Projects: Center for a New American Security

Flashpoints Overview

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:40:12 +0000

CNAS Flashpoints is a comprehensive research tool on the South and East China Seas. Disputes, competition, and proposals for cooperation in East Asia’s crucial maritime domain have grown in frequency, especially during the past decade. As Asia has risen, so has the importance of these seas, which are vital for a globalized economy.

U.S. National Security and Defense Policy

soreilly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:54:00 +0000

U.S. National Security and Defense Policy

Twenty First Century Strategic Environment

soreilly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:46:55 +0000

CNAS studies the ever changing global security environment and its implications for the United States. Key topics of interest include the rapidly evolving challenges of cyber security and cyber warfare; the future of strategic competition in the global commons; national security implications of changes to the world economy; the nexus between transnational crime and national security; and “natural security,” the geo-strategic and policy implications of rising global consumption of resources including energy, minerals, water, and climate change.

Transnational Crime

soreilly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:29:16 +0000

The close relationship between crime and terrorist activities is well-documented. Criminal ventures have long financed organized violence against nation states. As globalization facilitates the increased flow of people, capital, and information, we see a concomitant increase in these activities across the world.

This project examines the nexus of terrorism, irregular warfare and crime, and has included work on the implications of drug cartels, crime and gangs in Mexico and South America for U.S. national security, counter-threat finance, and other types of irregular warfare. The project is led by COL Robert Killebrew, USA (Ret.).

CNAS research on transnational crime includes the 2010 report Crime Wars: Gangs, Cartels and U.S. National Security. In the report, authors COL Robert Killebrew, USA (Ret.) and Jennifer Bernal survey organized crime throughout the Western Hemisphere, analyze the challenges it poses for the region and recommend the United States replace the "war on drugs" paradigm with comprehensive domestic and foreign policies to confront the interrelated challenges of drug trafficking and violence ranging from the Andean Ridge to American streets.

In 2011, CNAS released the policy brief Security Through Partnership: Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere, written by Killebrew and Matthew Irvine. According to the authors, increased regional cooperation – which has been a topic of President Obama’s Latin America tour – is needed to combat the growing violence and instability in the Western Hemisphere.

CNAS continues to research the growing crime-terror-insurgency nexus and the threat posed by transnational crime in the Western Hemisphere.

Libya

soreilly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:10:49 +0000

The Center for a New American Security explores issues relating to the U.S. and allied intervention in Libya as well as post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction. This project is a part of our broader research project on the Middle East.

Middle East

soreilly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:07:06 +0000

The Center for a New American Security is embarking on a project examining U.S. interests and options in the Arabic-speaking world amidst the upheavals of 2011. The aim of this project is to provide policy makers with strategic options toward a region in flux. CNAS researchers combine field work in the region with working groups and analysis of secondary sources to provide viable policy options grounded in the ever-changing realities on the ground.

Pakistan

soreilly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:50:10 +0000

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) works on issues related to U.S. policy toward Pakistan as part of our broader research agenda on South and Central Asia.

South and Central Asia

soreilly — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:35:23 +0000

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) has worked on issues related to U.S. policy toward Central and South Asia since 2007. In 2010, CNAS completed a year-long project called Beyond Afghanistan project that examined U.S. interests in the region after the war in Afghanistan. CNAS also recently completed a report on the relationship between the United States and India. The aim of CNAS researchers is to combine our years spent working in the region with methodologically rigorous research to arrive at realistic options for U.S. policy makers.

Military Personnel

sconneighton — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:40:44 +0000

The U.S. strategic environment has changed radically since the end of World War II, yet American military personnel policies have largely gone unchanged for several decades. CNAS’ military personnel project will provide a long overdue reexamination of these policies. Military personnel policies profoundly affect service members’ decisions about joining and leaving the military, as well as the career paths that they choose to follow.

WMD and Nuclear Proliferation

soreilly — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:11:00 +0000

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including the dangers of nuclear and biological weapons proliferation, pose perhaps the gravest national security threat to the United States. CNAS continues to examine the threat of WMD posed by state actors – including Iran and North Korea – as well as non-state actors. CNAS also examines U.S. nonproliferation and arms control efforts, as well as other preventative and response plans for potential WMD attacks.