Stimson analyzes issues such as nuclear proliferation, arms trafficking, water management, wildlife poaching, and responses to humanitarian crises.

Other major projects include North Korea's Economy: A Glimpse Through Imagery, a commercial satellite imagery analysis series focused on the North Korean economy in partnership with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the DPRK Digital Atlas, a comprehensive geospatial dataset based on open source data of DPRK political, economic, cultural and security infrastructure.

[13][14] The environmental security program explores how increased stress on global ecosystems and shared natural resources may compromise economic development, fuel social conflict, and undermine political stability in key areas throughout the world.

They study cross-border dynamics in the region, and are focused on the rising threat from sectarianism and its roots in radical Islamic ideology.

The South Asia program analyzes U.S. crisis management on the subcontinent, producing case studies of the "Twin Peaks" and Mumbai crises, and identifying future challenges.

The main focus of the program's research is development in the Greater Mekong Subregion, particularly hydroelectric power projects and their impacts on the food-water-security nexus and regional stability.