Defense

Within Defense

Over the past 15 years, CNAS has shaped U.S. defense strategy and policy. Today, the United States must swiftly implement its defense strategy, develop innovative operational concepts, and undertake difficult institutional reforms to both meet the long-term challenges posed by great powers and short-term crises created by a diverse array of global actors. The CNAS Defense program addresses the central military challenges of today and tomorrow and assesses how to balance risk across time.

The Defense Program employs strategic, budgetary, and operational analysis and leverages innovative approaches such as wargaming to inform defense policy. We develop actionable policy recommendations on defense strategy, force structure, operations, and resourcing to help U.S. and allied leaders create needed change.

Support CNAS

Recent Publications

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia

Related Events

Related Press

Defense

US defence industry faces uncertainty despite production ‘boomlet’

"It is not quite a bonanza" for missiles and munitions "but it is, for the first time in a long time, a significant uptick in this area that has been sustained", said Stacie P...

Defense

US Needs Longer-Range Drones for Potential China-Taiwan Conflict: Think Tank

Stacie Pettyjohn, CNAS defense director and one of the authors of the report, has expressed doubts about the potential war being a fair fight. She said China has more drones t...

Defense

How underwater drones could shape a potential Taiwan-China conflict

A potential future conflict between Taiwan and China would be shaped by novel methods of drone warfare involving advanced underwater drones and increased levels of autonomy, a...

View All Press

Research Team