Chapter 7: CENS, National Security, and Their Futures

One of my first duties when I came to the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) was to brief the RSIS international board members on the centre and the sort of work we do. Before successfully navigating my opening slide, I was asked to pause, and a distinguished academic (who shall remain nameless) enquired as to whether the description of CENS as a ‘world-class thought leader’ was a statement of fact or merely an aspiration. Momentarily flummoxed by the query, my answer was slow to emerge; I responded that CENS, with its modest staff of 15 researchers, recognised the challenge of being a small think tank seeking to rank alongside the global heavyweights conducting similar work, but nonetheless, we did not see an endlessly receding mirage. There was an end goal that we intended to reach — to grow into a genuine world-class institution under the umbrella of the now globally recognised RSIS brand. The exchange left an impression, and I began to reflect upon how far CENS has come, and what the future might hold as we bridge aspiration and reality…