A Climate of Insecurity? Exploring the Nexus of Climate Change and National Security

March 2024 No Comments

Speaker: Dr. Samuel Henkin (NSI, Inc.) Date: 4 April 2024 Speaker Session Summary The rapidly evolving global climate system is undergoing changes at an unprecedented rate, placing significant strains on governments and communities worldwide. Dr. Henkin underscored that climate change functions as a threat multiplier, intensifying existing social, political, and economic tensions. The concept of […]

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Measuring Policy Effectiveness of Cyber Deterrence and Defensibility

March 2024 No Comments

Author: Mr. Jason Healey (Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs) Publication Preview The United States needs more effective metrics to determine if integrated cyber deterrence is working (as called for in the 2023 cyber strategy for the Department of Defense (DOD)) as expected and to separate these effects from those of improving the […]

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Conceptualizing the Deterrence of Terrorism in the Era of Strategic Competition

March 2024 No Comments

Author: Dr. Steven S. Sin (START, University of Maryland) Publication Preview Deterring terrorism literature began as a reaction following the events of September 11, 2001. Since that time, there has been fairly robust research that applied deterrence theory to terrorism, terrorists, and violent non-state actors in general. This paper explores both the innovations and pitfalls […]

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Measuring Policy Effectiveness of Cyber Deterrence and Defensibility

March 2024 No Comments

Speaker: Jason Healey (Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs) Date: 28 March 2024 Speaker Session Summary Cyber deterrence differs significantly from conventional deterrence, particularly nuclear deterrence. Mr. Healey discusses strengths, weaknesses, and new ways of measuring success in the cyber realm in his recently published paper “Measuring Policy Effectiveness of Cyber Deterrence and […]

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Irregular Deterrence: How Irregular Activity Contributes to Integrated Deterrence

March 2024 No Comments

Authors: Derek Jones (Valens Global), Madison Urban (Valens Global), & Dr. Kevin D. Stringer (General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania) Publication Preview At the core of the United States 2022 National Defense Strategy is the concept of integrated deterrence, using the full range of tools of statecraft to convince a potential adversary that an […]

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Key Factors in Crisis Escalation

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Author: Egle Murauskaite (University of Maryland) Publication Preview Over the past decade, the nature of international conflict has increasingly turned away from state-versus-state warfare becoming, instead, typified as relatively low-level crises. Different authors and institutionshave characterized this as gray zone warfare, hybrid warfare, or competition-short-of-war. The tools (i.e.,courses of action) used in this deliberately ambiguous […]

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Russian Nuclear Rhetoric 2014-2023: Transatlantic Differences in Threat Perception

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Author: Egle Murauskaite (University of Maryland) Publication Preview After decades of discourse on disarmament and non-proliferation, the war in Ukraine has effectively marked the return of nuclear weapons to both mainstream public rhetoric and military-policy planning, and highlighted the growing importance of strategic deterrence. Russia’s progressively more intense nuclear saber-rattling over the past decade is […]

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Assessing the Impact of China’s Slowing Economy on CCP Legitimacy using Hyperlocal Population Data

March 2024 No Comments

Speaker: Katherine Ly (Fraym) Date: 21 March 2024 Speaker Session Summary The Chinese economy has enjoyed massive growth during the last few decades as its economy transitioned from mostly agrarian to the world’s largest trading nation and an industrial superpower. This trend of Chinese economic growth has drastically slowed or reversed in several key areas. […]

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Upstart: How China Became a Great Power

March 2024 No Comments

Speaker: Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro (Stanford University) Date: 12 March 2024 Speaker Session Summary China’s ascent as a formidable challenger to the United States, both economically and militarily, represents a significant shift from just a quarter-century ago. In her recent book, “Upstart: How China Became a Great Power,” Dr. Mastro delves into the rapid trajectory […]

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Moloch, the Meta-Crisis, and Integrated Nuclear Deterrence

March 2024 No Comments

Authors: The Media Ecology and Strategy Analysis Group (MESA) Research Team Members: Dr. Skye Cooley (Oklahoma State University); Dr. Sumin Shin (Oklahoma State University); Dr. Aysa Cooley (Oklahoma State University); Dr. Rosemary Avance (Oklahoma State University) Student Researchers: Dru Norton, Kelli Leech, Campbell Clark Publication Preview This project examines global perspectives on evolving nuclear challenges […]

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