Center for a New American Security

In this policy brief, CNAS Senior Fellow Tom Ricks argues that U.S. and Iraqi policymakers should go back to the drawing board and find a solution that prevents Iraq from unraveling, and  recommends the Obama Administration signal to Iraqi leaders that the United States is open to re-negotiating the Status of Forces Agreement.

Using the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program as a case study, this  report analyzes how globalization has affected the American defense industry and its consequences for U.S. national security.

February 4, 2010 - In a grand prize-winning piece for Small Wars Journal, CNAS Non-Resident Senior Fellow Richard Weitz argues that the U.S. government should have paid greater attention to the lessons of CORDS, a civil-military advisory team structure created during the Vietnam War, for its post-conflict planning in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This report provides an analysis of the nature of U.S. military officership in a new strategic environment and provides recomendations for how the United States can keep its edge in the officer corps amidst an ever-increasing array of challenges.

This policy  brief  provides an  analysis of the FY 2011 defense budget  request, places it in the context of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and historical budgetary trends, and outlines the uncertain budgetary future that looms ahead. 

Contested Commons is an edited volume featuring five chapters and a capstone piece on the future of American power in the sea, air, space and cyberspace.  Authors include CNAS Fellow Abraham M. Denmark, Dr. James Mulvenon, Frank Hoffman, CNAS Military Fellow Lt Col Kelly Martin (USAF), Oliver Fritz, Eric Sterner, Dr. Greg Rattray, Chris Evans, Jason Healey, and CNAS Senior Fellow Robert D. Kaplan.

The Contested Commons capstone report, authored by CNAS Fellow Abraham M. Denmark and Dr. James Mulvenon, provides an overview of the future of American power in a multipolar world.  The authors advocate that the United States renew its commitment to the global commons by pursuing three mutually supporting objectives: build global regimes that preserve the openness of the commons; engage pivotal actors that have the will and ability to protect and sustain them; and develop the hard-power tools and capabilities necessary for the United States to defend the global commons.

In this working paper, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Christine Parthemore and Research Assistant Will Rogers provide observations about how the Department of Defense incorporated climate change into the QDR process in order to meet its congressional requirement and some potential outcomes of that process.

To help inform the State Department's Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), this policy brief lays out lessons learned from the Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) that the State Department and USAID can learn from to optimize the review process and avoid common pitfalls. 

This policy brief makes a compelling case for how the State Department could embrace network diplomacy by creating an independent organization – called USA•World Trust – that would unleash the power of the private sector to further America’s public diplomacy objectives.