About the Cyber & Innovation Policy Institute
The Adm. James R. Hogg Cyber & Innovation Policy Institute (CIPI) is part of the Strategic and Operational Research Department in the Center for Naval Warfare Studies. We are the premier hub for cyber operations and strategy research at the U.S. Naval War College (NWC).
Through active engagement with NWC scholars and partners around the world, we conduct high quality research and analysis to help senior leaders advance cybersecurity and innovation policy.
For more about us and our work, follow us on Twitter @NWC_CIPI.
Our History
Click to Open CIPI was formed in recognition of the need for cutting-edge research, education, and fleet support with regards to cybersecurity and innovation policy. CIPI builds on the work of the Center for Cyber Conflict Studies (C3S), which was established in 2011. As recognition of the operational and strategic significance of cyberspace grew, the trailblazing work of C3S was elevated into the Cyber and Innovation Policy Institute in 2018.
CIPI Research
Cyberspace touches virtually every feature of operational and strategic significance to the Navy and the Nation. Given the broad scope of this domain, our research and analysis are interdisciplinary, connecting several different areas of expertise: military and civilian, social and technical, open-source and classified, scholarly and policy.
Cyber Wargaming
Click to Open For nearly a century, wargaming has defined research and education at NWC. Today, there are critical gaps across the national security community in how cyber operations are incorporated into war games, integrated with other instruments of military power, and adjudicated by players and judges alike. These problems aren’t merely artifacts of the games – they directly correspond to key challenges in how cyber operations are interpreted by decision makers, integrated with other operations, and eventually evaluated through net assessment.
CIPI examines best practices in operational and strategic cyber wargaming. We explain how cyberspace redefines the strengths and weaknesses of wargaming as a tool for critical inquiry and interactive learning.
Cybersecurity Organizations & Practices
Click to Open The military and civilian organizations that help secure cyberspace for the Navy and the Nation are no longer new. Civilian computer emergency response teams and informal white-hat hacker collectives have existed since the 1980s, and U.S. Tenth Fleet and U.S. Cyber Command have operated for a decade or more. Their rich histories provide valuable insight into how to best organize for and practice cybersecurity.
CIPI research compares these different communities of practice across time and space. From their histories, we identify useful lessons about best practices, capacity building, and alternative options for improving cybersecurity in the years ahead.
Technology Innovation & Great Power Competition
Click to Open Commentary about great power competition is currently in vogue. However, it is less clear what this discourse means beyond questionable assumptions about high end warfighting. If competition with rivals in Asia and Europe proves to be a long contest, how can the Navy build and maintain its technological edge in a complex and uncertain future?
CIPI is researching what emerging technologies – from artificial intelligence to quantum computers – mean for military innovation in a multipolar world. We examine expectations about new technologies and the future of war, how these technologies inform decision making, and the resulting consequences for strategic competition and cooperation.
Reports & Studies
Our research publications help inform the Navy, the national security community, and scholarship on international relations.
CIPI Cyber Primer for DoD (January 2021)
Cyberspace is more than merely an “enabler.” It’s essential. U.S. military operations in physical domains—land, sea, air, and space—increasingly depend on the cyber domain of networked information communication technology for command and control. So do other joint functions such as intelligence, fires, movement and maneuver, protection, and sustainment.
Download Cyber Primer Defend Forward: Critical Infrastructure War Game 2019
This report summarizes a two-day wargame held in July 2019, where leaders from the finance and energy sectors worked with cyber practitioners to conduct an unclassified wargame. This event explored potential approaches for implementing cyber strategies along with challenges and opportunities moving forward.
Download Game Report Navy-Private Sector Critical Infrastructure War Game 2017
This two-day event took place in July 2017. It was designed to answer several related research questions: when do cyber-attacks reach the level of a national security incident, when should the DoD be involved, and in what capacity? This report summarizes some of the targets considered, potential effects created by cyberattacks, and how the actor responded to these attacks.
Download Game Report See Cyber & Innovation Policy Institute Faculty
Our experienced faculty assist in teaching joint professional military education by working with students on electives, advanced research programs, and the core curriculum. To learn more, please visit the online directory.
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