The Defender’s Dilemma: Why countering grayzone aggression is so difficult (and what options Western governments do have)

August 2024 No Comments

Speaker: Elisabeth Braw (Atlantic Council) Date: 5 September 2024 Speaker Session Summary: Western governments, including the United States, face significant challenges in identifying gray zone aggression. This form of aggression is often difficult to detect before the attack is fully underway, as it can originate from any source at any time. A key characteristic of […]

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Integrated Deterrence Reachback Study

July 2024 No Comments

Author: Dr. Sabrina Polansky (NSI, Inc.) This publication was released as part of the SMA project “21st Century Strategic Deterrence Frameworks.” (SDF) For more information regarding this project, please click here. Publication Preview: This work was situated within the broader Strategic Multilayer Assessment Strategic Deterrence Frameworks (SDF) study, which incorporated four lines of effort (LOEs) […]

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Shades of Grim: Scenarios for Ukraine and Global Order

July 2024 No Comments

Speakers: Prof. Luis Simón & Ms. Lotje Boswinkel (Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) Date: 16 July 2024 Speaker Session Summary The ongoing war in Ukraine remains unresolved, and its outcome is widely debated among politicians, researchers, and military practitioners. In their recent CSDS paper “Shades […]

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Deterrence Among Three to Twelve Nuclear Powers: Fundamental Instability and Mitigation Strategy

May 2024 No Comments

Author: Dr. Claudio Cioffi-Revilla (George Mason University) This publication was released as part of the SMA project “21st Century Strategic Deterrence Frameworks.” (SDF) For more information regarding this project, please click here. Publication Preview The fundamental instability of bilateral nuclear deterrence (Albert Wohlstetter’s “delicate balanceof terror”) is mitigated, in part, by each adversary deploying and […]

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Arms Control Opportunities in the Emerging Two-nuclear-peer Environment

May 2024 No Comments

Speaker: Amy Woolf (Atlantic Council, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security) Date: 14 May 2024 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a speaker session with Ms. Amy Woolf (Atlantic Council, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security) as part of its SMA “Strategic Deterrence Frameworks” (SDF) Speaker Series. The proliferation of nuclear weapons is increasingly critical to international security, […]

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Assessing the Evolving Russian Nuclear Threat

April 2024 No Comments

Speakers: Dr. Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Nicholas Lokker, and Heli Hautala (Center for a New American Security) and Michael Kofman (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) Date: 17 April 2024 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a speaker session with Dr. Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Nicholas Lokker, and Heli Hautala (Center for a New American Security), and Michael Kofman (Carnegie Endowment […]

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The Sanctions Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

April 2024 No Comments

Speaker: Christine Abely (New England Law | Boston) Date: 9 April 2024 Speaker Session Summary The sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its past aggressive actions, such as the annexation of Crimea, targeted actors directly involved in its aggression. However, the current sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have a much […]

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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) This publication was released as part of the SMA project “21st Century Strategic Deterrence Frameworks.” (SDF) For more information regarding this project, please click here. Publication Preview The United States needs more effective metrics to determine if integrated cyber deterrence is working (as […]

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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) This publication was released as part of the SMA project “21st Century Strategic Deterrence Frameworks.” (SDF) For more information regarding this project, please click here. Publication Preview Deterring terrorism literature began as a reaction following the events of September 11, 2001. Since that time, there has […]

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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 SMA hosted a speaker session with Mr. Jason Healey (Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs) as part of its SMA “Strategic Deterrence Frameworks” (SDF) Speaker Series. Cyber deterrence differs significantly from conventional deterrence, particularly nuclear deterrence. Mr. […]

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