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DefSecLab

The Defence and Security Laboratory (DefSecLab) at the Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS) of Luiss Guido Carli analyses Italy’s defence and security posture in an increasingly uncertain global strategic environment. The unit produces threat assessments, institutional analyses, and policy-oriented research on the evolving relationship between national security, defence capabilities, and technological transformation, with the aim of supporting both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. Comprising senior researchers with diverse institutional affiliations and backgrounds in strategic studies, defence economics, technology policy, and security governance, DefSecLab combines academic rigour with attention to the operational concerns of practitioners. This composition enables the unit to work across the strategic, institutional, and industrial dimensions of national security and defence, and to situate Italian choices within the Euro-Atlantic and Mediterranean frameworks in which they are made.
The unit’s research agenda covers three main areas. First, Italian defence policy, including force posture, force structure, procurement, industrial policy, and Italy’s contribution to NATO and European Union initiatives. Second, the Italian national security enterprise and policies, encompassing the functioning of government agencies, institutions, and private actors in matters of national security, as well as the foreign activities conducted to protect Italy’s vital interests. Third, the internal security dimension, including critical infrastructure protection, national resilience, and responses to hybrid and sub-threshold threats that cut across the internal–external divide. A distinctive cross-cutting focus is technological transformation and the demands it places on defence and national security institutions.
DefSecLab engages institutional stakeholders, the defence and security industry, and the wider research community through publications, closed-door briefings, workshops, and public events, thereby contributing to capacity-building and to the circulation of expertise between academia and practice.

Head of Unit

  • Niccolò Petrelli

    Niccolò Petrelli

    Niccolò Petrelli is Assistant Professor (RTT) at the Department of Political Sciences LUISS Guido Carli. Previously he held positions in various academic and military institutions in Italy and abroad: he was post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Eisenhower Defense Fellow at the NATO Defense College, lecturer in International Politics at the University of Leeds, Assistant Professor of Strategic Studies at Roma Tre University, visiting scholar at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya, and military researcher at the Institute for Defense Research and  Analysis (IRAD) of the Italian armed forces. He has also conducted research and teaching on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Joint Defense Staff, and NATO.

    Niccolò received his PhD in Political Science at Roma Tre University. His works have been published,

    among others, in: The Journal of Strategic Studies, Intelligence & National Security, Diplomacy & Statecraft, the Journal of Intelligence History; Small Wars & Insurgencies, the International History Review. He is the author of two monographs: The Italian Secret Services and US Intelligence. From “Gladio” to the “Strategy of Tension” (Carocci, 2025) [Italian], Israel, Strategic Culture and the Conflict with Hamas: Adaptation and Military Effectiveness, 1987-2014 (Routledge, 2017) and he is currently writing a history of the Italian foreign intelligence service to be published by Georgetown University Press in early 2028.

Researcher

  • Emanuele Chizzoni

    Emanuele Chizzoni

    Emanuele Chizzoni holds an Erasmus Mundus International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies. He has previously contributed to wargaming initiatives for Italian defense institutions and conducted research at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. Following his professional experience in the cybersecurity consulting sector, his interests have turned towards emerging technologies, economic warfare, and strategic wargaming.