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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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Aug. 22, 2023

Next Door to Ukraine, Moscow’s Grip is Tightening

In Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova, the Kremlin is waging a quiet war to consolidate its hegemony.

July 11, 2023

Priorities for NATO Partnerships in an Era of Strategic Competition

Since 2014, NATO has paid relatively little strategic attention to partnerships with nonmember states around the world. This study evaluates how select NATO partner states in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region see the strategic value of cooperating with NATO as the Alliance adapts for strategic competition, and it assesses the prospects for future cooperation.

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



INSS Around the Web | Jan. 26, 2026

AI-powered military neurotech: Mind enhancement or control?

Neurable, a consumer neurotechnology startup, has partnered with the Air Force to study whether electrode-studded headphones can track service members’ cognitive fitness, much like Garmin smartwatches have monitored Space Force members’ physical


INSS Around the Web | Jan. 20, 2026

INSS Contributes Chapter on "PLA High Command in a Protracted War" in Ar...

INSS China Center Senior Research Fellow Dr. Joel Wuthnow published a chapter on “PLA High Command in a Protracted War: Four Scenarios” in a new Army War College book edited by Joshua Arostegui, The 2024 Carlisle Conference on the PLA: Protracted War

INSS Around the Web | Jan. 8, 2026

Re-constructing and Construing the Warfighter: The Intersection of Bioen...

Current joint warfighters are no longer merely trained — in many ways, they are increasingly bioengineered.

INSS Around the Web | Dec. 17, 2025

Biotechnology in the FY 2026 NDAA: Strategic Implications — and Recommen...

The newly released FY 26 NDAA places explicit emphasis upon the increasing involvement of biotechnology in US military missions. As 2025 comes to a close, and we look ahead to the new year, Dr. James Giordano, Director of the CDTFW, offers a view to

INSS Around the Web | Dec. 16, 2025

The Imperial Trap: Russia’s War in Ukraine and the Lessons of Failed Con...

Since the release of the U.S. 28-point draft peace plan in late November, many officials and observers have suggested that a ceasefire in Ukraine may be on the horizon.

INSS Around the Web | Dec. 16, 2025

Dr. Tom Lynch Contributes U.S. Chapter to The Palgrave Geopolitical Atlas

"Chapter 2: United States" in The Palgrave Geopolitical Atlas: State and Quasi-State Actors in Great Power Competition is part of a comprehensive 54-chapter edited book that examines global state and quasi-state interactions in the new era of Great

INSS Around the Web | Dec. 11, 2025

The Challenge of a Rising, Nuclear-Armed China

This National Institute for Public Policy article examines several specific developments in China’s nuclear arsenal, which, coupled with Beijing’s aggressive foreign policy, hold sobering implications for U.S. national security interests.

INSS Around the Web | Dec. 3, 2025

Strategic Ambiguity: Erdoğan’s Turkey in a Multipolar World

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Finland and Sweden made the historic decision to seek membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).