New CNAS Report: "No I in Team: Integrated Deterrence with Allies and Partners"

Washington, December 14, 2022—Today, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a new report, "No I in Team: Integrated Deterrence with Allies and Partners" from authors Stacie Pettyjohn and Becca Wasser.

The concept of integrated deterrence, as advanced through the 2022 National Defense Strategy, prioritizes working with with allies and partners to deter threats in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

"But what integrated deterrence entails in practical terms remains unclear, particularly to the very allies and partners Washington wants more from," write the authors. "This ambiguity raises the risk that integrated deterrence may find itself dead on arrival."

In the report, the authors provide a framework to help the U.S. Department of Defense implement its strategy of integrated deterrence with allies and partners and apply this framework to the Australia – United Kingdom – United States (AUKUS) partnership. This framework highlights three levels of integration between the United States and its allies and partners: tactical, institutional, and strategic.

While integrated deterrence requires cooperation at all three levels highlighted above, the authors argue that strategic integration is the area where deeper collaboration is most sorely and urgently needed. The authors argue that strategic integration should serve as the backbone of integrated deterrence and help focus American defense cooperation.

The report concludes with recommendations for the DoD to deepen integration with allies and partners at each of the three core levels to shift integrated deterrence from rhetoric to reality. Read the full report for these recommendations and more.

For more information or to schedule an interview with the report authors, please contact Cameron Edinburgh at cedinburgh@cnas.org