Publications

According to Max Mutschler, today’s military interventions illustrate a clear preference for “liquid warfare.” In other words, rather than try to control territory directly, this exercise in hard power puts a premium on destroying enemy forces and/or infrastructure, much like guerrilla warfare. It also prefers to rely on hit-and-run precision strikes from a distance.chevron_right

In anticipation of the 2016 US presidential elections, this paper provides nine national security-centered recommendations for the successful candidate to consider. The recommendations revolve around ...chevron_right

What are the risks of using autonomous weapon systems in future wars? What guidelines should exist to evaluate these risks? And finally, are semiautonomous systems a better alternative, particularly given the restraining effects human beings have within them? Today, Paul Scharre answers these questions and others.chevron_right

In the wake of China's deployment of surface-to-air missile launchers (SAMs) to the Woody Islands in the South China Sea, this report examines the short-, medium-, and long-range anti-access/area deni...chevron_right

The Pentagon's budgeting cycle, which is known as the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process, is infamously complex. Today, Michelle Shevin-Coetzee highlights three blatant ways in which it breaks down and what the US Department of Defense should do to correct PPBE’s ‘irrational’ elements.chevron_right

This compendium examines the ways in which the US Navy might fight as a more lethal and distributed force. The text’s articles particularly focus on 1) the role distributed lethality plays in other joint warfighting concepts, such as...chevron_right

This collection of articles focuses on managing the rise of Chinese power in the Asia-Pacific region, and on how the US and China can operate in this part of the world without seeming to contain each other. Among other topics, the articles explore 1) Chinese, Russian and US military strategies in the region; 2) how to avoid an Asia-Pacific Cold War; and 3) how to prevent a local conflict between China and Taiwan.chevron_right

This brief focuses on the role Greece can play in facilitating Macedonia's, Kosovo's and Albania's accession into the European Union. The text's authors contend that the EU and its northern member sta...chevron_right

This article analyzes the United Kingdom’s new security and defense review, which Whitehall released in November 2015. The text's author contends that the document is more coherent and ambitious than ...chevron_right

This analysis explores the recent intercommunal tensions in Georgia, which have pitted the Georgian Orthodox majority population against its ethnically diverse Muslim minorities. The immediate frictio...chevron_right

This study uses the US Department of Defense's most recent Selected Acquisition Reports (SAR) to summarize the status of America’s “big ticket” military procurement programs. Also included in Jacob Cohn and Jesse Sloman’s compendium are four non-SAR programs whose costs can be reasonably estimated.chevron_right

In today’s publication, Katherine Blakely highlights what to look for as the US crafts its FY2017 defense budget. Of particular interest are 1) where the Pentagon will find $22 billion in military cuts; 2) the investments in future technologies; and 3) the debilitating costs of overseas contingency operations.chevron_right

This report focuses on the disputed idea of using public attribution (or even shaming) as a policy tool against those involved in the manufacture, acquisition, possession, and/or use of biological weapons (BW). In support of this theme, the text’s authors...chevron_right

This brief 1) assesses Georgia’s deteriorating political, economic and social circumstances, and 2) explores how the country's political and social malaise has been breeding Euro-skepticism and an ove...chevron_right

Marta Szpala et al. believe that Bosnia-Herzegovina has made true progress in its quest to join the EU. Unfortunately, in many other areas the country is stagnant -- i.e, local politicians remain mired in grassroots power struggles and ethnic rivalries, and the intervention of outside powers hasn’t always been helpful.chevron_right