Featured Reports
Sanctions by the Numbers: 2025 Year in Review
Eleanor Hume, Kyle Rutter | January 29, 2026
Short Supply
Katherine L. Kuzminski, Taren Sylvester | December 11, 2025
Prepared, Not Paralyzed
Janet Egan, Spencer Michaels, Caleb Withers | November 20, 2025
Economic Security in North America
Emily Kilcrease, Geoffrey Gertz | December 03, 2025
Sanctions by the Numbers: 2025 Year in Review
This installment of Sanctions by the Numbers examines the United States’ use of financial sanctions and entity-based export controls...
Short Supply
Executive Summary The U.S. military faces a critical challenge: Fewer young Americans are willing to serve, and fewer adults are encouraging them to do so. Because of delibera...
Prepared, Not Paralyzed
Executive Summary The Trump administration has embraced a pro-innovation approach to artificial intelligence (AI) policy. Its AI Action Plan, released July 2025, underscores t...
Economic Security in North America
Executive Summary The United States, Mexico, and Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiated during President Donald Trump’s first term includes a novel review clause. By July 2026, t...
CNAS INSIGHTS
CNAS Insights brings timely analysis and expert commentary to the most pressing topics in national security.
CNAS Insights | America Isn’t Ready for a Drone War
This week, U.S. personnel near El Paso, Texas, tested a high-energy laser as part of their mission to shoot down cartel drones along the southern border. The resulting confusi...
CNAS Insights | Trump's Plan B for Tariffs
The administration is already pivoting to a new tariff architecture that will mostly, though not entirely, recreate his previous tariffs....
CNAS Insights | Why the “Swing States” Approach Is Right for Africa
Africa watchers in Washington, D.C., were dispirited—though not surprised—when an email calling the continent “a peripheral—rather than a core theater for US interest” recentl...
Press
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Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
U.S. Consumers Express Dismay over Rising Gas Prices After Attack on IranSurging energy prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran could ripple across the United States economy, heaping further strain on consumers at a time when cost-of-living issu...
By Rachel Ziemba
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National Security Human Capital Program
Fears of Military Draft Swirl amid Iran Conflict - Expert Weighs InWithin hours of the first American strikes on Iran Saturday, social media was buzzing with quips about Barron Trump rushing to the doctor to be diagnosed with bone spurs....
By Katherine L. Kuzminski
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Trump’s Iran War Will End When He Declares Victory — The Only Question Is When
When will Donald Trump declare victory in Iran? The answer to that question could determine whether it’s a few days, a few weeks, a few months or even longer that American ser...
By Jim Townsend
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Maduro Gone, Khamenei Killed — Is Kim Jong-Un the Next Target as U.S. Normalizes ‘Decapitation Strikes’?
The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during an early-morning raid on January 3, 2026, and then extracting him from his compound at Fo...
By Dr. Go Myong-Hyun
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The Merchants of War
On February 28, at 9:40 am local time in Sohrevardi Street in Tehran, the first thing Shirin noticed was not the blast but the quiet that came after it. Tehran, a city that us...
By Richard Fontaine
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Defense / Middle East Security
Analysis of Iran’s Missile and Drone CapabilitiesThe U.S., Israel and Gulf states are hoping Iran is running low on missile and drone stocks after data suggested the barrage has slowed since the start of the war on Feb. 28. ...
By Becca Wasser
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Defense / Middle East Security
Trump Mulls Using Special Forces to Seize Iran's UraniumBy Becca Wasser
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CNAS Insights | Can the United States Sustain Its War Against Iran?
By Stacie Pettyjohn & Philip Sheers
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Maduro Gone, Khamenei Killed — Is Kim Jong-Un the Next Target as U.S. Normalizes ‘Decapitation Strikes’?
The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during an early-morning raid on January 3, 2026, and then extracting him from his compound at Fo...
By Dr. Go Myong-Hyun
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Defense / Indo-Pacific Security / Middle East Security
America’s Military Is Focused on Iran. Its Biggest Challenge Is China.By CDR Thomas Shugart, USN
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The Other Simmering Conflict on Iran’s Border
By Lisa Curtis
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Maduro Gone, Khamenei Killed — Is Kim Jong-Un the Next Target as U.S. Normalizes ‘Decapitation Strikes’?
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National Security Human Capital Program
Fears of Military Draft Swirl amid Iran Conflict - Expert Weighs InWithin hours of the first American strikes on Iran Saturday, social media was buzzing with quips about Barron Trump rushing to the doctor to be diagnosed with bone spurs....
By Katherine L. Kuzminski
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National Security Human Capital Program / Middle East Security
Trump Appears Ready to Attack Iran as U.S. Strike Force Takes ShapeBy Dr. Jason Dempsey
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National Security Human Capital Program
Army to Be More Selective with Reenlistment Bonuses Under New GuidanceBy Katherine L. Kuzminski
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Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security
Europe’s View on Operation Epic FuryOn February 28, the United States launched Operation Epic Fury, a major military campaign against Iran carried out alongside Israeli strikes. The opening wave targeted Iranian...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
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Reflecting on Four Years of War in Ukraine
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
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Trump Vowed to End Ukraine War in 24 Hours, but He Still Can’t — Putin’s Maximalist Goals to Blame?
By Nicholas Lokker
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Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
U.S. Consumers Express Dismay over Rising Gas Prices After Attack on IranSurging energy prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran could ripple across the United States economy, heaping further strain on consumers at a time when cost-of-living issu...
By Rachel Ziemba
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Defense / Middle East Security
Analysis of Iran’s Missile and Drone CapabilitiesBy Becca Wasser
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Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Goes Far Beyond OilBy Rachel Ziemba
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Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
U.S. Consumers Express Dismay over Rising Gas Prices After Attack on IranSurging energy prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran could ripple across the United States economy, heaping further strain on consumers at a time when cost-of-living issu...
By Rachel Ziemba
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Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Goes Far Beyond OilBy Rachel Ziemba
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Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
Oil Surges, Gas Tops $3 Nationwide as War Heats Up. What Comes Next?By Rachel Ziemba
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Technology & National Security
Jack Shanahan: An Inside Look at Track 2 AI Meetings Between the U.S. and ChinaJack Shanahan has become synonymous with the adoption of artificial intelligence in the U.S. Department of Defense. As the founding director of the Joint AI Center, which was ...
By Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan
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Technology & National Security
Recommendations for Securing and Promoting AI AgentsBy Ben Hayum, Janet Egan & Caleb Withers
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Technology & National Security
AI-Ready Biodata Is America’s Next Strategic InfrastructureBy Sam Howell & Michelle Holko
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Can a President Unilaterally Withdraw—and Rejoin—the UN Climate Treaty?
This article was originally published in Lawfare. On Jan. 7, the Trump administration withdrew the United States from more than 60 international agreements and organizations, ...
By Mark Nevitt
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The Fed, Ed Accreditation, and DHS
By Carrie Cordero
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Accountability and Oversight Concerns in DHS
By Carrie Cordero
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Can a President Unilaterally Withdraw—and Rejoin—the UN Climate Treaty?
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CNAS Insights | Why the “Swing States” Approach Is Right for Africa
Africa watchers in Washington, D.C., were dispirited—though not surprised—when an email calling the continent “a peripheral—rather than a core theater for US interest” recentl...
By Gibbs McKinley
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How the U.S. and South Africa Could Use the G20 to Plot a Path Forward
By Richard Fontaine & Gibbs McKinley
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Losing the Swing States
By Richard Fontaine & Gibbs McKinley
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CNAS Insights | Why the “Swing States” Approach Is Right for Africa
