Institute for National Strategic Studies > Media > News

Jan. 26, 2026

AI-powered military neurotech: Mind enhancement or control?

Neurable, a consumer neurotechnology startup, has partnered with the Air Force to study whether electrode-studded headphones can track service members’ cognitive fitness, much like Garmin smartwatches have monitored Space Force members’ physical fitness, company and government officials said this month.

Jan. 20, 2026

Artificial Intelligence and a Reconfiguration of Military Power

Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael has emphasized that the DoW has historically under-deployed artificial intelligence (AI) and that the current moment demands rapid, enterprise-wide integration of AI capabilities across the DoW workforce to better support both efficiency and warfighting functions.

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.

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.

Soldiers loading sea mines during a military exercise in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Sept. 15, 2025

The Greatest Danger in the Taiwan Strait

Dr. Joel Wuthnow writes a piece for Foreign Affairs on how a war between China and Taiwan could result from an accident or miscalculation that spirals out of control.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan join hands during a signing ceremony at the White House in Washington.

Aug. 27, 2025

With the Armenia-Azerbaijan Deal, It’s a New Era in the Caucasus

A peace treaty would settle a long and bloody conflict—and create new geopolitical options in the region.

Four adults pose inside a museum or exhibition space in front of large framed images of Xi Jinping and a military parade. Two men stand together in the center for a photo, while a woman on the right takes their picture with a smartphone. Another man stands to the left holding a phone. Red Chinese characters and decorative murals with mountains and waterfalls surround the display.

Aug. 13, 2025

Dr. Joel Wuthnow quoted in NYT on challenges within China's military

On 10 August, INSS China Center Senior Research Fellow Dr. Joel Wuthnow was quoted in a New York Times story by Chris Buckley titled “Xi Looks to Tighten Grip After Scandals Shake China’s Military Elite.”