Center for Strategic and International Studies

  • Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the acquisition proposals he will release on Wednesday are merely a discussion draft and he's actively seeking more input. Initial language would boost program managers' roles in the system and shave reporting requirements.

    March 24, 2015
  • Sequestration is still the law of the land, and the spending cap that the government has to work under is about $498 billion for the defense budget. But more and more members of Congress say that's not enough for the Pentagon. Dov Zakheim is senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Bob Hale is a fellow at Booz Allen Hamilton. Both have served as Undersecretary of Defense Comptroller. On In Depth with Francis Rose, they talked about the possibilities for an agreement on the defense budget.

    February 18, 2015
  • Two former DoD comptrollers say a two-year defense budget deal could achieve President Barack Obama's goal of eliminating sequestration.

    February 17, 2015
  • With each passing week, the stakes in the cybersecurity game get higher. Now Sony is reeling from a cyber attack U.S. officials believe originated in North Korea. This incident got Tom Temin wondering if the average federal agency has sufficient defenses against an attack like this. Or if it has enough resilience to recover. Jim Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joined the Federal Drive with an update on the government's cybersecurity status.

    December 23, 2014
  • Defense Department doctrine makes clear that cyberspace is a military domain, just like air, land, space and sea. But the Navy's top cyber officer said the procurement system hasn't yet caught onto that notion.

    December 03, 2014
  • The military has made some progress in reversing the training and maintenance shortfalls it underwent when sequestration first took hold in 2013. But Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said those gains will quickly reverse themselves if Congress lets the budget caps return next year.

    November 13, 2014
  • Analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows R&D took the biggest hit, dropping by 21 percent in a single year. But payments to large firms and spending on large contracts got some degree of protection.

    October 17, 2014
  • The Defense Department could look a lot different if sequestration continues past fiscal 2015. DoD would invest $66 billion less in procurement and research and cut 17 joint strike fighters. The Air Force would drop its entire fleet of KC-10 tankers. The Navy would sideline six destroyers. In Depth with Francis Rose asked Dov Zakheim, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former Defense Department Comptroller, if the new Pentagon report is a serious strategy document or a scare tactic.

    April 17, 2014
  • The Pentagon will release a new strategy Thursday to address the growing spectrum needs. It will emphasize agile sharing of radio spectrum between government and industry.

    February 20, 2014
  • Former top staffers say current members of Congress no longer have a stake in any particular appropriation or authorization bill making its way through the legislative gauntlet — one reason why DoD and the rest of government continue to stumble from one continuing resolution to the next.

    November 07, 2013
  • The Center for Strategic and International Studies examines DoD's operational energy for the upcoming decade as military branches restructure and draw down in the Middle East.

    September 11, 2013
  • In an open letter to congressional leaders and to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a broad array of military scholars argue the cost of running the Pentagon bureaucracy soon will crowd out the spending necessary to fight and win wars.

    June 04, 2013
  • Defense budget watchers say despite abundant evidence to the contrary, the Pentagon appears to believe it will eventually get most of its funding wishes over the coming few years. "Whether [sequestration] stays in place for nine more years is an open question, but it's certainly going to be in place for the foreseeable future," said Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

    March 25, 2013
  • NORAD fills us in on how it's tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. David Berteau of the Center for Strategic and International studies reviews the State Department's rough week. Ed Hardy of Brighthand.com talks about a good move by the maker of BlackBerry. Dr. Jacques Gansler of the University of Maryland discusses the acquisition challenges the government will be facing in the coming years.

    December 21, 2012