In 2023, the Global and National Security Institute (GNSI) continued its journey of seeking answers to the world's most vexing challenges, providing insights and strategic analysis to decision-makers at all levels, and working for actionable solutions to traditional and non-traditional issues of global and national security.
2023 saw GNSI continue our commitment to the GNSI Tampa Summit, a platform we created
around the Great Power Competition Conference, the nation's leading, ongoing conference focused on Great Power Competition. We
also introduced the GNSI Policy Dialogues conference series, which focuses on the
non-traditional issues that are still deeply intertwined in global and national security.
2023 also saw the debut of two podcasts from GNSI, At the Boundary and What's Really Happening? We continued to provide a sounding board from some of the world's leading experts
on a wide variety of issues with our video "GNSI Speaker Series."
We also continued a robust schedule of publication, including research articles, the GNSI Newsletter, Decision Briefs and more.
We're excited about we accomplished in 2023 but over-the-moon about what's to come in 2024!
The year kicked off with a pivotal March summit, a gathering that dissected "The Current Rise of the Great Powers." The GNSI Tampa Summit Report emerged as a seminal piece, offering a comprehensive analysis of the geopolitical
dynamics in the Greater Middle East and its implications for the Central Region. This
report became a cornerstone for understanding the shifts in global power balances.
By May, GNSI turned its focus to a disturbing trend in global conflicts: Hunger as a Weapon. The CGNSI Policy Dialogues yielded the "Hunger as a Weapon Conference Report," spotlighting the grim reality of food scarcity as a tactical tool in warfare.
Later, in September, the institute revisited Tampa for a second summit. This time,
the discourse revolved around "The Future and Ethics of Uncrewed and Autonomous Warfare," which its critical examination of how technology is reshaping battlefield ethics
was reflected in our Summit Report.
The beginning of this year was also marked by the introduction of our new series of publications, "GNSI Decision Briefs." Earlier in 2023, a member of the US Congress requested our assistance in understanding Chinese energy demands. In response, we published the first Decision Brief on China's Energy Insecurity in February 2023, which laid the foundation for our monthly briefs.
Throughout the year, GNSI published a series of decision briefs. In May we published Hunger as a Weapon, which delved into the use of hunger as a weapon in conflicts, analyzing its impact on civilian populations and international responses.
As the summer of 2023 began, GNSI sought solutions for lasting peace in the Russo-Ukraine conflict, exploring the labyrinth of diplomatic and strategic pathways.
The National Guard's State Partnership Program, discussed in the July brief, exemplified a strategic tool in the global competition. In August, we explored the haunting prospect of nuclear warfare becoming a battlefield norm, followed by the September release of "What Keeps the US in the Middle East?" probing the myriad reasons the United States not only stays engaged there but why the country is one of the region's most important allies.
For the October Decision Brief, we examined an issue in the Ukraine War that's flying under the radar, the Ukrainian Public Health and Research System. Following that, our November topic examined the effectiveness of an Integrated Deterrence strategy. To wrap up the year, in December, we shifted our focus to the Arctic with "Strategic Competition in the Arctic: Sooner or Later?," a brief that underscored the mounting military interests in this once forsaken region.
GNSI Research Articles were an integral part of our rigorous publishing program in 2023, starting in September, with an analysis of Russia-Iran Military Cooperation. This inaugural article shed light on a significant shift in the Moscow-Tehran relationship. Following this, in October, we published an analysis of the in/famous Chinese social media app TikTok, highlighting the app as a dual-faced phenomenon—both a business success and a security concern. Finally, in late October, we published the article "Israel-Hamas Conflict: Operational Considerations and Strategy," analyzing the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, underscoring its unprecedented level of capability and sophistication, and pointing out a significant intelligence failure on Israel’s part.
Iran has supplied Russian forces with thousands of drones, shaking up the relationship between Moscow and Tehran. (September 2023) Read More.
#1 on the U.S. Most Wanted List. Why the Push is on to Ban the World's Most Successful Startup from Academic, Government and Military Devices in the United States. (October 2023) Read More.
The October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas demonstrates an unprecedented level of capability and sophistication, coupled with a significant intelligence failure on Israel’s part. (October 2023) Read More.
As part of the overall GNSI outreach strategy, we launched a series of conversations titled the "GNSI Speaker Series" and the "GNSI Author Spotlight." The people we talked to throughout 2023 included experts from the United Nations, the US State Department, the International Red Cross, CEOs and subject matter experts from a wide variety of industries and specialties. We also launched two new podcasts: At the Boundary and What's Really Happening? ATB focuses on the tremendous content being created at GNSI, while WRH features insights and experiences from GNSI Executive Director, General (Ret) Frank McKenzie, only the 57th US Marine Corps officer to achieve 4-star rank and the former commander of U.S. Central Command.
GNSI Speaker Series
The series debuted with a conversation between Professor Golfo Alexopoulos, Director of the USF Institute for Russian, European,
and Eurasian Studies, and James Coker II, who, at the time, was the Ukraine Desk Officer for the U.S. State Department. Their
conversation journeyed through complex terrains of geopolitics.
In conjunction with our first-ever GNSI Policy Dialogues event, Hunger as a Weapon,
we welcomed Dr. Chase Sova to the Speaker Series. Sova is the Director of Research
and Policy at World Food Program USA, part of the United Nations' World Food Programme. Sova, the lead author of WFP's
ground-breaking report "Dangerously Hungry," illuminated the dark nexus between conflict
and global hunger.
Another featured speaker from that Hunger as a Weapon event, Dr. Ellen Messer, was
featured in the next episode of the GNSI Speaker Series. Messer, a professor of anthropology
at Tufts University and former Director of the Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Program
at Brown University, earnestly spoke about what role - if any - GMO's have in the fight against Hunger
as a Weapon?
We returned to the State Department for our next guest on the GNSI Speaker Series,
Laura Cressey. She's the Director of one of the most important departments involved
with the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) System, Regional Sales and Arms Transfers.
Cressey discusses RSAT's role in the context of "The Future and Ethics of Uncrewed
and Autonomous Warfare."
Not coincidentally, that topic was the title of the second GNSI Tampa Summit, which
featured Major General (Ret) Charles Dunlap, Jr. as a keynote speaker. Dunlap is Executive
Director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University, and
former Deputy Judge Advocate General of the United States Air Force. We sat with him to discuss ethics, the laws of war, and what the future challenges
will be with the rising popularity of uncrewed and autonomous weapons.
Wrapping up the year, we spoke with the CEO and President of one of the most influential
civic organizations in the Tampa Bay Region. Thomas Mantz runs Feeding Tampa Bay and spoke at length with Professor David Himmelgreen
of USF about how "Hunger as a Weapon" is not just an issue on the other side of the world;
it hits home in Tampa, as well.
GNSI Author spotlight
We featured a fascinating discussion with New York Times best-selling author Nick Reynolds in our first episode of 2023. Reynolds discussed with us "Need to Know:
World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence," his insightful look into the
birth of the United States Intelligence System. Intelligence agents have existed in the United States since the Revolutionary War.
But it took Word War II to catalyze an industrious group of men to build something
more: a powerful and global intelligence apparatus that helped win the war.
We also had the chance to explore the International Committee of the Red Cross, thanks to a conversation with
Patrick Hamilton. Established in 1863, the ICRC operates worldwide, helping people
affected by conflict and armed violence and promoting the laws that protect victims
of war. Hamilton was a speaker at the GNSI Policy Dialogues: Hunger as a Weapon and discusses
the many ways the ICRC is vital to the battle against the weaponization of hunger
around the world.
GNSI POdcasts
At the Boundary from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida, features global and national security issues we’ve found to be worth talking about. Available here or on all popular podcast platforms.
GNSI Executive Director, General (Ret) Frank McKenzie gives you insights and a POV
that you can only get from someone who has been in the room where some of the world's
most pivotal decisions have been made.
Available on YouTube here. Or as a podcast here or on all popular podcast platforms.