What to Expect When You're Expecting a National Defense Strategy

A plane director signals to the pilot of an F/A-18C Hornet from the "Wildcats" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 131 after landing on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. (U.S. Navy)

As the Biden administration formulates its National Defense Strategy, it must articulate a clear-eyed response to a number of rapidly expanding global threats. In his latest contribution to War on the Rocks, Bryan Clark and his co-authors offer guidance on prioritizing core interests and objectives, honestly assessing growing threats, strengthening our forward posture and other key areas needed to shore up America’s military preparedness.

Virtual Event | An Emerging G2? Prospects for Transatlantic Tech Cooperation

(Getty Images)

Today, the U.S. and EU will meet at the cabinet-ministerial level to inaugurate the Trade and Technological Council (TTC), an initiative aimed at enhancing transatlantic cooperation on technology to out-compete China. Peter Rough will discuss the significance of these developments with Senior Fellows Nadia Schadlow and Tom Duesterberg, and the head of Technology and Global Affairs at the German Council on Foreign Relations, Tyson Barker.

A Digital Divide is Threatening the Transatlantic Economy

European flags flutter in the wind in front of the Berlaymont building, the seat of the European Commission. (Getty Images)

As Washington and Brussels look to the TTC as an opportunity to repair their strained relations, it’s crucial that they take steps to address the major item missing from the Council's inaugural agenda: transatlantic data flows. An agreement on the transatlantic flow of personal data would inject momentum into a broader technology alliance that would set the rules of the road for the 21st century, Peter Rough argues in The Hill.

How Australia Became a Global Example of How To Resist Beijing

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Parliament House on August 23, 2021, in Canberra, Australia. (Getty Images)

Australia has grown used to standing up to Chinese coercion—and the newly announced AUKUS security pact will vastly enhance its ability to withstand pressure from Beijing. In an interview with CNN, John Lee discusses the reasons Australia has successfully resisted China’s efforts to undermine its position in the Indo-Pacific.

Virtual Event | A Dissident's View of Communist China

Chinese dissident Wu'er Kaixi speaks during a rally outside the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Culture office in Taipei on June 27, 2019.  (Getty Images)

Wu’er Kaixi has fought against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) human rights abuses for most of his life, beginning as a student leader of the Tiananmen Square movement in 1989. He became China’s second most-wanted student activist and was forced to flee to Taiwan, where he has become a staunch advocate for Taiwanese independence and the rights of oppressed minority groups in China. On Friday, Wu’er Kaixi will join Senior Fellow Nury Turkel to discuss authoritarianism in China and why it took so long for the world to wake up to the threat posed by the CCP.

BEFORE YOU GO...

Whatever the broader strategic merits of the pact, AUKUS demonstrates a distinct American inability to manage a coherent anti-Chinese coalition, write Seth Cropsey and Harry Halem in RealClear Defense. Increased Australian, American, and British defense cooperation in Asia is a sound strategic concept. But if the U.S. is to counter China’s global ambitions, it must manage an equally global coalition tying European and Asian powers together, focusing diplomatic and military power in the Indo-Pacific while maintaining sea control in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.