Skip to content

Initiatives

All Initiatives

Initiatives are specific projects, either as a sub-component of a particular portfolio or as a standalone, which have an intended impact in line with New Lines mission, vision, and values.

Climate Transition and Emerging Technologies

This initiative is intended to deal with global energy connectivity from a longer-term time frame, particularly as it relates to tackling the issue of climate change on a global scale and harnessing emerging technologies (such as green hydrogen, battery storage, etc.) as well as international cooperation to strengthen humanity’s preparedness and resilience for the climate transition.

Countering China: The Missing Eurasian Dimension 

The U.S. lately has focused on the Indo-Pacific basins to counter China at sea, but Beijing is a long way from being a maritime power, and its investments in the Belt and Road Initiative show its growing influence over land. Beijing is eyeing the waning influence of Russia as an opportunity to expand its influence in Eurasia, particularly Central Asia. This project seeks to give the U.S. tools to position itself to counter China’s westward march in Eurasia and offer concrete recommendations on how Washington can help build resilience of Central Asian states so they can resist the Chinese ingress.

Drone Trafficking Project

Across the world, criminal organizations are turning to drone technology to smuggle illicit goods and bypass law enforcement detection. Commercial-grade drones, in particular, offer a cheap and efficient alternative to maritime and overland smuggling operations, with advanced payloads that can deliver contraband to transit and destination markets. These same drones can also increase these groups’ abilities to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and even conduct aerial strikes, adding a kinetic component to their illicit activity. Criminal syndicates’ use of underwater drones, commercial drones, and even military-grade drone technology have introduced a new, challenging reality for customs and border security forces.  The Drone Trafficking Project seeks to generate new actionable intelligence and analyses all aspects of drone trafficking and its implications. Through open-source intelligence gathering, the project tracks all developments related to drone trafficking sightings and seizures and identify how these patterns can be used to inform public policy.  Through its published content and programming, the project  seeks to identify innovative policy solutions that can help address drone trafficking’s geopolitical, law enforcement, and security implications. The Drone Trafficking Project was created and is led by Caroline Rose and is part of the Crime-Conflict Nexus Portfolio.

Energy Security and Geopolitics

This initiative is intended to deal with global energy connectivity from a short-to-medium- term time frame, particularly as it relates to energy security (the reliable access to diverse sources of energy) and how that shapes and is shaped by geopolitical trends and events (Russia/Ukraine conflict, China/Taiwan tensions, etc.).

Gender as an Analytical Tool for Foreign Policy

Gender is a tool to understand structural power relations with deep symbolic significance and institutionalized forms of categorizing individuals. Gender is learned, culturally significant, and can change over time; for instance, the assumption that men should be the primary breadwinner or that women are primarily homemakers and caretakers is cultural and changes over time. A gender analysis uses this theory to understand the relationships among men, women, boys, girls, and people of diverse SOGIESC and how their access to resources, their activities, and the constraints they face are predicated on their gender. New Lines’ Gender Analysis Project seeks to apply a gender and intersectional lens to issues of foreign policy and national security, providing policymakers with a richer and more nuanced understanding of current affairs.

Global Responses to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Globally, at least one in three women has experienced some form of gender-based violence in her lifetime. Issues like intimate partner violence, child marriage, human trafficking, and conflict-related sexual violence not only harm those being victimized, but also impact foreign policy objectives of the U.S. and its allies. New Lines’ Global Responses to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Project seeks to bring the issue to the forefront of policy and ensure policymakers around the world are addressing this threat to our liberal world order in the most effective, inclusive manner possible.

Latest