• Identifying and Neutralizing New Explosive Threats

    The IED threats from insurgent characterized the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but now the U.S. military is focusing on neutralizing bombs and mines that it could face in future conflicts against more advanced adversaries. DSI October 2022 EOD/IED & Countermine Symposium will highlight current initiatives toward identifying and neutralizing explosive threats to the homeland and critical infrastructure.

  • Kharkiv Offensive Has Shown the West That Ukraine Can Win

    The success of this week’s operation in eastern Ukraine – which he commanded – amounts to the most significant Ukrainian victory of the war so far. With the blitzkrieg liberation of most of the Kharkiv oblast, and the obviously abject and ramshackle state of the Russian armed forces made even more apparent, Ukrainian victory looks truly achievable for the first time.

  • Tide Turned? Ukraine Staggers Russia with Counteroffensive

    Over roughly a six-day period, Ukrainian forces drove east and southeast away from the city of Kharkiv, plowing through what appears to have been undermanned and poorly defended Russian defenses, making a head-snapping counteroffensive to the Oskil River and rewriting the map of the Donbas battlefield. In doing so, experts say, Ukraine may have rewritten the narrative of the entire invasion, nearly seven months since its launch.

  • Does the U.S. Economy Benefit from U.S. Alliances and Forward Military Presence?

    To what extent does conflict in other regions affect the U.S. economy, even when the United States remains a nonbelligerent state? To what extent does U.S. military engagement abroad suppress conflict? To what extent does U.S. military engagement abroad impact U.S. peacetime trade and investment with other countries? To what extent does U.S. military engagement abroad increase U.S. economic welfare?

  • Reliance on Dual-Use Technology is a Trap

    The current approach to promoting the use of emerging technology by the Pentagon is for emerging technology companies to work with the Department of Defense is to build commercial applications first and only then move into defense. But the notion of developing “technologies for the commercial market first and only then slap some green paint on them so that they can begin exploring the U.S. defense market” is untenable, Jake Chapman writes. “A better solution would enable entrepreneurs to focus on solving defense challenges by making the Department of Defense a better customer.”

  • What Would It Take to Survive an EMP Attack?

    We are increasingly vulnerable to both natural disruptions and military attacks on our power grids. An electromagnetic pulse impulses (EMPs) would destroy your electronics, leaving you and your surroundings intact — but without easy means of survival. Remember, almost all conventional power sources and the entire internet would be knocked out and might take many months to replace.

  • Protecting National Public Warning System from EMPs

    DHS released a report of operational approaches to protect the National Public Warning System from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The report summarizes recommendations that federal, state, local agencies, and private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators can employ to protect against the effects of an EMP event.

  • Risks of North Korean Chemical, Biological Weapons; EMP; and Cyber Threats

    What WMD and cyber capabilities does North Korea currently have? How does North Korea use or threaten to use these capabilities? What are North Korea’s goals in employing its WMD and cyber capabilities? What impact could this use have? How can the ROK-U.S. rein in and defeat the North’s WMD and cyber capabilities?

  • A Protein Could Prevent Chemical Warfare Attack

    A team of scientists has designed a synthetic protein that quickly detects molecules of a deadly nerve agent that has been classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction and could be used in a chemical warfare attack.

  • The Military Cannot Rely on AI for Strategy or Judgment

    Using artificial intelligence (AI) for warfare has been the promise of science fiction and politicians for years, but new research from the Georgia Institute of Technology argues only so much can be automated and shows the value of human judgment.

  • Foreign Fighters in Ukraine: What Concerns Should Really Be on the Agenda?

    A solid body of research had already explored the global rise in violent extremism and radicalization after battle-hardened fighters had returned home from the Middle East. Initially, there were concerns about similar cases radiating out from Ukraine, with a shade of right-wing extremism. Yet the current picture of foreign fighters in Ukraine differs both from the Middle East and from the fighting in the country’s east during the “gray-zone” phase of the conflict with Russia that began in 2014.

  • Forging the Future of U.S. Microelectronics Manufacturing

    U.S. initiatives are necessary to fortify access and restore the supply chains underpinning modern communications, travel, national security, and manufacturing. Foundational new program will fuel domestic microsystem innovations beyond today’s 2D limitations.

  • Computer Chips: While U.S. and EU Invest to Challenge Asia, the U.K. Industry Is in Mortal Danger

    U.S. semiconductor giant Micron, on the back of incentives in the recent U.S. Chips Act, is to invest U.S.$40 billion (£33 billion) during the 2020s in chip manufacturing in America, creating 40,000 jobs. The EU is also making moves to boost computer-chip manufacturing at home. In the U.K., however, successive governments have overlooked the importance of having a home-grown industry for this vital component. There is a clear absence of any strategic plan, and no way of riding on the coattails of the EU following Brexit.

  • ‘Silicon Lifeline’: Report Reveals Western Technology Guiding Russia’s Weapons in Ukraine

    Microelectronics produced in the United States and allied countries are crucial components of Russian weapons systems used in the Ukraine invasion. A new report says more than 450 foreign-made components have been found in Russian weapons recovered in Ukraine. The report’s authors say Moscow acquired critical technology from companies in the United States, Europe and Asia in the years before the invasion.

  • Critical Minerals Competition Uses AI to Accelerate Analytics

    The United States depends on a variety of raw, non-fuel materials dubbed “critical minerals” to manufacture products considered essential to national security. Increasing demand, coupled with limited domestic supply and increasing reliance on foreign companies to import these critical minerals, poses significant risks to the U.S. supply chain. DARPA is offering prizes for automating aspects of USGS critical mineral assessments.