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To Deter China, Think Big Steven Metz Steven Metz is Professor of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College. This essay is solely the work of the author and does not represent the official position of the U.S. Army or U.S. Army War College. Under the Communist Party, China has always insisted […]

NNSA’s Role in the Biden Nuclear Posture Review John R. Harvey John R. Harvey is former Principal Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs and former Director, Policy Planning Staff of the National Nuclear Security Administration. His comments below were delivered at a webinar sponsored by the Advanced […]

The Taiwan Question:  How to Think About Deterrence Now Dr. Keith B. Payne Dr. Keith B. Payne is a co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy, professor emeritus and former Department Head of the Graduate School of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and former Senior Advisor to […]

Taiwan’s Turn – Deterring and Derailing an Existential Threat Heino Klinck Heino Klinck was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, 2019-2021. He is the most senior U.S. Defense Department official to visit Taiwan since 1979. As an Army Foreign Area Officer, he served as a military attaché in China, 2004-2010. Potential conflict […]

Back to the Future: A Misguided Understanding of China’s Nuclear Intent David J. Trachtenberg David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy.  Previously, he served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2017-2019. The discovery of hundreds of new Chinese missile silos that could house multiple warhead intercontinental […]

Cultivating Intellectual Capital – Linking Deterrence Practitioner to Academician Dr. Keith B. Payne Dr. Keith B. Payne is a co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy, professor emeritus and former Department Head of the Graduate School of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University, and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. I […]

The Folly of Limiting U.S. Missile Defenses for Nuclear Arms Control Matthew R. Costlow Matthew R. Costlow is Senior Analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy.  He was formerly Special Assistant in the Office of Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy at the Pentagon. Introduction U.S. military leaders have for years called for a greater […]

Missile Defense and the Space Arena Dr. Steven Lambakis Dr. Steven Lambakis is the Director of Space Studies at the National Institute for Public Policy and Editor-in-Chief of Comparative Strategy.  Interest by political and military leaders in the United States in adopting the view that space, like the land, sea, and air, is a warfighting […]

Clarifying the Issue of Nuclear Weapons Release Authority David J. Trachtenberg David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.  In the United States, the president—and only the president—has the authority to order the use of nuclear weapons.  This exclusive authority is […]

Deterrence Implications of the U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan David J. Trachtenberg David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.  The author at the Pentagon days after the September 11, 2001 attacks Twenty years ago, I was sitting in my Capitol Hill […]

The NATO Brussels Communiqué and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW): Stability of Custom and Legality of Deterrence Thomas D. Grant Thomas D. Grant is a former Senior Advisor in the Department of State’s Office of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security and a U.S. designee to the Permanent […]

Chinese Realism: Why Were the Liberal Internationalists Wrong on China? Alexander Vaughan Alexander Vaughan is a 2021 graduate of the Missouri State University Graduate School of Defense and Strategic Studies program.  Introduction During the post-Cold War era, in which the United States of America enjoyed its “unipolar moment,” relations between the United States and the […]

Space as a Warfighting Domain: Reshaping Defense Space Policy Dr. Steven Lambakis Dr. Steven Lambakis is the Director of Space Studies at the National Institute for Public Policy and Editor-in-Chief of Comparative Strategy.  Over the past decade, there has been a shift in opinion in the nation’s governing and defense-planning circles about inter-state relations in […]

Guam: A Critical Line of Defense—Threats and Means to Deter and Defend Dr. James Bosbotinis Dr. James Bosbotinis is an Associate Member of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies, King’s College London, and co-founder of Citadel Analytics. Harris S. Fried, Esq. Harris S. Fried, Esq. is an international lawyer and Chairman of Citadel Air […]

Overselling and Underperforming: The Exaggerated History of Arms Control Achievements David J. Trachtenberg David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy.  Previously, he served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2017-2019. Introduction “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different […]

Part Two of an Interview with General Larry D. Welch (USAF, Ret.), former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and former President and currently Senior Fellow of the Institute for Defense Analyses.  In this installment, Gen. Welch discusses some imperatives of the current international strategic environment. This is one of a series of interviews […]

The Strategic Stability Dialogue:  Think Before You Speak Dr. Keith B. Payne Dr. Keith B. Payne is a co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy, professor emeritus of the Graduate School of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Dr. Michaela Dodge Dr. Michaela Dodge […]

This is a quarterly series of reviews focusing on recently published books dealing with topical and noteworthy national security issues. Authors and publishers interested in submitting their books on national security for review may contact the Editor at informationseries@nipp.org. James M. Smith and Paul J. Bolt, eds., China’s Strategic Arsenal: Worldview, Doctrine, and Systems (Washington, […]

The Problem with Sole Purpose and No First Use Michael Rühle[1] Michael Rühle is Head, Hybrid Challenges and Energy Security, in NATO’s Emerging Security Challenges Division.  This is an adapted version of remarks he delivered at a National Institute for Public Policy symposium on June 21, 2021, addressing the implications of a U.S. “No First Use” […]

Out of Sight Should Not Mean Out of Reach:  Deterrence and the Proliferation of Hard and Deeply Buried Targets Dr. Michaela Dodge Dr. Michaela Dodge is a Research Scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and received her Ph.D. from George Mason University in 2019. It has been almost two decades since the U.S. […]

Part One of an Interview with General Larry D. Welch (USAF, Ret.), former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and former President and currently Senior Fellow of the Institute for Defense Analyses.  In this installment, Gen. Welch discusses sustaining an effective nuclear deterrent, emphasizing the importance of confidence in the face of uncertainty. This […]

Matthew R. Costlow Matthew R. Costlow is Senior Analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy.  He was formerly Special Assistant in the Office of Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy at the Pentagon. Critics of current U.S. nuclear policy are pressuring the Biden administration to adopt a nuclear “no first use” (NFU) policy, without precedent […]

Conversations on National Security is a series of interviews with key national security experts conducted by David Trachtenberg, Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy. An Interview with The Honorable William Schneider, Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute; former Chairman of the Defense Science Board; former Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science, […]

Dr. Keith B. Payne Dr. Keith B. Payne is a co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy, professor emeritus of the Graduate School of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. The West now faces an unprecedented nuclear threat context and deterrence challenge—well beyond what […]

Conversations on National Security is a series of interviews with key national security experts.  This interview was conducted by National Institute Research Scholar Dr. Michaela Dodge. An Interview with Major General Michael J. Lutton, Commander, Twentieth Air Force, Air Force Global Strike Command. Q.  Why is it necessary to modernize the ICBM leg of the […]

Matthew R. Costlow Matthew R. Costlow is Senior Analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy.  He was formerly Special Assistant in the Office of Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy at the Pentagon. The Biden administration recently directed the U.S. Departments of Defense and State, among others, to create U.S. policy that will “…reduce the […]

Dr. Michaela Dodge Dr. Michaela Dodge is a Research Scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and received her Ph.D. from George Mason University in 2019. This article is adapted from the Guide to Nuclear Deterrence in the Age of Great-Power Competition (2020), edited by Adam Lowther, and reprinted here with the permission of […]

Conversations on National Security is a series of interviews with key national security experts conducted by David Trachtenberg, Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy. An Interview with The Honorable Douglas Feith, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the George W. Bush Administration. Q. The Trump Administration’s 2017 National Security Strategy […]

Hon. David J. Trachtenberg Editor Dr. Michaela Dodge Assistant Editor Amy Joseph Managing Editor This is a quarterly series of reviews focusing on recently published books dealing with topical and noteworthy national security issues. Authors and publishers interested in submitting their books on national security for review may contact the Editor at informationseries@nipp.org. Jacquelyn K. […]

Dr. Michaela Dodge Dr. Michaela Dodge is a Research Scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and received her Ph.D. from George Mason University in 2019. Introduction Ten years ago this year, the Romanian Parliament approved an agreement with the United States on the deployment of a missile defense system to Romania.  The Aegis […]

Bill Edgar Bill Edgar is Director, Industry Solutions at Janes.  His comments expand upon remarks he gave at a National Institute symposium in October 2020 on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national security. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a serious health issue that has unquestionably affected millions of lives around the […]

Conversations on National Security is a series of interviews with key national security experts conducted by David Trachtenberg, Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy. An Interview with Dr. Richard L. Wagner, former Deputy Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy, and member of […]

Maintaining Taiwan’s Democracy Dr. Kathleen C. Bailey Dr. Kathleen Bailey is a consultant on defense and arms control issues and is currently a Senior Associate at the National Institute for Public Policy.  Formerly she served as Assistant Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau […]

Deterrence and Disarmament: Pulling Back the Curtain Dr. Keith B. Payne Dr. Keith B. Payne is a co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy, professor emeritus of the Graduate School of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Introduction Should the United States seek the maintenance […]

The remarks below were delivered at a symposium on “U.S.-Czech Missile Defense Cooperation: Alliance Politics in Action” hosted by National Institute for Public Policy on January 21, 2021. The symposium focused on lessons learned for alliance defense cooperation as a result of this case study, which is the subject of a recently published book by […]

This is the first of a series of interviews with key national security experts conducted by David Trachtenberg, Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy. An Interview with Dr. Christopher Ford, former Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation and Special Assistant to the President Q. I’d like to ask you […]

ICBMs and Their Importance for Allied Assurances and Security Dr. Michaela Dodge Dr. Michaela Dodge is a Research Scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and received her Ph.D. from George Mason University in 2019. Since the development of U.S. intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs), every U.S. administration—both Republican and Democratic—has considered them indispensable to […]