News

Drowning Stability: The Perils of Naval Nuclearization in the Indian Ocean

August 28, 2013 the Naval War College Review

Iskander Rehman, Research Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, has been awarded the Hugh G. Nott prize (third place) for Drowning Stability: The Perils of Naval Nuclearization in the Indian Ocean, published in the Fall 2012 issue of the Naval War College Review.

In Depth: Federal News Radio

August 21, 2013 Federal News Radio

Even during sequestration the Defense Department doesn't plan to sacrifice its global presence. But it is considering new ways to administer the bureaucracy that global reach requires. Some of the military's combatant commands might disappear altogether, and some might have their geographical boundaries redrawn. For now, it's all speculation, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says it'll only be necessary if sequestration stays in place for the full ten years. Yet, it is one of the ideas DoD is examining in the wake of Hagel's recent Strategic Choices and Management Review.

Shaping America’s Future Military – Toward a New Force Planning Construct

August 19, 2013 C-Span

C-Span's full coverage of Mark Gunzinger's presentation at the Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies at the Air Force Association on the future of America's Military, including how commanders in the field and in Washington should look at strategic and budgetary planning.

Analysis of the SCMR Options and DoD Forecast

August 4, 2013 Defense News

Todd Harrison, joins a roundtable of experts on This Week in Defense with Vago Muradian to discuss the impact of automatic defense cuts on readiness and programs, the Pentagon's strategic reviews and the outlook for Afghanistan.

Drive to Reform the DoD

July 28, 2013 This Week in Defense with Vago Muradian

A roundtable discussion with Robert O. Work, CEO, the Center for a New American Security; Jim Thomas, Vice President & Director of Studies, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments; Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; and Clark Murdock, Senior Adviser Defense and National Security Group and Director of the Project on Nuclear Issues, Center for Strategic and International Studies; on the results and implications of the Pentagon's recently completed Strategic Choices and Management Review and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's drive to reform DoD.

Briefs

Understanding NATO’s Concept for Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area

May 20, 2024 Katherine E. Dahlstrand, Sean Monaghan, Sara Bjerg Moller

NATO, the largest and most powerful military alliance in history, turned seventy-five in April. In July, the leaders of NATO will return to the city where its founding document, the Washington Treaty, was signed in 1949. Most people have heard of NATO. Fewer know its most important document is the Strategic Concept, which is updated every decade or so, and sets the Alliance’s strategy. An even smaller group know about NATO’s “Concept for Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area.”

Studies

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

March 18, 2024 Katherine E. Dahlstrand

Assessing the type of threat that Russia is likely to pose in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine is a critical challenge for the United States and its allies. What will the Russian military look like in the future? Some argue that the Russian military will remain a significant threat – and perhaps become a very different and even more serious one. This argument holds that the Russian military will reconstitute in a relatively short time frame and may reform according to lessons learned during the war in Ukraine. Others argue that the Russian military will pose a far less formidable conventional threat going forward. Not only has the war against Ukraine exposed fundamental weaknesses in the Russian military, the argument goes, but Moscow’s ability to address those weaknesses will be limited by available manpower, sanctions, and export controls.

Briefs

2023 Annual Report

January 30, 2024

For nearly three decades, CSBA has provided consistent, high-quality, and innovative research on defense strategy, budgets, and the security environment.

Briefs

An Ongoing and Necessary Renaissance: NATO’s Nuclear Posture

January 25, 2024 Eric Edelman, Franklin C. Miller

President Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling while the war in Ukraine has raged, along with lurid nuclear threats by Russian officials and propagandists, have once again focused attention on NATO’s nuclear mission. As the alliance approaches a summit in Washington later this summer, it is an appropriate time to review its nuclear posture.

Studies

Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

January 17, 2024 Carl Rehberg, Herbert Kemp

One of the most critical operational challenges the United States is likely to confront in a future conflict, particularly in the Indo-Pacific theater, is the threat of massed precision-guided air and missile attacks on overseas ports, bases, and other vital facilities. DoD has invested significant resources to defend against ballistic missile attacks on the United States, as well as its forward bases and forward-operating forces. However, it cannot still defeat large numbers of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial systems.

Studies

Inconsistent Congress: Analysis of the 2024 Defense Budget Request

October 17, 2023 Travis Sharp

After increasing the Department of Defense (DoD) budget in real terms during seven of the past eight fiscal years, Congress has now pivoted toward restraining spending by passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Approved in early June as part of the debt ceiling deal, the law imposes a liberating limit on defense. It unshackles defense spending from parity with nondefense spending but still caps military budgets at or near current spending levels for the next two fiscal years while brandishing the threat of a lowered defense cap and potential sequestration if Congress delays in passing full-year appropriations for any budget account.

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Inconsistent Congress: Analysis of the 2024 Defense Budget Request

Evaluate Like We Operate: Why DOD Should Evaluate Weapons Systems as Networked Force Packages, Not Individual Platforms

Extending Deterrence by Detection: The Case for Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems Into the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness

Beyond Precision: Maintaining America’s Strike Advantage in Great Power Conflict

The Decisive Decade: United States–China Competition in Defense Innovation and Defense Industrial Policy in and Beyond the 2020s

Speeding Toward Instability? Hypersonic Weapons and the Risks of Nuclear Use

Air Power Metamorphosis: Rethinking Air Force Combat Force Modernization

Innovating for Great Power Competition: An Examination of Service and Joint Innovation Efforts

2023 Annual Report

Featured Event

Report Release Webinar: Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Drowning Stability: The Perils of Naval Nuclearization in the Indian Ocean

In Depth: Federal News Radio

Shaping America’s Future Military – Toward a New Force Planning Construct

Analysis of the SCMR Options and DoD Forecast

Drive to Reform the DoD

A Blockbuster Quarter for Defense Companies

Latest Publications

Understanding NATO’s Concept for Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

2023 Annual Report

An Ongoing and Necessary Renaissance: NATO’s Nuclear Posture

Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Inconsistent Congress: Analysis of the 2024 Defense Budget Request