STRATEGIC INSIGHTS

 

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Missile Defense

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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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GU GJIA

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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CSWMD

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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GU GJIA

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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CSWMD

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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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Star Wars Rebooted: Global Missile Defense in 2017

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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U.S. Withdrawal from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty

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)

close-up circuit chip

Jan. 13, 2026

Fortifying Technologic Innovation in National Defense: Strategic Security Imperatives for Research and Acquisition

The recently announced Fundamental Research Security Initiatives and Implementation Memorandum, intended to strengthen protections for Department of War (DoW)-funded research, represents a crucial evolution in how the United States (U.S.) secures innovation enterprise within the defense industrial base (DIB). This initiative affirms that security and innovation are equal, co-foundational components of national defense and activities of the DIB.

Cover Image for Journal of Military Ethics, Volume 24, Issue 3-4, (2025)

Jan. 8, 2026

Re-constructing and Construing the Warfighter: The Intersection of Bioengineering and Identity in Neurotechnologically Enhanced Military Personnel

Current joint warfighters are no longer merely trained — in many ways, they are increasingly bioengineered. Within the contemporary warfighting paradigms, the body becomes a domain of technological inscription, where interventions collapse the boundary between therapy and enhancement, transforming organic bodies into operational platforms fortified for tactical efficiency and strategic imperatives.

close up of a human brain

Jan. 6, 2026

Cognitive Warfare 2026: NATO’s Chief Scientist Report as Sentinel Call for Operational Readiness

The recently released NATO Chief Scientist’s 2025 Report on Cognitive Warfare provides a timely acknowledgment of a strategic reality that contemporary conflict is increasingly behavior-centric, and the decisive terrain is often not geographic but how individuals and groups perceive, interpret, decide, and act.

U.S. and Republic of Korea Army soldiers stand guard near the border of North and South Korea during a Swedish Delegation visit to the Joint Security Area, Oct. 15, 2025.

Dec. 22, 2025

What Would OPCON Transfer Mean for the UN Command in Korea?

Considered by some as an artifact of the Cold War, the United Nations Command (UNC) continues to serve several critical roles, from maintaining the armistice agreement to coordinating multinational support for the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Digital illustration of a DNA double helix surrounded by molecular diagrams, data networks, and scientific symbols, representing modern biotechnology, AI-enabled research, and dual-use scientific capabilities.

Dec. 22, 2025

Biotechnologies and the Treaty Gap: Why Biological Weapons Governance Is Falling Behind; and Some Thoughts on How to Fix It

The Scottish ballad Auld Lang Syne, written in 1788 by poet Robert Burns is a tune traditionally played to ring out the passing year and herald in the new. The lyrics offer an invitation to celebrate that which was good, and toast to what may come.

Tubes in a laboratory

Dec. 17, 2025

Biotechnology in the FY 2026 NDAA: Strategic Implications — and Recommendations — for Joint Force Readiness

The newly released FY 26 NDAA places explicit emphasis upon the increasing involvement of biotechnology in US military missions. As 2025 comes to a close, and we look ahead to the new year, Dr. James Giordano, Director of the CDTFW, offers a view to why biotechnology is — and will be ever more — intrinsic and important to national defense and offers a set of recommendations for fortifying Joint Force engagement in the biotechnological domain.

First 6 regiments of the Soviet military contingent withdrawal.

Dec. 16, 2025

The Imperial Trap: Russia’s War in Ukraine and the Lessons of Failed Conquests

Since the release of the U.S. 28-point draft peace plan in late November, many officials and observers have suggested that a ceasefire in Ukraine may be on the horizon.

"The Palgrave Geopolitical Atlas" spelled out on the left hand side, with a photo of the cover of "The Palgrave Geopolitical Atlas: State and Quasi-State Actors in Great Power Competition" publication on the right. Springer Nature is displayed across the top right.

Dec. 16, 2025

Dr. Tom Lynch Contributes U.S. Chapter to The Palgrave Geopolitical Atlas

"Chapter 2: United States" in The Palgrave Geopolitical Atlas: State and Quasi-State Actors in Great Power Competition is part of a comprehensive 54-chapter edited book that examines global state and quasi-state interactions in the new era of Great Power Competition.

DNA strand

Dec. 15, 2025

Artificial Intelligence: A Double-Edged Sword in Support and Subversion of the Biological Weapons Convention; Part Two: Implications and Recommendations

As we noted, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into biosurveillance and biodefense architectures to strengthen verification and enforcement mechanisms associated with the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) can also enable state and non-state actors to obscure, circumvent, or strategically exploit the very compliance frameworks that AI is intended to enhance.

National Institute for Public Policy report image of the world, focusing on South America and Africa

Dec. 11, 2025

The Challenge of a Rising, Nuclear-Armed China

This National Institute for Public Policy article examines several specific developments in China’s nuclear arsenal, which, coupled with Beijing’s aggressive foreign policy, hold sobering implications for U.S. national security interests.