The White House's newly released 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) provides striking validation of the strategic framework outlined in “Asymmetric Warfare: Strategies and Tactics for the Modern Combatant,” published by Fortis Novum Mundum earlier this year. The official government document's treatment of irregular threats, gray zone operations, and technology-enabled conflict mirrors analysis the book presented months before the NSS was drafted.

“Asymmetric Warfare” argued that irregular and sub-threshold conflict had become the primary mode of strategic competition between states. The 2025 NSS confirms this assessment, treating cyber intrusions, disinformation, economic coercion, proxy forces, and supply chain manipulation not as peripheral concerns but as integrated tools of state power designed to achieve strategic effects while avoiding conventional military response.

“Between peace and war exists a contested realm where strategic advantage is gained without triggering conventional military response. This 'gray zone' represents neither peace nor war but a deliberate operating space where asymmetric actors conduct operations with strategic impact while remaining below thresholds that would provoke decisive conventional reaction.”
— Asymmetric Warfare, Chapter 4

The NSS employs nearly identical framing, identifying adversary campaigns that “stay below the threshold of war while achieving strategic effects” through cyber operations, influence campaigns, and economic leverage. The document explicitly names these approaches as the central challenge facing American national security.

Cost Asymmetry and Technology Democratization

Perhaps the most direct validation appears in the NSS treatment of cost asymmetry in modern conflict. The document acknowledges “the huge gap, demonstrated in recent conflicts, between low-cost drones and missiles versus the expensive systems required to defend against them” — a dynamic “Asymmetric Warfare” identified as fundamentally reshaping the distribution of military power.

“A $1,500 commercial drone can now deliver capabilities that would have required million-dollar military systems just a decade ago. Artificial intelligence tools available to anyone with internet access can generate sophisticated disinformation at scale… The democratization of technology has fundamentally altered the power dynamics of modern conflict.”
— Asymmetric Warfare, Preface

The NSS response to this dynamic — calling for “a national mobilization to innovate powerful defenses at low cost, to produce the most capable and modern systems and munitions at scale” — reflects exactly the strategic imperative “Asymmetric Warfare” outlined for conventional powers facing technology-enabled irregular threats.

Attribution Challenges and Proxy Warfare

The NSS identifies propaganda, influence operations, and proxy forces as primary instruments of adversary strategy. “Asymmetric Warfare” provided the analytical framework for understanding why these approaches have become dominant:

“Gray zone operations deliberately create attribution uncertainty through technical means, operational methods, and strategic communication. This attribution ambiguity paralyzes conventional response mechanisms designed for clearly defined threats rather than deliberately obscured aggression.”
— Asymmetric Warfare, Chapter 4

The government's strategic response — emphasizing resilience, allied coordination, and whole-of-government approaches — aligns with the book's conclusion that traditional military frameworks prove insufficient against adversaries specifically designing operations to exploit institutional seams.

“Asymmetric Warfare” concluded that understanding irregular approaches had become essential for security practitioners because “the future belongs not to those with the largest arsenals, but to those who best comprehend how to leverage asymmetries across multiple domains of conflict.” The 2025 NSS appears to operate from precisely this premise, treating economic security, cyber defense, information operations, and alliance resilience as co-equal priorities alongside conventional military capability.

“Asymmetric Warfare: Strategies and Tactics for the Modern Combatant” is available through major booksellers and directly from Fortis Novum Mundum. For media inquiries, review copies, or author interviews, contact the publisher at the information below.

About “Asymmetric Warfare”

“Asymmetric Warfare: Strategies and Tactics for the Modern Combatant” provides a comprehensive examination of how warfare has evolved beyond traditional paradigms. Drawing on historical case studies from Vietnam to Ukraine and contemporary analysis of cyber operations, gray zone conflict, and information warfare, the book offers frameworks for understanding, analyzing, and responding to asymmetric challenges across multiple domains. It is written for military officers, intelligence professionals, policymakers, and security analysts navigating an era where conventional military superiority offers diminishing returns against adaptable adversaries.

About the Author

Josh Luberisse is a security researcher, author, and founder of multiple ventures spanning cybersecurity, intelligence, and defense technology. His previous works include analyses of cognitive warfare, information operations, and modern conflict dynamics. More information is available at joshluberisse.info.

About Fortis Novum Mundum

Fortis Novum Mundum is an independent publisher specializing in works on security, technology, strategy, and the intersection of emerging capabilities with geopolitical competition. The publisher is committed to producing rigorous, practitioner-focused analysis that anticipates rather than reacts to strategic developments.

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