Three Dangerous Men

Three Dangerous Men – Seth G. Jones

In recent decades, the United States has focused much of its military planning on conventional warfare and counterterrorism. But according to Seth G. Jones, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, America’s main rivals have been competing in a different way: through irregular warfare, including cyberattacks, covert action, information campaigns, proxy forces and economic coercion, which allow them to undermine American power without triggering a full-scale war. In Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran, and the Rise of Irregular Warfare, he explains how.

Jones structures the book around three key figures who shaped their countries’ strategies. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, is associated with Russian approaches that blend military force with information operations, cyberwarfare and political subversion, used in places such as Ukraine and Syria. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force until his death in a U.S. strike in 2020, built a network of proxy militias across the Middle East. Zhang Youxia, a senior Chinese military leader, is associated with China’s efforts to modernize its armed forces and expand its influence through cyber operations, espionage, economic pressure and maritime activity.

Drawing on interviews, documents and case studies, Jones describes how these strategies work and argues that the United States must adapt by strengthening its own capabilities in irregular warfare, intelligence, cyber defense and information operations.

Clear and well researched, Three Dangerous Men will appeal to readers interested in international security, foreign policy and military strategy. It reflects the author’s analysis and the situation at the time of publication.