John Amble
Modern War Institute
West Point, NY, United States
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Past articles by John:
MWI Podcast: How to Build an Effective Partner Military—and How Not To
For much of America’s post-9/11 wars, the US military worked to build capable and effective security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. This mission took on various guises. There were special […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Twelve Months of War
One year ago, on February 24, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. The opening days and weeks saw Russia’s initial ambitious moves thwarted, most notably its thrust toward Kyiv. Ukrainian […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: When Cities Become Battlefields
This episode of the Modern War Institute Podcast features a conversation with MWI’s own John Spencer. He serves as chair of urban warfare studies at MWI and is a leading […] → Read More
Leopards Into the Fray: How Will German Tanks Affect the Battlefield Balance in Ukraine?
The announcement this week that Germany will send tanks to Ukraine has dominated headlines. The momentousness of this decision is difficult to overstate. Germany was the European country most resistant […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: The Theory and Practice of Resistance
In this episode of the MWI Podcast, John Amble speaks to Sandor Fabian. A former officer in the Hungarian military’s special operations forces, he has extensively researched the concept of […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Who Innovates Wins? Drones and Adaptation in the Ukraine War
Ukrainian forces have been praised for the degree to which they have used innovation—technological and tactical—during their ongoing war with Russia. This is particularly true with regard to the use […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: What Should We Make of the Protests in Iran?
In September, Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran by authorities who accused her of improperly wearing her headscarf. When she died while in detention, it became a spark that lit […] → Read More
Thanksgiving: A National Holiday Forged in War
“To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty God, […] → Read More
How Much Difference Can One Person Make?
More than 1.3 million active duty service members. A million more in the reserve components. Eight hundred thousand civilians working for the Department of Defense. Well over a million Americans […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: What Kind of Leader Will Al-Qaeda Choose Next?
The recent death of Ayman al-Zawahiri marks a rare inflection point for a terrorist organization that has had just two leaders in the more than three decades of its existence. […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Why Cohesion Matters
The term “cohesion” features prominently in discussions of military effectiveness, especially at the small-unit level. Most people have at least an intuitive sense of what it means, but understanding how to develop and nurture it in practice is a challenge. That’s even more true as technological advancement continues to make constant connectivity with the outside […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: The British Army and the Post-9/11 Wars
In this episode of the Modern War Institute Podcast, John Amble is joined by Simon Akam. He is a journalist and the author of a new book, The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11. The book tells the story of the British Army over the nearly two decades of war in Iraq […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Far-Right Extremism and the War in Ukraine since 2014
How have European far-right extremists responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? How has the Russian government leveraged members of Russia’s far right in service of its objectives in the war? And what impact has the incorporation of volunteer units into the Armed Forces of Ukraine had—given that some of those units, like the well-known Azov […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Competition, Conflict, and Cyber
Earlier this year, we announced the launch of C2P—the Competition in Cyberspace Project—a joint initiative for which the Modern War Institute partnered with the Army Cyber Institute. The project’s purpose facilitate much-needed discussion on a range of cyber-related topics. What does conflict in cyberspace look like? What does strategic competition in cyberspace look like? Equally […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Finding Opportunity in a Competitive Strategic Environment
When the idea of great power competition began to gain traction with the publication of the 2017 National Security Strategy and the 2018 National Defense Strategy, it soon became clear that it was much more descriptive than prescriptive. While it accurately captured important dynamics that increasingly defined the geopolitical landscape, it did not offer a […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Adapting During War
What are the hallmarks of an adaptable military force, especially in wartime? What types of leaders best create cultures of adaptability in their formations? How do such forces employ rapidly changing technologies? And for forces—like the US military—that have an extraordinarily robust set of doctrine governing how they operate, how does that doctrine either drive […] → Read More
Podcast: The Spear – Spectre in the Air
In August 2007, a US Army Special Forces team came under fire while passing through a valley in Afghanistan. The call for support went to a nearby base, where an AC-130H Spectre gunship crew was standing by—what’s called “sitting ground alert.” The crew quickly launched, and shortly later, the aircraft was overhead. Over the next […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: On War and Sanctions
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the Modern War Institute has published a large number of articles and released a series of podcast episodes offering analysis and commentary on the war. Most of these have been centered on, or at least related to, various military aspects of that conflict—from drones to hypersonic missiles, from […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: Amphibious Operations and the Future of War
Several weeks ago, about two months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we published an article examining the role of amphibious operations in the invasion. More specifically, it looked at the fact that there didn’t seem to be much of a role at all—somewhat surprising given Ukraine’s long Black Sea coastline. The challenge for analysts is […] → Read More
MWI Podcast: And Then There Were 32? Finland, Sweden, and NATO
The recently announced decisions by the governments of Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership signify a momentous departure from a longstanding tradition of nonalignment for both countries. The policy shift was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, of course, but why did they occur now, nearly three months into the war initiated by […] → Read More