View Missile Technology Control Regime Reform: Key Changes and Next Steps By Sean Wilson PublishedMarch 14, 2025 Photo: Tech. Sgt. Joseph Pagan On January 7, 2025, the outgoing administration announced new U.S. policy guidance for implementing the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which is a voluntary multilateral arrangement established in 1987 with the purpose of limiting “the risks of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (i.e. nuclear, chemical and biological weapons), by controlling transfers that could…
View Protecting the Homeland: The Iron Dome for America By Ioannis Nikas, Grayson Phillips PublishedMarch 5, 2025 On January 27, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) entitled “The Iron Dome for America.” Citing the potentially “catastrophic threat” from across the missile spectrum, its stated purpose is to “provide for the common defense of [American] citizens and the Nation.” In an evolving and diverse threat environment, this order calls for a…
View Why Did China and Russia Stage a Joint Bomber Exercise near Alaska? By Kari A. Bingen PublishedJuly 30, 2024 On July 24, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) intercepted two Chinese Xian H-6K bombers and two Russian Tu-95MS Bear bombers flying near Alaska. Both types of bombers are nuclear capable. The bombers were intercepted by American F-16s and F-35s and Canadian CF-18 fighter jets. While the aircraft remained in international airspace and did not fly into Canadian…
View Does the FY24 Budget Request Reflect Defense Priorities? By Kari A. Bingen PublishedMay 30, 2023 This commentary was originally published by the National Security Space Association on May 30, 2023, as part of a compilation of views on the U.S. Space Force budget from national security space experts. While this is the fourth budget request for the U.S. Space Force, it is the first since the release of the Biden administration’s National…
View Battle Networks: The Three Part Series By Todd Harrison PublishedMarch 4, 2022 Militaries use battle networks to detect what is happening on the battlefield, process that data into actionable information, decide on a course of action, communicate decisions among forces, act on those decisions, and assess the effectiveness of the actions taken. Battle networks are sometimes referred to as the “sensor-to-shooter kill chain” (or just the “kill…
Battle Networks and the Future Force: Part 3 By Todd Harrison, Christopher Reid PublishedMarch 4, 2022 The Role of Allies and Partners This CSIS brief is the third in a series on the future of battle networks and Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). The first brief in the series examined the importance of battle networks to modern military operations and presented a framework of five functional elements that make up a…
View Battle Networks and the Future Force: Part 2 By Todd Harrison PublishedNovember 3, 2021 This paper draws on lessons from previous attempts to improve battle network integration and explores how DoD can properly scope the problem and organize itself to effectively and efficiently acquire the systems needed to realize its vision for JADC2.
View Battle Networks and the Future Force: Part 1 By Todd Harrison PublishedAugust 5, 2021 As the first in a series that explores the future of battle networks in the U.S. military—what has become known as Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2)—this paper examines the importance of battle networks to modern military operations and presents a framework of five functional elements that make up a battle network. This framework provides a common basis for conceptualizing and comparing existing systems and proposed new capabilities in terms of how they contribute to JADC2.
View Rethinking the Role of Remotely Crewed Systems in the Future Force By Todd Harrison PublishedMarch 3, 2021 In the wake of the cuts driven by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), many senior military and political leaders lamented the effects these cuts were having on the U.S. military. In a major speech on national security during the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump called for significant increases in the military…
View Cross-domain Competition: How Organizational Stovepipes Create Risks for Shared Missions By Morgan Dwyer PublishedOctober 29, 2020 Today, traditional nuclear missions increasingly intersect with emerging technical domains such as space and cyber. How can policymakers mitigate the risks that bureaucratic competition can pose to the shared mission of defending the nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) system?
