Environment: March 30, 2025

Environment

Environmental degradation and sustainability of basic resources presents a complex security challenge for the United States and the world. To address this challenge, the United Nations adopted an ambitious and aggressive set of Sustainable Development Goals designed to improve individual, community, and national resilience; strengthen economic and governance capacity; and address the most pressing environmental threats to health, livelihoods, and security. The United States must support this endeavor by engaging and enabling the Environment Industry, the pivotal player in developing technology, service, and process solutions to promote sustainable and efficient use of natural resources.

Environment: May 30, 2022

Environment and Climate Industry Study

The overarching purpose of the Environment & Climate Industry Study is to assess U.S. and international competitiveness in the environmental and climate sector(s) of industry within the context of national security, broadly defined. The environmental industry includes firms providing a wide array of goods and services, all with an environmental aim — from waste management and environmental protection to water utilities and regulatory compliance. The related climate change industry includes those activities aimed at minimizing the negative impacts of human activity on the climate, like renewable energy, green buildings, and adaptation and mitigation efforts designed to help society cope with climate-related events without sacrificing quality of life. Firms operating in this “industry of industries” face numerous challenges, not the least of which is ideological. Widely identified as a national security threat, climate change is altering the way many on the planet live and contributing to geopolitical flashpoints that affect human, national, and global security. The U.S. government must recognize (a) the dependency of its economic strength on global environmental security, and (b) its leadership role in shaping environmental, climate, and economic policies, both domestically and internationally. By leveraging the strength of U.S. environmental firms that are already shaping market and consumer behavior, government can accelerate mitigation and adaptation efforts, embrace innovation that increases efficiency, sustainability, and resilience, and produce stronger domestic and global economies, with attendant benefits to human, environmental, national, and global security.

Environment: May 30, 2023

Environment and Climate Industry Study 2023

The Environment and Climate Industry Study has sought to assess U.S. and international competitiveness in the environment/climate sector(s) of business, within the context of national security, broadly defined. The Environment/Climate industry is – as its label suggests, but also as a function of the numerous constituent industries that comprise it – essentially an industry of industries. Considering its long-standing presence and the many corporate mergers and acquisitions that have basically run their course, it is a mature industry. And, by virtue of its global reach; its contributions to national interests, aims, and priorities; and its measurable impact on the economy, it is truly a strategic industry. Although U.S. firms are at the forefront of the environmental sector, the United States is, at best, a mid-tier player compared to other countries in terms of overall national environmental performance. As such, this study concludes that for the United States to prevail strategically and keep healthy competition from devolving into unhealthy conflict, public- and private-sector decisionmakers alike must undertake a number of potentially transformative policy reforms.

Finance (Formerly Financial Services) May 31, 2024

U.S. Finance Industry & National Security: A Source of Both Strength and Vulnerability

This paper examines the intersection of the U.S. financial industry and national security in the context of Great Power Competition, especially with the rise of China (PRC). It highlights three key areas: capital markets, financial innovation, and financial statecraft. The PRC's economic strategies challenge U.S. dominance, while domestic issues like political polarization and economic inequality threaten internal stability. The U.S. capital markets, crucial for economic strength and national security, face challenges due to shifts towards private capital and changes in market dynamics. The paper calls for a more strategic approach by the Department of Defense (DoD) in using financial tools to advance national security, particularly through economic statecraft. It also advocates for regulatory reforms to address vulnerabilities in capital markets, like cybersecurity risks, and urges stronger public-private sector collaboration. To maintain global leadership, the U.S. must adapt its economic strategies to safeguard national interests and navigate evolving geopolitical dynamics. The paper provides a roadmap for integrating economic power with national security to ensure U.S. resilience amid global competition.

Finance (formerly Financial Services): March 30, 2025

Financial Services

The Financial Services Industry (FSI) is designated as a “critical infrastructure” of the United States, directly affecting national interests and impacting national security. Now is the time to adjust course across the regulatory oversight system, react to a major change in the FSI international market with Brexit, and enhance our resiliency against future threats to FSI cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The U.S. FSI makes a strong, sustainable contribution to national security and economic prosperity. Nonetheless, the government can do more to mitigate the unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank, including the overly complex domestic regulatory structure; potential Brexit impacts; and emerging cybersecurity challenges.

Finance (formerly Financial Services): May 30, 2023

Limitations of the U.S. Finance Industry in an Increasingly Multipolar World

The United States’ (U.S.) finance industry is a mosaic of highly regulated entities that generate trillions in revenue. Those revenues ripple across the U.S. and the global economies and become the foundation for capital investments into infrastructure, education, social welfare, and national defense. The United States occupies a unique position in the world order due, in large measure, to its robust financial markets and the singular attributes of the U.S. dollar. U.S. financial strength enables the pursuit of domestic and global objectives by leveraging the four primary instruments of power – diplomatic, informational, military, and economic.

Financial Services: May 30, 2022

Optimizing the Financing of Innovation to Accelerate National Security Capabilities

The U.S. finance industry is robust and well-resourced, offering a range of commercial and consumer banking, lending, and investment services to individuals and institutions across the country and the globe. Innovation within the finance industry is usually financed by risk capital firms seeking innovation with the potential for commercial success and high returns on investment. Financing innovation is considered a high-risk endeavor due to high startup failure rates, unproven technology, and the challenges of scaling to market production. Finding and applying innovation funding for potential defense market products is even more difficult, given the single buyer in the form of the DoD, the consolidated nature of the private defense industry, and the draw of higher, faster returns in the commercial sector. These factors limit private investment in national security-oriented start-ups. They also resulted in a divergence between the high technology capabilities in the commercial marketplace and the outmoded technology often found within the DoD and the broader U.S. Government (USG). To correct this imbalance, the DoD must take the following actions: increase and expand the investment tools within the innovation ecosystem, scale innovation ecosystem products to operations, and support America’s continued innovation advantage to be more relevant, complementary, and agile.

Ground Combat Systems (Formerly Land Combat Systems and Land Domain) May 31, 2024

Ground Combat Systems

The U.S. ground combat vehicle industry faces a critical decision between continuing the production of legacy systems and developing new autonomous, attritable vehicles. With budget constraints and rising international insecurity, the Department of Defense's Replicator initiative aims to accelerate the adoption of large numbers of autonomous systems. The U.S. Army, along with Congress and the defense industry, is working to address technological challenges and develop systems for this initiative. The study recommends the U.S. Army focus on autonomous systems, engage Congress on Replicator's implications, and allocate additional funding for Robotic Combat Vehicles (RCVs) to foster technological diversity. It suggests the Next Generational Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team take more risks in RCV development to get them into the hands of warfighters sooner. Further, the study advocates for rapid prototyping efforts and continued support for modular open systems approaches. Key technologies like machine learning and AI are vital for the success of RCVs, requiring additional R&D to ensure they can effectively integrate into military formations and enhance all six Army warfighting functions.

Healthcare: March 30, 2025

Healthcare

Healthcare spending in the United States occupies an increasingly large portion of the federal budget and will continue to grow at an alarming rate if measures are not taken to reform the sector. Pharmaceuticals, hospitals, and insurance providers combine with heavy federal and state regulations to create a complex, fragmented delivery system that ultimately confuses and masks true costs from the general population. Incentivized by the current payment system, the sector focuses on disease care rather than preventive care. There continues to be a lack of national consensus as reflected by the difficulty Congress faces in finding a solution to the healthcare debate, which can delay, dilute, and even dismiss any momentum for meaningful change. This stagnation will drive additional mandatory federal spending at the expense of discretionary programs critical to national prosperity and security, including investments in diplomacy and defense necessary for an effective foreign policy. Ultimately, the complexity of healthcare in the United States creates exorbitant inefficiencies which inflate costs, reduce access, and place value on quantity over quality. Consequently, through extensive field investigations and academic research, this report examines the current status of healthcare in America along with future constraints and opportunities, then provides realistic and achievable recommendations to target improved population health and healthcare value.

Land Combat Systems (formerly Land Domain): May 30, 2023

Land Domain Platforms

Opportunities exists to boost innovation in the Land Domain Platforms (LDP) industry, which consists of markets for combat tracked maneuver/fires vehicles, wheeled sustainment vehicles, and medium/heavy vehicles. The end of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq brought about a downturn in the industry as occurred during the post-Cold War era. However, due to a combination of factors that include rapid technological change, the U.S. strategic competition with China, and the Russo-Ukrainian War, the domestic and international context are in alignment to enact policies that will have long-term, positive effects on the LDP industry. Congress and DoD must work together to set conditions that foster innovation across the LDP industry to improve the production of systems necessary to dominate land domain threats out to 2040 and beyond.