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.
July 14, 2021
The Three-Body Problem; The U.S., China, and Russia
July 14, 2021 — The Cold War was the first time in over a century that the United States faced a truly existential threat, the threat of all-out, strategic, nuclear war. The strategic response designed to avoid such a catastrophe was mutual assured destruction, a deliberate reciprocal deterrence. Today the United States faces two near peer competitors, Russia and China. In this strategic triangle each needs one of the others to deter the third, resulting in a constant state of dynamic tension. The challenge for the United States is to counter China without driving it toward Russia, and to counter Russia without driving it toward China.
June 22, 2021
How to Engage with China
June 22, 2021 — Although consensus appears to have been reached in the United States on the adversarial nature of our relationship with China, opinions on how to engage—or disengage—with China are diverse. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. – China relationship will be “competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be and adversarial when it must be.” Is that a viable approach, or is it naïve?
May 27, 2021
A New Approach to Industrial Policy?
May 27, 2021 — The concept of industrial policy has been neuralgic in the United States for quite some time. In recent years economic orthodoxy has argued that "the market" is the best mechanism to spur innovation. Our strategic competitors use state subsidies, restrictive and unfair trade practices, intellectual property theft, and abundant state research resources to catalyze technological innovation, and are threatening American security and economic interests. America has not always been adverse to industrial policy, and some are arguing for a new approach to industrial and innovation policy.
May 19, 2021
Their Silent Intentions
May 19, 2021 — The United States and its allies have recently come under relentless attacks in cyber space. While some of these attacks have been relatively harmless, some have been seriously consequential, and their potential to harm U.S. national security interests is growing. While cyberattacks are difficult to trace and attribute some retaliatory action must be taken as least to demonstrate credible deterrence. Kevin Mandia, the CEO of FireEye, refutes the argument that these attacks are benign, and that rather they signal our adversaries’ "silent intentions."
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.
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 20, 2021
Innovation Amongst Allies Now-Greater Than The Sum of The Parts
April 20,2021 — Allies and international networks are central to innovation, but even amongst the most established alliances, effective collaboration requires understanding that each partner has distinct—as well as shared—national interests and perspectives. This panel brings together leading UK and US voices with deep expertise in science and innovation related to national security to ask how such allies can collaborate to provide the networks needed to meet global challenges now.
April 8, 2021
Geoeconomics Revisited
April 8, 2021 — The national security community primarily looks at great power competition with China through a military lens. The greater threat to US interests and influence, however, is arguably economic in nature. China’s growing economic influence threatens to displace not only U.S. and allied economic interests, but the liberal, rules-based world order.
March 24, 2021
Rector Federica Mogherini Reprise
March 24, 2021 — The US Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) program hosted a special one-hour session on March 24, 2021, with Rector Federica Mogherini (College of Europe; Former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), as a part of its SMA INSS/PRISM Speaker Series.
March 17, 2021
The Role of Europe in the New Great Power Competition
March 17, 2021 — The US Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA) program hosted a speaker session on March 17, 2021, presented by Rector Federica Mogherini (College of Europe; Former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), as a part of its SMA INSS/PRISM Speaker Series.