News

Artificial Intelligence Advocate Could Help Commanders in Battle, AI Commission Vice Chair Says

April 20, 2021 USNI News

Commanders could use an artificial intelligence advocate by their side to explain how to use the new technology in combat, former deputy secretary of defense Robert Work said Monday.

Commanders “don’t have to be experts” in all aspects of artificial intelligence, he said during an online forum sponsored by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. But they do have to be familiar with it and other new technologies.

America’s Nuclear Missiles Need Major Modernization

April 12, 2021 The Bulwark

The proposed missile upgrade program saves money and deters nuclear war. While critics are right to note that the United States' current missiles are increasingly expensive to maintain, the answer is to act to modernize now before the costs increase even further, not to reduce this critical leg of the nuclear triad. Moreover, the redundancies of the three legs of the nuclear triad are there by design, ensuring the United States maintains its defense without risking an accidental nuclear strike.

CSBA Welcomes Travis Sharp as Head of Defense Budget Studies

March 9, 2021

CSBA has reappointed Dr. Travis Sharp to its senior professional staff, following the completion of his mobilization to active duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Dr. Sharp, who first joined CSBA in 2018, returns to direct the Center’s defense budget studies program and lead CSBA’s efforts to inform policymakers, journalists, and the public about national security resources and investment priorities.

CSBA Welcomes Defense Journalism Fellows

January 27, 2021

CSBA is proud to announce its inaugural fellows for the CSBA Defense Journalism Seminar Series. This seminar series is an in-depth program for working journalists in the defense and national security beats and aims to provide outstanding defense reporters with tools to master the foundations of defense policy, operational concepts, budgets, and the intricacies of contemporary national security processes.

CSBA Research Fellow David Zikusoka to Join U.S. Department of Defense

January 20, 2021

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments is proud to congratulate David Zikusoka, CSBA’s Research Fellow in Aerospace Studies, on his selection as Special Assistant, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy.

Studies

Living Within One’s Means: Revisiting Defense Acquisition and Affordability

October 4, 2021 Chris Bassler, Travis Sharp, Josh Chang

Future Vertical Lift (FVL) is a force structure recapitalization effort to design and procure a family of rotary-wing platforms capable of operations in future highly contested environments. The Army’s FVL is the leading edge of an effort that has identified the need for a rotary-wing Family of Systems that can deliver five capability sets for joint use across the Services. Due to budgetary limitations and force modernization priorities, the Army is currently pursuing only two of these capability sets, but they still represent a significant effort for the Army, as they are the first new helicopters designed since the mid-1980s.

Briefs

Arms Control: Can Its Future Be Found in Its Past?

September 21, 2021 Eric Edelman

In the wake of the Trump Administration’s withdrawal from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) of 1988 and the Open Skies Treaty of 1992 there was a great deal of fear that the New START Treaty which one scholar has called “the key bilateral arms control agreement” would expire. Now that the keystone of the arms control enterprise remains in place it is worth examining why so many arms control experts and advocates have been warning about “the end,” “the death” or the “deep crisis” of arms control. As one leading Russian scholar of arms control has argued, “legacy Cold War-era arms control is collapsing and an uncontrolled nuclear arms race is threatening to return.”

Briefs

Aligning South Korea’s Defense Strategy and Capabilities

September 7, 2021 Evan B. Montgomery, Jack Bianchi, Josh Chang, Madison Creery, Regan Copple

Changing security dynamics on the Korean Peninsula are prompting the Republic of Korea (ROK) to reexamine its defense strategy and adjust its military capabilities and investment priorities. North Korea’s growing missile arsenal and asymmetric defense strategy, along with China’s rapid military modernization, present unique challenges to South Korean and American efforts to maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the broader region.

Studies

Mind the Power Gap: The American Energy Arsenal and Chinese Insecurity

August 25, 2021 Chris Bassler, Ben Noon

The shale revolution has upended nearly a half-century of American energy insecurity. The United States is now the most energy-secure it has been since the 1970s and has returned to its position as the world’s leading energy producer.

Studies

Slow and Steady: Analysis of the 2022 Defense Budget Request

July 30, 2021 Travis Sharp

In May 2021, the Pentagon presented its first budget request to the Biden Administration, proposing a $715 billion topline for Fiscal Year 2022, representing a 0.2 percent real decrease relative to the previous fiscal year. In a shift from previous budgets, the request also included contingency operations costs within DoD's base budget, eliminating the separate Other Contingency Operations (OCO) account that has supplemented the Defense Department's budget for two decades.

Studies

Implementing Deterrence by Detection: Innovative Capabilities, Processes, and Organizations for Situational Awareness in the Indo-Pacific Region

July 14, 2021 Thomas G. Mahnken, Travis Sharp, Chris Bassler, Bryan W. Durkee

One of the essential hallmarks of deterrence is the ability to effectively detect – and therefore prepare for – a potential adversary’s hostile action in a timely fashion. Just as the threat of effective retaliation must be credible, deterrence also depends on a robust ability to identify and assess aggressive acts, including acts of coercion that fall below the threshold of kinetic conflict. Recent Chinese actions toward Taiwan, for example, have heightened the conviction among U.S. and allied defense planners that effective, interoperable intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems are essential for the security of the entire Indo-Pacific theater.

Living Within One’s Means: Revisiting Defense Acquisition and Affordability

Mind the Power Gap: The American Energy Arsenal and Chinese Insecurity

Slow and Steady: Analysis of the 2022 Defense Budget Request

Implementing Deterrence by Detection: Innovative Capabilities, Processes, and Organizations for Situational Awareness in the Indo-Pacific Region

Delivering Advanced Unmanned Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence for Naval Superiority

Featured Event

Report Release Webinar—Living Within One’s Means: Revisiting Defense Acquisition and Affordability

Artificial Intelligence Advocate Could Help Commanders in Battle, AI Commission Vice Chair Says

America’s Nuclear Missiles Need Major Modernization

CSBA Welcomes Travis Sharp as Head of Defense Budget Studies

CSBA Welcomes Defense Journalism Fellows

CSBA Research Fellow David Zikusoka to Join U.S. Department of Defense

Reagan Institute and the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments Warn Policy Makers About the Consequences of Defense Budget Cuts

Latest Publications

Living Within One’s Means: Revisiting Defense Acquisition and Affordability

Arms Control: Can Its Future Be Found in Its Past?

Aligning South Korea’s Defense Strategy and Capabilities

Mind the Power Gap: The American Energy Arsenal and Chinese Insecurity

Slow and Steady: Analysis of the 2022 Defense Budget Request

Implementing Deterrence by Detection: Innovative Capabilities, Processes, and Organizations for Situational Awareness in the Indo-Pacific Region