Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group

Strengthening our understanding of the relationship between the Department of Defense and its industrial base

DIIG provides timely, in-depth analysis on the critical issues at the cross-section of the Department of Defense and its industrial base. With a focus on defense acquisition trends, technological innovation, security cooperation, and ongoing reform efforts, DIIG monitors important developments in the global defense industry. DIIG’s products consist of major research projects, published reports, commentaries, interviews, and events.

About the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group

Learn more about the CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and the experts and staff that contribute to our analysis.

Cynthia Cook

Media Queries

Latest Analysis

Photo: ABCreative/Adobe Stock

Photo: ABCreative/Adobe Stock

Bolstering Collective Resilience in Europe

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine puts the necessity for European resilience into sharper focus. This brief argues for a new framing of NATO’s approach to resilience to amplify allies’ combined capacity to tackle shared challenges and threats.

Brief by Cynthia Cook and Anna M. Dowd — December 9, 2022

See all analysis by Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group

Featured Event

Photo: Lockheed Martin.

Current Challenges to the Defense Industrial Base

Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group's roundtable discussion on defense industrial base challenges in the context of the Ukraine war.

September 20, 2022

View Event

Featured Topics

Subscribe to our Mailing List:

All content by Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group

Filter by

1 - 10 of 127 results

Bolstering Collective Resilience in Europe

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine puts the necessity for European resilience into sharper focus. This brief argues for a new framing of NATO’s approach to resilience to amplify allies’ combined capacity to tackle shared challenges and threats.

Brief by Cynthia Cook and Anna M. Dowd — December 9, 2022

Photo: ABCreative/Adobe Stock

Executive Summary: 2021 CSIS-DAPA Conference

The 2021 CSIS-DAPA conference explored how the United States and the Republic of Korea could strengthen their alliance via a third generation of cooperation. Key topics were information sharing, domestic industry promotion, new technology, and the larger strategic context.

Report by Gregory Sanders — December 5, 2022

Photo: CSIS

Inflating the Risk? Contracting in the Face of Inflation

What will heightened inflation mean for the defense-industrial base? CSIS experts analyze how the Department of Defense responded to the last major bout of inflation and the relative exposure of different categories of vendors with respect to firm-fixed price contracts.

Critical Questions by Gregory Sanders and Alexander Holderness — December 1, 2022

Photo: Airman 1st Class China M. Shock

Keeping the U.S. Military Engine Edge: Budget and Contract Trends

The United States leads the world in military aircraft engine development. However, the Department of Defense must make significant decisions moving forward to retain this advantage in an era of renewed competition.

Brief by Gregory Sanders and Nicholas Velazquez — October 31, 2022

U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joely Santiago

Pathways to Implementing Comprehensive and Collaborative JADC2

This CSIS brief identifies and examines strategic level challenges in pursuing enhanced command and control infrastructure and makes recommendations to help the U.S. military as it operates as a joint force and deploys with allies and partners.

Report by Cynthia Cook , Rose Butchart , Gregory Sanders , and Alexander Holderness — September 27, 2022

Photo: zef art/Adobe Stock

Trends in Department of Defense Other Transaction Authority Usage

This report examines trends in Other Transaction Authority (OTA) usage across the DoD to provide insights into how the DoD is using OTAs to pursue innovation, how DoD spending under an OTA is organized, and to whom the majority of OTA obligations go.

Report by Gregory Sanders and Rhys McCormick — May 25, 2022

Photo: U.S. Army

Destruction, Subversion, and the Long War

As the war in Ukraine continues, CSIS's Cynthia Cook argues that both sides have increasingly moved to cost-imposing strategies, and the war will end when one side decides that its costs are too great to bear.

Commentary by Cynthia Cook — May 3, 2022

Photo: Алексей Синельников/Adobestock

Defense Acquisition Trends 2021

This report examines trends in what the DoD is buying, how the DoD is buying it, and from whom the DoD is buying based on analysis of data from the Federal Procurement Data System.

Report by Gregory Sanders , Won Joon Jang , and Alexander Holderness — March 29, 2022

Photo: U.S. Navy Photo courtesy of the Royal Navy/Released

Rebuilding Ukraine after the War

As Ukrainian resistance continues to push back against Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian leadership will need to plan what comes after the fighting stops and the country must begin down the road to recovery.

Commentary by Cynthia Cook — March 22, 2022

Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jacob Albers