NSI Submission to the Army University Press’s Mad Scientist Initiative: “Smoke, Mirrors and Mayhem: The Good Fight Remixed”. Author | Editor: Macaulay, A. & Stevenson, J. (NSI, Inc.). The Army University Press created the Future Warfare Writing Program to generate ideas about possible complexities of future warfare, as presented in the U.S. Army Operating Concept. As part of this program, the Mad Scientist Initiative solicits short stories to help the US Army envision and anticipate changes in warfighting through creative means. Two of our NSI'ers, Ashton Macaulay and John Stevenson, submitted a short story to the competition. Although it was…

The Trajectory of U.S./North Korean Nuclear War: Insights from Kim Jong Un’s Rhetoric. Author | Editor: Kuznar, L. (NSI, Inc.). Executive Summary Hours after the Washington Post broke the story that North Korea may have miniaturized a nuclear warhead, enabling its ICBM to deliver a nuclear blow to U.S. soil, President Trump announced that if North Korea continues to provoke, will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” About two hours after that, North Korea responded that they were "carefully examining" plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. This was…

Defense Science Board 60th Anniversary. On September 20, 2016, the Defense Science Board celebrated its 60th anniversary with an all-day event in Washington DC focused on a variety of topics from a host of speakers and panelists. Dr. Popp took part on a panel focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI): What’s Real, What’s not and is this the DoD Third Offset? The panel was moderated by the honorable Zachary Lemnios of IBM, and the other panelists included: Dr. Manuela Veloso from CMU, Dr. Bill Mark from SRI International, and Dr. David Kenny from IBM Watson. The agenda for the event can…

Breaking the Fear Barrier and Creating a Culture of Courage. Breaking the Fear Barrier Video of NSI's President Tom Rieger giving a barrier presentation to a large government organization. In his presentation, Tom discusses typical barriers due to fear from organizational issues such as low engagement, turnover, performance management system not working, etc. Most of the material in his presentation can be found in his book Breaking the Fear Barrier.

Greatest Threat is ISIS Loner. In the June 13, 2016 The Journal Gazette Dr. Kuznar discusses his view of the ISIS threat. In the wake of the tragic mass shooting incident in Orlando, and the reported shooter’s pledge to ISIS immediately before the attack, it is a good time to take stock of how ISIS is manifest and how it represents a danger to our homeland. It is also useful to consider whom its members hate, for that identifies allies in this fight. I have spent over two years intensively studying ISIS messaging, both in my capacity as an anthropologist…

Interview With Tom Rieger on Overcoming Fear. By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant. After studying dozens of defunct companies both large and small, Tom Rieger found that fear contributed significantly to each company’s demise. Now president of NSI, Inc, he wrote Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies From the Inside Out and What to Do About It (Gallup Press, 2010) to share his discoveries. Home Business Magazine spoke with Rieger about how fear impacts home businesses. Home Business Magazine (HBM): How does fear affects would-be home entrepreneurs? Tom Rieger (TR): The fear of losing what you’re holding onto can make…

Pronouncements For Defeating ISIS Dangerously Play Into Grand Strategy. Dr. Lawrence A. Kuznar is professor of anthropology at IPFW and has advised the US Department of Defense on global terrorism. He wrote this for The Journal Gazette on November 25, 2015. I have been part of a team of academic and government researchers who, for nearly two years, have been analyzing the rise of the so-called “Islamic State” – ISIS or Daesh, as most of its opponents prefer to call them. We have worked with military personnel to provide a realistic understanding of the threat Daesh presents to us, as…

Executive Order -- Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People. Where Federal policies have been designed to reflect behavioral science insights, they have substantially improved outcomes for the individuals, families, communities, and businesses those policies serve - President Barack Obama, 2015 By Robert Popp On September 15, 2015 President Barack Obama released the Executive Order, Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People. Within this order the President encourages US agencies to develop strategies for applying behavioral science insights to programs and, where possible, rigorously test and evaluate the impact of these insights. This is…

The most recent news on the impact of the National Academy of Sciences’ Deterrence study co-chaired by Dr. Allison Astorino-Courtois. The excerpt below is from the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Report on this year’s National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2016. The HASC has used the National Academy of Sciences’ Deterrence study report to task the Secretary of the Air Force in the Defense Budget. Strategic Deterrence Research and Education In the committee report (H. Rept. 113–102) accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, the committee noted that "challenges remain in educating airmen on their…

Why Dignity is the Key to Customer Service. By Tom Rieger. Taking another look at what it means to treat customers with dignity and how it benefits your business. For the last several decades customer service has cycled through an evolution of different metrics, all focused on measuring if the customer is happy. It started with satisfaction, then moved to loyalty, engagement, customer value, back to loyalty, then the recommend question, and even level of effort. Regardless of the label, the intent of these metrics is largely the same. Make the customer happy. Putting the subtle differences between these metrics…

Dr. Allison Astorino-Courtois was selected to serve on the National Academy of Sciences’ National Security Space Defense and Protection project. The approximate start date for the project is December 15, 2014. The project is sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Office of the Director for National Intelligence. Two reports will be issued: Report 1 will be provided to the sponsors no later than August 15, 2015. Report 2 will be provided to the sponsors no later than December 15, 2015. The project duration is 15 months. Below is the project scope. Project Scope The NRC will appoint a study…

Breaking the Fear Barrier: How Fear Destroys Companies from the Inside Out, and What to Do About It. "Hmmm, maybe we could both go and strangle your boss? ... Small wonder then that Breaking the Fear Barrier ends with a call for courage by business leaders, moral traits seldom taught in the nation’s B-Schools. . . . With bailouts and bankruptcies becoming routine, which leadership model would you prefer: Lehman Brothers or Seal Team Six?" Business literature—that neverending quest for Mammon’s innermost secrets—was under heavy attack recently as our local Borders Books morphed into a going-out-of-business sale. A well-ordered setting…