The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the emergence of transnational issues from terrorism to climate change, reveal the limits of military power, unilateral action, and the need for all three legs of U.S. foreign policy and national security – diplomacy, development, and defense – to work together more effectively. CNAS performs groundbreaking work on the U.S. role in current and future conflicts, on the U.S. relationship with key countries like China, India, and Japan, and on the reinvigoration of America’s capacity for effective diplomacy and development.
September 2, 2010 - CNAS Senior Fellow Tom Ricks spoke on NPR's Talk of the Nation about the best and worst books written about the war in Iraq.
| more |August 31, 2010 - CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine comments to ABC News on enduring challenges that remain in Iraq, despite the "end" of combat operations.
| more |March 31, 2010 - In an interview with AFP, CNAS President John Nagl echoes Admiral Mullen's assertion that a U.S.-led offensive into Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar is crucial to turning the tide against the insurgency. "In the last two months we've had a tremendous impact on the major approaches into Kandahar to try to squeeze the Taliban's access," said Nagl.
| more |August 31, 2010 - CNAS Senior Advisor Patrick Cronin comments to The Washington Post on the renewed emphasis of six-party talks with North Korea by the Chinese. "It's just stretching incredulity to think that six-party talks are some panacea where the region's problems disappear," said Cronin.
| more |August 31, 2010 - CNAS President John Nagl spoke with PBS NewsHour about the current state of the war in Afghanistan, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent criticism of the coalition strategy. Watch the video and read the transcript here.
| more |August 31, 2010 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum comments to National Journal on the continuation of the Iraq conflict and reality of future U.S. engagement. "It's fair to say that the Iraq conflict has not ended, and that we're going to be entangled in Iraq's domestic and regional politics for a long time to come," said Exum.
| more |August 29, 2010 - CNAS Senior Fellow Robert Kaplan appeared on Fareed Zakaria GPS to discuss his groundbreaking Foreign Affairs article, "The Geography of Chinese Power." Read the full transcript and watch the video here.
| more |August 27, 2010 - CNAS President John Nagl comments to The Associated Press about what can be learned from the war in Iraq and applied in Afghanistan.
| more |August 26, 2010 - CNAS Senior Fellow Bob Killebrew comments to The Washington Independent about the issue of massive cash flow from drug trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border.
| more |August 24, 2010 - Speaking to Asia Times Online, CNAS Senior Advisor Patrick Cronin comments on the recent Department of Defense assessment of China's military buildup and capabilities.
| more |CNAS Non-Resident Senior Fellow David Kilcullen testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the options for reconciliation in Afghanistan. Kilcullen’s testimony focused on stabilization issues within Afghanistan, including corruption, international aid and the drug trade.
| more |CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine testified on the problems associated with contracting in conflicts and areas for reform before the U.S. Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
| more |The State Department's Policy Planning staff has struggled to remain relevant and offer meaningful long-term plans since its inception. This policy brief suggests that the upcoming Quadrennial Defense and Diplomacy Review is the right time to reform the Policy Planning staff to give the State Department an adequate long-view strategic vision.
| more |Ahead of the September release of the State Department's Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, this working paper examines the importance of force planning in allowing USAID and State to expand their organizational capabilities and regain influence in bureaucratic power.
| more |This policy brief provides a brief survey of past initiatives to overhaul the State Department and offers suggestions for restructuring the State Department after the QDDR based on that review.
| more |Recent congressional hearings on government contractors in conflict zones illustrate the acute awareness on Capitol Hill and across all branches of government of the urgent need for contracting reform. This factsheet details specific policy recommendations for Congress as laid out in the CNAS report Contracting in Conflicts: The Path to Reform.
| more |CNAS President Dr. John Nagl testified before the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan on the proper role and oversight of security contractors supporting U.S. operations in Southwest Asia.
| more |According to a policy brief released today by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) ahead of its two day conference on the future of the U.S.-Japan partnership, the United States and Japan have a historic opportunity to renew their 50-year-old alliance.
| more |Faced with a shifting and complex global environment, this report calls for a recalibration of American strategy, noting, "The United States can best pursue a protracted period of global order by resisting the temptation to solve all the world’s problems.
| more |President Barack Obama took office determined to fight terrorist networks more effectively by moving away from the rhetorical framework of former President George W. Bush’s “Global War on Terror.” This report from Marc Lynch examines the rhetoric of the Administration against the reality of its policies.
| more |
September 24, 2009 - CNAS CEO Nathaniel Fick delivered his opening remarks during an event marking the launch of the CNAS report China's Arrival: A Strategic Framework for a Global Relationship. Download the full transcript here.
| more |September 24, 2009 - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg delivered his keynote address during an event marking the launch of the CNAS report China's Arrival: A Strategic Framework for a Global Relationship. Download the full transcript here.
| more |Center for a New American Security (CNAS) President John Nagl discusses the tradition and importance of the CNAS annual conference, which this year featured renowned national security experts and attracted over 1200 people in person and over 3500 people around the world who watched the conference live on the CNAS website.
| more |Transcript of the opening remarks from the Tuesday, August 17th Event "The Next Phase in America's Relationship with Iraq" hosted by Nathaniel C. Fick, and featuring Michael Corbin and Dr. Colin Kahl.
| more |CNAS hosted a pertinent discussion on the future of the U.S. relationship with Iraq after the end of the combat mission. The event was moderated by CNAS CEO Nathaniel Fick and featured two leading Administration officials.
| more |The Honorable Goshi Hosono, Acting Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Japan, offers remarks at the closing dinner of the two-day conference, “150 Years of Amity & 50 Years of Alliance: Adopting an Enhanced Agenda for the U.S.-Japan Partnership.”
The Japan Institute for International Affairs' Ambassador Yukio Satoh moderates a discussion of the global issues that affect the bilateral U.S.-Japan relationship. The panel featured Nobushige Takamizawa of Japan's Ministry of Defense, Koji Murata of Doshisha University, Patrick Cronin of CNAS, and Michael Green of CSIS.
| more |The University of Tokyo's Motoshige Ito moderates a panel on economics, trade, and technology featuring Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy; Hiroshi Komiyama of the University of Tokyo; Charles Vest of MIT, and Ambassador Ira Shapiro of Greenberg Traurig.
| more |Richard Danzig addresses the U.S. and Japanese delegations on the common values that serve as the foundation of the alliance between the United States and Japan on day two of our conference.
| more |
The keynote addresses of the first day of the conference on the U.S.-Japan alliance are delivered by Akihisa Nagashima, Japanese Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defense; and Michael Schiffer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia.
| more |Dr. David Asher is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at CNAS, where he specializes in issues related to Asia, economics and security.
| more |General Barno, a highly decorated military officer with over 30 years of service, has served in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States and around the world, to include command at every level. He served many of his early years in special operations forces with Army Ranger battalions, to include combat in both the Grenada and Panama invasions. In 2003, he was selected to establish a new three-star operational headquarters in Afghanistan and take command of the 20,000 U.S.
| more |Brian Burton is the Bacevich Fellow at the Center of a New American Security. His most recent CNAS publications include Keeping the Edge: Revitalizing America's Military Officer Corps (co-editor and contributing author) and Learning from Experience: Lessons from the QDR for the QDDR. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Armed Forces Journal, Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Quarterly, Journal of Strategic Studies, and Small Wars and Insurgencies. He received an M.A.
| more |Victor Cha was named to the newly created Korea Chair at CSIS in May 2009. Previously, he served as director for Asian studies at Georgetown University. From 2004 to 2007, he was director for Asian affairs at the White House, where he was responsible for coordinating U.S. policy for Japan, North and South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Island nations. He also served as U.S. deputy head of delegation to the Six-Party Talks and has acted as a senior consultant on East Asian security issues for different branches of the U.S. government.
| more |Patrick Cronin is a Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Previously, he was the Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at National Defense University and has had a 25-year career inside government and academic research centers, spanning defense affairs, foreign policy, and development assistance.
Prior to his retirement on 1 June 2010, Major General Dunlap served as Deputy Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force. In that position he assisted in the professional oversight of more than 2,200 judge advocates, 350 civilian attorneys, 1,400 enlisted paralegals and 500 civilians assigned worldwide. In addition to overseeing an array of military justice, operational, international and civil law functions, General Dunlap provided legal advice to the Air Staff and commanders at all levels.
Andrew Exum is a Fellow with the Center for a New American Security. He is a native of East Tennessee and served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 2000 until 2004. He led a platoon of light infantry in Afghanistan in 2002 and a platoon of Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Most recently, Exum served as an advisor on the CENTCOM Assessment Team and as a civilian advisor to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan.
| more |Nathaniel C. Fick was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in June 2009. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer of CNAS and has been a Fellow at the Center since its founding in 2007.
Richard Fontaine is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), which he joined in September 2009. He previously served as foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain for more than five years. He has also worked at the State Department, the National Security Council and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
| more |Michael Green is a senior adviser and holds the Japan Chair at CSIS, as well as being an associate professor of international relations at Georgetown University. He served as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) from January 2004 to December 2005. He joined the NSC in April 2001 as director of Asian affairs with responsibility for Japan, Korea, and Australia/New Zealand.
| more |On October 20, 2010, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will host an event at the Newseum to launch a new report on the future of U.S.-India relations. The event will feature a roundtable discussion on the path forward for this critical relationship, featuring former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Ambassador Nicholas Burns, CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine, and other outside experts.
| more |On September 23, 2010, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will launch its new report on continuing challenges facing the National Guard and Reserves at an event featuring CNAS President Dr. John Nagl, former Chairman of the Commission on National Guard and Reserves Arnold Punaro, and several outside defense experts.
| more |This two-day conference brought together leading Japanese and American policymakers and experts to examine the challenges and opportunities for the future of the U.S.-Japan alliance, and featured a keynote address by Akihisa Nagashima, Japan’s Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defense.
| more |The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will hold its fourth annual conference, Shaping the Agenda: American National Security in the 21st Century, on June 10, 2010. The event will feature a keynote address by Michèle Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and three expert panels discussing the most salient national security challenges America faces.
| more |
On May 17, 2010 the Center for a New American Security hosted Admiral James Stavridis as part of the National Security Leaders Forum for a discussion of the future role of NATO.
| more |Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change; David Kilcullen, RADM Philip Hart Cullom, USN, Robert Kaplan, and Christine Parthemore spoke at a CNAS event addressing the effects of climate change on our national security on Wednesday, April 28.
| more |The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) was honored to host Colonel Gregory T. Breazile, USMC, as a speaker in our ongoing Voices from the Field project. Colonel Breazile is currently serving as the Director of Communication and Spokeman for the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A).
| more |On March 24, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) held an event on global internet freedom and foreign policy in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
| more |On Monday, February 22, 2010, CNAS and Georgetown University hosted a discussion with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the challenges and opportunities – including operations in Afghanistan – for the over 60-year-old Alliance.
| more |On January 26, CNAS will launch a major report on the global commons - sea, airspace, space and cyberspace - at an event featuring the CNO Admiral Gary Roughead, Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force General Carrol Chandler, former Chairman of the Defense Science Board Norman R. Augustine and Fellow Abraham Denmark.
| more |