The International Media division presented independent information and opinions about the United States to the rest of the world. Its Straus Military Reform Project, directed by Winslow Wheeler, analyzed 'both the fiscal and strategic implications of defense programs and promotes informed oversight of Pentagon activities.' The Center for Defense Information (CDI) developed and published expert analysis of security issues and defense policy. Blair, a nuclear weapons analyst and scholar formerly with the Brookings Institution, and co-founder of Global Zero. WSI's CDI project merged with the Project On Government Oversight, (POGO) in 2012. Global Zero received its 501(c)(3) status effective in June 2012, and began operating independently in November 2012, although WSI remained its principal sponsor for a period afterward. In 2012, many of WSI's projects became independent or merged with other organizations.

In the last several years of WSI's existence, Global Zero constituted more than 90% of WSI's operations. Projects of WSI included the Center for Defense Information (CDI), Azimuth Media, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and Global Zero, among others. The World Security Institute (WSI) was a Washington D.C.-based think tank committed to independent research and journalism on global affairs and security.

Washington observer