Methodology of strategy and strategic thinking: linking classic advice with disruptive trends

New Atlanticist Nov 1, 2024

NATO needs a defense industrial strategy that prioritizes being strong, smart, and together

By Kristen Taylor, Luka Ignac

A recent two-day summit underscored the ways in which the credibility of allied deterrence hinges on robust defense industrial cooperation.
Defense Policy Defense Technologies
Methodology of strategy and strategic thinking: linking classic advice with disruptive trends

New Atlanticist Oct 30, 2024

In defense of Draghi’s defense idea: Three models for a centralized defense procurer for the EU

By Thomas Goldstein

Only a European defense procurer can provide the institutional reform to overcome intra- and intergovernmental paralysis and invest at scale.
Defense Industry Defense Policy
Methodology of strategy and strategic thinking: linking classic advice with disruptive trends

New Atlanticist Oct 28, 2024

The US needs a stronger defense industrial base. Option contracts can help.

By Michael Hogan

The US government would pay a premium on current orders, but it would then have the option to purchase a larger amount within a fixed timeframe.
Defense Industry Defense Policy

The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security works to develop sustainable, nonpartisan strategies to address the most important security challenges facing the United States and the world.

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Content

Strategy Consortium

May 12, 2017

Methodology of strategy and strategic thinking: linking classic advice with disruptive trends

By Hans-Christian Hagman

This paper seeks to discuss elements of strategy and strategic thought. What should we be thinking of in order to produce national security strategies that will have the intended impact on policy and allocated resources? What strategy will best achieve government coordination, operational execution and the desired end state?

Defense Policy National Security

Strategy Consortium

May 12, 2017

Responding to strategic surprise

By Paul D. Miller

In the event of a strategic surprise, the President and his administration face three tasks, which they should pursue concurrently, not sequentially.

Afghanistan Cuba

Defense Industrialist

Apr 10, 2017

R&E + A&S > AT&L

By James Hasik

Separating technology from procurement in the Pentagon may provide important organizational incentives for innovation. It’s old news by now, but in February 2018, the Pentagon’s under secretariat for acquisition, technology, and logistics (AT&L) will be split into two separate under secretariats, one for research and engineering (R&E, rather a chief of technological innovation) and another for acquisition and sustainment […]

Defense Policy Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Mar 22, 2017

On the economics of cyber weapons, part 2

By James Hasik

Some industrial organization in cyber, and the organization of cyber forces We are now seven months past what Nicholas Weaver called the National Security Agency’s “No Good, Very Bad Monday.” We may not know who the Shadow Brokers really are, but as Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai wrote on Motherboard, quoting Thomas Rid (“Cyber War Will Not Take Place”) of King’s College, […]

Cybersecurity Defense Industry

Defense Industrialist

Feb 28, 2017

BRAC 2019

By James Hasik

Advice to the administration on military functions and footprint President Trump, the White House has announced, will announce the general outlines of his budget tomorrow: $54 billion more for the military, and an offsetting $54 billion less for everything else, except entitlements, which are not to be touched. Ring-fencing half the spending aims to fulfill […]

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Defense Industrialist

Feb 28, 2017

The 75 percent solution

By James Hasik

The Marine Corps should move towards a mix of attack aircraft tailored for two classes of enemy, in wars small and large. In the short term, that means buying fixed-wing gunships. In the mid-term, it means buying tilt-rotor gunships, including drones. Both aircraft types are better suited for the small wars in which the Marine Corps has been engaged for most of the post-Cold War era. For now, that might seem to destroy Marine Aviation, but to save it in the long term for the big wars.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Event Recap

Feb 17, 2017

Roundtable discussion with Nigerian army delegation

By Africa Center

On Thursday, February 16, the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center hosted a roundtable discussion on the status of the fight against Boko Haram with Major General Johnny Hamakim, director general of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre; Major General David Ahmadu, chief of training and operations for the Nigerian Army; and Brigadier General Sadiq Ndalolo, the Nigerian […]

Africa Defense Policy

Defense Industrialist

Feb 13, 2017

Make it so.

By James Hasik

Standing up a new military organization is hard institutional work, but work worth the effort over time. A proposal for a Space Force proposes short-term turmoil, but eventually better morale, stability, and focus after separation from the Air Force.

Defense Policy Space

Defense Industrialist

Jan 26, 2017

Keep that hiring freeze short

By James Hasik

Really reducing the Pentagon workforce will be a challenging task, because every office needs to be effectively searched for who’s not doing a great job, and who’s not doing a job that really needs to be done. It’s also an important job, because the layering-on of people and offices over the years has created a bureaucratic monster in which simple decisions can take months to effect. So here’s one bit of advice to the new administration, in the interests of efficient administration of defense. Make no small plans at the OMB. Get to work on that plan for eliminating the deadwood, the unimportant, and the sclerotic. Just don’t let this hiring freeze linger. Because until fresh hiring can resume, you’ll get none of the new talent you need.

Defense Policy Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Jan 21, 2017

The high beta presidency

By Steven Grundman

What does the Trump Administration portend for defense policy? I hew to the simple refrain, “Anything could happen.” Or, as an investor put it to me, “Trump’s promises to be the ‘high-beta’ presidency.” Beta is the measure of a stock’s volatility against the market as a whole, though the analogue to molecular biology and the treatment of hypertension may be equally apt. Of one thing we do know for sure: Donald Trump is a master of the political narrative, and the story about public policy counts far more than those of us with a deductive train of mind might care to admit.

Afghanistan Defense Industry
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Experts

Fellow

Shawn Creamer

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

Security & Defense East Asia

Fellow

Marvin J. Park

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

China Defense Policy

Fellow

LeAnne Noelani Howard

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia

Fellow

Nathan K. Finney

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Defense Policy

Fellow

Jongsun Kim

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Fellow

Owen J. Daniels

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy
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Events

Public Event Wed, August 13, 2025 • 10:00 am ET

The US Space Force’s Jonathan Farrow on the US Space Warfighting Framework
Defense Policy National Security Space Security
Public Event Wed, October 8, 2025 • 9:00 am ET

2025 Energy & Defense Summit
Defense Policy Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance Geopolitics & Energy Security