Integrating Deterrence Across the Gray—Making It More Than Words
Speaker(s): Crombe, K. (US Army Strategist & Director, US Special Operations Command Central J5 Strategy, Plans, and Policy Division); Ferenzi, S. (US Army Strategist & Special Forces Officer, US Special Operations Command Central J5); Jones, R. (Principal Strategist, Donovan Integration Group, US Special Operations Command) Date: 20 January 2022 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a […]
Continue ReadingSMA SEEK Results: Expanding US Nuclear Capability & Pessimism About Nuclear Use in the Next 15 Years
Author: Popp, G. (NSI); Astorino-Courtois, A. (NSI); Bragg, B. (NSI) Publication Preview In August 2021, many of you participated in SMA’s inaugural Survey for Eliciting Expert Knowledge (SEEK) outreach. SEEK is SMA’s new, online capability for tapping into the collective knowledge, experience, and wisdom of our 5000+ person community of interest to generate crowdsourced insights […]
Continue ReadingThe Real and Present Risk of Low-Yield Nuclear Weapons on the Battlefield
Speaker(s): Lowther, A. (Director, Department of Multi-Domain Operations, Army Management Staff College) Date: 12 January 2022 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a panel discussion with Dr. Adam Lowther (Director, Department of Multi-Domain Operations, Army Management Staff College) as part of its SMA STRATCOM Speaker Series. Russia’s and China’s status as near-peer nuclear competitors with the US […]
Continue ReadingEvaluating China’s Road to Cyber Super Power
Author: Dr. Brandon Williams (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) This publication was released as part of the SMA project “Risk of Strategic Deterrence Failure.” For more information regarding this project, please click here. Questions of Focus [Q5] How do US escalation management capabilities compare with those of our nuclear-armed competitors? How do relative non-kinetic capabilities (e.g., cyber […]
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Outer Space in the Media Space: How Russian and Chinese News Media Present the Commercialization and Militarization of the Space Domain
Authors: Dr. Skye Cooley (Oklahoma State University); Randy Kluver (Oklahoma State University); Dr. Ethan Stokes (University of Alabama) Report Preview This report details Russian and Chinese media presentations of operations and intentions in the space domain to their respective populations. These presentations provide us insight into how members of these nation states understand their government’s […]
Continue ReadingChallenges to 21st Century Deterrence (Part III)
Speakers: Dr. Allison Astorino-Courtois (NSI) and Dr. Belinda Bragg (NSI) Date: 7 January 2022 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a panel discussion with Dr. Allison Astorino-Courtois (NSI) and Dr. Belinda Bragg (NSI) as as part of its SMA STRATCOM Risk of Strategic Deterrence Failure Speaker Series. As US adversaries reach nuclear parity—or near nuclear parity—with the US, […]
Continue ReadingThe Shape of the Future Operating Environment: How Our Adversaries Have Learned to Stop Worrying and Ignore the Bomb
Author: Bragg, B. (NSI) Video Preview In July of this year, at the request of USSTRATCOM, SMA initiated an effort to address eight questions regarding the implications of the increasing numbers, and expanding capabilities, of US nuclear adversaries. This report addresses two of those questions: [Q2] What are US competitors (Russia, China, Iran, DPRK) doing […]
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China’s Historical Plutonium Production
Authors: Dr. John Swegle (National Strategic Research Institute) and Dr. Christopher Yeaw (National Strategic Research Institute) This publication was released as part of the SMA project “Risk of Strategic Deterrence Failure.” For more information regarding this project, please click here. Publication Preview In this paper, we reevaluate China’s production of weapons-grade plutonium (WGPu) in order to […]
Continue ReadingThe Escalatory Attraction of Limited Nuclear Employment For Great Power Competitors of the United States
Authors: Christopher Yeaw (National Strategic Research Institute, University of Nebraska) This publication was released as part of the SMA project “Risk of Strategic Deterrence Failure.” For more information regarding this project, please click here. Publication Preview The United States has entered into a dangerously new era in which, for the first time in our nation’s history, […]
Continue ReadingChallenges to 21st Century Deterrence (Part II)
Speakers: Lt Gen (Ret) Robert Elder, PhD (George Mason University); James Siebens (Defense Strategy & Planning Program, Stimson Center); Dr. Christopher Yeaw (National Strategic Research Institute, University of Nebraska) Date: 9 December 2021 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a panel discussion with Lt Gen (Ret) Robert Elder, PhD (George Mason University), Mr. James A. Siebens […]
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