Welcome - Department of Defense Analysis
The mission of the Defense Analysis Department is to arm select US and international military professionals and interagency personnel with the critical thinking skills and specialized knowledge that they will need for waging and prevailing in the complex conflicts under way — and those to come.
Outreach
1st SFC(A) Lethality Study
On April 2nd, students, faculty and recent graduates from the DA Department out-briefed the 1SFC(A) Command Team on the results of a 90-day Lethality Study. The team executed an independent analysis to help 1SFC(A) “see themselves” in terms of risk and preparedness for a LSCO contingency in INDOPACOM and to identify any frictions, tensions, or gaps related to that preparation. In less than 75 days, the NPS team leveraged their professional networks to interview over 100 practitioners across 1SFC(A) and the Joint Force to gather data and understand the problem from a variety of perspectives. Uniquely, the researchers' status as active duty SOF personnel also granted them access to a wide range of operational, policy, and guidance documents, which would not have been as accessible to other research organizations.
Sonic Spear (SS) 26
NPS provided a formal outbrief to the SS26 Assessments Working Group focusing on exercise design and execution from the perspective of Command and Control. The assessors identified 3 key findings: critical skill gaps for C2 visualization tools and network operations, exercise requirements exceeding allocated resources, and incomplete enterprise standards and SOPs for visualization and support tools. The feedback was corroborated and validated by multiple external organizations and well received by the JTF 53-7 team. NPS is supporting SS27 and will participate in the upcoming Concept Development Conference.
NATO SOF Exercise BOLD MACHINA (BOMA) 26
NPS students and faculty presented the results of this year’s BOMA26 Directed Study at the NATO SOFCOM Maritime Conference in Portugal. The NPS team spent the last quarter working on concepts for covert underwater communications, command and control. Additionally, the NPS BOMA25 team returned to present their work on the cUAS system developed and tested for last year’s BOMA exercise in the Netherlands. The NPS work was well received and transitioned directly into detailed planning for concept testing in the BOMA26 exercise this September in Portugal.
Explore the Department
The Department of Defense Analysis is home to three very unique and highly respected graduate programs—the USSOCOM-sponsored Special Operations and Irregular Warfare (SO/IW) program, the USDP-sponsored Information Strategy and Political Warfare program, and the NSW-sponsored Applied Design for Innovation (AD4I) program. In addition, the Department also offers a graduate certificate in Social Network Analysis, Research and Practice.
The Defense Analysis Department features an interdisciplinary faculty representing a wide range of academic and operational specialties, purposefully built that way to examine the complexities of irregular warfare and information strategy. The department believes the security challenges of the 21st century cannot be addressed by only one academic discipline
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Upcoming Events
Jun 18, 2026
Jun 22, 2026 to Jun 24, 2026
Jun 23, 2026 to Jun 25, 2026
Jun 26, 2026
Jun 30, 2026 to Jul 1, 2026
contact us
Contact the DA Department
dainfo@nps.edu
Department of Defense Analysis
(Code DA)
589 Dyer Rd , Room 214
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA 93943
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR, DR. BRADLEY "BJ" STRAWSER
Professor Strawser is a leading expert in the ethics of war, just war theory, military ethics and applied ethics of new and emerging technology. He has led research projects for the National Science Foundation, the Navy, NIC, AISI, and other agencies and has received multiple prestigious awards, including the Menneken Award for Excellence in Scientific Research. Professor Strawser teaches critical thinking and ethical decision making, the ethical analysis of war, and other philosophy courses. He has published extensively across some of the top journals in his discipline as well as widely in public media outlets and he has published nine volumes from the top academic presses in his field.
First and foremost, as a graduate school, NPS inverts the common educational paradigm. At NPS and DA , faculty members contribute to the latest developments in their chosen disciplines, but our focus is on the development of human capital: our students. Bottom line difference: at NPS the faculty work for the students, and all of us together pursue the core national security mission.
Department News
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Latest Articles
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Credibility vs. Speed: Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Information War
March 19, 2026
COL Ashraf Aldmour (JOR) recently published “Credibility vs. Speed: Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Information War” in Small Wars Journal. Summary: This article analyzes the Gaza conflict as a case study in modern information warfare, where the contest for narrative control is a decisive factor. The a Read the article.
Why Coercion Failed in Iran
March 12, 2026
Coercion has repeatedly failed to change Iran’s behavior. Understanding why requires recognizing the interaction between wicked problems and blowback. “Why Coercion Failed in Iran” explores how attempts to impose decisive solutions on complex political systems often produce an unwanted outcome. What Read the article.
Why the USSOCOM should establish a Western Balkans’ Denial and Resilience Program
March 04, 2026
Maj Nysret Buzhala (KV) published “Why the USSOCOM should establish a Western Balkans’ Denial and Resilience Program” in Small Wars Journal. Summary: Russia is actively undermining Western influence in the Balkans through "gray zone" tactics like disinformation and political subversion, a challenge Read the article.
The $75 Radio: Why US Special Operations Command Needs
March 03, 2026
MAJ Logan Birchfield published “The $75 Radio: Why US Special Operations Command Needs to Buy Off the Shelf for the Next War” in Small Wars Journal. Summary: The article recommends that USSOCOM supplement high-cost, "exquisite" radio systems with disposable, low-power commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Read the article.
Faculty Publications
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Identity in the Shadow of a Giant
This volume focuses on Taiwanese identity and cross-Strait relations at a time when the ascent of China has proven to be the greatest sustained story of international relations in the new millennium. How the people who live in Taiwan view themselves is a function of great power competition. Taiwan, formally the Republic of China (ROC), exists in the shadow of one giant, the People's Republic of China (PRC), and is a key client state of another, the United States (US). Each of these features influences both the evolution of Taiwanese identity and the playing out of cross-Strait relations.
Modern Hybrid Warfare: Russia Versus the West
This volume explores and dissects Russia's efforts to leverage modern hybrid warfare against the West including cyber operations, operations in the information environment, energy politics as well as conventional military operations during the Post-Soviet Era with a particular emphasis on the Russian Ukraine War (2022- ).
Outsourcing Duty: The Moral Exploitation of the American Soldier
Are contemporary soldiers exploited by the state and society that they defend? More specifically, have America's professional service members disproportionately carried the moral weight of America's war-fighting decisions since the inception of an all-volunteer force? In this volume, Michael J. Robillard and Bradley J. Strawser, who have both served in the military, examine the question of whether and how American soldiers have been exploited in this way.
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The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) provided post-baccalaureate education to military officers and other members of the United States defense and national security community. The mission of NPS is to provide high-quality, relevant and unique advanced education and research programs that increase the combat effectiveness of the Naval Services, other Armed Forces of the U.S. and our partners, to enhance our national security.
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