Through its publications, INSS aims to provide expert insights, cutting-edge research, and innovative solutions that contribute to shaping the national security discourse and preparing the next generation of leaders in the field.
May 18, 2021
The United States, China, and Russia: An Innovation Net Assessment
May 18, 2021 — U.S. strategy for global competition and cooperation in innovation cannot be charted without considering innovation in China and Russia, as well as the relationships between these three actors. Here, we bring together world-leading experts to examine each of these three innovators—the U.S., Russia, and China—and to place them in context. The U.S. faces a global challenge with capable competitors that is both a marathon and a sprint, and U.S. strategy must mitigate its (inevitable) relative weaknesses and harness its (significant) relative strengths.
May 17, 2021
PLA Overseas Operations in 2035: Inching Toward a Global Combat Capability
Over the past decade, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has followed two general development trajectories. The primary focus has been on deterring adversaries and building the capability to fight high-intensity, short-duration wars around China’s periphery—what the PLA often refers to as “informationized local wars.” A secondary focus has been on nontraditional security operations, such as peacekeeping, maritime law enforcement, and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR).
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
2021 Annual Symposium
The National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) invites you to join us on 16-17 June 2021 for the virtual Annual WMD Symposium, entitled WMD Policy and Strategy Under the Biden Administration.
#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 26, 2021
NATO Partnerships for Women, Peace, and Security
The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda is a global, thematic agenda that calls for progress toward gender equality and justice as a foundation for peace and security. It was launched with the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) adoption of Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (UNSCR 1325) in October 2000. UNSCR 1325 formally recognized the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls for the first time, as well as the crucial role that women play in all security and peace processes. It also recognized the gendered nature of international peace and security, and established a legal and political framework for incorporating gender perspectives into defense and security policies. UNSCR 1325 called on the United Nations member states to develop strategies to protect women and girls in violent conflict, as well as to increase women’s participation in decision making at all levels, in all mechanisms, and at all stages of conflict.
April 23, 2021
What Does China Want?
April 23, 2021 — Despite bipartisan consensus on China’s threat to US national security interests, different views persist on how to meet the challenge of contemporary great power competition and China’s view of the future world order. LTG (Ret.) H. R. McMaster will discuss great power competition and the threat China poses to U.S. national security.
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.