CSIS | Mass Historia

On May 12, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) released a summary of its long-anticipated proposals for the reform of organizations and processes in the defense acquisition system. Taken together, these proposals would dramatically extend the devolution of acquisition to the services that was initiated in the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Categories: Defense Policy

Word of the Day: Nordic + Easy = NORD-EASY

Thu, 05/12/2016 - 9:00pm

“If only everyone could be like the Scandinavians, this would all be easy…” President Obama

Categories: Defense Policy

Restructuring National Security Organizations and Decisionmaking

Thu, 05/12/2016 - 9:00pm

On May 12, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) released its long-anticipated proposals for reform of organizations and processes in the national security enterprise. The proposals come on top of earlier proposals by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. The proposals are not entirely consistent.

Categories: Defense Policy

U.S. Strategy and the War in Iraq and Syria

Thu, 05/12/2016 - 9:00pm

Iraq has just seen one of its most horrifying days of terrorism in what is now some thirteen years of war. ISIS has struck at Iraq’s civilian population with the clear goal of dividing the country between Sunni and Shi’ite—although one of its three bombs did kill Sunnis as well.

Categories: Defense Policy

Fully Lifting the U.S. Lethal Arms Ban Will Add Momentum to U.S.-Vietnam Relations

Wed, 05/11/2016 - 9:00pm

Ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to Vietnam in late May, officials and analysts in both Washington and Hanoi have been talking about whether the United States should fully lift the ban on the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam that was imposed when the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

Categories: Defense Policy

PacNet #43 - U.S.-India Defense Partnership 2.0: Making Good (incrementally) on Strategic Congruence

Wed, 05/11/2016 - 9:00pm

Against many odds, Prime Minister Narendra Modi – with capable assists from President Obama – has repaired the US-India strategic equation that had begun to fray during the latter years of his predecessor’s second term in office.

Categories: Defense Policy

Why the U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit Matters to the Next U.S. President

Wed, 05/11/2016 - 9:00pm

Clarifying his views on U.S.

Categories: Defense Policy

The Middle East's Centenarian

Wed, 05/11/2016 - 9:00pm

One hundred years into the Sykes-Picot Agreement, a growing chorus of voices is asserting its imminent demise. Skeptics say that few of the Arab states’ borders ever made any sense, and the uprisings sweeping through Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere represent the long-overdue death rattle of the post-colonial order in the Middle East.

Categories: Defense Policy

PacNet #42 - Regional strategic challenges and East Asia Summit

Tue, 05/10/2016 - 9:00pm

Growing contestation among big powers, mostly between the United States and China, has become a key strategic issue underlining the security environment and architecture in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific. Regional security forums, and the East Asia Summit (EAS) in particular, can help mitigate the negative implications of intensified strategic competition.

Categories: Defense Policy

PacNet #41 - Philippines’ next president: implications for ASEAN

Mon, 05/09/2016 - 9:00pm

Filipinos went to the polls on May 9, 2016 to elect a new president. All indications point to the victory of the maverick, front-runner candidate Rodrigo Duterte, a long-time mayor of Davao city in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao.

Categories: Defense Policy

A Rebalanced Transatlantic Policy Toward the Asia-Pacific Region

Mon, 05/09/2016 - 9:00pm

The United States and the European Union share similar interests and objectives in the Asia Pacific. Trade and investment are key components of U.S. and EU policy, and both have launched ambitious negotiations with regional partners to liberalize trade with East Asia’s burgeoning economies.

Categories: Defense Policy

Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) and the Uncertain Cost of U.S. Wars

Mon, 05/09/2016 - 9:00pm

The United States has been involved in some form of warfare or conflict for most of the period since 1941, and has been continuously at war since September 11, 2001—nearly a decade and a half. The United States has never, however, come to grips with the reality of its involvement in such conflicts.

Categories: Defense Policy

Saudi Change is Slow

Sun, 05/08/2016 - 9:00pm

While Saudi Arabia is not always the easiest place to understand, Western misunderstandings of last weekend’s cabinet reshuffle are especially notable.

Categories: Defense Policy

PacNet #40 - Endorse the 1992 Consensus, Ms. Tsai

Wed, 05/04/2016 - 9:00pm

Following Ma Ying-jeou’s election as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2008, Taiwan endorsed the “1992 Consensus.” Under this arrangement, both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland accept the principle of “one China,” but each side holds its own interpretation of what that means.

Categories: Defense Policy

Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine

Wed, 05/04/2016 - 9:00pm

What are Russia’s plans for its nuclear weapons? As tensions between Russia and the West have grown over the last two years, Kremlin officials have appeared to emphasize Russia’s nuclear capacity and perhaps even threaten its use. This has led some Western analysts to argue that Russia now has a low threshold for nuclear war: a terrifying proposition.

Categories: Defense Policy