News

Dec. 1, 2025

Intra-conflict Deterrence in the Indo-Pacific: Escalation Management and Nuclear Deterrence in a Potential Future U.S.-China Conflict Over Taiwan

This study, commissioned by U.S. Strategic Command and conducted by the National Defense University INSS Center for the Study of WMD, considered Department of Defense courses of action for managing escalation and deterring adversary nuclear employment within a potential future Indo-Pacific regional conflict scenario. The study considered several key variables within a potential major power crisis or conflict within this region, to include complex escalation dynamics, conventional-nuclear integration issues, the role of strategic and theater-range nuclear forces, and the challenge (and imperative) of strategic communications. The study’s April 2025 final report is USG-only; available by request from USG colleagues.

Cover of the Journal of Strategic Studies

Nov. 26, 2025

When Competition Becomes Contagious: Strategic Arms Racing Spillovers, Alliance Politics, and the Sino-American Nuclear Competition

The emergence of increasingly sophisticated conventional counterforce and missile defense systems is altering the dynamics around the nuclear security dilemma, in both its traditional and alliance forms.

Cover of the CTC Sentinel publication featuring a police officer standing in front of an anti-terrorism awareness poster. The top banner reads ‘Combating Terrorism Center at West Point – CTC Sentinel.’ The main feature articles listed are ‘Terrorism Risk: Theory, Practice, and Evolution’ and an interview with Admiral Frank Bradley.

Nov. 25, 2025

Foreign Terrorist Fighters: A Threat in Stasis

The threat of foreign fighters today is best understood as being in stasis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) walk side by side down a hall to attend a welcoming ceremony ahead of their talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 6.

Nov. 25, 2025

INSS joins NUPI Russia Conference 2025

INSS Distinguished Research Fellow Dr. Jeffrey Mankoff participated in the NUPI Russia Conference 2025: Russian power practices and repertoires.

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

Nov. 24, 2025

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

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).

image of the Earth with text super imposed on it, Implications of a PRC Shift to a Launch-on-Warning Nuclear Posture

Nov. 21, 2025

Implications of a PRC Shift to a Launch-on-Warning Nuclear Posture

This Defense Threat Reduction Agency study assesses the prospects and implications of China’s adoption of a launch-on-warning (LOW) posture for U.S. national security objectives. It evaluates China’s ability to adopt a LOW posture, identifies the key design decisions, examines what a Chinese LOW posture might look like, and assesses the implications and identifies potential mitigation measures.

The words "Special Edition" are laid out in white text over a black background.

Nov. 18, 2025

Convergent Critical Technologies Part 1: The Integrative Transformation of Warfighting

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.

The image shows a silhouette of a human head in profile, with the brain area illustrated using circuit-like patterns. At the center of the brain is a large microchip, symbolizing artificial intelligence or a combination of human cognition and technology. Radiating outward from the chip are multiple circuit lines, connecting the brain to the surrounding background. The background features bright blue concentric circles and electric-like energy streaks, creating a futuristic, high-tech atmosphere.

Nov. 18, 2025

Darwin Monkey: Next Generation Neuromorphic Computing and Competition for Cognitive Capability and Control

The Darwin Monkey System represents a substantive pivot from conventional AI toward synthetic cognition through neuromorphic architectures that emulate the structural and functional dynamics of the brain.

Soldier using virtual tablet hologram army technology

Nov. 17, 2025

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

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.

Cover of Open Journal of Philosophy

Nov. 17, 2025

The Logos and Limits of Artificial Cognition: The Exemplar of Military Use

As AI increasingly emulates tasks of human judgment, abstraction, and decision-making, it challenges foundational conceptions of mind, agency, and moral responsibility.

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