Missile Defense

Points De Vue |

Russia's Cold War Perspective on Missile Defense in Europe

John P. Caves, Jr. and M. Elaine Bunn

In this article, John P. Caves, Jr. and M. Elaine Bunn look at how Russia's opposition to the U.S. proposal to locate missile defense assets in Central Europe is primarily responsible for the controversy currently surrounding this initiative within Europe. They further look into how should Russia's objections be interpreted and what should be done about them?

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Georgetown Journal of International Affairs |

China’s Hypersonic Weapons

Paul Bernstein and Dain Hancock

Bernstein and Hancock identify potential strategic and operational issues that will need to be addressed as China's hypersonic capabilities mature.

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International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) |

Inevitable bedfellows? Cooperation on military technology for the development of UAVs and cruise missiles in the Asia-Pacific

Amy J. Nelson and T.X. Hammes

Will states in the Asia-Pacific develop real capabilities to deter Chinese aggression? In this discussion paper – published as part of the Missile Dialogue Initiative research programme – Dr Amy J. Nelson and Dr T. X. Hammes examine the increased likelihood that UAV and cruise-missile technologies will proliferate throughout the Asia-Pacific.

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Georgetown Journal of International Affairs |

Russia's Hypersonic Weapons

Paul Bernstein and Harrison Menke

While Russian hypersonic weapons could pose problems for U.S. and NATO defense planning, their introduction in the near-term is not likely to fundamentally alter the existing balance of power or the prospects for strategic stability.

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Power Under Parity

Distinguished Research Fellow Paul Bernstein contributed his expertise to this report on strategic parity in an era of great power competition.

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WMD Proceedings |

Star Wars Rebooted: Global Missile Defense in 2017

Bruno Gruselle

At present and for the near future, missile defense (MD) is not in peril of dismemberment. Indeed,

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WMD Case Study 2 |

U.S. Withdrawal from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty

Lynn F. Rusten

As President George W. Bush made these remarks in a speech at the National Defense University (NDU)

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ArticleCS - Article List (HIDDEN)

July 5, 2024

The Elusive Promise of “Over-the-Horizon” Counterterrorism

Dr. Kim Cragin, INSS Distinguished Fellow for Counterterrorism, has a new journal article on the opportunities and challenges posed by an over-the-horizon approach to counterterrorism.

Col. Thomas x. Hammes (Ret.), Senior Research Fellow at the National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, right, participates in a discussion with service members from U.S. Air Force and the Afghan National Army Air Corps about the development of the Air Corps over the last few years.

July 5, 2024

Small, smart, many and cheaper: Competitive adaptation in modern warfare

Q&A with T. X. Hammes, a nonresident senior fellow in the Forward Defense program of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a distinguished research fellow in the Center for Strategic Research.

July 5, 2024

Lethal Targeting and Adaptation Failure in Terrorist Groups

This study argues that terrorist groups’ command relationships and resources bases can hinder their ability to adapt to lethal targeting. It evaluates this argument by examining Arabic language correspondence from Usama bin Ladin’s compound related to the drone campaign in Pakistan.

June 12, 2024

Arms Control Monitoring Regimes

The successful negotiation of arms control agreements generally requires each participant’s

Red background with the letters C and P converged in the middle. A pair of headphones sit atop the letters. The word "ChinaPower" is below, with CSIS on the upper right-hand corner.

May 9, 2024

Unpacking China’s PLA Restructuring: A Conversation with Dr. Joel Wuthnow

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Joel Wuthnow joins us to discuss China’s recent restructuring of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and particularly the disbanding of its Strategic Support Force and establishment of a new Information Support Force.

May 1, 2024

The Middle East and the Ukraine War: Between Fear and Opportunity

April 30, 2024 — While the ambivalence among Middle Eastern states about the war in Ukraine stems from multiple sources, Russian influence is a significant, if underappreciated, factor. Several of these countries see Moscow as an external balancer and hedge against the possibility of a broader US pullback from the region. At the same time, Russia maintains significant coercive capabilities thanks to its military presence in Syria and burgeoning strategic partnership with Iran. Many aspiring regional powers are also sympathetic to Moscow's calls for an international order less centered on the West. This article analyzes these concerns and perceptions, and it shows how they have shaped the way states in the region have responded to the invasion of Ukraine. Broadly speaking, these states see it as a peripheral concern—especially following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023—though one that could destabilize the region by stoking inflation or further emboldening Iran. While they are wary of confronting Moscow or facing regional instability, many also directly benefit from Russia's economic decoupling from the West. These countries share President Vladimir Putin's assessment that the war in Ukraine is inaugurating a new age more friendly to middle powers.

April 26, 2024

2024 Annual Symposium

The National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD) invites you to join us on 20-21 June 2024 for the virtual Annual CSWMD Symposium "Lenses and Mirrors: Reflecting on 30 Years of the WMD Spectrum."

April 7, 2024

Rising to the Challenge: Taiwan's Response to a New Era China

A new INSS Working Paper analyzes Taiwan’s policy toward Mainland China during the Tsai Ing-wen administration and assesses prospects for cross-Strait relations under Taiwan president-elect Lai Ching-te.

April 1, 2024

Xi’s Cross-Strait Policy in the “New Era”

Since the transition from Chinese leader Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping in November 2012, the key principle underlying Beijing’s policy toward Taiwan—that the island is not independent and is an immutable part of China which must ultimately be “reunified” with the mainland—has remained consistent. However, in the last eight years since the inauguration of President Tsai Ing-wen of the Taiwan-centric Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in May 2016, Beijing’s rhetoric, policies, and actions toward the island have changed and ramped up considerably. Following the election in January 2024 of Tsai’s vice president, Lai Ching-te (William Lai) who is also with the DPP, Xi’s New Era will likely make the Taiwan Strait an increasingly tense and dangerous environment, with potentially significant consequences for U.S. policy and strategy both there and throughout the Indo-Pacific.

March 7, 2024

The Russo-Chinese Alliance and Great Power Competition with Dr. Tom Lynch

March 7, 2024 — Dr. Tom Lynch offers us a Great Power Competition understanding of the evolving Russo-Chinese strategic partnership on the Georgetown University “Diplomatic Immunity” podcast. His 30-minute podcast conversation, posted on March 7, 2024, tells us why China and Russia now appear more strategically aligned than they actually are and why they are not destined to be formal allies into the future.