Defense Budget and Acquisition

The Defense Budget Analysis Program, the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, and the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy track the foremost budget issues in the defense policy sphere.

Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Innovate or Die: The Army Transformation Initiative and the Future of Allied Land Warfare

Russia is adapting fast from wars in Ukraine, Israel, and Iran. NATO must act now or risk battlefield irrelevance. The U.S. Army’s Transformation Initiative should lead in reform, experimentation, and joint action to prepare allied forces for the fight ahead.

Commentary by Maj. Gen. Matthew Van Wagenen, Col. Arnel P. David, and Benjamin Jensen — July 10, 2025

Photo: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Micah Taylor via DVIDS

Enabling Forward Sustainment

Report by Cynthia R. Cook, Nicholas Szechenyi, Henry H. Carroll, Audrey Aldisert, Sarah Hendrick, and Javier Nater — June 26, 2025

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Cynthia Cook

Cynthia R. Cook

Director, Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and Senior Fellow, Defense and Security Department

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Innovate or Die: The Army Transformation Initiative and the Future of Allied Land Warfare

Russia is adapting fast from wars in Ukraine, Israel, and Iran. NATO must act now or risk battlefield irrelevance. The U.S. Army’s Transformation Initiative should lead in reform, experimentation, and joint action to prepare allied forces for the fight ahead.

Commentary by Maj. Gen. Matthew Van Wagenen, Col. Arnel P. David, and Benjamin Jensen — July 10, 2025

Overcoming the Barriers to Forward Deterrence

The United States relies on its unmatched network of allies to help fill gaps in U.S. industrial capacity and capability. But a variety of regulatory barriers inhibit cooperation and create challenges for allies who want to purchase from or work with the United States.

Commentary by Cynthia R. Cook and Audrey Aldisert — July 1, 2025

The Truth of the Matter

NATO’s “Brain-Dead” Summit

CSIS’s Max Bergmann, director of the CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, joins the podcast to discuss what really happened at the NATO summit and how defense spending will impact European economies going forward.

Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Max Bergmann — June 30, 2025

CSIS the truth of the matter

Enabling Forward Sustainment

To reduce the risks relating to contested logistics in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Air Force should consider deepening maintenance and repair cooperation with Japan—leveraging its industrial strength to build a more resilient, forward-positioned sustainment capability.

Report by Cynthia R. Cook, Nicholas Szechenyi, Henry H. Carroll, Audrey Aldisert, Sarah Hendrick, and Javier Nater — June 26, 2025

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

Building a Brain of the Army Through Professional Military Education

The Army’s next revolution won’t just be fought on battlefields—it’ll be trained in classrooms. In this piece, Ben Jensen highlights how professional military education can build an AI-powered ‘brain of the Army’ ready for 2040 and beyond.

Commentary by Benjamin Jensen — June 10, 2025