Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy

05/11/2026

We were honored to once again host the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at the Henderson Mine. Students got a firsthand look at the scale and complexity of our operations while exploring the critical connection between responsible resource management and national defense. We are proud to welcome this group each year in support of developing the next generation of national security leaders.

05/08/2026

ES Professor article on Red Teaming and Critical Thinking.
Recently, the Joint special Operations University republished in booklet and audio form Eisenhower School professor Luke Bellocchi’s paper on "Red Teaming: a tool to conduct risk assessment and develop critical thinking" (co-authored by JFSC Assoc. Dean Ilaria De Santis). Risk assessment is touted as a critical aspect of strategy development. But in practice, it is often tacked on and examines risks inherent in an environment rather than what it is meant to examine: whether a strategy itself contains flaws. This new quick look examines the importance of critical thinking and risk assessment in red teaming and suggests an update to Joint Doctrine to ensure varied cognitive perspectives.

Earlier this year, Marine Corp University (MCU) hosted the authors for faculty development. In attendance was the leadership of MCU. The session ended with Q&A on utilizing Red Teams and the importance of Critical Thinking to Professional Military Education.

Risk assessment is touted as a critical aspect of strategy development. But in practice, it is often tacked on and examines risks inherent in an environment rather than what it is meant to examine: whether a strategy itself contains flaws. This new quick look examines the importance of critical thin...

05/06/2026

CLS: The Eisenhower School was honored to welcome Scott “Kidd” Poteet as part of the Commandant’s Lecture Series.

Speaking the day after the Artemis II launched, Kidd shared powerful reflections from his career as a former U.S. Air Force Thunderbird pilot and astronaut. He spoke candidly about confronting fear and overcoming academic challenges on the path to elite performance, reminding students that while we may be wired for fear, we are not bound by it.

His discussion of high-performing “scratch teams” and the discipline required to operate in demanding environments resonated strongly with our joint, interagency, international, and private sector student body as they prepare for leadership roles across national security. His visit also provided a unique interaction with the Eisenhower Space Industry Study students, providing them with exclusive insights unavailable anywhere else.

The Commandant’s Lecture Series enables the Commandant to bring in distinguished speakers whose experiences are both relevant and value-added to our students’ professional development.

05/05/2026

The Eisenhower School at National Defense University is centered around solving a central and continuing question: how can the US sustain its warfighters to deter our adversaries from encroaching on US interests, and if not deter, provide overwhelming resources to ensure victory in any conflict.

In 1924, Bernard Baruch, former Chairman of the War Industries Board, envisioned a “little” school that studied and maintained a close understanding of industry. President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower built up this school to address this essential question, both as a young student, a faculty member, and life-long supporter.

One hundred years after its founding the program has grown to become the only U.S. war college that focuses on joint strategic mobilization and resourcing. Our students are elite senior officers from all Services, relevant senior government officials, and international and private sector fellows taught by the most experienced faculty from varied military, industrial, business, and government experiences.

This year, the Eisenhower School students visited over 500 industry sites across 19 sectors and 20 nations, from microelectronics in South Korea and Taiwan to aerospace in France to defense manufacturing in Germany. That education culminates on May 12, 2026, when the Eisenhower School's Connection to Industry Day brings senior defense leaders and private sector executives together at Fort McNair in Washington, DC to see exactly what understanding and policy options that immersion produces.

Eisenhower School produces strategic leaders who understand not just the theory of national defense strategy, but the industrial systems that can realistically sustain it in any potential conflict.

Connect with us if you are an executive in the Defense Industrial Base would like to be considered to attend as an industry leader. Eisenhower School is the ultimate forum to formulate innovative policy options to continuously improve defense industrial sustainment of the warfighter.

05/01/2026

Alumni Homecoming 7MAY! Mingle with fellow Tigers at a no-host social gathering. We look forward to seeing you there!

05/01/2026

Biotech Industry Study Visits UPenn, GSK, McKinsey, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies. The Biotechnology Industry Study of the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at National Defense University recently visited Philadelphia, PA—one of the nation’s leading biotechnology hubs—to examine how scientific discovery translates into clinical breakthroughs, commercial innovation, and strategic national capability.

Students met with Dr. Bruce Levine at the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies to learn about the field of immunotherapy and saw firsthand the birthplace of CAR-T cell therapies. They also visited the Penn Center for Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, where Dr. Mark Engleka discussed how research, technology transfer, and industry partnerships help transform laboratory discoveries into life-saving treatments.

The visit also included discussions with McKinsey & Company and GSK on global pharmaceutical competition, biotechnology investment trends, and the geopolitical implications of biomanufacturing, AI-enabled drug discovery, and supply chain resilience.

Philadelphia reinforced an important lesson: leadership in biotechnology requires more than discovery. Sustained advantage depends on ecosystems that connect research, capital, manufacturing, and commercialization at scale.

04/29/2026

Prof. Jannace: Financial Services Role in Supporting National Security. Professor Wlilliam Jannace, Eisenhower School/National Defense University coauthored an article: "The Three Lines of Defense: The Financial Services Industry Role in Supporting National Security in an Era of Global Financial Crime."

It addresses the role that the US financial services industry plays in mitigating financial crime which has become a major national security threat, driven by globalization, technological change, and increasingly sophisticated criminal networks, including: transnational criminal organizations, terrorist groups, and hostile states to evade sanctions, fund weapons of mass destruction programs, and undermine traditional tools of financial statecraft. As a result, illicit finance has become a strategic instrument of power, utilized by malign actors-in some instances rivaling the traditional economic component of the national security framework known as DIME (Diplomatic, Information, Military, Economic).

This evolving asymmetric financial warfare has necessitated a much more whole-of-government approach to combat if effectively, including the traditional role that the financial industry plays with respect to anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance as well as enhanced data analytics coordination and oversight with respect to the digital ecosystem where malign activity is taking place today. This article explores this evolution and how the financial services industry plays a key role of the traditional Three Lines of Defense paradigm in risk management. This article is a follow up to a prior article published entitled “AML Compliance: A Matter of National Security, ” https://www.gfmi.com/articles/anti-money-laundering-compliance-a-matter-of-national-security/


https://www.gfmi.com/articles/the-three-lines-of-defense-the-financial-services-industry-role-in-supporting-national-security-in-an-era-of-global-financial-crime/,

Overview Financial crime has become a major national security threat, driven by globalization, technological change, and increasingly sophisticated criminal networks. Illicit finance—estimated at more than $3.1 trillion globally—enables transnational criminal organizations, terrorist groups, and...

04/27/2026

Autonomous Systems and Robotics Industry Study Visits Multiple Defense Industrial Base Firms. The Eisenhower School (National Defense University) Autonomous Systems and Robotics Industry Study, recently completed two industry trips focused on understanding the innovation ecosystem supporting emerging technologies in artificial intelligence and robotics. The first Field Study took place in Austin, Texas, where students visited organizations including Texas Robotics at the The University of Texas at Austin, the Army Applications Laboratory, Saronic Technologies, and Apptronik. The trip concluded with a visit to the Tesla Gigafactory, where students observed advanced manufacturing and automation processes. These engagements highlighted how universities, startups, and commercial technology firms contribute to innovation that supports national security and the broader defense industrial base.

The second couplet Field Study focused on both traditional defense primes and non-traditional technology firms in the Philadelphia, Boston, and Rhode Island areas. The seminar visited The Boeing Company Vertical Lift, Robotics, Mass Robotics, Havoc, and Anduril’s DIVE Technologies. These visits provided students with insight into how both large defense companies and emerging technology firms are developing autonomous systems, robotics, and AI-enabled capabilities to enable warfighter capabilities. Overall, the trips provided valuable exposure to the organizations driving innovation in autonomy and robotics and helped students better understand how these technologies strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and support national security. The ES Commandant, Brigadier General Kirsten Graugard Aguilar, accompanied the students on the second Field Study.

04/21/2026

Aircraft Industry Studies Visits Boeing and Leonardo Helicopters. Students and faculty from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University, Aircraft Industry Study visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to engage with leaders at The Boeing Company's Ridley Park facility and Leonardo's US Helicopters division.

The engagements provided students a deeper understanding of the infrastructure and investment required to produce legendary aircraft such as the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, the partnership between the two companies necessary to produce the MH-139 Grey Wolf, and the complexities of navigating both civil and military aircraft markets.

Students also explored the relationship between industrial policy and building the Arsenal of Freedom with industry leaders, directly advancing the Aircraft Industry Study's learning objectives by connecting classroom analysis of defense industrial base capacity, public-private partnerships, and acquisition strategy to rotary-wing production in practice.

04/18/2026

Wargaming Weapons Production. Students from Eisenhower School National Defense University recently conducted a strategy wargame on weapons production. Student teams role played different types of national personas, formulated a strategy for a weapons mix in their nation's defense industrial base, and then sought to execute that strategy in an uncertain world of gameplay.

Rather than using maps, as many wargames do, the boards consisted of weapons systems with costs associated with production including funding, access to critical inputs, production capacities, and access to technical skills in the workforce. Players were able to experiment with different strategies, diplomacy options, and competition as they sought to execute a strategy created at the outset of the game.

The combination of wargame lessons with field studies at home and abroad helps prepare these future warfighters for upcoming challenges in domains such as conventional munitions, drones, counter drones, hypersonic technologies, and directed energy weapons.

04/13/2026

Electromagnetic Spectrum Industry Study visits Satellite Company. The Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Industry Study of the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University, recently visited HawkEye 360 in Herndon, Virginia where they learned about the company’s pathbreaking work in space-based radio frequency (RF) sensing and its contribution to national security.

Students engaged with HE360 executives to learn about the company's achievements equipping defense, intelligence, and national security leaders with mission-critical signals intelligence to enable faster decision making. Over its ten-year existence, HE360 has launched over 30 small satellites into low-Earth orbit, enabling them to detect, geolocate, and characterize radio frequency emissions worldwide for the United States, Allies, and Partners.

Space has been referred to as the "ultimate high ground" and this engagement solidified for our students how innovative U.S. technology companies enable our nation to seize and capitalize off of it for national security and commercial purposes.

(Photos posted with permission from HE360; post should not be construed as endorsement).