News

CSBA Welcomes Dr. Thane C. Clare, Captain, U.S. Navy (Retired) as Senior Fellow

March 13, 2023

Washington, DC, March 13, 2023 – The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), one of the nation’s premier institutions for understanding competition and conflict, is pleased to announce that Captain Thane Clare, (USN, Ret.) has joined the Center as a Senior Fellow. He will support a wide range of CSBA’s work, including naval, air, and space power, strategic and defense planning for great-power competition, as well as the nexus between operational planning and defense acquisition.

CSBA Welcomes Dr. Sameer Lalwani as Non-Resident Senior Fellow

October 17, 2022

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), one of the nation’s premier centers for understanding competition and conflict, today announced the appointment of Dr. Sameer Lalwani as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow. Dr. Lalwani, currently a Senior Expert with the Asia Center of the United States Institute of Peace, will support CSBA’s ongoing work on Indo-Pacific strategy, nuclear deterrence, and strategic competition.

CSBA Introduces New Strategic Choices Tool to Assess China’s Military Modernization

August 4, 2022

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) is pleased to announce the launch of its latest analytical innovation, the China Strategic Choices Tool (SCT). Developed as the result of a dedicated multi-year research and analysis effort, the China Strategic Choices Tool builds on more than a decade of experience with CSBA’s proprietary U.S. Strategic Choices Tool. The China Strategic Choices Tool represents a truly unique analytical capability that allows users to explore Chinese defense investments as well as the costs associated with various defense options.

CSBA Welcomes Whitney McNamara as Non-Resident Senior Fellow

May 6, 2022

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) announced the appointment of Whitney M. McNamara as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow. Ms. McNamara, currently an Associate Vice President at Beacon Global Strategies, will support CSBA’s ongoing work on defense innovation, future operational concepts, and emerging technologies.

CSBA Welcomes New Defense Journalism Fellows

February 7, 2022

CSBA is proud to announce its inaugural fellows for the CSBA 2022 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.

Studies

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

May 22, 2023 Thomas G. Mahnken, Tai Ming Cheung

In the long-term competition between the United States and China, the competitive edge will be decided not only by who more effectively fields current capabilities and strategies, but also by which state's techno-security system can most effectively develop and field new technologies for strategic, dual-use, and defense applications. Although both states recognize the need to prevail in the techno-security competition, the two have drastically different approaches to defense innovation and defense industrial policy.

Studies

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

May 1, 2023 Evan B. Montgomery, Toshi Yoshihara

Today, states are pursuing an array of supposedly "disruptive" or "game-changing" technologies that could alter how they organize, train, equip, and employ their forces, including their nuclear forces. The 2022 National Defense Strategy emphasized the link between some of these technologies and the risk of nuclear use, noting that "a wide range of new or fast-evolving technologies and applications are complicating escalation dynamics and creating new challenges for strategic stability."

Briefs

2022 Annual Report

April 21, 2023

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

Briefs

Big Centralization, Small Bets, and the Warfighting Implications of Middling Progress: Three Concerns about JADC2’s Trajectory

April 18, 2023 Travis Sharp, Tyler Hacker

Warfare has always been a contest of incomplete information and imperfect control, with each side straining to find the enemy in an unfavorable position and coordinate his destruction. Although the technologies used to surveil, communicate, and attack have changed throughout history, the advantages gained from scouting and synchronizing more effectively than one’s opponent have endured. Stripped of its jargon, the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) vision of integrating sensors and shooters comprises merely the latest Pentagon effort to provide U.S. forces with the timeless military advantages of superior information and control. This basic thrust of JADC2 represents a vital objective worth pursuing – even if the idealized outcome, fully integrated C2, likely remains as unattainable today as when the epigram appeared 60 years ago.

Testimonies

Testimony to the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Regional Nuclear Deterrence

April 3, 2023 Evan B. Montgomery

On March 28, 2023, CSBA Senior Fellow and Director of Research and Studies, Dr. Evan B. Montgomery, testified before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services' Subcommittee on Strategic Forces regarding regional nuclear deterrence.

Studies

Air Power Metamorphosis: Rethinking Air Force Combat Force Modernization

March 10, 2023 Christopher J. Bowie

For the past three decades, Chinese leadership has closely studied the United States’ power projection capabilities and concept of operations. Consequently, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has tailored its anti-access/area denial approach and air defenses to prevent the United States from leveraging its current strengths. A short- or medium-range concept of air power is unlikely to be successful for power projection or deterrence in the Western Pacific, and a change in direction for the U.S. Air Force is likely necessary.

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

Chinese Lessons From the Pacific War: Implications for PLA Warfighting

Moving Pieces: Near-Term Changes to Pacific Air Posture

Arming America’s Allies: Historical Lessons for Implementing a Post-INF Treaty Missile Strategy

Rings of Fire: A Conventional Missile Strategy for a Post-INF Treaty World

Featured Event

Report Release Webinar: Chinese Lessons From the Pacific War: Implications for PLA Warfighting

CSBA Welcomes Dr. Thane C. Clare, Captain, U.S. Navy (Retired) as Senior Fellow

CSBA Welcomes Dr. Sameer Lalwani as Non-Resident Senior Fellow

CSBA Introduces New Strategic Choices Tool to Assess China’s Military Modernization

CSBA Welcomes Whitney McNamara as Non-Resident Senior Fellow

New Senior Fellows Join CSBA

CSBA Welcomes New Defense Journalism Fellows

Latest Publications

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

2022 Annual Report

Big Centralization, Small Bets, and the Warfighting Implications of Middling Progress: Three Concerns about JADC2’s Trajectory

Testimony to the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Regional Nuclear Deterrence

Air Power Metamorphosis: Rethinking Air Force Combat Force Modernization