The accelerating development of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs) is reshaping the global security environment. While these developments offer unprecedented opportunities for defense, diplomacy, and development, they also amplify existing risks, create novel vulnerabilities, and challenge traditional frameworks of governance, ethics, and interoperability. Strategic competition, hybrid threats, and instability in critical infrastructures highlight the urgent need for a deeper understanding of how AI and EDTs, particularly in combination, are transforming security landscapes.
This special issue of Connections: The Quarterly Journal invites original research, commentary, and analysis on novel perspectives in security (both opportunities and risks) created by the multiplicative effects of AI and EDTs. We seek contributions that examine the interplay of technological innovation, security governance, military adaptation, and international cooperation.
Relevant topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Future Military Leadership: What does the future of military and security leadership look like in the era of AI and other EDTs? What new knowledge and skills will future leaders need, and what old requirements can be shed? How do we develop these new leaders?
- Talent: How should defense and security establishments change their talent management models (e.g., recruitment, training, force structure, incentives) to cultivate and retain the expertise needed to maintain a decisive strategic edge? How should the workforce development pipeline change, and what role do Professional Military Education (PME) institutions play in the future?
- Technological Sovereignty in the AI Era: As nations prioritize “digital and technological sovereignty,” what are the most effective strategies for securing AI talent, supply chains (e.g., semiconductors), and data infrastructure?
- Deterrence, Escalation, and Surprise: What novel threats and opportunities will arise from the creative fusion of AI with other EDTs (e.g., biotech, quantum, neuro-tech)? What are the emergent risks of machine-speed “flash wars,” and what new models of deterrence and escalation management are required? How can we adapt strategic foresight methodologies to better anticipate and prevent strategic surprise?
- Future Strategic Competitiveness: How are AI and other EDTs fundamentally redefining the components of national power, and what strategies are emerging in the global competition for economic, technological, and political dominance?
- Multidomain Operations: How will AI-driven orchestration of forces and employment of EDTs across all domains reshape battlefield dynamics, and what are the implications for future force structure, generation, and military command-and-control (C2) paradigms?
We invite authors to submit manuscripts in the range of 4,000 to 7,000 words, written in clear, accessible English for an informed audience of defense practitioners, policymakers, and scholars. The scholarly research articles must be original, not under consideration elsewhere, and use footnotes instead of in-text references for citations. Bibliographies are encouraged but not necessary. All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review and robust editing. Approved articles will be published online first and be citable; the full issue, scheduled for Fall 2026, will appear in print in November 2026.
Submit to: connections@marshallcenter.org
Author guidelines and manuscript template: https://connections-qj.org/guide-authors
We welcome early submissions and informal inquiries from prospective authors.
Issue editors: Sae Schatz, Ph.D., and Sean Costigan, Ph.D.
