Forward Defense

Forward Defense (FD) generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future conflict.

• Strategy & policy: FD analyzes the current and future threat environment, identifies strategic choices, and develops and assesses US strategy and policy in pursuit of national objectives.

• Capabilities & concepts: FD assesses the defense capabilities and emerging technologies that are shaping the battlespace and proposes novel concepts for employing these systems to support US defense strategy.

• Resourcing & acquisition: FD facilitates government and private sector collaboration to strengthen the defense industrial base, overcome barriers to innovation adoption, and navigate resource tradeoffs to field capabilities in relevant timeframes.

Subscribe to Forward Defense

Sign up for updates from Forward Defense to hear the latest on the trends, technologies, and military challenges shaping tomorrow.

Name
First Last
Email*
Email
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Our focus

Defense strategy and policy

Developing sustainable, nonpartisan strategies with our allies and partners to counter, deter, and overcome security challenges posed by great-power competitors and other potential adversaries.

Defense innovation, industry, and acquisition

Realigning the US and allied defense-industrial and innovation bases to ensure collaboration in pursuit of national defense strategies.

Emerging defense technologies

Exploring the emerging technologies and advanced capabilities that will define the future of defense and warfare.

Operational concepts and advanced capabilities

Advancing the dialogue on how the United States and its allies and partners can deter, fight, and win future wars.

Nuclear deterrence strategy

Crafting an effective and nonpartisan strategic forces policy for the United States and its allies in the twenty-first century.

Space security

Investigating the spectrum of challenges to and opportunities for the United States and its allies in the space domain.

The gray zone

Proposing a US and allied approach to acting, reacting, and prevailing in the gray zone throughout an era of strategic competition.

Emerging threats to the homeland

Providing recommendations to assist US national security officials as they transform the Department of Homeland Security to protect the nation against novel and emerging threats.

The art of war

Applying innovative methodologies such as wargaming, narrative fiction, and the creative arts to tomorrow’s military and defense challenges.

Content

Featured analysis

Report Apr 12, 2023

Atlantic Council Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption interim report

By Eric Lofgren*, Whitney M. McNamara, and Peter Modigliani

The DoD must accelerate defense innovation adoption from the leading edge of the private sector. This report has ten recommendations to do so.

China Defense Industry

Issue Brief Apr 27, 2023

Harnessing allied space capabilities

By Robert Murray, Tiffany Vora, and Nicholas Eftimiades

Forward Defense experts examine how US space strategy can recognize the comparative advantage of allies and partners in space and best harness allied capabilities.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Issue Brief May 22, 2023

Roles of the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

By Arnold Punaro

Major General Arnold Punaro, USMC (ret.) gives an inside look on evolution of the GNA, what factors make for a successful chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the “unfinished business” of the reforms that led to the creation of the CJCS office.

Defense Policy National Security

Report Dec 22, 2021

Seizing the advantage: A vision for the next US national defense strategy

By Clementine G. Starling, Tyson Wetzel, Christian Trotti

In this latest installment of the Atlantic Council Strategy Papers series, Forward Defense’s Clementine Starling, Lt Col Tyson Wetzel, and Christian Trotti articulate their vision and recommendations for the next US National Defense Strategy, including clearer prioritization, investments and divestments, reposturing of US forces, a new warfighting concept, and a focus on transnational threats like hybrid warfare and climate change.

China Defense Industry

Atlantic Council Strategy Paper Series Apr 11, 2021

The future of security in space: A thirty-year US strategy

By Clementine G. Starling, Mark J. Massa, Lt Col Christopher P. Mulder, and Julia T. Siegel

Outer space is rapidly transforming as new actors test new limits. This Atlantic Council Strategy Paper calls for the United States and its allies and partners to secure space over the next three decades or risk wasting the promise of this emerging domain.

China Cybersecurity

Recent articles & reports

Issue Brief

Jun 1, 2023

Autonomy and asymmetry: The future of Norway’s defense 2022-2042

By August Cole

August Cole provides an in-depth examination of Norway’s potential defense strategies, the implications of autonomous drones and artificial intelligence, and the necessary transformation of military norms in response to the threats from Russia and beyond.

Defense Policy Eastern Europe

New Atlanticist

May 31, 2023

Will the debt ceiling deal mean less for homeland security?

By Thomas S. Warrick

Congress needs to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security has the resources it needs to defend the nation against nonmilitary threats.

Cybersecurity National Security

ALL IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

aLL QUICK READS

Events

Flagship convenings

Commanders Series

The Council’s flagship speakers’ forum for senior military and defense leaders. The series provides a platform to discuss current strategic issues with an impressive audience drawn from across Washington’s policy community.

Arsenals of Democracy

The Defense-Industrial Policy Series and Captains of Industry Series provide platforms for senior government officials and executives in defense and aerospace to address the public policies that shape the defense market.

Forward Defense Forum

Built for creative thinking, this interactive public forum is designed for defense visionaries to put forth novel ideas for how the United States and its allies and partners can adapt, innovate, and win on the future battlefield.

all events

Meet our team

Staff

Clementine G. Starling

Director, Forward Defense

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense NATO

Staff

Mark J. Massa

Associate Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy National Security

Staff

Kathryn Levantovscaia

Associate Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Staff

Julia Siegel

Assistant Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense

Staff

Alyxandra Marine

Program Assistant

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Crisis Management Defense Policy

Staff

Jacob Mezey

Program Assistant

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy Missile Defense

Staff

Delharty Manson

Program Assistant

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Check out the Council’s Young Global Professionals program, a paid internship and professional development program, for timelines and current intern openings with Forward Defense.

Scowcroft Center Military Fellows

Forward Defense hosts Military Fellows from participating branches of the US military and the armed forces of US allies and partners each year. Meet the 2022-2023 class of fellows:

Fellow

Justin M. Conelli

Senior US Air Force Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan National Security

Fellow

Marek Jestrab

Senior US Navy Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Indo-Pacific

Fellow

Michelle Melendez

Senior US Marine Corps Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Iraq National Security

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.

Learn more