
Gregory Sanders is deputy director and fellow with the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at CSIS, where he manages a research team that analyzes data on U.S. government contract spending and other budget and acquisition issues. He employs data visualization and other ways to use complex data collections to create succinct and innovative tables, charts, and maps. His recent research focuses on contract spending by major government departments, contingency contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and European and Asian defense budgets. This work requires management of data from a variety of databases, most notably the Federal Procurement Database System, and extensive cross-referencing of multiple budget data sources. In support of these goals, he employs SQL Server, as well as the statistical programming language R. Sanders holds an M.A. in international studies from the University of Denver and a B.A. in government and politics, as well as a B.S. in computer science, from the University of Maryland.
In the News
U.S. Army’s selection of V-280 Valor, a tiltrotor, could be a benefit to those pitching civilian electric tiltrotors
Gregory Sanders in Aerospace America — December 15, 2022
Pentagon maintains Ukrainian military assistance won't hurt US readiness
Gregory Sanders in Washington Examiner — July 11, 2022
Joe Biden Wants More Defense Contractors to Fight the New Cold War
Cynthia Cook and Gregory Sanders in Newsweek — April 25, 2022
Defense industry expert on defense acquisition spending trends
Gregory Sanders in Government Matters — December 9, 2021
DoD spending data tells us how serious the Pentagon is about a shift to great power competition
Gregory Sanders in Federal News Network — October 7, 2021
What Does Consolidation Mean for Performance? Concentration, Competition, and Defense Contracting Outcomes
Gregory Sanders and Zach Huitink in Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation — May 20, 2020
4 Questions Hovering Over Deal to Create a Giant Defense Contractor
Gregory Sanders in The New York Times — June 11, 2019
United Technologies Strikes Deal to Merge With Raytheon
Gregory Sanders in The Wall Street Journal — June 10, 2019
All content by Gregory Sanders
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Executive Summary: 2021 CSIS-DAPA Conference
Report by Gregory Sanders — December 5, 2022

Inflating the Risk? Contracting in the Face of Inflation
Critical Questions by Gregory Sanders and Alexander Holderness — December 1, 2022
Keeping the U.S. Military Engine Edge: Budget and Contract Trends
Brief by Gregory Sanders and Nicholas Velazquez — October 31, 2022

Pathways to Implementing Comprehensive and Collaborative JADC2
Report by Cynthia Cook , Rose Butchart , Gregory Sanders , and Alexander Holderness — September 27, 2022

Trends in Department of Defense Other Transaction Authority Usage
Report by Gregory Sanders and Rhys McCormick — May 25, 2022

Defense Acquisition Trends 2021
Report by Gregory Sanders , Won Joon Jang , and Alexander Holderness — March 29, 2022

Leveraging Networks in Future Operations: DISA's Changing Role in Battle Networks
Report by Gregory Sanders and Rhys McCormick — January 31, 2022

2021 Defense Acquisition Trends: Topline DoD Trends after a Half Decade of Growth
Critical Questions by Gregory Sanders , Won Joon Jang , and Alexander Holderness — December 2, 2021

Readiness for Open Systems: How Prepared Are the Pentagon and the Defense Industry to Coordinate?
Brief by Gregory Sanders and Alexander Holderness — November 15, 2021

Reaching Farther, Risking Less
Brief by Rose Butchart , Gregory Sanders , Jill N. Cheney , and Sevan Araz — September 22, 2021
