Michael Green

Mark F. Cancian

Kathleen Hicks

In 2015, Congress tasked the Department of Defense to commission an independent assessment of U.S. military strategy and force posture in the Asia-Pacific, as well as that of U.S. allies and partners, over the next decade. This CSIS study fulfills that congressional requirement.

Capabilities, Presence, and Partnerships

Asia-Pacific Rebalance 2025

This study examines potential surprises in a great power conflict, particularly in the initial stages when the interaction of adversaries’ technologies, prewar plans, and military doctrines first becomes manifest.

Coping with Surprise in Great Power Conflicts

CSIS’s Mark Cancian analyzes the U.S. military forces in FY 2021, their composition, new initiatives, long-term trends, and challenges, as the United States’ military forces likely entered their last year of growth.

The Last Year of Growth?

U.S. Military Forces in FY 2021

After 18 years post-9/11, the United States is still in Afghanistan having achieved at best a stalemate. This CSIS report concludes that the mission in Afghanistan expanded from a limited focus on counterterrorism to a broad nation-building effort without discussions about the implications for the duration and intensity of the military campaign.

Military Advice, Strategic Goals, and the “Forever War” in Afghanistan

Tell Me How This Ends

Annually, CSIS senior adviser Mark Cancian publishes a series of papers on U.S. military forces—their composition, new initiatives, long-term trends, and challenges. The overall theme of this year’s report is the struggle to align forces and strategy because of budget tradeoffs that even defense buildups must make, unrelenting operational demands that stress forces and prevent force structure reductions, and legacy programs whose smooth operations and strong constituencies inhibit rapid change. This report takes a deeper look at the strategic and budget context, the military services, special operations forces, DOD civilians and contractors, and non-DOD national security organizations in the FY 2020 budget.

Mark F. Cancian

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