Recent Publications

Forecasting the PRC’s Next Global Initiative
November 7, 2025 — Executive Summary: • Xi Jinping could unveil a “global environmental initiative” as soon as mid-November 2025, at the COP31 summit in Brazil. This would align with previous initiatives that have been announced at international forums. • This new initiative would complete a set of five that matches the five strands in the initial rubric of the “Community of Common Destiny” concept, Beijing’s framework for a new approach to global governance. • The PRC will likely leverage a global environmental initiative and its significant economic advantages in green energy to expand international acceptance of their alternative global governance model... MORE

The PLA’s Progress toward World-Class Ground Force Capabilities
October 27, 2025 — This essay examines Xi Jinping’s dictum of creating a world-class military by 2049 and assesses the progress of the PLA ground forces toward achieving that notional benchmark... MORE

Preparing for PRC Military Actions in Latin America in the Context of a War in the Indo-Pacific
October 16, 2025 — Within the new book by the U.S. Military Academy Modern Warfare Institute, “Expecting the Unexpected: Essays on Strategic Surprise in the 21st Century” comes a chapter from Dr. R. Evan Ellis: “Preparing for PRC Military Actions in Latin America in the Context of a War in the Indo-Pacific.”... MORE

Evan Ellis - Preparing for PRC Actions in Latin America in the Context of a War in the Indo-Pacific

Peru’s Complex Security Challenges and the Government Response
October 14, 2025 — "From September 13 through 21, 2025, the author traveled to Lima, Peru for an event bring them together faculty from the US Army War College and it’s alumni from Peru and across the region. There, he spoke to a wide range of Peruvian security experts about the country’s challenges and the response of its government and security forces. This work relays the insights from those conversations."... MORE

Expediente Abierto's Peru’s Complex Security Challenges and the Government Response by R. Evan Ellis

Global Public Security with Chinese Characteristics
September 30, 2025 — A conversation between Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens and Bonnie Glaser on China's Global Security Initiative... MORE

Slide for GMF's China Global Podcast episode Global Public Security with Chinese Characteristics

Weaponizing Risk: Recalibrating Western Deterrence
September 30, 2025 — In this episode, Antulio J. Echevarria II discusses how NATO might better leverage risk to strengthen the alliance’s extended deterrence. Can NATO increase the risks and costs of war for an adversary without unduly raising the alliance’s own? Can the alliance strengthen the credibility of NATO’s extended deterrence through a proxy strategy of “waging war without going to war”?... MORE

Slide for Conversations on Strategy Podcast Ep 61: Antulio J. Echevarria II, Weaponizing Risk: Recalibrating Western Deterrence

SSI Live 117 – China-Russia Relations and the Central Asian States
September 30, 2025 — In this episode of SSI Live, Major Brennan Deveraux interviews Dr. Brian Carlson, a research professor of Indo-Pacific security studies for the China Landpower Studies Center, on Central Asia. The conversation highlights two drastically different engagements Carlson recently had, one in Kazakhstan and the other at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in southern Germany. The discussion explores the nature of China-Russia relations and the significance of the Central Asian states in the context of great-power competition... MORE

Adapting to Future Wars: The Reorganization of the PLA Army’s Special Operations Forces and the Move toward Professionalization
September 26, 2025 — The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) implemented major changes to the organization, accession, and training of its army’s special operations forces (SOF) beginning in 2017, including the creation of a 12-man SOF team and establishment of a probable national-level army-subordinate counterterrorism unit. Beginning in 2025, the PLA introduced several changes to improve officer accession and noncommissioned officer retention in its special operations community. This article assesses observed changes since 2017 designed to improve the PLA’s command and control of its army’s SOF units and to set the foundation for China’s elite forces becoming world-class by 2049... MORE

Slide for Adapting to Future Wars: The Reorganization of the PLA Army’s Special Operations Forces and the Move toward Professionalization

The Weaponization of AI: The Next Stage of Terrorism and Warfare
September 23, 2025 — In this episode of Conversations on Strategy, Major Brennan Deveraux interviews select authors of The Weaponization of Artificial Intelligence: The Next Stage of Terrorism and Warfare, a book written in partnership with NATO Centre of Excellence – Defence Against Terrorism (COE-DAT). The authors discuss their respective chapters, which include topics such as how terrorists use large language models, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a weapon, and the future of AI use in terrorism and counterterrorism... MORE

Slide for Conversations on Strategy Podcast, episode 60: C. Anthony Pfaff, Brennan Deveraux, Sarah Lohmann, Christopher Lowrance, Thomas W. Spahr, and Gábor Nyáry – The Weaponization of AI: The Next Stage of Terrorism and Warfare

Book Review: Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present
September 22, 2025 — Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present explores revolutions from the seventeenth century to today. Part I offers historical case studies of revolutions, including socioeconomic, political, and technological examples. Part II discusses current economic, technological, identity, and geopolitical revolutions and their implications—like the ways technology improves life but at the price of depersonalization and digital addiction for some. The reviewer recommends this book for lovers of international relations, history, philosophy, and strategic studies and notes, “Military and intelligence officials and policymakers will benefit from reading the book as they place nation-impacting decisions into context.”... MORE

Cover of Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present

Book Review: America’s Cold Warrior: Paul Nitze and National Security from Roosevelt to Reagan
September 22, 2025 — In America’s Cold Warrior: Paul Nitze and National Security from Roosevelt to Reagan written by James Graham Wilson and reviewed by Rev. Dr. Wylie W. Johnson, readers follow the life of Paul Nitze. As a businessman and government official, Nitze lived a life of service, holding positions as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department. He also helped craft America’s Cold War policy. “Nitze’s life is more than an interesting story,” the reviewer notes, “it suggests the way forward for aspiring senior leaders.”... MORE

Cover of America’s Cold Warrior: Paul Nitze and National Security from Roosevelt to Reagan

Book Review: Warfare in the Robotics Age
September 22, 2025 — With real-world examples and clear explanations of how robotics influence air, maritime, land, space, and cyber operations, Warfare in the Robotics Age offers an overview of the history of robotics in war. Covering topics including drafting robots into military service, reimagining robotic warfare, and adapting to a robot way of war, the reviewer recommends the book for policymakers, strategists, practitioners, and senior leaders... MORE