CNAS projects on U.S. Military Forces and Operations go beyond the battlefield and examine the force structure, roles, missions, and overall health and wellness of America's military to help ensure our forces are prepared for the demands of 21st century conflict.
Projects include Future of the U.S. Military, Special Operations Forces, Contracting in Conflicts, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Voices from the Field.
September 2, 2010 - CNAS Senior Fellow Tom Ricks spoke on NPR's Talk of the Nation about the best and worst books written about the war in Iraq.
| more |August 31, 2010 - CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine comments to ABC News on enduring challenges that remain in Iraq, despite the "end" of combat operations.
| more |March 31, 2010 - In an interview with AFP, CNAS President John Nagl echoes Admiral Mullen's assertion that a U.S.-led offensive into Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar is crucial to turning the tide against the insurgency. "In the last two months we've had a tremendous impact on the major approaches into Kandahar to try to squeeze the Taliban's access," said Nagl.
| more |January 12, 2009 - Several books written by CNAS experts and former Writers in Residence, including CEO Nate Fick’s One Bullet Away, Fellow Tom Ricks’ Fiasco, and former Writers in Residence Greg Jaffe and David Cloud’s The Fourth Star, make the Army Times’ list of best military books of the decade. See the list here.
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September 1, 2010 - CNAS Research Associate Travis Sharp comments to The Baltimore Sun on the contracting winners and losers in Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new defense budget priorities.
| more |August 31, 2010 - CNAS President John Nagl spoke with PBS NewsHour about the current state of the war in Afghanistan, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent criticism of the coalition strategy. Watch the video and read the transcript here.
| more |August 31, 2010 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum comments to National Journal on the continuation of the Iraq conflict and reality of future U.S. engagement. "It's fair to say that the Iraq conflict has not ended, and that we're going to be entangled in Iraq's domestic and regional politics for a long time to come," said Exum.
| more |August 29, 2010 - CNAS Senior Fellow Robert Kaplan appeared on Fareed Zakaria GPS to discuss his groundbreaking Foreign Affairs article, "The Geography of Chinese Power." Read the full transcript and watch the video here.
| more |August 27, 2010 - CNAS President John Nagl comments to The Associated Press about what can be learned from the war in Iraq and applied in Afghanistan.
| more |August 23, 2010 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum reflects on the Iraq withdrawal on PRI's The World
| more |CNAS Non-Resident Senior Fellow David Kilcullen testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the options for reconciliation in Afghanistan. Kilcullen’s testimony focused on stabilization issues within Afghanistan, including corruption, international aid and the drug trade.
| more |CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine testified on the problems associated with contracting in conflicts and areas for reform before the U.S. Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
| more |Recent congressional hearings on government contractors in conflict zones illustrate the acute awareness on Capitol Hill and across all branches of government of the urgent need for contracting reform. This factsheet details specific policy recommendations for Congress as laid out in the CNAS report Contracting in Conflicts: The Path to Reform.
| more |CNAS President Dr. John Nagl testified before the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan on the proper role and oversight of security contractors supporting U.S. operations in Southwest Asia.
| more |In both Iraq and Afghanistan, there are currently more private contractors than U.S. troops on the ground. This report calls for the U.S. government to embark on a path of ambitious reform that will increase federal oversight and better protect U.S. taxpayer dollars from potential waste, fraud and abuse.
| more |Faced with a shifting and complex global environment, this report calls for a recalibration of American strategy, noting, "The United States can best pursue a protracted period of global order by resisting the temptation to solve all the world’s problems.
| more |President Barack Obama took office determined to fight terrorist networks more effectively by moving away from the rhetorical framework of former President George W. Bush’s “Global War on Terror.” This report from Marc Lynch examines the rhetoric of the Administration against the reality of its policies.
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As the United States and Indonesia negotiate the bilateral Comprehensive Partnership Agreement, this report recommends strengthening economic and security cooperation between the two countries while helping Indonesia build capacity to contribute to regional and global challenges like climate change, economic integration and increased security cooperation.
| more |In the 21st century, the security of nations will depend increasingly on the security of natural resources, or “natural security.” This report points to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Mexico and Yemen as examples for how natural security challenges within those countries borders are directly linked to regional stability and U.S. security and foreign policy interests.
| more |U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) are currently experiencing their most extensive use and greatest transformation, yet are still not optimized for success. This report examines challenges facing our Special Operations Forces today, and presents recommendations on how best to utilize this invaluable corps of elite soldiers.
| more |Center for a New American Security (CNAS) President John Nagl discusses the tradition and importance of the CNAS annual conference, which this year featured renowned national security experts and attracted over 1200 people in person and over 3500 people around the world who watched the conference live on the CNAS website.
| more |Transcript of the opening remarks from the Tuesday, August 17th Event "The Next Phase in America's Relationship with Iraq" hosted by Nathaniel C. Fick, and featuring Michael Corbin and Dr. Colin Kahl.
| more |CNAS hosted a pertinent discussion on the future of the U.S. relationship with Iraq after the end of the combat mission. The event was moderated by CNAS CEO Nathaniel Fick and featured two leading Administration officials.
| more |CNAS Non-Resident Senior Fellow David Kilcullen testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the options for reconciliation in Afghanistan.
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CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine testified at a congressional hearing today before the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs on the role of contractors in warzones. The hearing focused on the implications of contracting and potential areas for reform.
| more |CNAS Board of Advisors member Victor Cha moderates a panel on the Asia-Pacific regional security architecture featuring Hitoshi Tanaka of the Japan Center for International Exchange, Yoshihide Soeya of Keio University, G. John Ikenberry of Princeton University, and Daniel Twining of the German Marshall Fund.
| more |The Honorable Dr. Richard Danzig, chairman of the CNAS Board of Directors, and The Honorable Dr. Leo Mackay, CNAS Board of Directors member, delivered opening and introductory remarks at the CNAS fourth annual conference "Shaping the Agenda: American National Security in the 21st Century."
| more |Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy delivered the keynote address at the CNAS 4th annual conference "Shaping the Agenda: American National Security in the 21st Century," and discussed challenges and opportunities to rebalance and reform U.S. instruments of soft power.
| more |Former ISAF commander LTG David Barno, USA (Ret.) moderated a the second panel of the CNAS fourth annual conference. The panel was designed to brief the President on the state of the allied campaign in Afghanistan from the perspective of 2013 and featured the Carnegie Endowment’s Ashley Tellis, Georgetown University’s Paul Pillar, and CNAS’ Richard Fontaine.
| more |Former ISAF commander LTG David Barno, USA (Ret.) moderated a the second panel of the CNAS fourth annual conference. The panel was designed to brief the President on the state of the allied campaign in Afghanistan from the perspective of 2013 and featured the Carnegie Endowment’s Ashley Tellis, Georgetown University’s Paul Pillar, and CNAS’ Richard Fontaine.
| more |General Barno, a highly decorated military officer with over 30 years of service, has served in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States and around the world, to include command at every level. He served many of his early years in special operations forces with Army Ranger battalions, to include combat in both the Grenada and Panama invasions. In 2003, he was selected to establish a new three-star operational headquarters in Afghanistan and take command of the 20,000 U.S.
| more |Nancy Berglass is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at CNAS, Director of the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund, and Principal of Berglass Community Investment Consulting.
Widely respected as among the nation’s leading strategists for the independent sector, Nancy Berglass has worked for over 25 years to address the needs of families, children, low-income communities, troops and veterans, women and other underserved populations through a variety of leadership positions in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors.
Brian Burton is the Bacevich Fellow at the Center of a New American Security. His most recent CNAS publications include Keeping the Edge: Revitalizing America's Military Officer Corps (co-editor and contributing author) and Learning from Experience: Lessons from the QDR for the QDDR. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Armed Forces Journal, Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Quarterly, Journal of Strategic Studies, and Small Wars and Insurgencies. He received an M.A.
| more |Patrick Cronin is a Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Previously, he was the Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at National Defense University and has had a 25-year career inside government and academic research centers, spanning defense affairs, foreign policy, and development assistance.
Prior to his retirement on 1 June 2010, Major General Dunlap served as Deputy Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force. In that position he assisted in the professional oversight of more than 2,200 judge advocates, 350 civilian attorneys, 1,400 enlisted paralegals and 500 civilians assigned worldwide. In addition to overseeing an array of military justice, operational, international and civil law functions, General Dunlap provided legal advice to the Air Staff and commanders at all levels.
Andrew Exum is a Fellow with the Center for a New American Security. He is a native of East Tennessee and served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 2000 until 2004. He led a platoon of light infantry in Afghanistan in 2002 and a platoon of Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Most recently, Exum served as an advisor on the CENTCOM Assessment Team and as a civilian advisor to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan.
| more |Nathaniel C. Fick was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in June 2009. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer of CNAS and has been a Fellow at the Center since its founding in 2007.
Mary L. Howell served as Executive Vice President for Textron Inc., from August 1995 until her retirement in December 2009. For over 15 years she served on the Management Committee of Textron, comprised of the company’s top six executives responsible for the management of the large multi-industry corporation.
Dr. David Kilcullen is an Non-Resident Senior Fellow and former Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Kilcullen was also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with CNAS in 2007 and collaborated with CNAS on Iraq and Afghanistan reports, as well as violent extremism and grand strategy Solarium projects in 2007 and 2008.
| more |Robert B. Killebrew is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Killebrew is a retired Army colonel who served 30 years in a variety of assignments that included Special Forces, tours in the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, XVIII Airborne Corps, high-level war planning assignments and instructor duty at the Army War College.
On September 23, 2010, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will launch its new report on continuing challenges facing the National Guard and Reserves at an event featuring CNAS President Dr. John Nagl, former Chairman of the Commission on National Guard and Reserves Arnold Punaro, and several outside defense experts.
| more |The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will hold its fourth annual conference, Shaping the Agenda: American National Security in the 21st Century, on June 10, 2010. The event will feature a keynote address by Michèle Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and three expert panels discussing the most salient national security challenges America faces.
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On May 17, 2010 the Center for a New American Security hosted Admiral James Stavridis as part of the National Security Leaders Forum for a discussion of the future role of NATO.
| more |The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) was honored to host Colonel Gregory T. Breazile, USMC, as a speaker in our ongoing Voices from the Field project. Colonel Breazile is currently serving as the Director of Communication and Spokeman for the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A).
| more |The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) was honored to host General George Casey, Jr., Chief of Staff of the Army, for National Security Leaders Forum discussion on April 1, 2010. The discussion focused on the challenge of rebalancing the Army while engaged in two prolonged conflicts.
| more |On Monday, February 22, 2010, CNAS and Georgetown University hosted a discussion with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the challenges and opportunities – including operations in Afghanistan – for the over 60-year-old Alliance.
| more |On February 18, CNAS hosted an event to mark the release of a major report on how the United States can revitalize its military officer corps to meet current national security challenges, and those that lie ahead.
| more |On December 3, 2009, the Center for a New American Security hosted Majors Jin Pak and Kendric Robbins of the U.S. Army as part of our Voices from the Field series. Majors Pak and Robbins discussed our countries ongoing efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as military officership, veterans’ issues, and U.S.-Asia affairs.
| more |The Center for a New American Security held a book launch and discussion on The Fourth Star, by journalists and former CNAS Writers in Residence Greg Jaffe and David Cloud. The Fourth Star tells the story of the epic struggle for the future of the U.S. Army through profiling four influential generals who have arguably helped redefine the American way of war: Generals John Abizaid, George Casey Jr., Peter Chiarelli, and David Petraeus. Watch the video from the event here.
| more |CNAS President John Nagl, CNAS CEO Nathaniel Fick, CNAS Senior Fellow Thomas Ricks, and CNAS Senior Fellow Robert Kaplan participated in the Marine Corps University Symposium Counterinsurgency Leadership in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Beyond at the National Press Club. The event included a keynote address on leadership in counterinsurgency given by General David Petraeus, USA, CENTCOM Commander.
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