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GNSI Year in Review: 2023

Year in Review


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!



GNSI Tampa Summit 1 Promo Image


The year kicked off with a pivotal March summit, a gathering that dissected 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.


Hunger as a Weapon Promo Image


By May, GNSI turned its focus to a disturbing trend in global conflicts: 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.


Future and Ethics of Uncrewed and Autonomous Warfare Promo Image


Later, in September, the institute revisited Tampa for a second summit. This time, the discourse revolved around 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鈥攂oth 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鈥檚 part.

Research Article Russia Iran Military Cooperation

Iran has supplied Russian forces with thousands of drones, shaking up the relationship between Moscow and Tehran. (September 2023) Read More.

Research Article from GNSI Regarding the Push to Ban TikTok

#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.

Israel Hamas Conflict Thumbnail Image

The October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas demonstrates an unprecedented level of capability and sophistication, coupled with a significant intelligence failure on Israel鈥檚 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 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, , 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,

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.

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.

Wrapping up the year, we spoke with the CEO and President of one of the most influential civic organizations in the Tampa Bay Region. 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 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 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 Podcast Promo Image

At the Boundary from the Global and National Security Institute at the 51在线, features global and national security issues we鈥檝e found to be worth talking about. Available here or on all popular podcast platforms.


What's Really Happening? Promo Image

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. Or as a podcast here or on all popular podcast platforms.


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About GNSI News

The GNSI Newsroom is dedicated to highlighting news and ideas from the world of global and national security, as well as stories that focus on the Global and National Security Institute at USF. We want to emphasize the many ways GNSI leads the university's strategic focus on global and national security.