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The Institute for National Strategic Studies serves as a focal point for analysis of critical national security policy and defense strategy issues.

 

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May 11, 2021

Arms Control in Today’s (Dis)Information Environment Part I

Ms. Sarah Jacobs Gamberini's recent article for Inkstick Media examines arms control and disinformation. This is the first article in series of papers by Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) Fellows on Arms Control in Today’s (Dis)information Environment. The goal of the series is to contribute to a discussion about how disinformation could play a role in future arms control treaties and agreements.

May 5, 2021

Alliance in Evolution: The Biden-Suga Summit

The Biden‒Suga Summit represents the latest phase in the evolution of the U.S.‒Japan Alliance. What follows outlines the steps in the adaptation of this critical alliance made by governments in Washington and Tokyo.  This paper relies upon key statements made in the most recent summits to strengthen the alliance and broaden its perspective and interests.  

May 4, 2021

#Reviewing Power on the Precipice: The Six Choices America Faces in a Turbulent World

Power on the Precipice offers a less poetic, but equally vivid, evaluation of a United States in decline.[2] The theme of the rise and fall of great powers goes back to Edward Gibbon’s classic study of the Roman Empire, and Paul Kennedy broadened our understanding in The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, with an emphasis on finance and economics.[3] More recently Michael Beckley explored the interaction between a rising China and the United States and found more cause for optimism in his Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World's Sole Superpower.[4]  

April 28, 2021

Great Power Competition Explained

Dr. Thomas F. Lynch. III discusses Great Power Competition with FPRI on the Chain Reaction Podcast.

April 21, 2021

U.S. Defense Strategy After The Pandemic

After a year of loss and lockdowns, America’s vaccination efforts are slowly allowing the country to reopen. At long last, things are very slowly starting to feel normal. Among other things, this moment provides analysts the opportunity to consider how the pandemic has affected domestic support for America’s defense strategy, and whether the country will be able to afford it over the long term. This will be a difficult conversation, as it will necessarily require questioning longstanding assumptions in America’s strategic community.

April 7, 2021

A Year Of Working Intentionally

In the second article in Inkstick's series on The Future of National Security Work, CSWMD's Sarah Jacobs Gamberini pens a personal essay on the unexpected benefits of pandemic telework as a working mom in the defense world.

March 18, 2021

Quantum Sensing's Potential Impacts on Strategic Deterrence and Modern Warfare

Sarah Jacobs Gamberini and Lawrence Rubin recently wrote an article in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Orbis journal of world affairs researching how quantum sensing could impact WMD, deterrence, and modern warfare.

March 11, 2021

Want to Grow the Economy? Try Fermenting It Instead

U.S. industry’s distribution system and supply chains were vulnerable before COVID, but pandemic-related disruptions to supply chains fully exposed this already alarming problem. U.S. manufacturers have relied too heavily on foreign materials for production, and the steady off-shoring of critical industries over a course of decades has reduced direct control of vital defense-related manufacturing should it be needed.

March 10, 2021

Three's Company? Prioritizing Trilateral Deterrence Against North Korea

In December 2018, a South Korean destroyer allegedly locked its targeting radar on a Japanese

March 9, 2021

Mars Adapting: Military Change During War

As Clausewitz observed, “In war more than anywhere else, things do not turn out as we expect.” The essence of war is a competitive reciprocal relationship with an adversary. Commanders and institutional leaders must recognize shortfalls and resolve gaps rapidly in the middle of the fog of war. The side that reacts best (and absorbs faster) increases its chances of winning.








INSS Around the Web | Aug. 6, 2025

INSS China Center Researchers join China Desk Podcast

On 5 August 2025, INSS China Center Director Phillip Saunders and Center Senior Research Fellow Joel Wuthnow appeared on the China Desk podcast with Steve Yates to discuss their book China’s Quest for Military Supremacy.

Strategic Insights | Aug. 5, 2025

Visualizing China’s Military Diplomacy

The National Defense University (NDU) recently released a major update to its comprehensive, publicly available database tracking the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) international military-diplomatic engagements from 2002 to 2024.


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.