About our work

The Department of Defense needs a clear roadmap to counter today’s myriad security challenges—from strategic competitors and regional aggressors to violent extremist organizations and climate change. Strategic thinking is essential in order to align priorities and ensure US and allied national security.

Forward Defense explores this issue set through frank review of current defense policy, cogent expert analysis of the present security environment, and actionable recommendations for strategy to meet future defense challenges.

Featured projects

Forward Defense and Seizing the Advantage

Seizing the advantage: The next US National Defense Strategy

The Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense practice advances leading-edge commentary and key recommendations to help chart the course for the United States’ next National Defense Strategy.

Scowcroft Center Military Fellows

The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Forward Defense practice is proud to host Military Fellows from participating branches of the US military and the armed forces of US allies and partners each year as part of a twelve-month fellowship program.

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Commanders Series

The Atlantic 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, including think tanks, media, industry, embassies, and the US government.

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Latest analysis

Featured reports

Defense strategy & policy

Issue Brief Feb 24, 2022

The next National Defense Strategy must get Russia right

By Clementine G. Starling-Daniels, Christian Trotti, Tyson Wetzel

The rapidly developing 2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis raises a key question for US defense policy makers as they finalize the next National Defense Strategy (NDS): How can the NDS get Russia “right”? This issue brief seeks to answer this question by developing a US defense strategy for deterring and managing the Russian threat in Europe and beyond, building upon the authors’ 2021 report, “Seizing the Advantage: A Vision for the Next US National Defense Strategy.”
Conflict Crisis Management
Defense strategy & policy

Report Dec 22, 2021

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

By Clementine G. Starling-Daniels, 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
Defense strategy & policy

Report Nov 25, 2023

Ten challenges to implementing Force Design 2030

By Bruce Stubbs

Bruce Stubbs points out key questions for the success of the US Marine Corps’s Force Design 2030.
China Defense Policy
Defense strategy & policy

Strategic Insights Memo Aug 5, 2021

A new strategy for US global defense posture

By Matthew Crouch, Barry Pavel, Clementine G. Starling, and Christian Trotti

This Policy Brief, produced by the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Forward Defense team, recommends a novel strategy for US global force posture to strengthen deterrence and competitive leverage vis-à-vis China, Russia, and other challengers. It addresses multifaceted challenges abroad, allocates missions according to mobility and range, lays the foundation for emerging technologies, and facilitates robust cooperation with allies and partners.
Defense Policy Defense Technologies
Defense strategy & policy

Report Jun 8, 2021

Transformative priorities for national defense

By Franklin D. Kramer and Lt. Col. Matthew R. Crouch

Today, the United States faces multi-theater and multi-domain challenges different from any presented since World War II—and, in fact, ever. This report addresses these pivotal challenges by advancing key transformative priorities for an effective US national defense strategy, both in the “American theater” at home and in the forward theaters abroad.
China Defense Industry
Defense strategy & policy

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

Content

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2025

Ukraine’s drone strikes offer four big lessons for US nuclear strategists

By Mark J. Massa

Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb should spur the US government to address strategic vulnerabilities that nuclear strategists have focused on for years.

Defense Policy National Security

New Atlanticist

Apr 29, 2025

To fund US military modernization, Congress needs to pass on-time annual defense budgets

By Jongsun Kim

The longer Congress relies on continuing resolutions to fund the military, the further the Pentagon will drift from its defense spending goals.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Report

Apr 11, 2025

The imperative of augmenting US theater nuclear forces

By Greg Weaver

The United States and its allies and partners face an impending change in the threats they face from nuclear-armed adversaries: a strategic environment marked by two nuclear peer major powers.

Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia

Strategic Insights Memo

Apr 11, 2025

Industrial integration for global defense resilience: Pathways for action

By Abigail Rudolph, Steven Grundman

The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have exposed significant vulnerabilities in the industrial capacity and capabilities of the United States and its allies. A lack of speed, scale, and resilience in industrial production hampers the ability to sustain operations in these campaigns.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Report

Mar 27, 2025

Atlantic Council Commission on Software-Defined Warfare: Final report

By Whitney M. McNamara, Peter Modigliani, Tate Nurkin

The Atlantic Council Commission on Software-Defined Warfare presents a software-defined warfare approach, offering recommendations for the DoD to adopt modern software practices and seamlessly integrate them into existing platforms to enhance and strengthen defense strategies.

Artificial Intelligence Defense Policy
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Events

Register for upcoming events

Watch past events

Public Event Wed, October 16, 2024 • 8:00 am ET

A conversation with Admiral Lisa Franchetti on the Navy’s 2024 Navigation Plan
Defense Policy Maritime Security
Public Event Wed, May 22, 2024 • 10:50 am ET

General CQ Brown, Jr. on how US forces are readying for new global threats

An #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT—General CQ Brown, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discusses the challenges the joint force faces today and what to expect in the years ahead.
Conflict Crisis Management Defense Policy National Security
Public Event Thu, April 18, 2024 • 3:30 pm ET

A conversation with General Jim Hockenhull on an innovative UK Strategic Command
Defense Policy Defense Technologies Technology & Innovation United Kingdom
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Meet our experts

Staff

Matthew Kroenig

Vice President and Senior Director, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

China Defense Policy

Staff

Clementine G. Starling-Daniels

Director, Forward Defense

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense NATO

Advisory Council member

Arnold Punaro

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Fellow

Barry Pavel

Distinguished Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy Defense Technologies

Former fellow

Robert Soofer

Former Senior Fellow

Forward Defense

Arms Control Defense Policy

Fellow

Elliot Ackerman

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan Defense Policy

Fellow

Thomas X. Hammes

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Defense Industry

Fellow

Rob Murray

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Fellow

Magnus Nordenman

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Fellow

Patrick O’Reilly

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy Drones

Fellow

Kaley Scholl

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

China Defense Policy

Fellow

Thomas S. Warrick

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Adrienne Arsht National Security Resilience Initiative GeoStrategy Initiative

National Security Terrorism

Fellow

Peter Watkins

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy Defense Technologies

Fellow

Irina Plaks

Nonresident Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Staff

Mark J. Massa

Deputy Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Policy National Security

Staff

Alyxandra Marine

Assistant Director

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Crisis Management Defense Policy

Former staff

Delharty Manson

Former Program Assistant

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

In the news

In the News

May 13, 2025

Starling-Daniels and Luetkefend quoted in WMAL article titled “In Great Power Competition, Special Ops to Play Key Role”

On May 3, Forward Defense director Clementine Starling-Daniels and assistant director Theresa Luetkefend were quoted in a WMAL article titled “In Great Power Competition, Special Ops to Play Key Role.” The article highlights their argument that, after two decades primarily focused on counterterrorism and direct-action missions during the Global War on Terror, today’s peer and […]

Africa Defense Policy

In the News

May 5, 2025

Final Report of the Commission on Software-Defined Warfare featured in Air & Space Forces Magazine

By Atlantic Council

On May 5, Shaun Waterman of Air & Space Forces Magazine published an article highlighting Forward Defense’s Commission on Software-Defined Warfare report.

Artificial Intelligence Defense Industry

In the News

May 2, 2025

Hinote and Parker in Breaking Defense on the Commission on Software-Defined Warfare

By Atlantic Council

On May 2, Breaking Defense published an article by Clinton Hinote and Nathan Parker, Commissioners on Forward Defense’s Commission on Software-Defined Warfare, emphasizing the urgent need for the Department of Defense to prioritize agile, testable software development practices.

Artificial Intelligence Defense Industry

In the News

Apr 24, 2025

Soofer and Massa discuss homeland missile defense on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory speaker series

By Atlantic Council

On March 6, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for GlobalSecurity Research featured Forward Defense senior fellow Robert Soofer and Forward Defense deputy director Mark Massa in their ongoing speaker series. In the dialogue, they discuss the future of homeland missile defense, specifically in reference to their co-authored report, “‘First, we will defend the homeland’: The case […]

China Defense Policy

In the News

Apr 23, 2025

Axios on the Commission on Software-Defined Warfare final report

By Atlantic Council

Colin Demarest of Axios published an article covering Domino Data Lab’s $16.5 million AI contract, announced following the release of Forward Defense’s Commission on Software-Defined Warfare report.

Artificial Intelligence Defense Industry
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Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, 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.

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