Sharper: Legislating National Security 

Congress’s role in national security is increasingly in the spotlight. The country narrowly avoided a government shutdown with a bill that did not include more funding to Ukraine; the Senate struggles to confirm military promotions; and the FY 24 National Defense Authorization Act has stalled. CNAS experts are sharpening the conversation on budgets, blockades, and what it means for America's national security priorities. Continue reading this edition of Sharper to explore their ideas and analysis.

Features

Production Is Deterrence

In the Department of Defense’s (DoD) budgeting process, ships, aircraft, and vehicles tend to be prioritized, leaving missiles and munitions with inadequate funding. If the United States is going to effectively compete with China and Russia, that needs to change. To deter and—if deterrence fails—defeat China, the DoD needs large stockpiles of standoff missiles, maritime strike weapons, and layered air and missile defenses. A report from CNAS analyzes multiyear procurement, the lessons learned from Ukraine, and offers recommendations for both the Department of Defense and Congress to ensure deterrence efforts are adequately met and funded.

What the New Congress Means for Transatlantic Relations

The beginning of 2023 was marked by significant turmoil in the House of Representatives, as Republicans struggled for nearly a week to elect a new Speaker of the House. Questions about what to expect from this Congress are relevant not only to Americans but also to our allies, including those in Europe. Peter Baker and Sarah Binder joined Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to break down the short and long-term implications of the events in Congress as well as how Europeans should view the situation in the U.S.

Congress’s Vital Role in Developing a Lasting, Sustainable, and Bipartisan, U.S. Strategy for Syria

“To end the paralysis of U.S. strategy in Syria, legislators and policymakers can come together to make hard but necessary choices to prioritize objectives, and then match those objectives with the appropriate activities, authorities, and resources,” stated Jonathan Lord during a congressional hearing. “In essence, join hands and jump together. The region is thirsty for a comprehensive vision for Syria from Washington. If it can provide that, muscularly asserting itself and re-engaging in clear pursuit of vital U.S. national interests, I suspect we will begin to see America’s regional partners fall-in behind us.”

A Conversation with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell

When major disaster strikes, Americans look to FEMA to support their local and state authorities to respond. As natural disasters rise in frequency and cost, the Disaster Relief Fund controlled by FEMA neared all-times lows, and was the only new funding to be passed by congress's continuing resolution. On Friday, March 25, 2022, CNAS hosted FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell in a conversation about preparedness for climate related disasters, pandemic response, and how FEMA's new strategic plan tackles these issues and more. Robert M. Gates Senior Fellow Carrie Cordero moderated the conversation.

Commentaries

Bad Blood: The TTX for the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

“Three key insights emerged from last week’s TTX that are supported by extant analysis and lend themselves to clear and actionable recommendations for Congress and the NDAA for FY24,” Stacie Pettyjohn, Becca Wasser, and Andrew Metrick write to the China Select Committee. “Three key insights emerged from last week’s TTX that are supported by extant analysis and lend themselves to clear and actionable recommendations for Congress and the NDAA for FY24. These three primary takeaways from the TTX are: the United States will run out of preferred munitions in the early days of a conflict; bombers and submarines provide a unique and asymmetric advantage in a potential conflict with China; a distributed and resilient U.S. posture in the Indo-Pacific places the United States in the best position to defend Taiwan. These three lessons learned translate into clear steps this Congress can take to strengthen our munitions stockpiles, maximize production of advanced air and undersea capabilities, and make investments in a distributed and hardened posture that is able to withstand Chinese missile attacks. But making these changes cannot wait. Congress must push these efforts through in the FY 2024 NDAA as they will take time to take mature.”

America Is Pushing Its Security Ideas on a Lukewarm Middle East

“Nothing will kill legislation faster than when it becomes a political football on Washington’s Capitol Hill,” argue Jonathan Lord and Arona Baigal in Foreign Policy. “So it has been refreshing to see members of both parties and houses of the U.S. Congress, with firm support from the administration, rally around a vision for the future of U.S. military engagement in the Middle East. The plan calls for the creation of a Middle Eastern security architecture that joins the military capabilities of U.S. Central Command (Centcom), the Israeli Defense Forces, and the militaries of neighboring Arab states to detect and defend against threats emanating from regional adversaries, mainly Iran.”

Congress, TikTok, and Securing Democracy in the Digital Age

“A review of TikTok would also allow Congress to ask questions about and signal positions on some deeply important yet not often debated questions stemming from the separation of America’s tech ecosystem from China’s,” Pablo Chavez writes in Lawfare. “For example, ByteDance might be, as some critics suggest, a puppet of the CCP. Yet it is also a corporation headed by a CEO who has moved to Singapore, overseen by a five-person board of directors with three members who represent U.S. venture capital firms (a fourth represents a China affiliate of a U.S. venture firm), and that seems to be trying to find a way to exist as a global company at least partly beyond the reach of the CCP. Should the U.S. government help pull ByteDance away from the CCP by allowing it to continue operating with mitigations required to access the U.S. market?”

In the News

Featuring commentary and analysis from experts including Paul Scharre, Katherine Kuzminski, Carrie Cordero, and Jonathan Lord.

About the Sharper Series

The CNAS Sharper series features curated analysis and commentary from CNAS experts on the most critical challenges in U.S. foreign policy. From the future of America's relationship with China to the state of U.S. sanctions policy and more, each collection draws on the reports, interviews, and other commentaries produced by experts across the Center to explore how America can strengthen its competitive edge.

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