CSS News and Impact

Switzerland has helped advance space cybersecurity research, but gaps remain in everyday security practices. Drawing on a CSS workshop with the Swiss space industry, Clémence Poirier identifies four priorities for translating expertise into stronger protection.

Switzerland is holding the OSCE Chairpersonship for the third time, with its term running until the end of 2026. Its engagement underscores the country’s continued commitment to multilateralism and to a European security architecture based not only on deterrence, but also on cooperation and dialogue. This focus page brings together recent CSS publications and media contributions by CSS researchers exploring Switzerland’s 2026 OSCE Chairpersonship and the future of the organisation.

CSS doctoral researcher Francesco Ignazio Re, in collaboration with the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York, has developed a framework for integrating Artificial Intelligence into the UN information services. The work examines how AI can make the United Nations' extensive documentary record more accessible while ensuring that the technology is used responsibly and in accordance with the organization's principles.

A referendum has been filed against the revision of the War Material Act (KMG), which was passed by Parliament in December 2025. The technical and complex nature of the Act makes it difficult to discuss the specific changes to the text, to which reference is rarely made. The following analysis of the changes is intended to provide a more detailed understanding of the changes to security policy and their significance.

Military technology is advancing at a speed that established defence institutions struggle to match. Drones, AI, and autonomous systems can evolve within months, while doctrine, procurement, and force structures take years to change. The CSS Web Talk “Caught Between: Traditional Defence Bureaucracies and the Rise of AI-driven Warfare” highlighted these challenges and strategic imperatives. Michael Raska shares key takeaways.

Digital operations have become a routine feature of armed conflict, but they rarely produce the autonomous, decisive effects once associated with visions of “cyberwar”. Their significance lies instead in how they exploit, disrupt, or exercise control over the digital dependencies on which states, armed forces, and civilian populations rely.

Digital sovereignty is a highly ambiguous concept. Policymakers should separate its normative, economic, and geopolitical dimensions to balance competing interests and design coherent policy.

When high-level political negotiations stall, local and civil society actors still try to sustain ceasefires on the ground. Yemen shows how important it is that international support does not crowd out such processes and that these efforts cannot substitute for the political settlement the country still needs, as the recent escalation underlines.

Switzerland will host its first Union Civil Protection Mechanism exercise in autumn 2026. Its value lies not only in field cooperation but also in linking operational findings to the priorities of the Security Policy Strategy.

Military technology is advancing at a speed that established defence institutions struggle to match. Drones, AI, and autonomous systems can evolve within months, while doctrine, procurement, and force structures take years to change. The CSS Web Talk “Caught Between: Traditional Defence Bureaucracies and the Rise of AI-driven Warfare” highlighted these challenges and strategic imperatives. Michael Raska shares key takeaways.