INSS's Dr. Phillip Saunders, Dr. Elliot Ji, and Dr. Joel Wuthnow participated in the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute’s annual Carlisle Conference on the PLA on March 25 and 26, 2026, at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The China Landpower Studies Center successfully hosted the event for the second time, bringing together more than 100 war fighters, policymakers, and China-focused experts to analyze and debate the PRC’s capabilities to react to regional and strategic-level crises. Participants from the U.S. Department of War and Intelligence Community joined professionals from academia, think tanks, private industry, and other U.S. government organizations to listen and respond to a series of expert panels and discuss panelist findings and other topics of interest in impactful breakout discussions.

Dr. Phillip Saunders, director of NDU's Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, led an interactive discussion on the impacts of senior PLA leadership purges on the second day of the conference. Dr. Joel Wuthnow and Dr. Elliot Ji presented papers at the conference.