The Center for Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups (CIWAG) at U.S. Naval War College (NWC) hosted its 8th annual symposium, "Complexity and Innovation," June 28-29.

CIWAG's mission is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the challenges presented by irregular warfare and non-state actors in the 21st century.

The symposium focused needed attention on irregular warfare, according to the president of NWC.

"Through this forum we ensure that we don't lose sight of this very dangerous threat," said Rear Adm. P. Gardner Howe III, during the opening address to the attendees.

The keynote address of the symposium was delivered by retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who spoke about winning the global war on terrorism. Flynn has served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance; and chair of the Military Intelligence Board.

Topics of the symposium lectures and discussion panels were carefully chosen for relevancy.

"Each year we select topics based on both long-term trends and current events in order to offer our attendees a wide array of interesting and important challenges facing the United States," said Marc Genest, CIWAG co-director. "This year we are featuring topics ranging from Jihadi propaganda networks, role of social networks in the Syrian civil war, Chinese cyber crime, to issues focusing on maritime irregular warfare such as the role of naval special warfare in countering gray zone conflicts."

Gray zone conflicts are defined as informal wars between states that don't resemble traditional, conventional conflicts.

"The criteria we use to select speakers is as varied as the topics we discuss; we recruit a diverse group of noted scholars and high-ranking officials from DoD as well as other executive branch departments," said Andrea Dew, CIWAG co-director. "The entire purpose of the symposium is to bring together scholars and operators in order to stimulate interaction between the two communities."

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