May 6, 2026 International Atomic Energy Agency & Nuclear Proliferation Has the IAEA's ability to ensure nuclear safety and non-proliferation been compromised by the political maneuvering of great powers, and can it reassert its authority to effectively manage the challenges of a new, more complex nuclear age?
May 6, 2026 Leadership in Combat Wings How must the USAF officer development paradigm shift to cultivate leaders with the necessary breadth of knowledge and mission-focused perspective required to effectively command the new multi-functional Combat Wing formations?
May 6, 2026 Hypersonic Messaging, Strategic Stability, and Nuclear Thresholds How must the United States Air Force and Joint Force evaluate the impact of dual-capable hypersonic weapons on strategic nuclear deterrence and decision-making timelines, while developing strategic messaging playbooks and signaling mechanisms to prevent catastrophic miscalculation and inadvertently
May 6, 2026 Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Warfare, and Emerging Threats to Nuclear Stability How must Air Force Global Strike Command evaluate the strategic risks of adversary AI capabilities, assess the safety and escalation potential of introducing AI or cyber vulnerabilities into nuclear command and control networks, and identify non-command enterprise applications to preserve nuclear
May 6, 2026 Nuclear Maintenance Manning, Career Field Consolidation, and MRA/ACE Efficiencies How must the Air Force overcome severe nuclear maintenance manning shortages by evaluating civilian contracting for ICBMs, consolidating specialized career fields, and integrating Mission Ready Airmen concepts to support Agile Combat Employment and the growing demands of modern weapon systems?
May 6, 2026 Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic Media, and Defensive Measures for Generative Adversarial Networks How must the United States Air Force and Joint Force develop technical defensive measures, cognitive resistance capabilities, and systemic training frameworks to effectively detect, mitigate, and counter the rapid proliferation of adversarial high-fidelity synthetic media and AI-driven
May 6, 2026 Influence of Conventional Arms on Nuclear Deterrence What is the influence of advanced, long-range conventional weapons on the nuclear escalation ladder, and how do they affect an adversary's decision-making in a crisis?
May 6, 2026 Fiscal Agility, Cyber Innovation Centers, and Organic Software Development How must the military restructure its resourcing frameworks to continuously fund AI-driven command-and-control applications, and how can tactical-edge coding environments and cyber innovation centers be integrated into agile acquisition processes under the guidance of Chief Software Offices to
May 6, 2026 Creative Sourcing, Alternative Service Models, and Cyber Personnel Retention How must the Department of the Air Force navigate the legal, operational, and technical challenges of establishing a Civil Cyber Patrol—modeled after the Civil Air Patrol—to serve as an exit-ramp mitigation tool that retains the invaluable expertise of departing cyber Airmen in a
May 6, 2026 Cyber's Impact on Risk Mitigation and Integrated Deterrence From a risk mitigation perspective, how do strategic cyber capabilities fundamentally differ from nuclear weapons, and how can they be effectively integrated into new or existing arms control frameworks to enhance strategic stability without undermining the DAF's integrated deterrence posture?