RUSI Annual Report 2016-2017
Highlights from the Royal United Services Institute for 2016-2017.
A Message from the Chairman
It has been another highly productive year for RUSI, and I am very grateful to all our members and staff who have made this possible. The more I have seen as Chairman of the range and consistency of RUSI's work, the more I am convinced that it is an essential part of the UK's ability to think about, analyse and anticipate issues that are fundamental to our security and that of our allies.
Independent centres of thinking are critical in ensuring that policymakers can draw on all necessary expertise and opinion in framing their views, and that people working in varied aspects of government, security agencies and the armed forces can join together with academic and professional leaders to discuss their concerns. RUSI provides a forum for such discussions, and a constant flow of excellent thinking and research from our research fellows and analysts.
The Institute's work in the last year has demonstrated this to the full, bringing together thousands of participants at over a hundred events, and producing influential publications and papers on a wide range of security issues. From the new forms of warfare to financial crime, and from countering violent extremism to the security implications of Britain leaving the EU, alongside many other issues listed in this report, we have produced fresh thinking and helped advance deeper understanding.
We will not be short of work in the years ahead. A more multi-polar world, new technological dangers and opportunities, unresolved conflicts in some regions and rising tensions in others all point to an even greater demand for well-informed and unbiased assessments of options and trends. RUSI will be there to deliver them.
The more I have seen of the range and consistency of RUSI's work, the more I am convinced that it is an essential part of the UK's ability to think about our security and that of our allies.
The Rt Hon the Lord Hague of Richmond
Senior Vice President
I say a big thank you to our members, who make possible through their support so much of our work, and we appreciate and put to good use the donations and sponsorship received over the year. Our re-shaped Advisory Board has acquitted itself well, as have our assiduous trustees, whose ranks have been further strengthened with distinguished and experienced additions. Our Director-General and all her senior colleagues, on whom we depend so much, have once again done a superb job.
In the coming year we intend to continue to deliver world-class research and thinking, along with progress in expanding our resources and bringing our magnificent building at 61 Whitehall into the modern age. There is much hard work to do, but we are in a good position to tackle it.
The Rt Hon the Lord Hague of Richmond
Chairman of the Council
A message from the Director General
It has been an exciting and busy year at RUSI, and I feel privileged to be leading such a strong and talented team. While our historic purpose has been the promotion and advancement of naval and military science and literature, as envisaged by our founder, the Duke of Wellington, today our remit has expanded to incorporate a range of defence and security matters.
Along with our focus on research, we are also fully committed to careful curation of our rich heritage and legacy. Accordingly, we are delighted to welcome His Grace the ninth Duke of Wellington as a new Trustee, along with three additional distinguished Trustees: Baroness Ashton, Alison Levitt QC and General Sir Nicholas Houghton.
Along with our focus on research we are also fully committed to careful curation of our rich heritage and legacy.
Dr Karin von Hippel
Director-General
Today, RUSI aspires to be a world-leading, independent forum for informing and improving policy and public debate on defence and security matters, whether that be related to the unconventional Trump presidency, how to disrupt ISIL 2.0 before it morphs into something far more lethal, the appropriate use of artificial intelligence in warfare, or halting the illicit trafficking of humans, and even wildlife, through a focus on financial tools.
RUSI's experts have been featured across the broad national and international media landscape, providing much needed independent, high-quality analysis on a range of developing stories. Our publications reach global audiences, including the
RUSI Journal, which turns 160 this year! And RUSI's recently revamped website helps us disseminate our products and activities on a regular basis.
Every year at RUSI, we welcome a range of world-class speakers. Last year was no exception: among our many distinguished guest speakers, we hosted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the philanthropist Bill Gates, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Stuart Peach.
As our Chairman mentioned, RUSI is now embarking on its next transformative effort, which is to render a building constructed for a think tank to prosper in the late nineteenth century fit for that same think tank to succeed in the twenty-first century. This will be a multi-year endeavour, and I will be updating our membership as we progress.
We are also committed to transparency at RUSI, and so we are delighted to share our latest financial statements as well as updates on our research and other activities. As always, we are grateful to a range of supporters, including our Trustees and Advisory Board members, our Associate Fellows, our corporate partners and, last but not least, our members, who have supported RUSI since it was founded in 1831.
Dr Karin von Hippel
Director-General