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About International Assessment and Strategy Center

International Assessment and Strategy Center, IASC International Assessment and Strategy Center IASC is a "think-tank" focused on medium and long-term security issues and their impact on the security of the United States and her key interests and allies. IASC is supported by foundations, corporations and private donors, and by contract work performed for the U.S. Government. Work is performed at both open-source and classified levels and includes specialized investigative work. IASC believes US policies and a strong national defense posture are best advanced by strategies based on a vigorous examination of fact-based scenarios, accurate understanding of the historical, cultural, scientific and other topical contexts, and by challenging all assumptions. IASC adapts assessment, risk and scenario methods pioneered by Shell Oil and the Office of Net Assessment in the Department of Defense with which IASC experts have worked. "Net Assessment" weighs all factors impinging, one way or another, on a nation’s security, and arrives at judgments that provide an accurate indication of the current situation. By identifying strengths, weaknesses, emerging challenges, technologies, threats, and indicators and warnings, it is possible to consider how American capabilities will compare with those of possible competitors over time -- and to suggest guidelines for future diplomacy, economic policies, military strategies, force structures, and informational, scientific, educational and infrastructure investments and the like. IASC’s goal is to provide policymakers with strategic advice looking ahead 10-20 years and more -- well beyond the current horizon of headlines, budget cycles and legislative/electoral calendars. Advice is based on academically-sound multidisciplinary comparisons of current and future trends and scenarios – considering everything from energy, climatology and demographics to strategic culture, economics and radically new approaches to warfare. Variables are placed in global context, and viewed as "three dimensional" rather than as static. The process often helps policymakers and program managers to identify the right questions and frameworks and avoid costly pursuit of the wrong ones and of lowest-common denominator consensus approaches often based on straight-line projections, weak science, or narrow or time-bound considerations of broad and iterative effects. IASC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational corporation founded in Washington in 2004. It is independent, non-partisan and research-based. Its operating model is based on collaborative relationships with a network of over 100 experts in academia, government and the private sector, both in the U.S. and abroad. IASC is not an advocacy or lobbying entity but rather a trusted independent provider of research. IASC is advised, staffed and supported by experienced senior national security practitioners who have decades of service in virtually all aspects of security policy and intelligence including Executive Branch and Military, Congress, Commissions, think-tanks and academia, and as government, corporate, foundation and NGO consultants and advisors. This experience, network and range of perspectives brings an uncommon wealth of knowledge about both topical issues and the policy process. IASC’s competitive advantage lies in its application of this knowledge and skill set to problems not yet being considered in-depth, if at all, by the conventional policy community; and, its ability to inform senior policymakers, thought leaders and the media about new, emerging or likely threats. IASC further fulfills its public education mandate by ensuring that its work informs the public debate through appearances in leading media, collaboration with other research institutions, participation in high-level discussions with Congressional and Executive Branch policymakers, as well as in overseas governmental and nongovernmental forums. IASC experts testify before Congress regularly and advise various congressional offices, caucuses and initiatives. Another key educational role is our consistent coverage of international airshows and armshows, reported in summary form on our website. IASC participates in defense and international policy forums with other research organizations such as: National Defense University, Center for Strategic and International Studies, American Enterprise Institute, Hudson Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, Heritage Foundation, Center for New American Security, Council on Foreign Relations, National Endowment for Democracy, U.S. Peace Institute, Naval War College, American Foreign Policy Council, Aspen Institute-Berlin, FBI Academy-Quantico, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response (ISTAR). IASC provides policy briefings, research support and expert testimony to various U.S. Congressional and Executive branch consumers including: the Department of State, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, National Security Council, the Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, CIA, DNI, FBI, DEA and other agencies and Commissions, as well as to NGO's such as the World Bank, Global Witness and the United Nations Criminal Investigative Unit, and in terrorism trials. IASC understands the importance of training a new generation of national security practitioners capable of developing broadly gauged long-range analysis. Accordingly, IASC identifies, mentors and works collaboratively to support their development and placement in relevant security policy positions. Graduates involved with IASC work have gone on to work in the FBI, DHS, DOD and similar organizations. IASC supports university-level courses, strategy seminars, wargames and guest lecturers addressing security related topics. Many IASC team members train U.S. law enforcement, intelligence, military and security policy personnel in addition to teaching and lecturing in several leading universities, including defense and intelligence community graduate schools and combatant command centers.
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