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Featured Reports

Stuck in the Cul-de-Sac

Carlton Haelig, Philip Sheers | October 21, 2025

Countering the Digital Silk Road

Vivek Chilukuri, Ruby Scanlon | October 15, 2025

Tipping the Scales

Caleb Withers | September 23, 2025

Countering the Swarm

Stacie Pettyjohn, Molly Campbell | September 10, 2025

Stuck in the Cul-de-Sac

For more than a decade, the United States has sought to modernize its military to deter China, but it has become stuck in a developmental cul-de-sac that has allowed China to ...

Countering the Digital Silk Road

The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the Digital Silk Road (DSR), China’s effort to strengthen its global ties and influence through technology. In the decade since the...

Tipping the Scales

This report examines how emerging AI capabilities could disrupt the cyber offense-defense balance....

Countering the Swarm

After decades of air dominance and a near monopoly on precision strike, the United States now faces a dramatically different, more hostile world as the proliferation of cheap ...

AMERICA'S EDGE

The United States faces a rapidly changing global security landscape. Evolving technology, shifting alliances, and emerging threats require America to harness bold, innovative approaches. The CNAS 2025 national security conference, America’s Edge: Forging the Future, will bring together bipartisan leaders, policymakers, and industry to chart a vision for enhancing America’s global edge.

CNAS 2025 National Security Conference | America's Edge: Forging the Future

Jun 3, 2025

The First 100 Days

The First 100 Days is a series of recommendations from CNAS experts. The recommendations span the most pressing issues that will test the administration, including competition...

Global Swing States and the New Great Power Competition

International politics is undergoing a period of rapid, significant change. China and Russia are working together more closely and alongside Iran and North Korea...

Press

In The News

Indo-Pacific Security / Energy, Economics & Security
Trump-Xi ‘Amazing’ Summit Brings Tactical Truce, Not Major Reset
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed a meeting with China's Xi Jinping as "amazing" and "12" on a 10-point scale, but the agreement the two leaders reached appears to be no more...

By Emily Kilcrease
- Reuters
- October 30, 2025
In The News

Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
Republican Lawmaker Says Don’t Give China Nvidia’s Blackwell Chip
A leading Republican voice in Congress on China policy said on Wednesday that selling Nvidia's best AI chip to China "would be akin (to) giving Iran weapons grade uranium", as...

By Tim Fist
- Reuters
- October 30, 2025
In The News

National Security Human Capital Program
Airmen and Space Force guardians will be extended for 60 days due to shutdown
The Air Force is telling roughly 50 airmen and Space Force guardians who had expected to separate in November that their time in the service is being extended for 60 days due ...

By Katherine L. Kuzminski
- Task and Purpose
- October 30, 2025
In The News

Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
Trump Antifa Crackdown Steered to Agency That Targets Organized Crime
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office that works with prosecutors to pursue drug cartels, war crimes, and money laundering is shifting resources to investigate antifa...

By Carrie Cordero
- The Free Press
- October 29, 2025
In The News

Indo-Pacific Security / Energy, Economics & Security
Trump Has Made U.S.-China Relations All About Trade
Under Trump, trade has come to be the dominant theme of the relationship between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest economies....

By Richard Fontaine
- NBC News
- October 29, 2025

Featured
Audio & Video

Events

Upcoming
- Nov 10, 2025
Virtual Event | Emerging AI Capabilities and the Future of Cybersecurity
Upcoming
- Nov 4, 2025
Virtual Event | Drones and Deterrence: Building Taiwan's Asymmetric Capabilities
Past Event
- Oct 28, 2025
Virtual Event | The Fourth Intelligence Revolution: The Future of Espionage and the Battle to Save America

Our Research Programs

Defense
- Defense
  Are We Ready? | America’s Next Battlefield, with Thomas Shugart
  Thomas Shugart, adjunct senior fellow at CNAS, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how the tools and tactics of warfare have changed in the past decade and whether the ...
  
  By Tom Shugart
  - Podcast
- Defense
  How Are China, Ukraine and the U.S. Actually Using Military AI?
  By Josh Wallin
  - Video
- Defense / Indo-Pacific Security
  Is the U.S. Ready for War with China?
  By Franz-Stefan Gady
  - Commentary
Indo-Pacific Security
- Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
  Republican Lawmaker Says Don’t Give China Nvidia’s Blackwell Chip
  A leading Republican voice in Congress on China policy said on Wednesday that selling Nvidia's best AI chip to China "would be akin (to) giving Iran weapons grade uranium", as...
  
  By Tim Fist
  - In The News
- Indo-Pacific Security / Energy, Economics & Security
  Trump-Xi ‘Amazing’ Summit Brings Tactical Truce, Not Major Reset
  By Emily Kilcrease
  - In The News
- Indo-Pacific Security / Energy, Economics & Security
  Trump Has Made U.S.-China Relations All About Trade
  By Richard Fontaine
  - In The News
National Security Human Capital Program
- National Security Human Capital Program
  Airmen and Space Force guardians will be extended for 60 days due to shutdown
  The Air Force is telling roughly 50 airmen and Space Force guardians who had expected to separate in November that their time in the service is being extended for 60 days due ...
  
  By Katherine L. Kuzminski
  - In The News
- National Security Human Capital Program
  Army Extends Contract for Soldiers Nearing End of Service Due to Shutdown
  By Katherine L. Kuzminski
  - In The News
- National Security Human Capital Program
  Army Scales Back Eligibility for Future Soldier Prep Course
  By Katherine L. Kuzminski
  - In The News
Transatlantic Security
- Transatlantic Security
  Mike McFaul on Autocrats vs Democrats
  Are we in a new Cold War? That is the question Mike McFaul takes on in his new book, Autocrats versus Democrats: Russia, China, America, and the New Global Disorder. McFaul ar...
  
  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
  - Podcast
- Transatlantic Security
  Scrap ‘Air Policing’ for Alert Status, Ex-Nato Commander Demands amid Russia ‘Hybrid’ War
  By Philip Breedlove
  - In The News
- Transatlantic Security
  A New Era of Strongman Rulers Is Upon Us
  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor
  - Commentary
Middle East Security
- Middle East Security
  How a Peace Deal Between Hamas and Israel Will Reshape the Middle East
  Rachel Brandenberg joins NPR to discuss how the region will change if Israel and Hamas continue to abide by the peace deal President Trump brokered. Listen to the interview o...
  
  By Rachel Brandenburg
  - Podcast
- Middle East Security
  Oct. 7 Anniversary: Israel Battles Optics, Isolation, and Mounting Death Toll as World Pushes Trump Deal
  By Adham Sahloul
  - In The News
- Middle East Security
  Donald Trump’s Gaza Plan Skips Step One
  By Delaney Soliday
  - Commentary
Energy, Economics & Security
- Indo-Pacific Security / Energy, Economics & Security
  Trump-Xi ‘Amazing’ Summit Brings Tactical Truce, Not Major Reset
  U.S. President Donald Trump hailed a meeting with China's Xi Jinping as "amazing" and "12" on a 10-point scale, but the agreement the two leaders reached appears to be no more...
  
  By Emily Kilcrease
  - In The News
- Energy, Economics & Security
  What's an Economic Security Agreement and Why Does the U.S. Need Them? With Peter Harrell
  By Geoffrey Gertz & Emily Kilcrease
  - Podcast
- Indo-Pacific Security / Energy, Economics & Security
  Trump Has Made U.S.-China Relations All About Trade
  By Richard Fontaine
  - In The News
Technology & National Security
- Indo-Pacific Security / Technology & National Security
  Republican Lawmaker Says Don’t Give China Nvidia’s Blackwell Chip
  A leading Republican voice in Congress on China policy said on Wednesday that selling Nvidia's best AI chip to China "would be akin (to) giving Iran weapons grade uranium", as...
  
  By Tim Fist
  - In The News
- Technology & National Security
  ‘A Real Risk’: The Rise of Weapons That Can Act Alone
  By Paul Scharre
  - In The News
- Technology & National Security
  Inside Zelensky’s “Mega-Drone Deal” with the U.S.
  By Samuel Bendett
  - In The News
Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
- Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
  Trump Antifa Crackdown Steered to Agency That Targets Organized Crime
  A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office that works with prosecutors to pursue drug cartels, war crimes, and money laundering is shifting resources to investigate antifa...
  
  By Carrie Cordero
  - In The News
- Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
  Why John Bolton Case Is More Serious than Those Against Other Trump Critics
  By Carrie Cordero
  - In The News
- Securing U.S. Democracy Initiative
  Rising Lion Shows the U.S. Needs More Allies Like Israel
  By Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, Jr. (Ret.)
  - Commentary
Global Swing States
- Global Swing States
  Losing the Swing States
  The United States has strained its relations with friendly BRICS members....
  
  By Richard Fontaine & Gibbs McKinley
  - Commentary
- Global Swing States
  New CNAS Report Argues Six “Global Swing States” Will Shape the New Great Power Competition
  - Press Release
- Global Swing States
  Global Swing States and the New Great Power Competition
  By Richard Fontaine & Gibbs McKinley
  - Reports