Forward Defense quick reads

How the US and its allies should respond to evolving space threats

By Forward Defense experts

Adversaries are changing the ways they disrupt or destroy US and allied space operations. Our experts give their sense of the latest challenges to security.

Experts react: Can new French and German weapons turn the tide in Ukraine?

By Atlantic Council experts

What do these additions mean for the battlefield? What do they signal about the positioning of France, Germany, and Europe as a whole in this protracted conflict?

Scoping the gray zone: Defining terms and policy priorities for engaging competitors below the threshold of conflict

By Atlantic Council’s Gray Zone Task Force

This Strategic Insights Memo, produced by Forward Defense’s Gray Zone Task Force, considers the scope of modern gray zone activity and the implications for US and allies strategy.

The National Defense Strategy shows the Pentagon’s increased focus on the gray zone. Here’s what that means.

By Gray Zone Task Force experts

The DOD is officially recognizing that competitors’ coercive and malign activities in the gray zone present a challenge to US security. What does this mean for US strategy in the years ahead?

Russia Crisis Military Assessment: Can Ukraine press its offensive this winter?

By Atlantic Council military fellows

Ukraine must carefully balance the allure of capitalizing on momentum against a weakened opponent with the challenge of sustaining hard-won gains through the winter.

Our military insiders’ views of the new National Defense Strategy

By Atlantic Council military fellows

The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s military fellows weighed in on the NDS, addressing potential gaps between budgets and strategy, and more.

Can the US keep pace with increasing global threats? Our experts decode the National Defense Strategy.

By Atlantic Council experts

We asked our experts at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security to translate all the security speak from the National Defense Strategy to reveal what it all means for the United States’ role in the world.

What’s the future of US nuclear strategy? Top officials dissect the Biden administration’s plans.

Current and former Department of Defense, State, and Energy officials outline the top takeaways from the new NPR at the Atlantic Council.

Inside the US Nuclear Posture Review’s approach to a new era of three-power nuclear competition

By Katherine Golden

The Atlantic Council hosted current and former Department of Defense, State, and Energy officials to outline the top takeaways from the strategy.

Congressional oversight of intelligence for great-power competition

By Aidan Poling

Missed our October 4 event on intelligence committee and community reform? Then read the recap here.

How the US can prepare to deter China and defend Taiwan in the 2020s

By Atlantic Council

Michèle Flournoy discussed how the United States can maintain a credible deterrent against China in the next decade and beyond as part of the Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense Forum.

Taiwan shows how winning the semiconductor race takes more than money

By Chun-Chao Lin

To match East Asian leaders in chip manufacturing, the US will have to improve its education system and learn from processes down to the factory floor.

How the US can focus its fight against foreign influence operations

By Jennifer A. Counter

Understanding exactly what US adversaries plan to do in the information space is vital to building domestic defenses.

Russia’s military isn’t ready for an escalation. Ukraine and its partners can exploit that.

By Irina Plaks

Russia’s current policies will inevitably lead to tensions within the country and problems with force quality.

Is cutting-edge military tech really cheaper than manpower?

By Daniel Vardiman

Automation won’t necessarily lower the military budget—but it will lead to increased readiness and a more effective force.

Outer space has reached a “tipping point” as activity outpaces space traffic management

By Aidan Poling

A panel of space experts discuss how the US government can encourage the long-term sustainable use of space by establishing a framework for space traffic management.

A web of partnerships: Ukraine, operational collaboration, and effective national defense in cyberspace

By Sean Atkins

Partnerships strengthen a nation’s cyber defense, as Ukraine’s effective web of cyber partnership demonstrates.

The Ukraine war and its impact on Russian development of autonomous weapons

By Samuel Bendett

Moscow’s plans to employ autonomous systems on the battlefield may be set back by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Air denial: The dangerous illusion of decisive air superiority

By Maximillian K. Bremer and Kelly A. Grieco

The air war in Ukraine challenges traditional paradigms of air superiority. US and allied air forces must instead contemplate air denial strategies.

Early lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war as a space conflict

By David T. Burbach

The Russia-Ukraine war may be remembered as the first two-sided space war, offering four preliminary lessons for future conflicts.