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Placed under the authority of the Prime Minister, who has entrusted its supervision to the General Secretariat for National Defence and Security (SGDSN), the IHEDN is much more than a training institute for the nation's dynamic forces from the armed forces, the public services and the private sector: it also raises awareness of defence issues among elected representatives in Parliament and local authorities, associations, trade unions, religious representatives, etc.
This diversity of audiences and the originality of the training, based from the outset on a tried and tested pedagogical triptych - high-level lectures, field visits and committee work - make the IHEDN a source of inspiration for many organisations outside the fields of national defence and strategic thinking.
Since it was founded in 1936, the Institute has been at the heart of a veritable ecosystem that has historically contributed to national cohesion and the dissemination of the spirit of defence. Throughout its 90-year history, this ecosystem has been constantly structured and densified to adapt to the vicissitudes of the times. Echoing the current geostrategic upheavals, this structuring has accelerated particularly since the 2020s.
Institutional anchoring: a legitimate prime ministerial position
As a public administrative institution, IHEDN carries out its public service mission in direct liaison with the highest authorities, as part of an inter-ministerial approach.
The first link is the organic one with its supervisory body. For the Institute, this link is strategic: its affiliation with the Prime Minister's Office and the SGDSN ensures that its teaching is aligned with national defence and security priorities, as expressed in the National Strategic Review published in 2025.
Secondly, its mission cannot be achieved without interministerial cooperation: IHEDN works closely with the ministries (Armed Forces, Interior, Europe and Foreign Affairs, Economy and Finance, National Education, Overseas Territories), helping to make the École Militaire and the various regional youth sessions and cycles unique crossroads for strategic thinking and national cohesion.
- Le Ministry of the Armed Forces, Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs contribute on a daily basis to the activities of the IHEDN, by providing experienced and managerial staff. The Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) and the Armed Forces Staff in particular are also essential partners in the organisation of several sessions each year.
- The French Overseas Departments and Territories Directorate General (DGOM) of the Ministry for Overseas France supports the participation of auditors from these territories in the national session of the IHEDN each year, as well as the organisation of a regional session and a cycle for young people overseas.
- The Directorate for Security and Defence Cooperation (DCSD) of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs contributes, several times a year, to the organisation of international sessions at IHEDN, bringing together students from all over the world.
- Le Ministry of the Economy and Finance is involved, through a number of its departments, in holding cycles in Economic and Strategic Intelligence.
ACADEM, a real efficiency multiplier
In 2026, the Defence Academy of the École Militaire (ACADEM), created in 2023, is continuing to step up its events and awareness-raising activities. IHEDN, a founding member, plays a leading role in this.
In concrete terms, this translates into territorial synergy: By bringing together around twenty organisations, all located at the École Militaire, ACADEM increases the dissemination of the training and research carried out on the site.
This local synergy gives French strategic thinking a global reach: the success of Paris Defence and Strategy Forum (PDSF) bears witness to the power of this collective, capable of bringing together in Paris strategic thinkers and analysts from all over the world. In 2025, the Forum attracted more than 4,000 visitors of 71 nationalities, with some 400 speakers taking part in 121 different events. The 2026 edition will be held from 24 to 26 March.
A network of auditors: local roots
IHEDN's work to build national resilience also relies on a community of over 10,000 members, committed both over time (several years after the end of their session) and over space (throughout France and abroad).
Listener associations are present in mainland France, overseas and abroad. They promote the spirit of defence on a daily basis through conferences, field visits and a wide range of initiatives tailored to the regions and the different audiences encountered. Since 2025, regional associations have been able to organise youth courses under the Institute's educational supervision.
The link with young people is obviously expressed through the Youth cycles and the many activities of the Young IHEDN, but also through academic trinomials. Organised since 1988 by teams from the rectorats of the Ministry of Education, the general officers of the defence and security zones of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the regional associations of IHEDN auditors, they provide training in national defence issues for secondary school pupils and students throughout France. The IHEDN ecosystem is looking to the future to pass on the baton to younger generations.
Academic and inter-institute synergies
The Institut breaks down the barriers of knowledge by engaging in structuring partnerships.
Since 2025, a partnership with the other «IH» at the École Militaire, Institut des Hautes Études du Ministère de l'Intérieur (IHEMI) enables the organisation of joint cycles that illustrate the need to address defence and homeland security issues in their entirety, by bringing cultures closer together. IHEDN is also a driving force and, by virtue of its age, a source of inspiration for the Inter-IHE network, which brings together some twenty public institutes and graduate schools.
At European level, IHEDN works in close partnership with the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), which finances several courses for auditors from France and other EU countries.
At the same time, collaboration with the academic and research world is steadily increasing to support the growing number of researchers and feed strategic thinking via scientific awards since 1998, but also thanks to the IHEDN Endowment Fund, IHEDN, which also hosts two research chairs: the IHEDN Chair in Defence Economics and the IHEDN Chair in Digital Sovereignty and Cybersecurity.
On the teaching front, this close collaboration is also reflected in the participation of representatives from the academic world in the Institute's activities throughout the year, whether through their contribution to defining the general guidelines of the training and research policy (within the Scientific Advisory Board) or their intervention in cycles and sessions.
THE IHEDN ECOSYSTEM IN FIGURES
2500 people
trained every year and several hundred people reached through our events
100,000+ subscribers
on our social networks, commenting on and sharing scientific news and articles, as well as the dozens of articles for the general public published on the site every year
1 leading annual scientific publication
National Defence Year (NDA)
39 associations
international, national, regional and thematic listeners
1 global network
with a stronger presence in Brussels
30 organisations
ACADEM members and partners
