The Art of Unraveling the Deal
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal—formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—with another blow to the agreement.
Topic: Reform
Read the most recent CSIS research on defense reform efforts.
Beyond the Ballot: How the Kremlin Works to Undermine the U.S. Justice System
The U.S. justice system is under attack as part of a long-term Russian effort to undermine the appeal of democracy and weaken the West. This effort portrays justice systems as corrupt, inept, and hypocritical.
Will Business Expertise Reform The Pentagon? Fuggedaboutit!
Will DOD implement the long-awaited series of management reforms that last year’s National Defense Strategy announced? Probably not.
The Pentagon Shouldn’t Be a Landlord
Recent reports of unsafe conditions and unresponsive repair services require immediate action by the Defense Department to fix the problems—but not kill the program.
Pursuing Effective and Conflict-Aware Stabilization: Framing and Constructing a Roadmap
The U.S. government’s Stabilization Assistance Review (SAR) framework provides an opportunity to clarify and streamline stabilization assistance, though implementation will require sustained leadership, an interagency roadmap, new processes, bureaucratic incentives, and a review of authorities and resources.
No Good, Very Bad Ideas in National Security
Bad ideas. How much trouble do they cause in national security? How do they disrupt or hinder the protection and advancement of American interests? Listen to the War on the Rocks podcast featuring authors from the Defense360 “Bad Ideas in National Security” series.
Bad Idea: Scrapping the Federal Acquisition Regulation
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) can and should be improved. But tossing out the FAR completely and starting over will slow, not accelerate, acquisition in the near term. Worse, it will ultimately undermine the usefulness of the alternative pathways that we are currently developing.
Bad Idea: Counting on the Pentagon Audit to Find Waste and Inefficiency
The DoD audit might be worthwhile if it succeeds in finding large amounts of waste and inefficiency. But it won’t and frankly can’t. The audit produced a number of useful findings related to internal controls for information technology and financial reporting. But are these alone sufficient to justify the entire time, effort, and money the audit consumed? Probably not.
Defense Outlook 2018: Report
As the Trump administration has moved into its second year in office, it has laid out its vision for national security. This volume presents CSIS experts’ assessment of the Trump administration’s strategy documents and FY 2019 budgets for defense.
Don’t Let the Budget Deal Kill Defense Reform
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, signed into law on February 9, is in many ways a victory for defense hawks in Congress and the administration. It increases defense funding by $165 billion over the next two years—the most that anyone could have reasonably expected. But defense hawks shouldn’t start popping the champagne corks just yet. While this deal may ease the budget pressures on the Department of Defense (DoD) for now, it comes with many risks—namely that policymakers will lose interest in much needed defense reforms and squander much of the additional funding.