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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Jan. 8, 2026
Re-constructing and Construing the Warfighter: The Intersection of Bioengineering and Identity in Neurotechnologically Enhanced Military Personnel
Current joint warfighters are no longer merely trained — in many ways, they are increasingly bioengineered.
Dec. 22, 2025
What Would OPCON Transfer Mean for the UN Command in Korea?
Considered by some as an artifact of the Cold War, the United Nations Command (UNC) continues to serve several critical roles, from maintaining the armistice agreement to coordinating multinational support for the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Dec. 17, 2025
Biotechnology in the FY 2026 NDAA: Strategic Implications — and Recommendations — for Joint Force Readiness
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 why biotechnology is — and will be ever more — intrinsic and important to national defense and offers a set of recommendations for fortifying Joint Force engagement in the biotechnological domain.
Dec. 16, 2025
The Imperial Trap: Russia’s War in Ukraine and the Lessons of Failed Conquests
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.
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 Power Competition.
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.
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).
Dec. 2, 2025
Can Seoul Take the Lead & The Alliance Expand Its Aperture?
South Korea taking a lead role in conventional deterrence of North Korea, appears linked with enabling the U.S. conventional posture and the alliance's combined posture on the peninsula to better handle multiple threats to the alliance on, around, and beyond it.
The Variables of OPCON: What "Conditions"?
Language around wartime operational control (OPCON) transition has evolved over the last decade, revealing important patterns and subtle (or not so subtle) shifts in position and policy.
Human Agency Under Predictive Insight: Neuroethical Guidance of Behavioral AI
The examination of the Centaur AI system highlights a turning point at the intersection of behavioral science and artificial intelligence, and reveals a compelling truth: human choice displays structured regularity that advanced analytic systems can model.