Strategic Insights is a forum for concise analyses of critical policy issues that affect U.S. national security interests. It is maintained by the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University (NDU). Strategic Insights is intended for the exchange of research-informed analysis. It is not a venue for the dissemination of unofficial information and comments, or as a means to survey visitor opinions. The views, findings, conclusions, and recommendations made by Strategic Insights are solely those of the author. They do not constitute the official position of INSS, NDU or the U.S. Department of War (DoW).

Strategic Insights

Strategic Insights |

Artificial Intelligence and a Reconfiguration of Military Power

Elise Annett and Dr. James Giordano

Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael has emphasized that the DoW has historically under-deployed artificial intelligence (AI) and that the current moment demands rapid, enterprise-wide integration of AI capabilities across the DoW workforce to better support both efficiency and warfighting functions.

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Strategic Insights |

Fortifying Technologic Innovation in National Defense: Strategic Security Imperatives for Research and Acquisition

Dr. James Giordano and Dr. Diane DiEuliis

The recently announced Fundamental Research Security Initiatives and Implementation Memorandum, intended to strengthen protections for Department of War (DoW)-funded research, represents a crucial evolution in how the United States (U.S.) secures innovation enterprise within the defense industrial base (DIB). This initiative affirms that security and innovation are equal, co-foundational components of national defense and activities of the DIB.

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Strategic Insights |

Cognitive Warfare 2026: NATO’s Chief Scientist Report as Sentinel Call for Operational Readiness

Dr. James Girodano

The recently released NATO Chief Scientist’s 2025 Report on Cognitive Warfare provides a timely acknowledgment of a strategic reality that contemporary conflict is increasingly behavior-centric, and the decisive terrain is often not geographic but how individuals and groups perceive, interpret, decide, and act.

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Strategic Insights |

Cognitive Warfare 2026: NATO’s Chief Scientist Report as Sentinel Call for Operational Readiness

Dr. James Girodano

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Photo by: NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute.
A stylized digital illustration of a glowing DNA double helix suspended in a futuristic blue interface. Surrounding the helix are schematic icons representing molecular structures, chemical formulas, data grids, network nodes, and atomic symbols. The image visually conveys the convergence of biotechnology, data, artificial intelligence, and advanced scientific systems in a highly networked, modern research environment.

Strategic Insights |

Biotechnologies and the Treaty Gap: Why Biological Weapons Governance Is Falling Behind; and Some Thoughts on How to Fix It

Dr. James Giordano

The Scottish ballad Auld Lang Syne, written in 1788 by poet Robert Burns is a tune traditionally played to ring out the passing year and herald in the new. The lyrics offer an invitation to celebrate that which was good, and toast to what may come.

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Strategic Insights |

Biotechnology in the FY 2026 NDAA: Strategic Implications — and Recommendations — for Joint Force Readiness

Dr. James Giordano

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.

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Strategic Insights |

Artificial Intelligence: A Double-Edged Sword in Support and Subversion of the Biological Weapons Convention; Part Two: Implications and Recommendations

Dr. Diane DiEuliis, Elise Annett, Dr. James Giordano

As we noted, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into biosurveillance and biodefense architectures to strengthen verification and enforcement mechanisms associated with the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) can also enable state and non-state actors to obscure, circumvent, or strategically exploit the very compliance frameworks that AI is intended to enhance.

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Strategic Insights |

Artificial Intelligence: A Double-Edged Sword in Support and Subversion of the Biological Weapons Convention Part One: Framing the Issues

Elise Annett, Diane DiEuliis, Ph.D., James Giordano, Ph.D.

The recent announcement that artificial intelligence (AI) will be employed to surveille and support compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) reflects both the capabilities for data collection, integration and analysis that such systems enable, and the iterative integration of AI within biodefense ecologies and operations.

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A soldier wears virtual reality glasses; a graphic depiction of a chess set sits in the foreground. Illustration created by NIWC Pacific.

Strategic Insights |

Critical Technology Areas Part 2: Implications and Recommendations for the Warfighter and Warfighting

Dr. James Giordano

As noted in last week’s special edition Strategic Insights, the Department of War will focus upon furthering research, testing and use of six key domains of disruptive technology (viz., applied artificial intelligence [AI], biomanufacturing, contested logistics technologies, quantum and battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy, and scaled hypersonics).

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Strategic Insights |

Convergent Critical Technologies Part 1: The Integrative Transformation of Warfighting

Dr. James Giordano

The Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering’s designation of six Critical Technology Areas (CTAs; viz., Applied Artificial Intelligence, Biomanufacturing, Contested Logistics Technologies, Quantum and Battlefield Information Dominance, Scaled Directed Energy, and Scaled Hypersonics) constitutes a fundamental conceptualization of how power will be projected, contested, and sustained across the conflict spectrum.

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Soldier using virtual tablet hologram army technology

Strategic Insights |

The Agentic Database and Military Command: A Perspective on Autonomous C2 Systems

Elise Annett and Dr. James Giordano

The shift from passive databases to “active reasoning engines” in commercial agentic AI signals a fundamental transformation in how decisions are made, authority is exercised, and accountability is maintained.

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A digital 3D illustration of interconnected cubes, representing a blockchain or network system, with blue connecting lines forming a web-like structure.

Strategic Insights |

Beyond Mechanistic Control: Causal Decision Processing in Neuromorphic Military Artificial Intelligence

Dr. James Giordano

As we transition from traditional mechanistic AI architectures to those that are designed and developed to more closely mirror the complex causal dynamics of neural systems, military stake and shareholders (and oversight organizations) must confront new paradigms of autonomous decision-making that can challenge conventional understandings of predictability, command control, and accountability in AI.

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Soldier interacting with futuristic interface

Strategic Insights |

Autonomous Artificial Intelligence in Armed Conflict: Toward a Model of Strategic Integration, Ethical Authority, and Operational Constraint

Elise Annett and Dr. James Giordano

Artificially intelligent systems are being developed to have iteratively autonomous function, and these systems are increasingly being considered for use in military settings, weapon platforms, and operations.

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Strategic Insights |

Tiny Particles, Big Stakes: The Strategic Implications of Micro‑ and Nanoplastics

Dr. James Giordano and Dr. Ashok Vaseashta

During World War II, plastic production was ramped up to meet demands from the defense industry. In the post-war consumer culture, using technological innovations and advanced synthesis methods to create and manipulate isomers, synthetic polymers became an integral part of our daily existence. Since then, global plastic production has increased exponentially, and current production is over 502.5 million tons (MT) worldwide. At this trajectory and barring any binding treaty to limit plastic production, the number is on track to more than double by 2050.

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Strategic Insights |

Moving at WARP Speed Toward Developing the Cyborg Soldier

Dr. James Giordano and Dr. Diane DiEuliis

There is an adage that the fruits of scientific achievement applicable to real-world settings tend to blossom with the fertilization of time and trends.

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Two figures. Figure 1 (left): All Military Leader Engagements with Africa. Figure 2 (right): CMC Vice Chair travel to Africa.

Strategic Insights |

China’s Military Diplomacy in Africa

Matt Kuhlman, Raina Nelson, and Phillip C. Saunders

This article shows another application for regional researchers, analysts, and policymakers. Specifically, it uses the database to explore some specific aspects of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) evolving engagement in Africa.

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Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan meets with Vietnamese Minister of Defense Ngo Xuan Lich in Beijing, January 13, 2017
(Liu Fang/Xinhua/Alamy Live News)

Strategic Insights |

Visualizing China’s Military Diplomacy

Raina Nelson, Matt Kuhlman, and Phillip Saunders

The National Defense University (NDU) recently released a major update to its comprehensive, publicly available database tracking the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) international military-diplomatic engagements from 2002 to 2024.

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Strategic Insights |

Bold New Bioweapons: Part 2 — Bold Bolstering of Deterrence and Defense

Dr. James Giordano

Last week’s Strategic Insights addressed how biotechnology has emerged as a foundational and formidable element in the evolving character of warfare. The integrative convergence of big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced bioengineering and manufacturing has created rapidly expanding dual-use capabilities that can be leveraged in both non-kinetic and kinetic engagements.

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Bold New Bioweapons: Part 1 — The Burdens of Detection and Attribution

Dr. James Giordano

It has been more than fifty years since the ratification of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972, which sought to provide a formalized venue for international control and prohibition of development, production, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.

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A circuit board contains multiple examples of important microelectronics innovation. The Defense Department's microelectronics commons aims to close gaps in America's ability to bring new microelectronics technology to market.

Strategic Insights |

Major Concerns About Microelectronics

Elise Annett, Steven Hanson, Dr. James Giordano

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is decisively shaping the future of warfare. It accelerates decision cycles, extends operational reach, and enables exercised control of the informational, and cognitive dimensions of engagement.

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Strategic Insights |

Strategic Innovation in the DoD FY 2026 RDTE Budget: Leveraging Disruptive Technologies for Deterrence, Defense, and Command and Control

Dr. James Giordano

The Department of Defense FY 2026 Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDTE) budget request marks a strategic inflection that reflects a doctrinal shift toward convergent disruptive technologies, and with it, a re-posturing of how deterrence, defense and decisive command will be engaged on the near-future battlefield.

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Strategic Insights |

The Orb’s Eye: Seeing the National Security Implications of Iris Based ‘Proof of Humanity’

Elise Annett, James Keagle, James Giordano

As recently reported in the cover story of Time magazine, the launch of The Orb — a beach‑ball‑sized biometric device developed by Tools for Humanity (co‑founded by Sam Altman) — marks a paradigmatic shift in digital identity and biosecurity technology and its implications.

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Strategic Insights |

Brain Scanning: Assessing Emigration of U.S. Scientific Talent to Surveille Strategic Implications for China’s Dual-Use Technological Capabilities

Dr. Diane DiEuliis and Dr. James Giordano

Intensifying global competition in science and technology (S/T), particularly in fields with considerable disruptive potential - such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, synthetic biology, and neurotechnology—has become a defining feature of 21st-century geopolitical dynamics.

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Illustration of a human head and brain, set against a futuristic blue digital background representing neural activity and data flow.

Strategic Insights |

The “Ins” and “Outs” of Cognitive Warfare: What’s the Next Move?

Elise Annett and Dr. James Giordano

INSS has relaunched Strategic Insights. Read the latest post by Elise Annett and Dr. James Giordano.

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July 10, 2020

Innovation and Its Discontents: National Models of Military Innovation and the Dual-Use Conundrum

Dr. Amy J. Nelson's Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) Report explores variations in national models of innovation, as well as the pathways or levers those models afford in controlling innovation’s end product with a focus on dual-use technologies. The report uses case studies of both U.S. and German investment in artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing to highlight national approaches to innovation.

June 29, 2020

NDU Korea Futures 2025 Symposium

National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies has now released a public report from its February 2020 “Korea Futures 2025” symposium. The objective was to explore the implications and consequences of differing Korean futures for the United States and the countries of Northeast Asia. The report summarizes the discussions and presents key findings.

June 25, 2020

System Overload: Can China’s Military Be Distracted in a War over Taiwan?

In his 2019 New Year’s Day address, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping issued a stern warning to Taiwan: “We make no promise to abandon the use of force, and retain the option of taking all necessary measures.” At the same time, he warned that force could also be used to forestall “intervention by external forces,” referring to the United States. While designed to intimidate recalcitrant Taiwan and U.S. leaders—and appeal to domestic nationalists—rather than to signal an imminent confrontation, Xi’s comments underscored the very real military threats that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) poses to Taiwan. As the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency notes, Taiwan has been the “primary driver” of PLA modernization for decades, spurring the development of short- and long-range ballistic missiles, amphibious and airborne units, and other capabilities targeted at Taiwan and intervening U.S. forces. Those threats have become more worrisome as the PLA conducts large-scale exercises and provocative bomber flights around the island. The PLA’s improved warfighting capabilities have contributed to China’s near-term cross–Taiwan Strait objective—deterring Taiwan independence. Understanding the costs that a war would impose on the island, few but the most die-hard Taiwan independence activists have supported overt moves toward de jure independence.

June 24, 2020

How Will the EU Survive the Coronavirus?

What will be the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Europe? How will the pandemic change the

Senior Airman Elijah Thompkins, 75th Medical Group, hands a prescription over to a beneficiary March 23, 2020, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The 75th Medical Group Satellite Pharmacy is providing curbside service until further notice in front of the Base Exchange shopping center in support of social distancing recommendations and to increase efforts to mitigate further spread of the novel coronavirus.(U.S. Air Force photo by Cynthia Griggs)

June 24, 2020

The Health-Security Nexus: Reassessing Priorities after COVID-19

While Covid-19 has spurred debate about the need to elevate public health as a security concern, the securitisation of health presents both opportunities and trade-offs that need to be considered if we are to reallocate military spending to prepare for the next pandemic. Mr. Nima Gerami and Ms. Amanda Moodie address these issues in their latest for The Oxford University Politics Blog.

An Expeditionary Warfare Unmanned Surface Vessel autonomously navigates a predetermined course through the water during Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2019 at Camp Lejeune, N.C. July 12, 2019. ANTX East 2019 is an event designed to test new technology with acedemic, industry and Navy participants. (Marine Corps photo by LCpl. Nicholas Guevara)

June 23, 2020

An Affordable Defense of Asia

US military advantages over China are steadily eroding…For the last two decades, China has studied

June 12, 2020

PRISM Vol. 8, No. 4 (June 2020)

As the National Security and National Defense Strategies state, the world has entered a phase of great power competition in which the United States is confronted by a rising China and a resurgent Russia. PRISM V.8,N.4 offers perspective on this competition with articles by Sir Lawrence Freedman, the Honorable Joseph Nye, and the Honorable Andrew Natsios.

June 10, 2020

China’s Inopportune Pandemic Assertiveness

For a state just beginning to recover from Covid-19, China has been remarkably active in pressing

June 3, 2020

Just Another Paper Tiger? Chinese Perspectives on the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy

In March 2018, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi responded to a question about the Donald Trump administration’s new “free and open Indo-Pacific” strategy by comparing it to “sea foam in the Pacific or Indian Ocean” that might get some attention, “but soon will dissipate.” Wang’s remarks raise an important question for U.S. policymakers: Is Beijing so confident in its own influence, and doubtful of U.S. commitments in the region, that it perceives a green light to continue or expand the kinds of behavior Washington is trying to discourage, such as coercion of China’s territorial rivals and “predatory” lending?

May 19, 2020

Renewing U.S. Extended Deterrence Commitments Against North Korea

In his recent article in 38 North, Dr. Shane Smith explores strengthening the U.S. deterrence posture toward North Korea.

STRATEGIC INSIGHTS

Strategic Insights

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