services, and our global allies and partners.

“The Spring Symposium IW Forum served as a critically important venue to improve our joint force and whole-of-government understanding in how the U.S., along with our allies and partners, can work together for mutual advantage in strategic competition,” said Lt. Col. Tim Murphy, U.S. Army Irregular Warfare Proponent director at SWCS.

“As SWCS continues to develop the IW Academy at our Fort Liberty Campus, collaboration with IW professionals across the Services, Interagency, Industry, and our Foreign Partners will be paramount to developing IW Doctrine, Training, Leader Development, and Education to ensure the joint force is equally capable of executing both irregular and conventional warfare,” Murphy added.

Beaurpere’s opening remarks set the expectations for the research presented and for the debates within the research panels.

“Your research matters,” he said. “Take what you’ve learned back to your units in the operational force. Be open, flexible, and curious.”

The first day research panels discussed diverse academic aspects of Resilience – Resistance - Disruption, Utilizing and Adapting SOF for Strategic Competition, Africa and Strategic Competition, Developments in Irregular Warfare and the Gray Zone, Networks- Influence- Identity, Regional Dynamics in the Middle East and Asia, and Chinese Influence in the Western Hemisphere.

The second day research panels Societal Dynamics and the Security Environment, Influence, Competing Across Dimensions, and Challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

The third day’s discussion panel included the way ahead strategy for IW and standing up the IW Academy as part of the SWCS campus.

“As the institution for the special operations center of excellence, we advance the understanding by establishing the Irregular Warfare Academy as an education component to the Special Warfare Center and School as part of the SWCS 2030 strategy,” said Beaurpere in his closing remarks.

For more information about the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, visit www.swcs.mil.