August 04, 2018
Commentary: Success, or failure, of new Army Command rests on Congress
In July, the U.S. Army announced that Austin will be the location for its new Futures Command headquarters. The command, intended to be the spearhead of the Army’s modernization effort, will direct the research and development of new military technologies and build partnerships with civilian innovators in academia and industry.
Futures Command has clear objectives, the authority of a four-star Army command, and an innovation-rich environment to work with in Austin. Rarely does a team — in any field or at any level — find itself in such a favorable position and with the power to see its projects through to execution.
Despite these conditions, Futures Command has a daunting mission ahead of it — one that it may not be able to achieve: The command is charged with nothing less than overhauling and modernizing the U.S. Army, one of the most cumbersome and bureaucratic organizations in the world.
Read the full op-ed in the Austin-American Statesman.
More from CNAS
-
Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast: Global View
Podcast
In a week when airpower news came from every angle, Becca Wasser, CNAS adjunct senior fellow, was on top of it all. She leads defense research at Bloomberg Economics, and we c...
By Becca Wasser
-
Podcast
National Security Human Capital Program
Dot Gov ’26: The Departments of Defense and Veteran AffairsLast week, Trump called for a record $1.5 trillion defense budget. And at Veterans Affairs, his administration implemented a staffing reorganization. And just last month, it w...
By Katherine L. Kuzminski
-
Balance of Power: Powell Probe Sparks GOP Backlash
Podcast
President Donald Trump faced rare opposition from key Republican lawmakers after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell accused the Department of Justice of launching a grand jur...
By Becca Wasser
-
Commentary
National Security Human Capital Program
Key Elements of the 2026 National Defense Authorization ActThis article was originally published on War on the Rocks. Although contemplating the personnel requirements of a large-scale conflict — and with it, the potential for casualt...
By Katherine L. Kuzminski
