GUWAHATI: The prestigious Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI) which is part of the Modern War Institute of the United States officially announced on 31 January 2022 the Fellows for the year 2022.
Selected from a pool of several applicants, an internationally acclaimed conflict analyst, Jaideep Saikia was among the 12 Fellows that were chosen after a protracted application process and online interview. He is the only applicant chosen from Asia.
The official announcement stated, “We selected 12 fellows from a pool of several applicants. We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and high quality of the applicants and found the process of selecting the finalists challenging. However, the best stood out”.
The fellows program is designed to provide a platform for scholars and practitioners to research and collaborate on all aspects of irregular warfare, as well as drive public discourse on irregular warfare.
The programme evinces particular interest in selecting a diverse group of fellows from across multiple fields, and believes in having accomplished that with the selection of this cohort.
The IWI Fellows will conduct research, collaborate, plan public events, and publish on topics relating to irregular warfare. The work of the 2022 Fellows would be available in the Irregular Warfare Initiative website and throughout the national security environment.
The fellows selected are:
1. Tobias Switzer, United States Air Force
2. Kevin Bilms, Department of Defense
3. Nicholas Urbonowicz, United States Special Operations Command
4. Renanah Miles Joyce, Brandeis University
5. Erin McFee, United Kingdom Research and Innovation
6. Marius Kristiansen, Special Operations, Norway
7. Nufaisa Garba Ahmed, Defense Academy, Nigeria
8. Walker Mills, United States Marine Corps
9. Maro Youssef, University of Southern California
10. Jaideep Saikia, Conflict Analyst, India
11. Ben Jebb, United States Army Special Forces
12. Doug Livermore, United States Army Special Forces
Jaideep Saikia is the author and or editor of several books, including the best-selling “Terror Sans Frontiers: Islamist Militancy in North East India”. “Frontier in Flames: North East India in Turmoil,” “Terrorism: Patterns of Internationalization” “and “Mind over Matter” include his other books.
An alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehra Dun, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, the last of which was as an ACDIS-Ford Fellow, Saikia has also served the Governments of India and Assam in security advisorial capacities, including a stint in the National Security Council Secretariat as an Expert on the North East.
He was a member of the Indian delegation for “Track II Dialogue” with Bangladesh, China and Myanmar and has been an “International Visitor” to the United States in 2003 on the invitation of the US Department of State when he studied “International Crime Issues and Global Cooperation.”
Jaideep Saikia was also a State Guest to Pakistan in 1988 on a personal invitation of the then President of Pakistan, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. He was also a Senior Fellow in the Delhi-based Think Tank, “Vivekananda International Foundation”.
Saikia received the Governor of Assam’s “Scroll of Honour” on 9 June 1999 for commendable work for countering insurgency in Assam, Citations from the General Officers Commanding, 3 and 4 Corps in January 2021 for “invaluable and selfless contribution to the nation’s security” and for “stimulating work on a wide spectrum of evolving security paradigm” respectively. Saikia is also a poet with five anthologies of poetry to his credit.