About IASC
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IASC is a "think-tank" focused on medium and long-term security issues and their impact on the security of the United States and her key allies. IASC is supported by foundations, universities, corporations and private donors, and by contract work performed for the U.S. Government.
We believe in freedom, human rights and a strong national defense posture. We also believe that these values are best advanced by strategies based on a vigorous examination of fact-based scenarios and by challenging all assumptions.
IASC’s uses methods pioneered by Shell Oil and the Office of Net Assessment in the Department of Defense, both of which IASC principals have worked with. "Net Assessment" weighs all factors impinging, one way or another, on a nation’s security, and arrives at judgments that provide an honest indicator of the current situation. By identifying strengths, weaknesses, potential changes and new challenges, it is possible to consider how American capabilities will compare with those of possible competitors, and to suggest guidelines for future diplomacy, economic policies, force structures, and military strategies.
IASC’s goal is to provide policymakers with such advice looking ahead 10-20 years, well beyond the current headline horizon, budget cycle and legislative calendar. This advice is based on a multidisciplinary comparison of current and future trends and scenarios – considering everything from psychology and climatology to strategic culture and radically new approaches to warfare. Variables are placed in global context, and viewed as "three dimensional" rather than as static.
IASC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. It is independent, non-partisan and research-based and its operating model is based on collaborative relationships with a network of experts in academia, government and the private sector, both in the U.S. and abroad. IASC is advised, staffed and supported by experienced national security practitioners who have decades of service in virtually all aspects of security policy and intelligence including: Executive Branch, Congress, Commissions, think-tanks and academia, and as government and corporate consultants.
This experience and range of perspectives brings an uncommon wealth of knowledge both about topical issues and the policy process and how to affect it. IASC’s competitive advantage is: the application of this knowledge and skills inventory to problems not yet being considered in-depth, if at all, by the conventional policy community; and, its ability to inform senior policymakers.
IASC believes in the importance of training a new generation of national security practitioners who share our values and commitment. We will recruit, mentor and work collaboratively to support their development and placement in relevant security policy positions. Many IASC team members train U.S. law enforcement, intelligence, military and security policy personnel in addition to university classes.
IASC further fulfills its public education mandate by ensuring that its work informs the public debate through appearances in leading media, the Internet, collaboration with other research institutions, and participation in high-level discussions with policymakers in the Congress and Executive Branch, as well as in overseas governmental and nongovernmental forums. Another key educational role is our consistent coverage of international airshows and armshows, reported in summary form on our website.
IASC and its experts appear regularly in such media as:
CNN, C-SPAN, PSB Lehrer News Hours, National Public Radio, Voice of America, BBC, The Economist, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Wall Street Journal Asia, Los Angeles Times, Armed Forces Journal, Washington Times, Financial Times, U.S. News, International Herald Tribune, Defense News, Congressional Quarterly, The Banker, Associated Press, Agence France Press, Air Forces Monthly, JANE'S, Commentary Magazine, NROnline, Popular Mechanics, Kyodo News, Apple Daily-Hong Kong, Taipei Times, China Daily Online, Senkai Shinbum, U.S. Air Force "Aimpoints," Air Power Australia, Pravda, Manila Times, the leading overseas Chinese newspaper, Shijie erbao (World Journal), KBS Korean Television, and Channel News Asia, among many others.
IASC's work is also followed on a number of business, military and policy websites and blogs around the world, including:
TerroristFinancing.com, Counterterrorismblog.com, EUBusiness.org (official EU website); PakistanDefenseForum, MiddleEastNewsWire, AUSAirpower (Australia), Military.com, SpaceDaily, ChannelNewsAsia, China-defense.com, TaiwanSecurity.org, World News Bulletin, Global Security.org, Nuclear Threat Initiative; DefenseTalk.com, and, OpenFlows.com, among others.
IASC participates in defense policy forums with other research organizations such as: National Defense University, American Enterprise Institute, Hudson Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, Heritage Foundation, American Foreign Policy Council, Aspen Institute-Berlin, FBI Academy-Quantico, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response.
IASC also provides expert testimony, policy briefings and research support to various U.S. Congressional and Executive branch consumers and clients on a regular basis, including the Department of State, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, FBI, and other agencies and Commissions. Selected areas of support to the U.S. government, and sample reports and briefings include (agency/client as indicated):
Critical US Infrastructure
- o Design and support of a unique intelligence fusion center within the Department of Homeland Security to assess and counter threats against U.S. critical infrastructure
- o U.S. global positioning satellite (GPS) & emergency communications policy options/DHS
- o Incentives for private sector risk mitigation investment in the U.S. telecommunications sector (jointly with Wharton Business School)/DHS
- o Analysis of Space-based Radar (SBR) applications for U.S. homeland security/DHS
- o Analytical and program support related to foreign ownership, control and influence over U.S. critical infrastructure for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)/DHS
- o China’s Information Warfare Threat to U.S. Critical Infrastructure/DHS
Radical Islam
- o Briefing: Tablghi Jamaat: Gateway Group to Radical Islam /Department of Justice
- o Briefing on Muslim Brotherhood: Networks, Denial & Deception /FBI & DOJ
- o Analytic and Investigative support re Emerging Trends & International Terrorism/DHS
- o Support relating to various terror finance networks and investigations/ DHS, DOJ, others
Avian flu and biosurveillance
- o Support & design for various bio-surveillance & modeling initiatives /DHS
- o Support of U.S. strategy and response for Avian flu pandemic and other bio-threats/DHS
East Asian Security
- o Studies, briefings and training materials relating to East Asian security issues/CIA, DNI
- o Open-source analysis of PRC military modernizations /House Armed Services Committee
- o PRC Foreign Military Acquisitions & Military–Technical Cooperation/US China Economic & Security Review Commission
IASC works to build and maintain an international network of scholars and research experts in areas of common strategic interest. These include institutes in India, Taiwan, Russia, Australia, Japan, Israel, Canada, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom, among others.
