For almost three decades, CSBA has been a reliable source of independent, path-breaking research focused on the future of defense.
The heart of CSBA is our staff of uniquely qualified defense experts who conduct in-depth strategic and budgetary analyses.
Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain and Ranking Member, Senator Jack Reed hosted a hearing for outside experts to explore recommendations for a future national defense strategy. CSBA President and CEO Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken was invited to give testimony.
Thomas Mahnken of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments warned:
[W]e find ourselves today once again in a period of great-power competition with an increasing possibility of great-power war. It is the most consequential threat that we face, and failure to deter and prepare adequately for it would have dire consequences for the United States, our allies, and the global order. Because of that, I believe that preparing for great-power competition and conflict should have the highest priority.
“We've spent decades, first imagining that North Korea was just going to collapse on its own, then imagining that they wouldn't be able to master nuclear weapons, then imagining that they wouldn't be able to master the ability to deliver them over longer ranges. And we are where we are, but I think we need to pay attention to this allure, which still exists, of wishful thinking, to imagine a world as we wish it was, not the world as it is. As far as North Korea's concerned, I think we are going to have to be more active in deterring North Korea. We're also going to need to be more active in reassuring our allies. And in the end, that may prove to be the more difficult of the two tasks.” — Thomas Mahnken, president and CEO, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
