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 War stakeholders.
Nov. 25, 2025
Foreign Terrorist Fighters: A Threat in Stasis
Dr. Kim Cragin authored an article in the CTC Sentinel, a publication of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
INSS joins NUPI Russia Conference 2025
INSS Distinguished Research Fellow Dr. Jeffrey Mankoff participated in the NUPI Russia Conference 2025: Russian power practices and repertoires.
Nov. 24, 2025
Critical Technology Areas, Part 2: Implications and Recommendations for the Warfighter and Warfighting
As noted in last week’s special edition Strategic Insights, the Department of War will focus upon furthering research, testing and use of six key domains of disruptive technology (viz., applied artificial intelligence [AI], biomanufacturing, contested logistics technologies, quantum and battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy, and scaled hypersonics).
Nov. 21, 2025
Implications of a PRC Shift to a Launch-on-Warning Nuclear Posture
This Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) study assesses the prospects and implications of China’s adoption of a launch-on-warning (LOW) posture for U.S. national security objectives. It evaluates China’s ability to adopt a LOW posture, identifies the key design decisions, examines what a Chinese LOW posture might look like, and assesses the implications and identifies potential mitigation measures.
Nov. 18, 2025
Convergent Critical Technologies Part 1: The Integrative Transformation of Warfighting
The Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering’s designation of six Critical Technology Areas (CTAs; viz., Applied Artificial Intelligence, Biomanufacturing, Contested Logistics Technologies, Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance, Scaled Directed Energy, and Scaled Hypersonics) constitutes a fundamental conceptualization of how power will be projected, contested, and sustained across the conflict spectrum.
Darwin Monkey: Next Generation Neuromorphic Computing and Competition for Cognitive Capability and Control
The Darwin Monkey System represents a substantive pivot from conventional AI toward synthetic cognition through neuromorphic architectures that emulate the structural and functional dynamics of the brain.
Nov. 17, 2025
The Agentic Database and Military Command: A Perspective on Autonomous C2 Systems
As recently noted by Yasmeen Ahmad in a piece appearing in InfoWorld, the shift from passive databases to “active reasoning engines” in commercial agentic AI signals a fundamental transformation in how decisions are made, authority is exercised, and accountability is maintained. To be sure, there’s a time- and cost-effective attractiveness of “off the shelf” AI systems that might be viable for military use.
The Logos and Limits of Artificial Cognition: The Exemplar of Military Use
The paper contends that as AI increasingly emulates tasks of human judgment, abstraction, and decision-making, it challenges foundational conceptions of mind, agency, and moral responsibility.
China’s "near space" legal warfare
Mr. Todd Pennington and Ms. Emmy Kanarowski published an op-ed in SpaceNews.
Keeping Turkey in the fold
Turkey has become one of the most active middle powers navigating the erosion of the post-Cold War order.