Docent Dr Mikael Weissmann – Page 5 – Hybrid Threats | Psychological Defence | Strategic Intelligence | Technology & Defence | Modern Warfare | Urban Warfare | Staff Rides | Wargames | China and the Indo-Pacific | the Balkans

New article: Current Intelligence and Assessments: Information Flows and the Tension between Quality and Speed

On 7 February 2024

Just out in International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, article on “Current Intelligence and Assessments: Information Flows and the Tension between Quality and Speed”.

This article takes a particular interest in the dynamics between information flows, continuous ongoing assessments, intelligence dissemination, and forward-looking operational advice. The point of departure is the tension between balancing quality (in the sense of in-depth processing of large amounts of information) and speed (meeting requirements of timeliness) in current intelligence assessments. The article takes an explorative approach to practices in current intelligence, utilizing qualitative interview data combined with open source material.

Tentative Field Study – the Battle of Ortona and Four Perspectives on Urban Warfare

By mikaelweissmann

On 15 January 2024

In Land Warfare, Professional Military Education (PME), Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Urban Warfare

On 3-7 January 2024 Major Jonas Björkqvist (Land Operations Division) and I conducted a tentative field study studying the Battle of Ortona 1943 and Orsogna, Villa Rogatti och Sterlin Castle. The aim is to enhance the inclusion of urban warfare in our teaching, staff ride & wargame repertoire. The study is part of curriculum development projects for the Swedish Officers Program and the Joing Higher Command and Staff program.

We are now working on a staff ride field guide with the title The Battle of Ortona: Four Perspectives on operations in urban terrain to be published later this year.

Major Björkqvist is also developing a new card-driven map-based war game on the Battle of Ortona to be used in connection with future staff ride to Ortona as part of Professional Military Education (PME) with a focus in particular on officer cadets and senior officers.

Seminar on Tactile Teaching Methods in Higher Education

By mikaelweissmann

On 14 November 2023

In Professional Military Education (PME), Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning

On 14 November Major Jonas Björkqvist and myself presented on our approach to tactile teaching methods in practical and scenario-based exercises and examinations at the Swedish Defence University seminar on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Study Tour to Georgia with the Higher Joint Command and Staff Programme 11-20 Oct 2023

By mikaelweissmann

On 22 October 2023

In Land Warfare, Professional Military Education (PME), Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning, Visit

On 11-20 Oct 2023 we undertook a study tour to Georgia with our Advanced Course on Ground Tactics in the Higher Joint Command and Staff Programme. During this week we met with our Georgian counterpart and key institutions in Tbilisi. We also visited the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) to learn more about their work.

Attending conference on Psychological Defence

By mikaelweissmann

On 12 October 2023

In Conference, Psycological Defence

On 10-11 October I attended a research conference organised by the Psychological Defence Research Institute at Lund University. I participated in a panel on the role of narratives in information influence and disinformation.

Staff Ride Op. Market Garden & Op. Veritable with Land Operations Division of the Swedish Defence University

By mikaelweissmann

On 21 September 2023

In Land Warfare, Staff Ride

On 18-21 September Major Jonas Björkqvist (Land Operations Division), Patrik Wiklund (Military History Division) and I led a Staff Ride to the Netherlands and Germany studying Operation Market Garden and Operationn Veritable. This tour was part of the skill development of the Land Operations Division at the Swedish Defence University. Besides studying the two operations, the aim was to test a new pedagogical approach to Staff Rides and to study the new Swedish Army Tactical Regulations.

Visiting Fellow at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP)

By mikaelweissmann

On 1 August 2023

In Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning, Uncategorised, Visit

From 17 June to 16 August, I will be a Visiting Fellow at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) in Belgrade, Serbia. During my stay, I will conduct fieldwork for a range of projects across the Balkans with a focus on Serbia, Hungary and North Macedonia. I will also do pre-recognisance for future Staff Rides and battlefield tours.

Wargaming Skåne (Southern Sweden)

By mikaelweissmann

On 25 June 2023

In Land Warfare, Professional Military Education (PME), Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning

Recently, I had the opportunity to be part of a wargame in Sweden that was part of an elective course on Land Operations in our Higher Joint Command and Staff Programme taking place in Skåne in the south of Sweden. It was an intense learning experience that required careful planning and tactical thinking from our students.

STAFF-RIDE IN THE ARDENNES 2023

By mikaelweissmann

On 1 June 2023

In Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning

This week I have co-organised a Staff-Ride for a course on land operations and tactics for the Joint Higher Command and Staff Program at the Swedish Defence University together with Lt Col Per Lindahl, Head of the Land Operations Division. It has been a very successful trip where we used four different themes – Technology, Logistics, Urban Warfare and Tactics – as a starting point for discussions and seminars at various themed terrain locations.

We also spent a day studying and reflecting on the consequences of the profession, leadership, courage and symbolic values during a visit to Verdun.

New research project on Resilience and Psychological Defence

By mikaelweissmann

On 24 May 2023

In Uncategorised

Together with colleges at among others the Swedish Defence University, RISE and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs and partners in Denmark, Ukraine and Finland we have won research funding from the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency for major research project on Building Resilience and Psychological Defence: Countering hybrid threats and foreign influence and interference. The project will run over three years and includes four parallel modules focusing on respectively 1) Case studies, 2) International actors and cooperation bodies, 3) Sweden and psychological defence, and 4) Synthesis. More information about the project can be found here: [URL]

Docent Dr Mikael Weissmann is an Associate Professor at the Department of Systems Science for Defence and Security at the Swedish Defence University. He currently serves as Deputy Director of the Swedish Defence University Centre for Land Warfare. He is also an Associate Professor in War Studies and Affiliated Researcher at the university’s Centre for Wargaming (CWG). He co-convenes the Hybrid Threats Research Group (HTRG) and serves as the Principal Investigator of the project “Building Resilience and Psychological Defence: Countering Hybrid Threats and Foreign Influence and Interference.”

Weissmann’s research focuses on Security, Strategy and Intelligence. His work is structured around six themes:
1. Hybrid Threats
2. Resilience & Psychological Defence
3. Strategic Intelligence
4. Technology & Defence
5. Modern Warfare
6. China and the Indo-Pacific

In addition, Weissmann is interested in Teaching & Learning within Professional Military Education (PME), particularly practical and scenario-based exercises and assessments with special emphasis on staff rides and wargames.

He currently pursues research in a number of areas, including:
- Teaching & Learning in PME, focusing on staff rides, wargames, and scenario-based learning approaches.
- Hybrid threats and whole-of-society defence, focusing on foreign influence and interference.
- Psychological Defence, focusing on the building resilience and psychological defence
- Strategic Intelligence, particularly the role of AI and the private sector and the dissemination of intelligence in the information environment in Strategic Early Warning.
- Technology and Defence, focusing on military innovation and the role of AI and autonomous systems in warfare.
- Russian Warfare and Influence, with a particular interest in Ukraine, the Balkans and Central Asia.
- Military Operations and Tactics, in particularly Urban Warfare and the ole of technology.
- China’s foreign policy and role in the world (including its role in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Global South, and the implication of the second Trump Administration).
- Security and Strategy in the Indo-Pacific.
- Foreign Influence and Local Adaptation in Post-Colonial States under Great-Power Influence (focusing on Central Asia and the Middle Corridor).

ABOUT
Dr Mikael Weissmann is an Associate Professor in War Studies and Academic Head & Deputy Head of the Land Operations Division at the Swedish Defence University. He is co-convenor of the Land Warfare Research Group (LWRG) and the Hybrid Threats Research Group (HTRG). He is also a member of CSCAP-EU.

Weissmann’s research on security, strategy and warfare focuses on four research themes:
1) Hybrid Threats and Foreign Interference, 2) Intelligence Analysis, 3) Land Operations and Tactics, and 4) China and East Asian Security and Strategy.

He is also interested in Teaching & Learning with a special interest in practical and scenario-based exercises and examinations as well as Professional Military Education (PME).

His expertise includes:
- Hybrid threats- and warfare
- Land Warfare
- Urban Warfare
- Intelligence analysis
- Russian warfare and influence (particular interest in the Balkans and Eastern Europe)
- Military operations and tactics
- Military tactical thinking
- China and East Asian security and strategy broadly defined.
- Practical and scenario-based exercises and examinations (including staff rides, war games, case studies, scenario exercises, simulations and roleplaying games)
- Professional Military Education (PME)

His research on China and East Asia focuses on:
- China’s foreign policy and role in the world
- the South China Sea
- the North Korean nuclear conflict
- the Taiwan Issue
- Regional and Global Power Shift
- the Belt and Road initiative

Weissmann has also pursued research on track-two diplomacy, conflict management and peacebuilding as well as Sino-Russian and Europe’s relations with China and East Asia.