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Nigel Inkster, Director, Transnational Threats and Political Risk Programme, IISS, and a panel including Christopher Painter, Coordinator for Cyber Issues, US Department of State, and Jim Lewis, Senior Fellow at CSIS, addressed issues raised in IISS's recent Adelphi book Cyberspace and the State: Toward a Strategy for Cyber-Power, at a launch event at IISS-US in Washington, DC.

The first 18 months of the National Security Council (NSC) have seen an 'unprecedented' intensity of discussions and decisions by ministers on national security issues, Sir Peter Ricketts, UK National Security Adviser, told the IISS. In only a short period of time it has become a centre for Whitehall national security policymaking and should be 'here to stay', he said.

The Asia-Pacific is a region in flux. Political, military and economic capacity are being redistributed among a set of powers -- China, India, Japan, the US, Russia -- who form a dynamic and complex multipolar order. Adam Ward, Director of Studies of IISS, discussed 'China's Rise, Asia's Security, and Global Implications' in the 9th IISS Global Perspective Series Lecture on Wednesday 21 September 2011 at IISS-Middle East in Bahrain.

As international security forces prepare to depart from Afghanistan, the latest Adelphi book examines the country's ability to tackle its security problems, overcome corruption and revive its devastated economy. The government faces daunting challenges, ranging from insurgency and cross-border terrorism to reconciling Taliban combatants into a political settlement.

At the book launch, chaired by IISS Director of Studies Adam Ward, some of the authors discussed their conclusions, including:

Toby Dodge, Consulting Senior Fellow for the Middle East
Nicholas Redman, Senior Fellow, Geopolitical Risk and Economic Security
Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, Senior Fellow for South Asia
Ben Barry, Senior Fellow for Land Warfare
Dana Allin, Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Affairs
Nigel Inkster, Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk
Alex Nicoll, Director of Editorial; Editor of Strategic Survey

Faced with the increasing global potential for instability and economic austerity, NATO is developing a 'Smart Defence' concept to help build security for less money through greater cooperation and flexibility.The Alliance has been working to identify areas where groups of member countries could pool and share resources, which it is hoping to take further at its summit in Chicago this May.

Ludwig Decamps of NATO provided an insight into the current state of the Smart Defence initiative.

Brigadier (Ret'd) Ben Barry, IISS Senior Fellow for Land Warfare, spoke on 'Trends In Land War Since 9/11' at a workshop on the "The Utility of Land Forces in the Coming Years" a jointly run by the IISS Defence and Military Analysis Programme and the Army's Land Stabilisation and Counter Insurgency Centre

Theo Farrell, Professor of War in the Modern World, Kings College London, speaks on 'Adaptation and Transformation' at a workshop on the "The Utility of Land Forces in the Coming Years" jointly run by the IISS Defence and Military Analysis Programme and the Army's Land Stabilisation and Counter Insurgency Centre.

Iraq's political system has been infiltrated by 'mafias', Osama Al Nujaifi, the Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, warned at a discussion on Iraq's democratic future at the IISS iin London. This corruption has prevented the government from being able to provide basic services such as reliable electricity.