Space: May 30, 2022

The Need for Speed: Leveraging Commercial Space Markets to Accelerate U.S. National Interests in Space

The United States’ space superiority is being challenged by the pacing threats of China and Russia. Both countries understand the United States’ economic dependence on space and the degree to which American military advantages rely on space-based assets. They have, in turn, developed capabilities and strategies to deny use of these advantages in the event of conflict. At the same time, a revolution is underway in the commercial space industry that has led to an explosion of new companies, capabilities, and business models that are democratizing access to space and rapidly increasing the opportunities available to the U.S., our allies, and partners.

Strategic Materials: May 30, 2022

Toward an Industrial Security Strategy to Safeguard Access to Critical Minerals

Access to minerals is critical to U.S. economic and national security. However, in recent years, China and Russia have gained strategic advantages in critical mineral global supply chains, introducing unacceptable risks to the U.S. industrial base. In response, the United States must develop and execute a comprehensive, long-term industrial security strategy with its allies and partners to expand reliable and assured access to critical minerals.

Strategic Materials: May 30, 2023

Securing the Strategic Materials Supply Chain

In the case of military aggression by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against Taiwan, economic shockwaves would ripple across the Pacific. How can the U.S. prepare America’s defense industrial base for this contingency? The answer begins with ensuring access to strategic materials – the essential elements that form the foundation of the modern economy. Since the end of the Cold War, the PRC has cornered the market on a wide range of minerals and downstream processing that converts ore into modern life’s building block materials. More troubling, the PRC has also demonstrated a willingness to flex its power by temporarily cutting off exports of strategic materials to America’s partners and allies, as it did with rare earth elements in 2010 and threatened to do in 2017.

Transportation (formerly Global Agility): May 30, 2023

Sustaining Global Power Through U.S. Transportation Infrastructure: Setting the Conditions for Optimal Multimodal Logistics

The United States’ dependence on uncoordinated public and private investment across the transportation and logistics ecosystem (trucking, railroad, air freight, port and harbor, inland waterway, deep-sea shipping, and warehousing industry) puts the nation’s ability to mobilize for major military action at risk. Despite various laws and government programs designed to protect the U.S. industry, recent wide-ranging supply chain chaos exposed systemic vulnerabilities which impinge on industrial, consumer, and national security interests. As economic activity normalizes in the wake of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, there is no expectation that the various corporate and government entities will construct a robust, long-lasting, system-wide framework to repair these exposures.

Transportation (formerly Global Agility): May 30, 2022

Sustaining the U.S. Advantage in Global Transportation and Logistics

The U.S. transportation and logistics (T&L) ecosystem – composed of multiple sectors through a complex system of freight forwarding, storage, and distribution – is an essential pillar of the economy and contributes to U.S. economic prosperity and thus U.S. national security. This paper provides a brief overview of U.S. Deep Sea Shipping, Inland Waterways, Ports and Harbors, Railways, Trucking, Air Freight, and Warehousing sectors of the T&L ecosystem. It also considers how digital infrastructure bridges and connects each of these elements. By analyzing T&L’s role in supporting the U.S. and global economy, national security, and its contribution to mobilization efforts, the paper identifies significant issues and concerns within the T&L ecosystem. It concludes with policy recommendations to strengthen the U.S. position.

Weapons: May 30, 2023

The Need for Speed: The Case for Continued Development of Hypersonic and Directed Energy Weapons

As the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and to a lesser extent Russia, rapidly develop and field hypersonic and directed energy weapons, the United States (US) faces a strategic military capabilities gap. The PRC’s arsenal of hypersonic weapons extends its anti-access area denial capabilities throughout the South China Sea, increasing the required standoff distances for US military forces to operate in a conflict safely. To prevent the PRC from reshaping the liberal world order, the US should continue to develop offensive and defensive hypersonic and directed energy weapons to complement its current arsenal while addressing defense industrial base issues, including infrastructure, supply chain, and human capital, and fostering cooperation with allies and partners.