Newsletter
May 2025
Welcome to the May edition, our final newsletter for the academic year. Wishing you all a great summer.
Feature
An attack on America's universities is an attack on American power
Sarah Kreps wrote an article for Foreign Affairs on the dangers of the Trump administration's freezing of federal grants to universities. She traced how cooperation between institutions shaped research in the Second World War and the Cold War, producing world-changing inventions including the internet, and warned that severing the connection between universities and the Department of Defense may push talent to other countries or the private sector, harming longer-term US national security interests.
A stop-work order halts semiconductor research
Professor Kreps also spoke to the Cornell Chronicle about how a stop-work order from the Department of Defense has halted the institute's congressionally approved research on semiconductor supply chain vulnerabilities.
Research news
Racial bias and public support for US drone strikes
Paul Lushenko co-authored a paper for Security Studies using two novel image-based survey experiments. It finds that public attitudes toward US drone strikes are not shaped by the targets' skin colour, that Americans with racist worldviews are more likely to support drone strikes regardless of location or target, and that the considerations Americans weigh are not reducible to race.
Amelia Arsenault on AI, geopolitics, and international political economy
Amelia Arsenault was interviewed by Basim Ali for a spotlight on the potential of AI to reshape geopolitics, the dangers it poses, and possible routes to regulation.
Private intelligence and countering nation-state threats
Dr. Lewis Sage-Passant, Global Head of Intelligence at Novo Nordisk, and Colin Reed, leader of Salesforce's Global Strategic Threats programme, sat down with Basim Ali to discuss the growing field of private sector intelligence and how it differs from the public sector.
Community updates
James Patton Rogers
Addressed the Joint Staff's Strategic Multilayer Assessment Committee on the history of Arctic security and recent interest from the Trump administration in expanding American presence in the region.
Quoted by the LA Times on how Trump's desire to launch unilateral strikes on drug cartels has placed President Claudia Sheinbaum in a difficult position given the history of US occupation in Mexico.
Conducting independent research on cybercrime at the University of Oxford under the mentorship of Professor Jonathan Lusthaus.
Spoke to Air and Space Forces Magazine on the siloed nature of US research on space threats and the potential of the Space Force Orbital Watch programme.
Awarded the Brettschneider Fellowship to undertake research at the University of Oxford, working with the Rothermere American Institute and TORCH on the Cold War.
James Patton Rogers
Quoted by the New York Times on India and Pakistan's drone arsenals, arguing that while the conflict is worrying, the use of drones indicates lower levels of escalation.
Spoke with Gerardo Guzman on Radio Bilingue on the ups and downs of Trump's trade war with China.
James Patton Rogers
Quoted by Foreign Policy on how drone usage did not escalate the India-Pakistan conflict as much as it might have, since many drones were taken down by air defences.
Discussed how the US Army's plan to equip each division with a thousand drones may clash with organisational culture.
Gregory Falco and James Patton Rogers
Featured by Business Insider on the challenges of Arctic security and drones.
James Patton Rogers
Featured by Business Insider on how Russia likely assisted North Korea in designing an AI-enabled drone.
Spoke on All Sides with Amy Juravich on NPR about the potential for the US to suffer brain drain given funding threats to academic institutions.
Thanks to the team
Congratulations to our graduates
Thanks to the faculty, staff, and student fellows for the time and hard work put into helping the institute grow in 2024-25. A special thanks to Esteban, Basim, Ella, Maxwell, Ojasvi, and Abby, who are taking the next steps on their academic and policy journeys. We wish you all the best and hope you visit again soon.
Courses
Fall 2025: PUBPOL 2120 Disruptive and Emerging Technologies
Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, robotics, and quantum technologies present novel, disruptive, and often unforeseen challenges for policymakers globally. This course provides an overview of critical technology policy challenges, with a focus on Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and their impact on international peace and security.
eCornell Country Risk Analysis Certificate Program
A certificate programme developed by James Patton Rogers, helping professionals hone their analysis skills and navigate the complex dynamics of the current international landscape.
Past events
Bounding War: The Institutional Logic of Prohibitions on Militarized Bargaining
Geopolitics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Automata, Oracles, and Grey Cardinals
The institute welcomed Dr. Anatoly Levshin of Harvard University.