Organizing CAPIA: A Planning Framework for 21st Century Irregular Warfare

Irregular warfare is no longer a supporting effort to conventional conflict — it is the competition itself.

Adversaries are shaping global outcomes every day through influence campaigns, proxy networks, cyber intrusion, economic coercion, and political manipulation, often without ever crossing the threshold of armed conflict. While the U.S. remains unmatched in conventional force, today’s strategic environment favors those who shape legitimacy, perception, and access before a crisis even becomes visible.

CAPIA is a planning framework designed to help the U.S. compete and win in irregular warfare by shifting from reactive planning to deliberate environmental design. CAPIA stands for Capabilities, Access, Partnerships, Information, and Authorities. These five variables often determine success in contested, ambiguous environments where influence outweighs firepower.

Unlike traditional planning models that emphasize kinetic effects and linear phases of conflict, CAPIA is built for a world muddled by blurred boundaries, constant competition, and cumulative pressure. It provides a repeatable method to synchronize actions across domains by aligning partner engagement, narrative shaping, access expansion, and authority management to create positional advantage over time.

Ultimately, CAPIA offers a structured way to bridge the persistent gap between strategy and operational reality, which helps the U.S. shape conditions early, narrow adversary options, and compete with speed and coherence across the modern irregular warfare battlespace.

Read the full whitepaper to learn how CAPIA can reshape irregular warfare planning and campaign design for the 21st century.