November 03, 2025

Crisis of Legitimacy: Fourth-Generation Warfare (4GW) as a Tactical Threat to the United States and Global Stability with James Scaminaci III, PhD

1 hour 1 minute

The United States is facing a “crisis of legitimacy”, explained James Scaminaci III, PhD, an expert on fourth-generation psychological warfare. James earned his PhD from Stanford University, specializing in political sociology. I have done two previous interviews with him and wanted him to weigh in on current developments. He has a background as a former U.S. Naval intelligence officer, with specific expertise in the Soviet / Russian fleet. Additionally, James served as a senior civilian intelligence analyst at the European Command’s Joint Analysis Center. I was honored to invite him back to discuss Fourth-Generation Warfare (4GW) and its influence on our current political struggles in the United States and worldwide. He referenced the work of sociologist and political scientist Martin Lipset, who served as chairman on his dissertation committee, “One, the government’s effective, right? It performs well. It does its basic functions. It protects the people and gets the economy moving, etc. Everybody knows what that is, but then he said the second source of stability is the legitimacy of the political system.” James noted other essential factors as well, such as that individual values “are consistent with the values of the political system.” He discussed how the Christian Right currently sees the nation in a “spiritual warfare” scenario, thus exposing a conflict of cohesive values that threatens the legitimate services system. He noted that while this may not be a new phenomenon from a psychological perspective, we may be reaching an inflection point in the direction of destabilization. “The language changes, the means of communication have developed from the fax machine to memes on the internet, but it’s still psychological warfare, and it’s still getting in your mind and undermining the legitimacy of the United States government,” he said. This is a relly important interview!

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