Analysis

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Critical Questions
Defense Acquisition in the Biden Administration
February 12, 2021 | Rhys McCormick

Defense acquisition policy has undergone significant reform over the past several years. The Biden administration will likely focus on implementing those reforms as it prioritizes developing emerging technologies and achieving domestic policy goals.

Critical Questions
Arms Trade Reform Options for the New Administration and Congress
February 5, 2021 | Gregory Sanders President Biden's suspension of arms transfers in support of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen is a major break from the Trump administration. However, there is still likely to be significant continuity over the next four years in U.S. security cooperation policy.

Report
Department of Defense Other Transaction Authority Trends: A New R&D Funding Paradigm?
December 8, 2020 | Rhys McCormick Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements are an increasingly popular tool across the Department of Defense as the United States seeks ways to maintain technological superiority against global competitors. This brief examines the recent trends in OTA usage across the...

Report
To Compete, Invest in People: Retaining the U.S. Defense Enterprise’s Technical Workforce
November 23, 2020 | Lindsey R. Sheppard, Angelina Hidalgo The U.S. defense enterprise has an impressive history of science, engineering, and innovation. However, today, it struggles to retain its technical talent.

Report
Defense Acquisition Trends 2020: Topline DoD Trends
October 8, 2020 | Rhys McCormick For more than a decade, CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group published an annual report examining trends in what DoD is buying, how DoD is buying it, & from whom DoD is buying. This brief presents the topline DoD contract trends for Fiscal Year 2019.

Report
Measuring Service Contract Performance
September 18, 2020 | Andrew Philip Hunter, Gregory Sanders Services account for over 41 percent of DoD contract obligations. This CSIS report looks at a million contracts to evaluate how three factors influence performance: service complexity, contract-management capacity, and vendor’s history working with a DoD contracting.

Report
Is the Ratio of Investment between Research and Development to Production in Major Defense Acquisition Programs Experiencing Fundamental Change?
August 17, 2020 | Rhys McCormick, Gregory Sanders, Andrew Philip Hunter

This paper uses budgetary and program data to better understand the historical trends in the relationship of production costs to development costs in complex acquisition programs.

Report
Cycle Times and Cycles of Acquisition Reform
August 5, 2020 Acquisition reform occurs in cycles. This CSIS brief explores how reform cycles have historically affected acquisition speed (i.e., program cycle times).

Report
The Collection Edge: Harnessing Emerging Technologies for Intelligence Collection
July 13, 2020 Amidst evolving threat environments and changing national security priorities, U.S. and allied intelligence collection organizations can leverage emerging technologies to improve how intelligence is gathered, processed, and exploited for operations.

Commentary
Prioritizing Weapon System Cybersecurity in a Post-Pandemic Defense Department
May 13, 2020 Even though DOD faces post-pandemic budget cuts, it can and should prioritize weapon system cybersecurity. In a new commentary, CSIS’s Morgan Dwyer outlines how.

Report
Assessing the Industrial Base Implications of the Army's Future Vertical Lift Plans
May 6, 2020 | Rhys McCormick, Andrew Philip Hunter Future Vertical Lift, the Army’s effort to develop a new generation of vertical lift systems, is one of its top modernization priorities. This report presents a detailed analysis of the industrial base implications of the Army’s approach to vertical lift modernization.

Report
The Intelligence Edge: Opportunities and Challenges from Emerging Technologies for U.S. Intelligence
April 17, 2020 The United States must maintain a competitive advantage in strategic intelligence over its rivals to advance its national security interests. The CSIS Technology and Intelligence Task Force seeks to understand how emerging technologies can advance U.S. intelligence.

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