News

In the News

Congressional Steel Caucus Optimistic on Rebounding Steel Industry

March 29, 2017 Congressman Tim Murphy Web Site

In his opening statement, Bryan Clark, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments who previously served on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations, noted: "Shipbuilding for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard is the largest single user of American steel for military and homeland defense, with steel making up about half of a warship’s weight. A 100,000-ton aircraft carrier, for example, requires about 48,000 tons of steel, and the fleet overall contains about six million tons of American-made steel." Today, the U.S. Navy is the smallest it's been since 1916. Clark pointed out that America's current fleet is overworked and under-maintained, noting that the timing is troublesome, when terrorist threats such as the Islamic State remain a concern and attacks on Western targets continue.

In the News

Congressional steel caucus chairman brings industry wish list to meeting with Ross

March 29, 2017 Inside U.S. Trade

The ask-fors were presented during the Congressional Steel Caucus' annual hearing, “America Rebounding: Steel in 2017 and Beyond,” on March 29 at Capitol Hill. The meeting featured members of the steel caucus and steel industry representatives including Roger Newport, CEO of AK Steel; Tracy Porter, executive vice president of Commercial Metals Company; Edward Vore, CEO of ArcelorMittal Tubular Products; Terence Hartford, vice president of ATI Defense; Tom Conway, international vice president of United Steelworkers; Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing; and Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Analysis

How Much is Enough: Setting a Topline for Defense Spending

March 28, 2017 The Cipher Brief

Twenty-six years after the end of the Cold War, the United States once again must prepare for great power competition and confrontation.

In the News

OA-X: Is the U.S. Air Force Ready to Purchase a New Light Attack Aircraft?

March 28, 2017 The National Interest

The service desperately needs more aircraft to provide more flying hours for its pilots and a low-cost OA-X could be just the answer the Air Force is looking for

In the News

Pentagon Defends Targeting as Reports of Civilian Death Tolls Rise

March 27, 2017 The Washington Times

The uptick in violence over Mosul and around Islamic State’s self-styled capital of Raqqa in northern Syria is the result of “relaxed rules of engagement, hard urban fighting and an unimaginably brutal enemy,” said Hal Brands, the former Pentagon adviser who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Analysis

Taking Stock of China’s Growing Navy: The Death and Life of Surface Fleets

March 27, 2017 Orbis

The Chinese navy’s surface forces are on the march. Destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and fast-attack craft comprise the surface fleet, along with—most strikingly—China’s first aircraft carrier, a refurbished Soviet-built flattop dubbed Liaoning.

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

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.

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.”

Aligning South Korea’s Defense Strategy and Capabilities

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.

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.

Slow and Steady: Analysis of the 2022 Defense Budget Request

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.

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

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

Congressional Steel Caucus Optimistic on Rebounding Steel Industry

Congressional steel caucus chairman brings industry wish list to meeting with Ross

How Much is Enough: Setting a Topline for Defense Spending

OA-X: Is the U.S. Air Force Ready to Purchase a New Light Attack Aircraft?

Pentagon Defends Targeting as Reports of Civilian Death Tolls Rise

Taking Stock of China’s Growing Navy: The Death and Life of Surface Fleets

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