Publications
Policy research reports, defense monographs, and strategic commentary focusing on defense strategy, force design and employment, and military innovation.
Policy Reports & Briefs
5 Major Studies-
Oct 2026
Charting the New Nuclear Age: Scenarios for the Two-Nuclear-Peer Challenge
With the continued growth of China’s nuclear arsenal, the United States will likely face two nuclear peer threats in the coming years. The United States cannot discount the possibility that either China or Russia—or both—could escalate to nuclear use in a possible conflict, especially if the two countries coordinate. To defend its interests at home and abroad, the United States must consider how to deter and compete with two nuclear peers simultaneously.
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Oct 2026
Munitions Procurement and the Fiscal Year 2027 Defense Budget: Three Conditions for Munitions Acceleration
The war with Iran has taken a tremendous toll on the American military’s munitions stockpile. Over half its inventory of high-end missile interceptors has been expended during the conflict, and it has burned through expensive land-attack weapons, like the Tomahawk missile, targeting Iranian missile and drone facilities. This puts the Joint Force in a tough position: it is expending munitions faster than it can replace them, and currently lacks the magazine depth needed to win a war with a peer adversary like China.
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Sep 2026
Behind the Front Line: Integrating AI Agents into Joint Force Support Functions
This report considers near-term opportunities for integrating agentic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities across the Department of War, focusing on critical enabling functions—specifically supply, predictive maintenance, and planning—where agentic tools can provide immediate improvements to day-to-day operations likely much sooner than autonomous weapon systems.
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Oct 2025
Stuck in the Cul-de-Sac: How U.S. Defense Spending Prioritizes Innovation over Deterrence
For more than a decade, the United States has sought to modernize its military to deter China, but it has become stuck in a developmental cul-de-sac that has allowed China to steadily shift the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Over the past 15 years, the average time and cost the Pentagon has taken to field major weapon systems has grown significantly, and the share of research, development, test, and evaluation (RDTE) spending within the broader defense budget has continued to crowd out near-term procurement.
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Jan 2025
The First 100 Days
The First 100 Days is a series of actionable policy recommendations from CNAS experts spanning the most pressing national security and defense challenges confronting the administration, including strategic competition with China, defense resourcing, Joint Force modernization, and regional deterrence.
Commentary & Analysis
4 Articles & Commentary-
Nov 2025
CNAS Insights | Budgetary Own Goals Undermine “Speed and Volume”
On November 7, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth laid out a plan to overhaul the Department of Defense’s acquisition system, placing an emphasis on delivering new capabilities at “speed and volume above all else.” However, if any acquisition reforms are to bear fruit, the nation must address a fourth and more fundamental challenge: budget instability and the recurring absence of regular defense appropriations.
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May 2025
The Pentagon Push to Change an “Antiquated” System
Carlton Haelig joined The Cipher Brief to discuss the systems in place in the Department of Defense and the challenges associated with reforming defense acquisition, overcoming institutional inertia, and accelerating operational tempo across the Joint Force.
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Jan 2025
Build a High-Low Mix to Enhance America’s Warfighting Edge and Deter China
The Trump administration can take immediate actions to improve U.S. military capability, capacity, and warfighting to deter China and reverse negative trends in military power in the Indo-Pacific. Recommended actions fall under three categories: rapid fielding of low-cost autonomous weapons; developing warfighting concepts that effectively incorporate a mix of high- and low-end capabilities; and improving acquisition processes and the defense industrial base to speed the production and delivery of the right systems.
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Oct 2024
To Focus on China, U.S. Needs to Wean off Europe and Middle East Missions
If the United States cannot rebalance its military focus toward the Indo-Pacific it risks expediting Chinese aggression in the region and furthering the decline of the US-led economic and political order worldwide. The problem is that for all the talk about how China is the “pacing challenge” and needs to be the main focus for Washington, the U.S. is overstretched abroad across Europe and the Middle East at this most critical juncture.