The Priority themes covered by Connections: The Quarterly Journal in the FY 2013 publication year included:
- Cyber Deterrence and Cyber Warfare
- Environmental Security: Sources of Cooperation and Conflict
- Crisis Management / Disaster Response
- Lessons Learned for Interoperability
- Security, Stability, and Reconstruction Operations
- Civil-Military Relations in Transformation and Expeditionary Operations
- Integration of Euro-Atlantic Norms and Values
- Innovative Approaches to Defense Education
- Dealing with Armed Non-State Groups
Other themes were also included on the discretion of the Editorial Board, as follows:
The Winter 2012 issue was dedicated to the technical and organizational challenges of mobile learning, the opportunities it provides in the education and trainig of defense personnel, and the challenges of mobile learning in security and defense organizations, research ethics, crisis simulations and mobile serious games.
The Spring 2013 issue addressed potential roles of Central Asian states post-2104; the topics of strategic communication; asymmetric warfare as seen by deployed military personnel; the roles of armed forces in civil security, with details on the experience of Italy; NATO's energy security policy and developments in the Caspian; the evolution of balistic missile defense in Poland.
The Summer 2013 issue presented studies on defence economics and NATO's drive towards 'Smart Defense', NATO's critical energy infrastructures ambitions in view of recent developments in gas and oil pipeline projects, the growing role of social media in conflicts, and security developments in the Caucasus. Two papers look at Asia, in particular to the U.S. 'pivot' and the role of China's Xinjiang for security and development in Central Asia.
Two of the papers in the Fall 2013 issue of Connections looked into the legitimacy in the use of force in cyber space in three recent cyber attacks and the engagement between NATO/U.S. and Russia in the cyber domain. Another article treats the dilemma of transparency vs. confidentiality in the oversight of security agencies and the experience with parliamentary committees of inquiry in Germany. The fourth article examines the paradigm shift in the discourse on energy security, and the final one - the causes for vulnerability of Western youth to Al Qaeda's ideological recruitment.
For current priorities see this page.