Independence is a rule, not an adjective.
Independence is not a value we assert. It is a rule we can state, and you can check.
The rule: in any domain we study, the Institute takes no money from the actors we are studying in that domain. The people whose futures we describe cannot pay to shape the description.
We have one relationship we will not hide: the Institute is an initiative of DSI Advisory, a commercial security-and-intelligence practice, which funds the Institute the way a foundation funds a fellowship — to produce independent work, not house work, with no editorial control in return.
Our commitments
Funding never buys a conclusion, a fellow, or a place in the magazine.
We disclose — rather than quietly manage — any relationship that could read as a conflict.
No one under study reviews, softens, or approves what we publish about them.
Independence is the whole asset. The moment our description of a fight can be bought by one of its combatants, it is worthless — and so are we. We would rather be smaller and trusted than larger and captured.