The Institute for National Security Ethics and Leadership (INSEL) was established as a nationally and internationally recognized center of excellence in ethics and leadership in national- and international-security affairs.  INSEL resides at the National Defense University (NDU), and its work involves all three functional areas of NDU: education, research, and outreach.

In 2007, General Peter Pace, USMC, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, authorized INSEL.  General Richard B. Myers, USAF (retired), also a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, plays an integral role at INSEL in his capacity as NDU's Colin Powell Chair of Leadership, Ethics, and Character.

INSEL's focus includes the qualities of the individual leader and also encompasses a wider view of the ethics of national security, the standards of the military and public service professions as a whole, and relationship of those professions with society.