On January 17, Forward Defense senior fellow Steve Grundman joined the Defense & Aerospace Report Daily Podcast to discuss the release of the Biden administration’s first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy. He highlighted the strategy’s potential impact on future defense initiatives and the importance of leveraging tools like the Defense Production Act Title III, while also noting the strategy’s lack of concrete guidance for the commercial defense industrial base.
I think it’s a really good complement to the National Defense Strategy…it’s not a prescription of programs and budgets per se. Instead, its purpose is to frame the problem and express the priorities by which the department is going to address the problem.

Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.
Further reading
Wed, Apr 12, 2023
Atlantic Council Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption interim report
Report By
The DoD must accelerate defense innovation adoption from the leading edge of the private sector. This report has ten recommendations to do so.
Tue, Jun 21, 2022
Atlantic Council announces new commission to reform the defense innovation ecosystem
Press Release By
Commission chaired by Secretaries Mark T. Esper and Deborah Lee James to recommend actions for sharpening US defense-industrial edge.