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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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July 11, 2023

Proxy Wars and Strategic Competition

This chapter of the Routledge Handbook of Proxy Wars (Eds. Assaf Moghadam, Vladimir Rauta, Michael Wyss) explores the character of proxy wars through the lens of great power competition, where conventional warfare remains a major concern given its potentially catastrophic consequences.

July 5, 2023

Assessing Strength of Russian Forces: Retired US Army Colonel

NTD Media interviews Dr. Thomas F. (Tom) Lynch on Implications for US-Russia-China Great Power relations in context of evolving Russia-Ukraine war.

June 26, 2023

Counterterrorism Jenga

Editor’s Note: As the United States focuses on China and Russia and moves away from the Middle East, its ability to strike at terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State is in question. National Defense University’s Kim Cragin examines the Biden administration’s “over-the-horizon” approach and argues that its foundations are increasingly shaky.

May 17, 2023

Selective Engagements - Chinese Naval Diplomacy and U.S.-China Competition

China's navy is the most active People's Liberation Army service in military diplomacy, but how does it choose its partners? In a new Naval War College Review article, Margaret Baughman and Joel Wuthnow address this through new and updated data and multivariate regression analysis.

April 5, 2023

Game-changers: Implications of the Russo-Ukraine War for the Future of Ground Warfare

What does the record of combat in the year since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine herald about the future character of ground war?

March 27, 2023

Dictators, Summits, and War Crimes

Where is the Sino-Russian partnership going? And what does it — and Putin’s indictment for war crimes — mean for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine?

March 1, 2023

For Xi and China, Putin's War is a Geopolitical Minefield

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 upended international politics and scrambled the strategic calculations of many states, few more seriously than China. Beijing is now scrambling to limit the fallout of the conflict on its core strategic and economic interests.

Feb. 16, 2023

Private-Sector Research Could Pose a Pandemic Risk. Here’s What to do About It

In 2018, Canadian academics with pharmaceutical industry funding made a stunning announcement. They

Feb. 2, 2023

The Inhospitable Sea: Toward a New U.S. Strategy for the Black Sea Region

The Black Sea region (BSR) has become a central fault line in the strategic competition between Russia and the West. The war in Ukraine is forcing the United States and NATO to devote more attention to the region, one which NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg recognized has “vital strategic importance” to the alliance.

Jan. 31, 2023

China's Indo-Pacific Folly

Beijing’s ambition to isolate Washington from its Asian allies has been derailed in large part by its desire to redress more immediate grievances—namely, to reclaim what it sees as lost territory and punish countries that offend its sensibilities.


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

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



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

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