Research

ISW's Overwatch Podcast features discussions with experts and practitioners to explore challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the United States.

ISW is closely monitoring the unfolding, dynamic, and complicated events in Belarus and its consequences for US national security and the NATO alliance.

This series of papers explores the ways the United States and its potential adversaries are learning from ongoing geopolitical competition and military engagements.

The United States cannot stabilize—or safely deprioritize—the Middle East without first stabilizing Iraq.

The Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute undertook a joint Planning Exercise focused on Russia's objectives and ways of warfare under Vladimir Putin. The study identified key lessons and guidelines for future U.S. strategy.

ISW is monitoring how the ISIS threat to American interests is evolving as the campaign to displace the group from its territorial strongholds winds down. ISIS has lost significant terrain in Iraq and Syria but it is not yet defeated and has already set conditions to resurge in key areas in both countries.

Russia has exploited its intervention in Syria not only to shape today's battlefield but to fundamentally alter tomorrow's regional environment in a direct challenge to U.S. national security interests. The Russian military's buildup in Syria is one aspect of the reality the Kremlin is creating on the ground.

The U.S. has vital national security interests at stake in Syria beyond the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS). Following the U.S. announcement that it will withdraw its forces, a range of actors, including al Qaeda and the Russo-Iranian coalition, are preparing to vie for greater influence.

Ukraine is in a pivotal election year in 2019. Far from facing a "frozen" conflict, the Ukrainian government is defending against a full-spectrum Russian campaign that targets the U.S. and NATO partner state using multiple pressure points.