Multi-Step Approach Closing DoD’s Cognitive Capability Gap

October 2017 No Comments

A Cognitive Capabilities Agenda: A Multi-Step Approach for Closing DoD’s Cognitive Capability Gap. Author | Editor: A. Astorino-Courtois (NSI, Inc,). Executive Summary The Strategic Multi-Layer Assessment (SMA) team conducted a year-long project for USSOCOM on the growing prevalence of Competition Short of Armed Conflict (CSAC), or use of “Gray Zone” tactics by US adversaries. Key […]

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Influence in an Age of Rising Connectedness

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Influence in an Age of Rising Connectedness. Author | Editor: W. Aviles & S. Canna (NSI, Inc.). Executive Summary A strong argument can be made that we are moving toward a pluralized, multipolar world, in which military and economic sources of power are widely distributed. Technologies (e.g., the Internet and rapid means of mass migration) […]

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Smoke, Mirrors, and Mayhem: The Good Fight Remixed

August 2017 No Comments

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. […]

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Trajectory of U.S./North Korean Nuclear War

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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 […]

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China’s Expansion into South Asia, Middle East and Africa

June 2017 No Comments

Question (R4.9): What are the medium to long term implications to US interests and posture of China’s economic, diplomatic and military expansion into South Asia, Middle East and Africa? Author | Editor: Hayes Ellis, D. (University of Maryland). Executive Summary “It’s the Economy Stupid!” Perhaps unsurprisingly, all the contributors to this question devoted attention to […]

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US-DiGIA: USG Discoverable Information Terrain

June 2017 No Comments

US-DiGIA: Mapping the USG Discoverable Information Terrain. Author | Editor: Bragg, B., Polansky (Pagano), S., & Stevenson, J. (NSI, Inc.). Executive Summary The United States currently faces a complex and dynamic security environment. States are no longer the only critical actors in the international arena; rather, a diverse range of non-state entities also has the […]

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10th Annual SMA Conference – From Control to Influence

June 2017 No Comments

10th Annual SMA Conference – From Control to Influence? A View of—and Vision for—the Future. Author | Editor: George Popp, Sarah Canna, & Nicole (Peterson) Omundson (NSI, Inc.). Conference Background The Strategic Multi-Layer Assessment (SMA) office hosted the 10th Annual SMA Conference on 25-26 April 2017 at Joint Base Andrews. This year’s conference, formally titled […]

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US and Russia Interests in Middle East

June 2017 No Comments

Question (R4.7): What are the respective national interests of the US and Russia in the Middle East, and what are the options for alleviating US/Russian tensions to mutual satisfaction and improved regional stability? Author | Editor: Polansky (Pagano), S. (NSI, Inc.). Executive Summary The geopolitical foundation of the Middle East is undergoing a fundamental shift […]

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US Foreign Policy as a Global Power

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Question (R4.5): Does US foreign policy strike the right balance in supporting US interests and its role as a global power? Or, should the US consider a more isolationist approach to foreign policy? What impact could an isolationist policy have on Middle East security and stability, balance of influence by regional and world actors, and […]

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How Developments in Brain Science Afford Military Utility

April 2017 No Comments

Speaker: Giordano, J. (Georgetown University Medical Center) & DiEuliis, D. (National Defense University). Date: April 2017.   The use of sarin gas in Syria and the nerve agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong-nam, and ongoing international efforts in dual-use brain science (such as those described in the accompanying papers) prompt renewed interest in the current […]

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