January 23, 2020

Winning the Next War

Chinese and Russian capabilities to exploit vulnerabilities in America's current way of war have grown. Without major changes to how it fights its wars, does the United States risk losing a conflict with a great power competitor? CNAS experts Robert O. Work and Chris Dougherty explain how the United States can deter potential adversaries by changing the way it fights, improving how it trains its force, and developing a new American way of war.

Learn more:

Defense
Defense

Why America Needs a New Way of War

For the first time in decades, it is possible to imagine the United States fighting—and possibly losing—a large-scale war with a great power....

Defense
Defense

Beating the Americans at Their Own Game

China is keenly focused on blunting the U.S. military’s technological superiority, even as it strives to achieve technological parity, and eventually technological dominance....

Defense
Defense

Implementing the National Defense Strategy Demands Operational Concepts for Defeating Chinese and Russian Aggression

Summary The 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) shifted the Department of Defense (DoD) away from a strategy focused on counterterrorism and deterring regional threats like I...

Defense
Defense

Dear Pentagon: It’s Not How Big Your Budget Is. It’s How You Use It.

Over the past two months, unusually public negotiations between the White House and the U.S. Department of Defense on the 2020 defense budget request have bounced from $733 bi...

Defense
Defense

A shrinking budget can’t be allowed to kill modernization

For decades, the Pentagon, abetted by Congress, has behaved like a parent raiding a child’s college fund to pay monthly bills, rather than tightening its belt. Myopically robb...

Defense
Defense

Make Good Choices, DoD

In a new report, Susanna V. Blume and Molly Parrish offer a deep dive into how the U.S. Department of Defense makes decisions about what the U.S. military needs, what to buy a...

  • Reports

    Defense

    Why America Needs a New Way of War

    For the first time in decades, it is possible to imagine the United States fighting—and possibly losing—a large-scale war with a great power....

    By Chris Dougherty

    • June 12, 2019
  • Reports

    Defense

    Beating the Americans at Their Own Game

    China is keenly focused on blunting the U.S. military’s technological superiority, even as it strives to achieve technological parity, and eventually technological dominance....

    By Robert O. Work & Greg Grant

    • June 6, 2019
  • Podcast

    Defense

    Drones: Who Is Making the New Weapons of War?

    From Ukraine and Russia to Gaza and Sudan, drones have become a key weapon of war. Which companies are making them, and profiting from this rapidly expanding but controversial...

    By Stacie Pettyjohn

    • November 14, 2025
  • Video

    Defense

    Who Will Lead on Military AI, the Government or Industry?

    The military is going to use artificial intelligence. But while planners in the government may have an idea of the best way forward, can they truly lead, or will industry stee...

    By Josh Wallin

    • November 12, 2025

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia