Publications

The shift toward great power competition has reoriented national defense strategy around the prospect of large-scale conflict with peer adversaries. This transition has exposed a critical weakness in the American defense industrial base: it lacks the capacity to rapidly surge production at the scale and speed required for high-intensity war. This shortfall undermines the credibility of U.S. deterrence and risks leaving the Joint Force under-resourced in future large-scale conflicts. To mitigate this risk, the United States must develop industrial mobilization frameworks that enable scalable production in both peacetime and wartime.

For years, the United States has tried to put China front and center, from the rebalance to more recent calls for prioritization. Yet it has never truly reconciled the limits of a one-major-war force with the reality of a multi-theater, multi-rival world—let alone a world in which U.S. rivals across different regions have growing incentives to support one another. 

Military competition in and for space is rising. Both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation have put significant effort into developing, demonstrating, and fielding counterspace capabilities that could allow the Chinese and Russian militaries to threaten U.S. space systems. Is the United States prepared to compete with and deter two space rivals simultaneously?

Over the past decade, Australia’s strategic situation has gotten worse due to Beijing’s expanding ambitions and the growth of Chinese military power to back them up.

In Indo-Pacific Stronghold: Northern Australia’s Role in the Australia-U.S. Alliance, CSBA’s President and CEO, Thomas G. Mahnken, argues that Australia is located in a geographic sweet spot. It is far enough from China to avoid having to face the volume of missile fires that confront Taiwan and Japan while being close enough to the scene of potential conflicts, such as Taiwan and the South China Sea, to be operationally relevant.

On June 25, 2025, CSBA President and CEO, Dr. Thomas Mahnken, testified before the Select Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives to discuss the ongoing competition between the United States and the People's Republic of China in the field of artificial intelligence. 

A protracted war between the United States and China would create immense demands for munitions, requiring production to be grown far beyond surge capacity. These demands have led to calls for the United States to mobilize its defense industry and rapidly expand munitions production, with policymakers and commentators hearkening back to the nation’s role as the “Arsenal of Democracy” in World War II. What would industrial mobilization look like in the 21st century, and how can the Department of Defense prepare for expanded production requirements?