Publications

For much of the last two years the international community has worked toward developing an international agreement to lay out the basic framework of a new climate change regime. The slow progress to date does not result from a lack of effort or opportunity. The European Union has set forth ambitious goals and continues to urge all developed countries to follow suit.

As the U.S. presence in Afghanistan increases, so too will its demand for nonmilitary supplies. To accommodate this growth and address ongoing concerns with Pakistani supply lines, U.S.

Cross-Strait relations have improved dramatically since President Ma took office in May 2008. The key to this development was Ma’s “no independence, no unification and no use of force” declaration that essentially relieved the PRC of its worst nightmare, i.e., Taiwan’s formal declaration of independence.

The latest discoveries regarding Iran’s nuclear program are simply the next development in a process that has been going on since the Iran-Iraq War, and Khomeini’s decision to resume nuclear research once Iran came under chemical weapons attack from Iraq.

The international community is more than halfway through the final negotiating period to reach a climate change deal in Copenhagen.  Despite the optimistic turn of events in the weeks leading up to the negotiations which brought new pledges from several countries including the United States, China, India, Brazil, and others, the potential for a political agreement envisioned by the s

This is the current list of Presidential appointments in the Department of Defense which require Senate confirmation. In the event that no one has been nominated, the individual "performing the duties of" or Acting is listed.

As the U.S. presence in Afghanistan increases, so too will its demand for nonmilitary supplies. To accommodate this growth and address ongoing concerns with Pakistani supply lines, U.S.

The latest discoveries regarding Iran’s nuclear program are simply the next development in a process that has been going on since the Iran-Iraq War, and Khomeini’s decision to resume nuclear research once Iran came under chemical weapons attack from Iraq.

This is the current list of Presidential appointments in the Department of Defense which require Senate confirmation. In the event that no one has been nominated, the individual "performing the duties of" or Acting is listed.

Executive Summary

Iraq is changing rapidly, although the outcomes of many of these changes remain unclear. The country faces major challenges in many areas—ranging from quelling the ongoing violence to achieving political accommodation and economic stability. Each of these challenges is critical to its future security and stability:

Recognizing the strategic potential for expanding cooperation on regional and global challenges and the shared values among the United States, Japan and India, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), and the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) initiated the U.S.-Japan-India Strategic Dialogue in June 2006.

President Obama has announced a new strategy for Afghanistan whose success is dependent upon beginning the transfer of responsibility for Afghan security to the Afghani national security forces (ANSF) in mid-2011.  The Burke Chair is issuing a new report that suggests this is a far more difficult challenge than many realize.

Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Birth of a Regional Nuclear Arms Race? is an expert, insider’s look at Iran’s current and potential ability to wage both conventional and asymmetrical warfare—and the options available for dealing with a nuclear Iran.

Globalization and the American Worker is a path-breaking work on economic policy in a global age. It debunks the myths that clutter the political debate over globalization, focusing instead on the hard challenges the United States faces in building a stronger economic future.

"There are few more knowledgeable observers of US-India relations than Teresita Schaffer, a former senior US diplomat, who has served in virtually every south Asian capital and is now a doyenne of Washington’s still surprisingly small coterie of India watchers. . . .

Russia has been on a wild roller-coaster ride for the past three decades with no end in sight. Just in the past year as the global financial crisis deepened, the conventional perception of Russia has changed from “safe haven” from the economic tsunami to one of the hardest hit larger markets in the world.

U.S. policy toward Africa underwent a dramatic expansion under the tenure of President George W. Bush, marked by unprecedented resource flows, a major diplomatic effort in Sudan, and the establishment of historic initiatives in health, development, and security.

Government agencies, primarily the U.S. Department of Defense, currently face an unparalleled leap in complexity as the information revolution presents opportunities to create large, complex net-centric systems-of-systems. Furthermore, individual weapon systems are becoming more intricate as more technology is inserted, requirements mount, and capabilities increase.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s state visit to Washington – the first under the Obama Administration – succeeded in its goal of creating a warm tone at the top and a stronger sense of momentum for a relationship that is moving forward on many fronts, but is not driven by a single big idea. This is not a breathtaking result, but it should leave both sides feeling good.

As the international negotiations on climate change in Copenhagen draw nearer, negotiators and political leaders are struggling to combat the growing public perception that the talks are destined for failure.

Keynote address delivered by Jon B. Alterman at the NATO Defense College Conference on "NATO and Gulf Security," Rome, December 2, 2009.

One must be careful as pundits rush to praise or criticize President Obama’s speech and his decisions regarding Afghanistan and Pakistan. It takes no great vision to predict that much of their commentary will be partisan, conceptual, and largely speculative.

President Obama must now make a decision that will define his presidency. President Obama will have to take personal responsibility for the outcome of the war in Afghanistan, betting his historical reputation and second term on the outcome.

After many months of speculation, numerous meetings, articles, and suggestions, the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee (aka the Augustine Committee) has released its reports providing options to the administration for consideration in plotting the course of human exploration through the rest of the decade and beyond.

Defense budgets run in cycles, with  periods of increase followed by periods of decline. For years, defense analysts have been predicting that the defense budget is coming down, but it has been on an historic run for the past decade. The FY 2009 Department of Defense (DoD) Authorization Act was 65 percent higher than in FY 2001 in real dollars.

It is a disconcerting indicator of the condition of U.S.-Indian relations that much of the attention in Washington regarding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s state visit was focused, first, on the accouterments of the lavish banquet President Obama gave in his honor and, then, on the bizarre exploits of the aspiring reality-TV contestants who managed to slip into the dinner uninvited.

Concerns over drug violence in Ciudad Jaúarez led businessmen from Mexico to appeal to the United Nations. Officials in Mexico are concerned about a possible outbreak of dengue fever. Haiti picks its sixth prime minister since 2004. Overcrowded shelters for flood victims in El Salvador have officials fretting an epidemic.

The welcome visit by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and ASEAN Ambassador Scot Marciel to Burma last month inched forward the Obama administration’s efforts to improve relations between the United States and Burma/Myanmar. Following on the visit by Sen.

In the past weeks, the criticism about America’s foreign policy being outsourced to the private sector has resurfaced with a vengeance. This is an important issue to raise: not only do the Defense Department, State Department, and Agency for International Development (AID) represent US interests overseas, they also account for some 70 percent of all US government contracts.

As one of the countries most seriously affected by climate change and natural disasters, Bangladesh has been forced to be resourceful and resilient. Without outside help, however, the country of 160 million will not have the capacity to address climate-related environmental changes as their severity and frequency increase.