PUBLICATIONS

Through its publications INSS provides cutting-edge research, analyses, and innovative solutions on critical national security issues in support of the joint warfighter and Department of Defense stakeholders.

 

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INSS Around the Web | July 30, 2025

COMMENTARY: Insect-Sized Microdrones: A Tiny Vector for Big Biothreats

Recent demonstrations by China’s National University of Defense Technology, aired on state broadcast CCTV-7, revealed mosquito-sized robotic micro-unmanned aerial vehicles that are approximately two centimeters long and weigh 0.3 grams.
INSS Around the Web | July 28, 2025

INSS researchers join Battle Lines Podcast on the Chinese military

Dr. Phillip Saunders and Dr. Joel Wuthnow (CSCMA) joined Battle Lines for a three-part series focused on the Chinese military.
INSS Around the Web | July 28, 2025

China’s military: How it went from obsolete to world-class

Dr. Phillip Saunders and Dr. Joel Wuthnow join Battle Lines, The Telegraph's Defence & Foreign Affairs Podcast.
Strategic Insights | July 28, 2025

Bold New Bioweapons: Part 2 — Bold Bolstering of Deterrence and Defense

Last week’s Strategic Insights addressed how biotechnology has emerged as a foundational and formidable element in the evolving character of warfare. The integrative convergence of big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced
INSS Around the Web | July 24, 2025

Russia Is Losing Its Near Abroad

Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine is one piece of a broader campaign to restore a sphere of influence in post-Soviet Eurasia.
Strategic Forums | July 22, 2025

Drone Delivery of Bioweapons: Responsibilities for Force Readiness

The U.S. National Drone Association recently sponsored the inaugural international U.S. Military Drone Crucible Championship to provide a venue for American and allied military drone training, advanced piloting, operational utility, and
Strategic Insights | July 21, 2025

Bold New Bioweapons: Part 1 — The Burdens of Detection and Attribution

It has been more than fifty years since the ratification of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972, which sought to provide a formalized venue for international control and prohibition of development, production, and stockpiling of
INSS Around the Web | July 16, 2025

INSS joins Power Vertical Podcast to talk rising tensions between Russia...

In this episode of The Power Vertical Podcast, host Brian Whitmore speaks with Jeffrey Mankoff about rising tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan following a brutal crackdown and arrests on both sides.
INSS Around the Web | July 16, 2025

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Geopolitics in the South Caucasus

Jeffrey Mankoff, a Distinguished Research Fellow in the INSS Center for Strategy and Military Power (CSMP), joined The Russian Roulette podcast.
Joint Force Quarterly | July 15, 2025

Joint Force Quarterly 118 (3rd Quarter 2025)

This issue of Joint Force Quarterly addresses key strategic, operational, and doctrinal questions shaping the future of the joint force.
Strategic Insights | July 14, 2025

Major Concerns About Microelectronics

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is decisively shaping the future of warfare. It accelerates decision cycles, extends operational reach, and enables exercised control of the informational, and cognitive dimensions of engagement.
Strategic Insights | July 8, 2025

Strategic Innovation in the DoD FY 2026 RDTE Budget: Leveraging Disrupti...

The Department of Defense FY 2026 Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDTE) budget request marks a strategic inflection that reflects a doctrinal shift toward convergent disruptive technologies, and with it, a re-posturing of how deterrence,
INSS Around the Web | July 7, 2025

Super Soldiers or Social Burden? Ethical Exploration of the Benefits and...

Biotechnological enhancements for military personnel arouse scrutiny, beyond the ethics of experimental research and due care during operational service, to the eventual return to a civilian life.
INSS Around the Web | July 7, 2025

Iran’s Strategic Crossroads: Options Beyond the Axis?

Events of 2023-2024, culminating with the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, have brought Iran’s regional strategy—a triad of ballistic missile capabilities, nuclear latency, and a decentralized network of regional armed partners—to a moment of
INSS Around the Web | July 6, 2025

A Better Way to Talk About Risk

Defense planners are prepared to accept risk to deter China, but what does that mean for counterterrorism?
INSS Around the Web | July 5, 2025

China’s Military Diplomacy in the New Era

Military diplomacy — including senior-level visits, port calls, and joint exercises — has become a vital tool of Chinese statecraft.
Strategic Insights | July 1, 2025

The Orb’s Eye: Seeing the National Security Implications of Iris Based ‘...

As recently reported in the cover story of Time[JG1] magazine, the launch of The Orb — a beach‑ball‑sized biometric device developed by Tools for Humanity (co‑founded by Sam Altman) — marks a paradigmatic shift in digital identity and biosecurity
INSS Strategic Perspectives | June 30, 2025

The German Defense-Industrial Zeitenwende: Implications for Transatlanti...

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
Strategic Insights | June 24, 2025

Brain Scanning: Assessing Emigration of U.S. Scientific Talent to Survei...

Intensifying global competition in science and technology (S/T), particularly in fields with considerable disruptive potential - such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, synthetic biology, and neurotechnology—has become a defining
Occasional Papers | June 23, 2025

China's Military Diplomacy

Chinese military diplomacy serves both strategic and operational goals. The main strategic goals are supporting Chinese foreign policy and shaping the strategic environment; operational goals include supporting People’s Liberation Army (PLA)