Global Risks & Future Threats

From herpes and legionnaires’ disease in the 1970s, to AIDS, Ebola, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and now Covid-19, contagious diseases continue to threaten and disrupt human populations. The COVID‑19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), caused by severe …

Since December 31, 2019, when the 2019-nCoV coronavirus was first reported from Wuhan, China, It has spread like wildfire to every corner of the globe, posing a serious threat for the foreseeable future. Millions have been infected, although a worse tragedy has been avoided thanks to widespread adoption of social …

The head of the World Health Organization is warning that the COVID-19 pandemic is speeding up, and he criticized governments that have failed to establish reliable contact tracing to stop the spread of the coronavirus. According to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 10 …

Atmospheric pollution is a growing problem, particularly in urban areas and in less developed countries.  With half the world has no access to clean fuels or technologies (e.g. stoves, lamps), the very air we breathe is growing dangerously polluted. More than 8 million people around the world die each year …

The rapid evolution of technology and outsourced manufacturing has created new opportunities, as well as new challenges and risks. Organizations today are under increased pressure to improve product designs as well as manufacturability and sustainability while reducing costs and development schedules. These initiatives are taking place in a competitive environment where …

Space capabilities have become central to many military operations, including missile warning, geolocation and navigation, target identification, and tracking of adversary activities.  US, Russia and China are world leaders in  militarization of space possessing extensive space infrastructure. The NASIC report said there number of foreign intelligence and imaging satellites “has tripled” to …

Significant technological advances are being made across a range of fields, including information communications technology (ICT); artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in terms of machine learning and robotics; nanotechnology; space technology; biotechnology; and quantum computing. The technologies are mostly dual use, in that they can be used as much to serve …

The electromagnetic pulse commonly abbreviated as EMP, is a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy caused by the rapid acceleration of charged particles, can be produced by intense solar storms or by a nuclear weapon detonated high in the atmosphere. For example, solar geomagnetic storms (geomagnetic disturbances or GMD) create immediate …

Information and communications technology, encompassing digital services and infrastructure, cybersecurity and software, is ubiquitous throughout the economy and society. As the digital transformation gathers pace, the number and complexity of ICT services is accelerating.   Information and Communications Technology (ICT) relies on a complex, globally distributed, and interconnected supply chain …

The past several centuries have largely been defined by physical security threats, requiring a nation’s military to physically respond with whatever means they have available. But as explained by Isaiah Wilson III—president of Joint Special Operations University—today we face “compound security threats,” which include physical security threats as well as …