Through its publications, INSS provides rigorous, forward‑looking research and analysis on critical national security issues that support the joint warfighter and inform Department of War decision‑makers.
May 13, 2026
INSS Facilitates Strategic Discussions During NATO Defense College Visit
On 6 May 2026, National Defense University hosted a delegation from the NATO Defense College for discussions on U.S. national defense priorities and the evolving global security environment.
April 30, 2026
NATO Defense College Visit
Panel discussions at National Defense University to gain insights into U.S. national security policy and the enduring importance of the transatlantic link.
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.
June 30, 2025
The German Defense-Industrial Zeitenwende: Implications for Transatlantic Security
The Zeitenwende, or “watershed moment”—announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February 2022, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—outlined a set of policy shifts, including the development of Germany’s first-ever National Security Strategy, that appeared to signal a greater role for Germany in the defense and security of Europe.
Feb. 3, 2025
INSS joins CSIS Discussion on New Strategy for Containing Russia
On Thursday, 30 January 2025, Jeffrey Mankoff, a Distinguished Research Fellow in the INSS Center for Strategic Research (CSR), participated in a CSIS discussion on a new strategy for containing Russia.
June 21, 2022
Russia's Cold War Perspective on Missile Defense in Europe
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?
Dec. 13, 2019
Russia's Hypersonic Weapons
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.
July 23, 2019
The INF Treaty: A Spectacular, Inflexible, Time-bound Success
This article discusses the changing dynamics that led first Moscow and then Washington to reevaluate the merit of the INF Treaty. It concludes that the treaty's relative rigidity may play a key role in its undoing and suggests that future arms control negotiations develop more flexible and resilient mechanisms of review, dispute resolution, and verification.
Nov. 3, 2016
Weapons of Mass Destruction: Challenges for the New Administration
The 2015 National Security Strategy identifies the proliferation and/or use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) among the top strategic risks to the Nation’s interests.
Aug. 15, 2015
Putin's Russia and U.S. Defense Strategy
The workshop addressed two questions bearing on the development of U.S. and NATO strategy toward Russia. First, how has Russia framed the problem of deterring and defeating a conventionally superior nuclear-armed major power and its allies? Second, what should the United States and NATO do to strengthen their deterrence and defense postures? In exploring these challenges with a diverse group of experts, the workshop also sought to give impetus to a community of interest that should work collectively to ensure that defense planning is informed by a detailed understanding of contemporary Russian attitudes, doctrine, and capabilities. In order to focus in depth on the deterrence challenge, the workshop did not undertake a comprehensive review of all the issues shaping Russia’s relations with the west. A number of worthy and important questions were therefore not discussed in detail, including the genesis of the current confrontation with Russia, the full range of recent developments in Russian military capability and doctrine, Russian domestic politics, and how to integrate the military and nonmilitary dimensions of national and international strategy toward Russia.