Forward Defense quick reads

How the Israeli intelligence community got its mojo back

By Marc Polymeropoulos

Israel’s recent preemptive strikes against Hezbollah targets helped avert a wider war and showed how Israeli intelligence has bounced back from the failures of October 7.

Don’t cut corners on US nuclear deterrence

By Matthew Kroenig, Mark J. Massa

Bipartisan support for modernizing and expanding the US nuclear arsenal will be essential for the United States to deter its adversaries.

General CQ Brown, Jr., on the US role in Gaza, Ukraine, and other crises around the world

By Katherine Walla

It’s time to plan for the long term in the Middle East, the general said at an Atlantic Council event.

Congress should save the Sentinel ICBM—its true value is more than simply its cost

By James McCue

The value of the new intercontinental ballistic missile program should be measured over its full lifetime and not just by its current price tag.

NATO must ‘win up front but be ready to win long’ in modern warfare, says General Christopher Cavoli

By Katherine Walla

At an Atlantic Council Front Page event, Cavoli spoke about the war in Ukraine, NATO’s modernization efforts, the China challenge, and more.

The drones are small—the arms race may not be. Here’s how the US can win.

By Matthew Rose, Kathryn Levantovscaia

With rapid advances in drone technology, the United States needs to develop an updated, comprehensive counter-drone strategy.

Great power competition is back. What does that mean for US special operations forces?

By Alyxandra Marine

With their wide array of capabilities, US special operations forces can play a central role in strategic competition.

Pax Americana vs. autonomy: How the US and EU defense industrial strategies diverge

By Kathryn Levantovscaia

This is the first year in which both the United States and the European Union have formally introduced defense industrial strategies.

Is the United States falling behind the North Korean ICBM threat? Congress needs answers.

By Robert Soofer

Washington must not wait until Pyongyang is regularly test-launching ICBMs with multiple re-entry vehicles and countermeasures to improve US defenses.

Aiding Ukraine is a strategic investment, not charity

By Kathryn Levantovscaia

Some members of Congress are concerned about costs, but US support for Ukraine is an investment in US economic and national security that is already paying off.

This year’s bipartisan immigration bill offers a border blueprint for 2025

By Thomas S. Warrick

The consequences of another year of inaction on border security and immigration policy may convince a supermajority in the Congress to take up again in 2025 many of the ideas in this year’s bipartisan Senate compromise—no matter which party captures the White House in November.

Russian nuclear anti-satellite weapons would require a firm US response, not hysteria

By Clementine G. Starling-Daniels, Mark J. Massa

If fielded, such weapons would directly challenge norms of responsible behavior in space and present a serious risk to all nations’ satellites.

Experts react: What to know about Russia’s apparent plans for a space-based nuclear weapon

By Atlantic Council experts

Reports that Russia is developing a space-based nuclear anti-satellite weapon have raised national security concerns in Washington.

Reading between the lines of the new US National Defense Industrial Strategy

By Kathryn Levantovscaia

The new strategy’s strength as a rallying cry for a robust industrial base is hampered by an absence of specifics on implementation.

International law doesn’t adequately protect undersea cables. That must change.

By Amy Paik and Jennifer Counter

What’s missing: A global effort to protect undersea cables in international waters.

Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption tracker

Implementing reforms to increase the speed of defense innovation and capability development has been an increasing priority for policymakers in Congress and the Department of Defense (DoD) in the past year.  Following the publication of the Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption’s interim report and final report, Congress and the DoD took actions to ensure defense […]

Overstretched and undersupplied: Can the US afford its global security blanket?

By Kathryn Levantovscaia

The hollowing out of the broader US manufacturing base has made defense companies dependent on supply chains originating in, of all places, China.

Expanding NATO’s competitive mindset: Deterring and defending across physical and virtual domains

By Delharty Manson

In October 2023, the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Forward Defense program, in partnership with NATO ACT, convened current and former practitioners for a private workshop on expanding NATO’s approach to multi-domain operations (MDO), identifying key challenges and opportunities to operationalizing MDO across the Alliance. This memo summarizes the workshop’s key takeaways and conclusions.