EDITOR'S NOTE

Abstract

[...]as you probably found out from the periodic rubric CDSSS Agenda, this year's scientific activities were planned according to a different schedule, in order to welcome papers elaborated by PhD students and post-doctoral researchers within the projects under development in our University, namely SmartSPODAS and Horizons 2020. [...]in the pages of the current edition, you will find articles elaborated by experienced officers, teaching staff and researchers, as well as articles signed by young PhD candidates.

Edition no. 55 of Strategic Impact scientific journal brings to its content some novelties. Our constant collaborators and readers were used to the second issue oh the year to be a thematic one, comprising academic presentations delivered by guest-speakers in the Seminar that CDSSS was organising traditionally at the end of May. However, as you probably found out from the periodic rubric CDSSS Agenda, this year's scientific activities were planned according to a different schedule, in order to welcome papers elaborated by PhD students and post-doctoral researchers within the projects under development in our University, namely SmartSPODAS and Horizons 2020. Thus, in the pages of the current edition, you will find articles elaborated by experienced officers, teaching staff and researchers, as well as articles signed by young PhD candidates.

In the opening of the Political-Military Topicality rubric, we present an analysis on National Reserve Forces: from Defensive Sufficiency to Credible Deterrence, signed by three authors, Virgil Balaceanu, PhD, Dinu-Florian Stefanescu and Alexandru Adomnicai. The second article is a study of Mrs. Adela VÎLCU, PhD on the theme The Army and the Society, presenting Military Organizational Culture Trends.

The rubric NATO and Eu Policies, Strategies, Actions comprises three articles, the first being signed by our colleague Mrs. Alexandra Sarcinschi, PhD Senior Researcher, approaching the subject of International Migration in report with thee Nation State in the European Union, with a case study on Romania. Next, Mrs. Teodora Zecheru, PhD Researcher explores NATO Challenges in the Context of Hybrid Threats Evolution. And the last article, signed by Robert-Mihai POENARU dwells on Development of NATO Capabilities and Interoperability of Allied Forces through Smart Defence and Connected Forces Initiative.

Under the section Security and Military Strategy we included two perspectives on the very topical subject of hybrid war, one belonging to Florin-Marian Barbu and the other one to our colleague, Cristian Bahnareanu PhD Senior Researcher.

In this edition we advance a new heading, Intelligence Studies, comprising three articles from an academic perspective: thus, Mr. Andrei-Marius Diamescu, PhD proposes a Methodological Normativity in Intelligence and Social Research, Mrs. Oana-Andreea Sandu analyses Academic Intelligence as a Plurivalent Concept and Information and Mr. Doru Pogoreanu advances a study on Strategic Surprise, offering a Prospective Analysis of Weak Signals.

In the rubric Analyses, Syntheses, Evaluations, Mr. Lucian Stefan Cozma explores Unconventional Technologies in the Modern Warfare, referring to Weapons, Concealment/ Camouflage Systems, Means of Transportation while Mrs. Mihaela Radu, PhD dwells on Gender Equality as a Condition for Achieving Human Security.

Another novelty of this edition is the rubric Strategic Dialogue, under which we proposed ourselves as under the format of an interview, to debate on topics of high current interest and importance for the security and defence field with Romanian and foreign notorious experts. In the current issue, we had the pleasure of talking with Brig.Gen. (Ret.) Senior Researcher Gheorghe Vaduva, one of the most renowned Romanian experts in the field of Security Studies and geopolitics, strategy and geostrategy. The theme we approached was The political-military crisis in Eastern Europe, the material bearing the title With The Epoch of Necessary and Dangerous Interdependencies.

Also, in the section Scientific Event, we present the audience a few conclusions resulted from the International Scientific Conference STRATEGIES XXI with the theme The Complex and Dynamic Nature of the Security Environment - organized by the CDSSS in June 2015, and in the CDSSS Agenda rubric you will find out the activities we are preparing for the second half of the year.

In the end of the edition which was coordinated by our colleague Cristina Bogzeanu PhD Senior Researcher, is found the Guide for Authors, a useful material for those who whish to publish their research results in our journal.

For those who open Strategic Impact for the first time, we mention that the journal is an open access publication of the Centre for Defence and Security Strategic Studies within "Carol I" National Defence University (available at http://cssas.unap.ro/en/periodicals.htm) and is a prestigious scientific journal in the field of military science, information and public order, according to The National Council for the Recognition of University Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates (CNATDCU).

The journal is being published in Romanian language for fifteen years, and for eleven years in English language and has been approaching a complex thematic - political-military topicality, security strategy, military strategy, NATO and EU policies, strategies and actions, the issue of peace and the war of future, informational society, elements and aspects regarding the intelligence community. The readers may find, in the published pages, analyses, syntheses and evaluations at strategic level, points of view which study the impact of national, regional and global actions dynamics.

Regarding international visibility - primary objective of the journal -, the recognition of the publication's scientific quality is confirmed by its indexing in the international databases CEEOL (Central and Eastern European Online Library, Germany), EBSCO (USA), ProQuest (USA) and Index Copernicus International (Poland), but also by the presence in virtual catalogues of libraries in prestigious institutions abroad, such as NATO and universities with military profile in Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia and so on.

Strategic Impact journal is issued quarterly in March, June, September and December, in two separate editions: one in Romanian and one in English. The journal is distributed free of charge in the main institutions involved in security and defence, scientific and academic environment in the country and abroad - in Europe, Asia, America.

In the end, I would like to encourage the persons interested to publish in our pages to prospect and evaluate thoroughly the dynamics of the security environment.