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Assumptions Testing Series

Mar 4, 2021

Assumption #2: Strategies of coercion are effective

By Erica Borghard

Policymakers should cultivate more realistic expectations about the likelihood that their coercive threats will work as intended, evaluate their full costs against their potential benefits, and invest more in deterrence and defense.

Issue Brief

Mar 4, 2021

It’s time to get serious about a pressure strategy to contain North Korea

By Andrea R. Mihailescu

A Biden administration North Korea Strategy should continue dialogue with Kim's government, backed by a variety of pressure and enforcement tactics, in order to strive for the goal of arms reduction.

Arms Control
Economy & Business

Issue Brief

Mar 1, 2021

A primer on the proliferation of offensive cyber capabilities

By Winnona DeSombre, Michele Campobasso, Dr. Luca Allodi, Dr. James Shires, JD Work, Robert Morgus, Patrick Howell O’Neill, and Dr. Trey Herr

Offensive cyber capabilities run the gamut from sophisticated, long-term disruptions of physical infrastructure to malware used to target human rights journalists. As these capabilities continue to proliferate with increasing complexity and to new types of actors, the imperative to slow and counter their spread only strengthens.

Arms Control
Conflict

Issue Brief

Feb 25, 2021

Delist or not delist: A $2.2 trillion US-China auditing dispute

By Jeremy Mark

The economic and financial forces set in motion by the COVID-10 pandemic—global recession and ultra-loose monetary policies that have driven a cross-border search for higher yield—have contributed to a slow shift of international capital toward China’s markets. Now, intensified US-China tensions—especially the targeting of Chinese companies for delisting from US stock markets—have the potential to heighten that trend.

China
Economy & Business

Issue Brief

Feb 16, 2021

The North Atlantic community renewed: Challenges, trends, and solutions

By Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

With 900 million people and $1 trillion in defense spending, the United States and Europe represent by far the largest, oldest, and most capable economic and security community in the world.

Economy & Business
Europe & Eurasia

Issue Brief

Feb 16, 2021

Russia’s nuclear activity in 2019: Increasing strength and pressure

By Maxim Starchak

Russia's nuclear arsenal is a cornerstone of its political and military influence. 2019 stands out as a year with notable shifts in activity, with key indications that nuclear forces will remain a critical mechanism for Moscow to exert pressure.

Conflict
Nuclear Deterrence

Issue Brief

Feb 4, 2021

Toward trilateral arms control: Options for bringing China into the fold

By Matthew Kroenig, Mark J. Massa

The Cold War-era paradigm of bilateral arms control between the United States and Russia is becoming increasingly untenable. Including a rising China with a growing nuclear arsenal is essential. This issue brief shows the way forward with options for bringing China into the nuclear arms control fold on a trilateral basis with the United States and Russia.

Arms Control
China

Issue Brief

Feb 4, 2021

Ensuring Energy Security in a Renewables World

By Ben Hertz-Shargel

Renewable sources of energy are gaining an increasing share of the US energy mix, bolstered by state-level commitments as well as corporate power purchase agreements. However, while renewables have become increasingly cost competitive, they still face challenges, especially related to intermittency and storage. The Global Energy Center’s new issue brief, “Ensuring Energy Security in a […]

Energy & Environment
Energy Transitions
Photo: "Indian and US naval ships in formation during Malabar 2012", by Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Assumptions Testing Series

Feb 3, 2021

Assumption #1: Revisionist states are the cause of great-power competition

By Emma Ashford

Policymakers should intensify efforts to understand the scope of ambition of other states, focus less on forward deployment and engage in reassurance measures.

Issue Brief

Feb 1, 2021

Pathologies of obfuscation: Nobody understands cyber operations or wargaming

By Nina Kollars and Benjamin Schechter

National security and defense professionals have long utilized wargames to better understand hypothetical conflict scenarios. With conflict in the cyber domain becoming a more prominent piece in wargames in the national security community, this issue brief seeks to identify the common pathologies, or potential pitfalls, of cyber wargaming.

Cybersecurity
National Security