New at IFPA

Click on the tabs below to read about new and recently completed projects and publications and recent and upcoming conferences and workshops.

  • research projects
  • conferences & workshops
  • publications
  • articles & presentations

Research Projects

After Hatoyama: Preparing for Japanese Foreign Policy in Transition
This project will study the challenges that yhe recently elected Japanese government faces as it tries to develop viable alternatives to the bilateralism on which its foreign poilicy has been predicated for over fifty years.
New Strategic Dynamics in the Arctic Region: Implications for National Security and International Collaboration
This project explores and assesses trends that together could transform the Arctic from a relative strategic backwater to a strategic crossroads of global importance.
Support to the Defense Department, Combatant Commands, and Military Service Leadership
This is an ongoing project for the Department of Defense (DoD), for which the Institute provides detailed policy reports and organizes high-level workshops on critical issues of national security for DoD, combatant command (COCOM), and military service leaderships.
Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-first Century
As part of the IFPA missile defense program, the Independent Working Group on Post-ABM Treaty Missile Defense and the Space Relationship project is exploring missile defense architectures that include space-based systems.
Rapid Strategic Assessment for the NATOSpecial Operations Headquarters
In support of the NATO Special Operations Headquarters (NSHQ), IFPA is a major contributor to the Rapid Strategic Assessment project, which works with NSHQ in carrying out its core missions.
Sending UCAS to Sea: A Superior Carrier through the Unmanned Combat Air System
This project, launched in 2008, considers the key characteristics, capabilities, and future role in carrier fleet operations of the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS) now under development.
Peace Regime Building for a Nuclear Weapon-free Korean Peninsula: Next Steps for Capacity Building
In cooperation with institutional partners in Northeast Asia, IFPA is leading a nongovernmental multinational working group to discuss, research, and draft a joint proposal for a Korean peace regime that complements related inter-Korean efforts and facilitates North Korean denuclearization.
The Democracy in Latin America Seminar Series: Challenges of Radical Populism
In association with the Hudson Institute, IFPA has examined radical populism in Latin America in order to provide policy recommendations to leaders of government and civil society in the hemisphere to help counter anti-democratic forces and authoritarianism.
Finding the Right Mix: Disaster Diplomacy, National Security, and International Cooperation
IFPA undertook this project, completed in 2009, to provide U.S. policy makers with enhanced tools for planning, managing, and concluding a major disaster operation effectively and in a manner that explicitly advances U.S. strategic objectives.
Space and U.S. Security: A Net Assessment
Although the United States is the dominant player in space, a growing number of countries are accessing space for both military and commercial purposes, challenging U.S. preeminence.

Conferences & Workshops

New START, Nuclear Modernization, and Missile Defense
Independent Working Group Conference
July 20, 2010, Washington, D.C.
Terrorists, Drug Traffickers, and Gangs in Latin America: Undermining Democracy
June 9, 2010, Washinton, D.C.
38th IFPA-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy:
Air, Space, and Cyberspace Power in the 21st-Century
January 20-21, 2010, Washington, D.C.
Challenges to Democracy in Latin America: The Case of Venezuela
December 3, 2009, Washington, D.C.
A Comprehensive Approach to Combating Illicit Trafficking
September 28-29, 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
Description

Organized by IFPA and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

Populist Threats to Democracy in Central America
September 22, 2009, Washington, D.C.
Emerging Threats and Homeland/National Security: The Role of Missile Defense
Independent Working Group roundtable
June 23, 2009, Washington, D.C.
The Air Force's Nuclear Mission and the Future of Deterrence Planning
June 11, 2009, Washington, D.C. In support of the U.S. Air Force chief of staff

Publications

Countering the EMP Threat The Role of Missile Defense
White paper by Henry Cooper and Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., July 2010, 12 pp
Description

Among the threats facing the United States are short-range ballistic missiles launched from vessels such as freighters, tankers, or container ships off our shores to detonate a warhead that could have catastrophic Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) consequences for the United States. After discussing the potential for a successful EMP attack, this report suggests what can (and should) be done to counter such an attack by using existing and near-term missile defense capabilities, beginning immediately.

A Comprehensive Approach to Combating Illicit Trafficking
A joint report by IFPA and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), June 2010, 176 pp
Description

This report is based on extensive independent research conducted by IFPA on the multifaceted challenges posed by illicit trafficking and efforts to combat it; the report also incorporates discussions held at a high-level international workshop on the topic organized by IFPA and GCSP in Geneva, Switzerland, in September 2009.

Frequently Asked Questions about Ballistic Missile Defense: A Guide
By the Independent Working Group, April 2010, 23 pp
Description

This guide is based on information contained in the 2009 Independent Working Group Report entitled Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. The purpose of the guide is to address the most often asked questions and to provide information about missile defense.

In Times of Crisis: U.S.-Japan Civil-Military Disaster Relief Coordination
By James L. Schoff and Marina Travayiakis, 2009, 144 pp
Description

The many large-scale natural disasters and ambitious nation-building projects over the last several years call attention to the potential value of deploying national military assets in support of disaster relief and recovery efforts, as well as to the challenges that disaster relief agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) face when working closely with the military. Both U.S. and Japanese policy makers understand that leveraging military resources during a disaster is an opportunity to save lives and property, to help maintain stability and prosperity in affected nations, and to promote the allies’ diplomatic interests, but it must be done carefully. Together with a handful of other key countries, the United States and Japan can help form a valuable crisis core group that cooperates in support of large-scale, UN-led disaster relief operations, but effective civil-military coordination is essential to making this work. The In Times of Crisis project was a multi-year joint effort of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) and the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), involving practitioners and policy makers from both countries, the United Nations, and NGOs through interviews and bilateral workshops. This monograph explains the team’s findings and ways to improve the allies’ ability to effectively pool civilian and military resources and to respond together (bilaterally or as part of a broader coalition) in support of host nations and international relief agencies to speed recovery in times of crisis.

New NATO, Euro-Atlantic Security, and the Greek-American Partnership
Conference report, June 2009
Description

Report on a high-level conference convened April 28-29, 2009, by the Defense Analysis Institute of the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense, the Konstantinos G. Karamanlis Foundation, and the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) with official NATO sponsorship. As NATO marks its sixtieth anniversary, it faces enduring questions about strategic focus, operational priorities, military requirements, and collaborative ties with partner nations and other international institutions. Some of these questions were addressed at the April 2009 NATO summit in Strasbourg-Kehl, but a broader and ongoing dialogue will be essential as the Alliance moves forward in the years ahead; this conference addressed and contributed to that process.

Peace Regime Building for a Nuclear Weapon-free Korean Peninsula: What Next?
By James L. Schoff and Yaron Eisenberg, May 2009
Description

North Korea's recent nuclear test is only the latest in a series of moves by Pyongyang that seem directed at “shaping a new diplomatic framework” for the Korean Peninsula, rejecting the Six-Party process and returning to its traditional insistence on bilateral talks with the United States to end the Korean War.  These developments illustrate the strong linkages between North Korean denuclearization and peace regime building on the Korean Peninsula (i.e., trying to institute a political solution to the Korean War beyond just a military armistice).  Working with partners in South Korea, the United States, and China, IFPA is in the middle of a three-year project exploring peace regime building on the Korean Peninsula in ways that support and facilitate the denuclearization objectives of the Six-Party Talks; this interim report describes the results of over a year’s worth of interviews, research, and a U.S.-South Korea bilateral workshop, up to and including North Korea’s May 2009 nuclear test.

Realigning Priorities: The U.S.-Japan Alliance and the Future of Extended Deterrence
By James L. Schoff, 2009
Description

North Korea’s missile/rocket launch over Japan and maritime skirmishes in the South China Sea between the United States and China place new burdens on the U.S.-Japan security relationship. For more than two generations the United States has provided a security guarantee to Japan that is backed by the U.S. nuclear capability. The future of this extended deterrence relationship is the focus of this report. It addresses evolving discussion about deterrence in Japan as well as the United States and examines the conditions under which Japan might consider new approaches to assuring its future security.

IFPA White Paper: Updating U.S. Deterrence Concepts and Operational Planning: Reassuring Allies, Deterring Legacy Threats, and Dissuading Nuclear "Wannabes"
By Jacquelyn K. Davis, Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Charles M. Perry, and James L. Schoff, 2009, 22 pp
Description

Among the potentially contentious issues requiring focused attention and innovative thinking by the Obama administration are those relating to the future of U.S. deterrence planning. Members of the administration are already on record as favoring a significant unilateral reduction in U.S. nuclear weapons. Some are calling for the ratification of a Comprehensive (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty; others are questioning proposals to update the U.S. nuclear infrastructure and modernize the U.S. nuclear warhead inventory to make American deterrent forces better able to meet and counter legacy and emerging deterrence threats and challenges. This paper provides an assessment of the future of U.S. nuclear planning and offers new ideas about deterrence in the dramatically changed twenty-first-century security planning environment.

The Space and U.S. Security Net Assessment
By Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., 2009
Description

This report, the product of a year-long study effort, has been prepared as a contribution to the discussion about the future role of the United States in space. It surveys the current status of U.S. space activities and draws comparisons with other countries that have developed space programs in recent decades. It projects major trends into a ten- to twenty-year timeframe to identify factors that may have important positive or negative implications for the position of the United States relative to other nations in the next decade. Because of the inherently dual-use nature of space technology and the growing role of the commercial sector, this net assessment takes a broad view of space, encompassing space technologies for military uses and for commercial purposes. It underscores the mutually important role of space in U.S. national security and in the U.S. economy.

Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-first Century
By the Independent Working Group, 2009
Description

This report provides an assessment of missile defense requirements beyond the limited ground-based system currently being deployed, together with opportunities to benefit from existing and new technologies. It presents proven technology options that should form the basis for deployment of an innovative missile defense that draws upon the legacy of technologies developed during the Strategic Defense Initiative program of the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration. The report lays out the necessary vision to exploit existing and future technologies, with space as an indispensable part of missile defense.

Finding the Right Mix: Disaster Diplomacy, National Security, and International Cooperation
By Charles M. Perry, with Marina Travayiakis, Bobby Andersen, and Yaron Eisenberg, 2009, 152 pp
Description

This study focuses on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR). It explores ways to make civil-military cooperation more effective in supporting a whole-of-government strategy for addressing twenty-first century threats. It is designed to assist those responsible for the management of large-scale HA/DR efforts achieve a greater unity of effort and division of labor among the diverse civilian and military, national and international, and public and private sector entities to execute such operations. It identifies critical capabilities and key operational challenges; reviews existing and proposed cooperative mechanisms to facilitate disaster relief planning, training, and implementation; and examines several recent cases of disaster response for lessons learned.

Articles & Presentations

Consensus Building and Peace Regime Building on the Korean Peninsula
Article by Charles M. Perry and James L. Schoff, International Journal of Korean Unification Studies 19, no. 1 (June 30, 2010)
Achieving Strategic and Economic Balance in the Japan-US-China Triangle
Lecture by James L. Schoff, March 29, 2010, at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS), Tokyo, Japan
For Whom Japan's Last Dance Is Saved — China, the United States, or Chimerica?
Article by James L. Schoff and Jun Kurihara, Cambridge Gazette: Politico-Economic Commentaries, no. 4 ( March 29, 2010)
The Road to Better US-North Korea Relations Starts in Seoul
By James L. Schoff, PacNet, no. 8, February 22, 2010
Broaching Peace Regime Concepts to Support North Korean Denuclearization
By James L. Schoff, 2009, produced as part of produced as part of the Nautilus Institute study, Improving Regional Security and Denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula: U.S. Policy Interests and Options
U.S. Extended Deterrence Commitments in East Asia and U.S. Nuclear Posture
Speech by James L. Schoff at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., June 3, 2009
U.S.-Japan Alliance and the Future of Extended Deterrence
Speech by James L. Schoff at Stanford University Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, May 11, 2009