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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.

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Report

Jul 3, 2025

The National Defense Strategy Project

By Atlantic Council experts

As the world enters a pivotal new phase in global security, the United States must not only respond to current challenges but also anticipate those on the horizon. 

Artificial Intelligence Defense Policy

Latest analysis

Featured reports

Content

New Atlanticist

Dec 5, 2025

The cost of an unjust peace in Ukraine? An emboldened China.

By Phillip M. Ramirez

A peace deal aimed at ending the war in Ukraine that favors Russia could embolden China to take military action of its own.

China
Conflict

New Atlanticist

Nov 7, 2025

Representative Adam Smith on the NDAA, Venezuela, and the United States’ role in the world

By Daniel Hojnacki

The congressman discussed the National Defense Authorization Act and the Trump administration’s attacks on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.

Conflict
Defense Industry

New Atlanticist

Sep 19, 2025

Three things to note in the UK’s new Defence Industrial Strategy

By Deborah Cheverton

“Defence is an Engine for Growth,” according to an important new British military strategy published on September 8.

Defense Industry
Defense Policy

Issue Brief

Aug 21, 2025

Addressing China’s military expansion in West Africa and beyond

By Tressa Guenov

As China expands its military reach in West Africa, the United States risks losing strategic ground on the continent. The next National Defense Strategy must confront China’s ambitions beyond the Indo-Pacific, balancing defense diplomacy, bilateral military relationships, and counterterrorism.

Africa
China

Issue Brief

Aug 21, 2025

Winning through people: The human capital advantage in great-power competition

By Beth Foster and Alex Wagner

To maintain military readiness, deter conflict, and preserve its technological edge, the United States must prioritize human capital by investing in resilient service members and a skilled civilian workforce.

Defense Policy
National Security

Events

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Meet our experts

In the news

In the News

Feb 25, 2025

Eftimiades interviewed by NTD on Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence

By Atlantic Council

On February 17, Forward Defense nonresident senior fellow Nicholas Eftimiades was interviewed on NTD Evening News on the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. In the interview, Eftimiades spoke to Gabbard’s national security priorities and understanding of strategic threats to the United States today.

China
Defense Policy

In the News

Feb 13, 2025

Soofer interviewed for USA Today article on Trump’s ‘Iron Dome’

By Atlantic Council

On February 11, Forward Defense senior fellow Robert Soofer was interviewed for a USA Today article entitled, “Will Trump’s ‘Iron Dome’ missile defense make Americans safer? It’s complicated.” The article quotes Soofer’s response to Trump’s executive order, citing his claim that it is “even more bold, I would suggest, than Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative.”

China
Defense Policy

In the News

Feb 13, 2025

Soofer’s report ‘First, we will defend the homeland’ quoted in SPIEGEL article on Trump’s ‘Iron Dome’

By Atlantic Council

On January 29, Forward Defense senior fellow Robert Soofer was quoted in a SPIEGEL article with the translated title, “That’s why Trump wants an American Iron Dome.” The article cites his recent Atlantic Council report, “‘First, we will defend the homeland’: The case for homeland missile defense,” where he warns of the threat to US territory from missiles.

China
Defense Policy

In the News

Feb 6, 2025

Soofer quoted in Matthew Kroenig’s Foreign Policy article arguing for an ‘Iron Dome’

By Atlantic Council

On February 5, Forward Defense senior fellow Robert Soofer was quoted in a Foreign Policy article by Matthew Kroenig, Vice President and Senior Director of the Scowcroft Center. The argument piece was titled, “The United States Needs an Iron Dome.” Kroenig quotes Soofer’s recent report, “‘First, we will defend the homeland’: The case for homeland […]

China
Defense Policy

In the News

Feb 6, 2025

T.X. Hammes proposes containerized weapons for US Navy merchant fleet in US Naval Institute Proceedings

On February 3, T.X. Hammes, a nonresident senior fellow at Forward Defense, wrote with Captain R. Robinson Harris, US Navy (ret.) in the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings, that deploying containerized weapons on merchant ships would bolster the US Navy’s capacity to manage the growing threat from China.

China
Conflict

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.

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