Skip to main content
  • Sections
  • Search

Center for Strategic & International Studies

User menu

  • Subscribe
  • Sign In

Topics

  • Climate Change
  • Cybersecurity and Technology
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Governance
    • Intellectual Property
    • Intelligence, Surveillance, and Privacy
    • Military Technology
    • Space
    • Technology and Innovation
  • Defense and Security
    • Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
    • Defense Budget
    • Defense Industry, Acquisition, and Innovation
    • Defense Strategy and Capabilities
    • Geopolitics and International Security
    • Long-Term Futures
    • Missile Defense
    • Space
    • Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation
  • Economics
    • Asian Economics
    • Global Economic Governance
    • Trade and International Business
  • Energy and Sustainability
    • Energy, Climate Change, and Environmental Impacts
    • Energy and Geopolitics
    • Energy Innovation
    • Energy Markets, Trends, and Outlooks
  • Global Health
    • Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, and Immunizations
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • Health and Security
    • Infectious Disease
  • Human Rights
    • Building Sustainable and Inclusive Democracy
    • Business and Human Rights
    • Responding to Egregious Human Rights Abuses
    • Civil Society
    • Transitional Justice
    • Human Security
  • International Development
    • Food and Agriculture
    • Governance and Rule of Law
    • Humanitarian Assistance
    • Human Mobility
    • Private Sector Development
    • U.S. Development Policy

Regions

  • Africa
    • North Africa
    • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Americas
    • Caribbean
    • North America
    • South America
  • Arctic
  • Asia
    • Afghanistan
    • Australia, New Zealand & Pacific
    • China
    • India
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Pakistan
    • Southeast Asia
  • Europe
    • European Union
    • NATO
    • Post-Soviet Europe
    • Turkey
  • Middle East
    • The Gulf
    • Egypt and the Levant
    • North Africa
  • Russia and Eurasia
    • The South Caucasus
    • Central Asia
    • Post-Soviet Europe
    • Russia

Sections menu

  • Programs
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Analysis
    • Blogs
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Congressional Testimony
    • Critical Questions
    • Interactive Reports
    • Journals
    • Newsletter
    • Reports
    • Transcript
  • Podcasts
  • iDeas Lab
  • Transcripts
  • Web Projects

Main menu

  • About Us
  • Support CSIS
    • Securing Our Future
Photo: iLab/CSIS

You are here

  1. Home
  2. International Security Program
  3. Transition46
Connect

Transition46

As the Biden administration takes office, Defense360’s Transition46 series provides insights from CSIS’s International Security Program scholars on the challenges the new administration faces and recommendations for what should change in U.S. defense strategy, forces, operations, and institutions. Our scholars each week will publish short pieces drawing from their expertise to chart a better course forward.

Visit the Defense360 microsite for the full series archives.

 
Critical Questions
Moving Beyond “China, China, China” in the Indo-Pacific
February 12, 2021 | John Schaus

The Biden administration is signaling the United States will return to a more traditional foreign policy in Asia. But it must engage allies and partners on more than just defense policy.

 
Critical Questions
Covid-19 and the Military: Maintaining Operations While Supporting Civil Society
February 12, 2021 | Adam Saxton, Mark F. Cancian

The response to Covid-19 presents the Biden administration with its first defining challenge. DoD has played a central role in the response thus far, and the new administration has made clear that DoD will continue to play an important, though supporting, role.

 
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
Nuclear Modernization under Competing Pressures
February 12, 2021 | Rebecca Hersman, Joseph Rodgers

The Biden administration will face early decision points regarding the modernization of critical elements of the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise in an environment buffeted by competing forces and pressures.

 
Critical Questions
Building Military Forces for the 2020s: Implementing Strategy and Exercising Global Leadership in an Era of Reduced Resources
February 10, 2021 | Mark F. Cancian

As the Biden administration charts a new strategy for the Department of Defense, it will need to make difficult decisions on force structure and optimization, with real implications for readiness.

 
Critical Questions
To Infinity and Beyond: Civil and Commercial Space Policy in the Biden Administration
February 10, 2021 | Kaitlyn Johnson

This is a pivotal time for civil and commercial space policy. The Biden administration should build from the successful policies of the Trump administration and look for new ways to engage new partnerships both domestically and internationally.

 
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.

 
Critical Questions
Nuclear Proliferation Challenges Facing the Biden Administration
February 4, 2021 | Eric Brewer

The Biden administration faces a number of challenges in nonproliferation, starting from traditional adversaries like Iran and North Korea but also involving traditional U.S. partners like Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Turkey.

 
Critical Questions
Arms Control Strategies for a New Administration
February 4, 2021 | Rebecca Hersman, Suzanne Claeys

While the extension of the New START treaty between the United States and Russia is a critical step to promoting arms control strategies, the international environment is changing enough that new ideas and strategies are going to be necessary to ensure a secure future.

 
Critical Questions
Rethinking Military Roles and Missions in a New Administration
February 2, 2021 | Todd Harrison

It’s been 70 years since the Department of Defense (DoD) last formally reviewed the roles and missions set of its component services. With the creation of the Space Force and the rise of new technologies, it’s more than time for DoD to conduct a new review.

 
Critical Questions
Defense Budget Priorities for the Biden Administration
February 2, 2021 | Seamus P. Daniels

The Biden administration will shape its defense plans in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 threat and historically large federal deficits. CSIS’s Seamus Daniels explores the budget landscape and potential priorities for the new Defense Department leadership.

 
Critical Questions
A Better Way to Identify and Address Threats to National Security
January 28, 2021 | Samuel Brannen

For years, the U.S. government's approach to prioritizing national security threats has been ad-hoc. It's time to restructure and standardize the decisionmaking process to achieve better outcomes.

 
Critical Questions
The Need for Innovation and Continuity in National Security Space during the Biden Administration
January 28, 2021 | Makena Young

National security space policy is at an inflection point. President Biden's administration has a number of new avenues for progress but should also continue key Trump-era initiatives.

 
Critical Questions
Cultivating a Defense Department Workforce for the Digital Era
January 26, 2021 | Lindsey R. Sheppard

Among the top priorities for President Biden’s Department of Defense should be retaining and cultivating a skilled STEM workforce at all levels in the Pentagon.

 
Critical questions
Escaping the Graveyard of Empires? U.S. Options in Afghanistan
January 26, 2021 | Seth G. Jones

The Biden administration faces a difficult decision in how it will move forward in Afghanistan, particularly after the Trump administration’s drawdown. While U.S. forces have been fighting there for two decades, a withdrawal at this point could have disastrous effects.

 
Critical questions
Restore Trust in National Security Institutions
January 22, 2021 | Suzanne Spaulding, Devi Nair

Trust in U.S. democratic institutions has been declining for some time. To start rebuilding and sustaining public confidence in democracy and in U.S. national security institutions, civic education must be elevated as a national security imperative.

International Security Program

  • About the International Security Program
  • Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy
  • ISP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Aerospace Security Project
  • Ahead of the Game
  • Civics as a National Security Imperative
  • The ‘Civics at Work’ Initiative
  • Civil-Military Relations
  • CSIS Technology and Intelligence Task Force
  • Defending Democratic Institutions
  • Defense 360
  • Defense Budget Analysis
  • Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group
  • Future Strategy Forum
  • Global Security Forum
  • Gray Zone Project
  • Harold Brown Chair
  • Institutional Integrity
  • ISP Archives
  • Military Fellows
  • U.S. Military Forces
  • Missile Defense Project
  • Project on Fragility and Mobility
  • Project on Nuclear Issues
  • Risk and Foresight Group
  • Smart Women, Smart Power
  • ISP Brief
  • Opening Doors: Embracing Diversity in National Security
  • Transition46
  • Global Threats and Regional Stability
  • Event Series
  • Global Trends: Seven Revolutions
  • Transnational Threats Project
  • Strategy and Statecraft Fellowship
Find Additional Content
Media Queries
Contact H. Andrew Schwartz
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Paige Montfort
Media Relations Coordinator, External Relations
Tel: 202.775.3173
Related
International Security Program
Footer menu
  • Topics
  • Regions
  • Programs
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Analysis
  • Web Projects
  • Podcasts
  • iDeas Lab
  • Transcripts
  • About Us
  • Support Us
Contact CSIS
Email CSIS
Tel: 202.887.0200
Fax: 202.775.3199
Visit CSIS Headquarters
1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Media Queries
Contact H. Andrew Schwartz
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Paige Montfort
Media Relations Coordinator, External Relations
Tel: 202.775.3173

Daily Updates

Sign up to receive The Evening, a daily brief on the news, events, and people shaping the world of international affairs.

Subscribe to CSIS Newsletters

Follow CSIS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

All content © 2022. All rights reserved.

Legal menu
  • Credits
  • Privacy Policy
  • Reprint Permissions