Center for the Industrial Base

Reimagining government-industry collaboration to foster innovation, build capacity, and achieve victory.

CSIS’s Center for the Industrial Base (CIB), formerly the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group (DIIG), provides impactful research on the ways in which the United States and its allies can collaborate more effectively with industry of all types and build their respective industrial bases. The center primarily focuses on 1) DOD and federal industrial base challenges, 2) government contracting trends in defense, civilian agencies, and international markets, 3) industry-government collaboration, and 4) international industrial cooperation. CIB monitors important developments in the global defense industry and produces major research projects and long-form reports; commentaries and articles in popular media; and annual conferences and livestream roundtables.

About the Center for the Industrial Base

Learn more about the CSIS Center for the Industrial Base and the experts and staff that contribute to our analysis.

Jerry McGinn
Subscribe to our Mailing List:

Contact Information

Media Queries

Latest Analysis

Photo: Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Photo: Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Putting the Industrial Base on a Wartime Footing

Putting the industrial base on a wartime footing will require strong leadership and consistent funding, with an investment in readiness for day one of any conflict, and the ability to maintain, repair, and replace the capabilities needed to prevail in any future fight. 

Commentary by Jerry McGinn and Cynthia R. Cook — December 5, 2025

See all analysis by Center for the Industrial Base

Upcoming Event

Webcast

Actualizing the "Arsenal of Freedom" | All About the Base

Presented by Center for the Industrial Base
December 15, 2025 • 9:00 am – 9:15 pm EST

Featured Event

The National Defense Industrial Strategy: The Way Ahead

Presented by Center for the Industrial Base
January 11, 2024 • 3:30 – 4:30 pm EST

Featured Topics

All Center for the Industrial Base Content

Filter by

21 - 30 of 314 results

Strengthening NATO Starts with Fixing Its Industrial Base

The transatlantic defense industrial base has long been fragmented and inflexible. The NATO summit presents an opportunity to address key factors that keep arms sales, technology transfer, and defense industrial cooperation ill-suited to meet current security demands.

Commentary by Audrey Aldisert — June 24, 2025

Audio Briefs

Strengthening NATO Starts with Fixing Its Industrial Base

An audio version of “⁠Strengthening NATO Starts with Fixing Its Industrial Base⁠,” a new Commentary by CSIS’s Audrey Aldisert. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs. 

Podcast Episode by Audrey Aldisert — June 24, 2025

Audio Briefs

Identifying Pathways for U.S. Shipbuilding Cooperation with Northeast Asian Allies

U.S. naval shipbuilding faces production and capacity constraints that undermine fleet readiness. Closer cooperation with allies like Japan and South Korea on ship construction and repair could help counter China’s maritime threat and bolster U.S. industrial resilience.

Brief by Henry H. Carroll and Cynthia R. Cook — May 15, 2025

Defense Mobilization in the 21st Century

COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine exposed deep vulnerabilities in the U.S. defense industrial base. Decades of offshoring, cost-cutting, and reliance on adversarial suppliers have eroded resilience—putting national security at risk when global supply chains falter.

Congressional Testimony by Christine Michienzi — March 6, 2025

Enhancing Defense Industrial Cooperation Between Australia and the United States

In a time of deepening geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific, the United States and Australia should strengthen their defense industrial cooperation to deter potential adversaries while integrating and expanding both nations’ defense industrial bases.

Report by Cynthia R. Cook, Charles Edel, Kathryn Paik, Gregory Sanders, Henry H. Carroll, Katy Buda, and John Augé — March 3, 2025