News

Military Compensation Reform: A New Way of Thinking

January 28, 2015

Tomorrow, the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission is due to release its final report and recommendations to Congress. CSBA has been at the leading edge of this issue. Todd Harrison’s 2012 report, Rebalancing Military Compensation: An Evidence-Based Approach, provided a new way of thinking about compensation reform that was the basis for the survey of military personnel conducted by the commission.

Air Force Says Mideast Bombing Worsens Maintenance-Staff Shortage

October 29, 2014 Wall Street Journal

The Air Force says the U.S. bombing campaign against Islamic extremists is exacerbating its shortage of plane-maintenance experts—a gap that is rekindling tensions with Congress about how to manage the nation’s combat aircraft.

CSBA Report: Upcoming QDR Should Change the Mix of Capabilities

June 18, 2013

“The Pentagon has an opportunity to use its upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) to define and then resource a new mix of military capabilities that will be needed for future contingency operations,” argues a new Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) report released at a congressional briefing last week.

Ambassador Edelman Selected to the National Defense Panel for Quadrennial Defense Review

January 29, 2013

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA) today announced his selection of Ambassador Eric Edelman and former U.S. Senator Jim Talent to the Congressionally-mandated National Defense Panel which assesses the Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).

Studies

Uncovering China’s Influence in Europe: How Friendship Groups Coopt European Elites

July 1, 2020 Toshi Yoshihara, Jack Bianchi

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seeks to shape the external environment to its liking through several means, ranging from coercive uses of military power to economic statecraft to influence operations. Beijing’s global campaign to influence perceptions and policies abroad, in particular, has drawn media attention and, increasingly, government scrutiny. In Europe, the CCP has opened a broad political front that could have implications for the region’s long-term policies toward China and for transatlantic relations. There is thus a growing need for policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic to better understand the goals, strategies, and methods of the actors that promote CCP influence in Europe.

Studies

Dragon Against the Sun: Chinese Views of Japanese Seapower

May 19, 2020 Toshi Yoshihara

Over the past decade, the Chinese navy overtook Japan’s maritime service in critical measures of power, including fleet size, aggregate tonnage, and firepower. China eclipsing Japan in naval power could introduce unwelcome strategic trends. It may well fuel an even more intense competition between Tokyo and Beijing, two seafaring rivals that already regard each other with deep suspicion. Japan’s displacement at sea could increase the probability of deterrence failure in the next crisis. It threatens to undercut U.S. confidence in Japan’s capacity to fulfill its allied responsibilities, sowing acrimony within the security partnership.

Studies

Deterrence by Detection: A Key Role for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Great Power Competition

April 14, 2020 Thomas G. Mahnken, Travis Sharp, Grace B. Kim

In an era of renewed great power competition, one of the most significant challenges the United States and its allies face is the need to deny China or Russia the ability to launch opportunistic acts of aggression against an ally or partner in the Western Pacific or Eastern Europe. There is increasing concern among defense policymakers in the United States and its allies and partners that China and Russia are developing the ability to launch aggression rapidly against states on their periphery under the cover of increasingly capable reconnaissance-strike networks.

Studies

COVID-19 Analysis and Policy Implications

April 7, 2020 Harrison Schramm, Kevin A. Chlan, Peter Kouretsos

The novel Coronavirus-19 is currently impacting all facets of American life. In this report, CSBA Senior Fellow Harrison Schram, Federal Executive Fellow Kevin Chlan, and Research Analyst Peter Kouretsos characterize both the immediate and long-term policy implications of this pandemic, with a focus how it will impact today’s U.S. Department of Defense as well as future American military capabilities.

Studies

Forging the Tools of 21st Century Great Power Competition

March 16, 2020 Thomas G. Mahnken

The U.S. national security community has, in recent years, begun to focus its attention on the need to compete with China and Russia. The move to embrace the reality of great power competition, and with it the prospect of great power war, comes after a three-decade respite from serious thinking about what it means to face an economically powerful and technologically sophisticated adversary in peace and in war. How can our governmental organizations, our defense planning premises and priorities, and the linkages among diverse elements of national power be revamped to focus our collective energies on a more demanding set of security challenges than has been the case since the end of the Cold War?

Testimonies

Statement Before the House Armed Services Committee: The Department of Defense’s Role in Long-Term Major State Competition

February 12, 2020 Thomas G. Mahnken

On February 11, 2020, CSBA President and CEO Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services (HASC). Dr. Mahnken was invited to appear before the HASC to deliver his observations on current Defense Department (DoD) priorities, the National Defense Strategy Commission, and the investments and other requirements to enable the United States to succeed in the current era of Great Power competition.

Uncovering China’s Influence in Europe: How Friendship Groups Coopt European Elites

Dragon Against the Sun: Chinese Views of Japanese Seapower

Deterrence by Detection: A Key Role for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Great Power Competition

COVID-19 Analysis and Policy Implications

Forging the Tools of 21st Century Great Power Competition

Strengthening the U.S. Defense Maritime Industrial Base: A Plan to Improve Maritime Industry’s Contribution to National Security

Featured Event

Report Release Webinar—Deterrence by Detection: A Key Role for Unmanned Systems in Great Power Competition

Military Compensation Reform: A New Way of Thinking

Air Force Says Mideast Bombing Worsens Maintenance-Staff Shortage

Bryan Clark Joins CSBA as Senior Fellow

CSBA Report: Upcoming QDR Should Change the Mix of Capabilities

Open Letter: Defense Reform Consensus

Ambassador Edelman Selected to the National Defense Panel for Quadrennial Defense Review

Latest Publications

Uncovering China’s Influence in Europe: How Friendship Groups Coopt European Elites

Dragon Against the Sun: Chinese Views of Japanese Seapower

Deterrence by Detection: A Key Role for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Great Power Competition

COVID-19 Analysis and Policy Implications

Forging the Tools of 21st Century Great Power Competition

Statement Before the House Armed Services Committee: The Department of Defense’s Role in Long-Term Major State Competition