Kathleen H. Hicks

Operations in littoral waters present numerous challenges for modern navies, challenges that are especially acute in the waters of the Baltic Sea and around Northern Europe. Russia’s increasing menace above, on, and under the waves—combined with its deployment of new and upgraded maritime capabilities and considerable commercial and civilian activity in the region—calls for enhanced vigilance from the United States and its allies and partners. This report explores the changing nature of maritime domain awareness (MDA) in the Baltic Sea and Norwegian Sea and offers recommendations for establishing effective MDA in these basins. Ultimately, the challenges in these regions necessitate multilateral, networked, and cost-effective solutions that leverage advancing technology and enhanced operational concepts.

The U.S.-India relationship has fluctuated from mutual suspicion to the current high-water mark of cooperation embodied in the seemingly close relationship between U.S. president Barack Obama and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. This study seeks to identify the opportunities to deepen security cooperation between the two counties, while ensuring continued effort to reduce the obstacles and impediments in each system to working with the other.

In this report, the CSIS International Security Program analyzes Russian undersea intentions and capabilities in the near to mid-term and the ability of NATO and partner nations to respond effectively. The assessment identifies gaps in current Western organizations, capabilities, and posture and offers recommendations as to how NATO and partner nations can meet the Russian challenge in the undersea domain.

Investments in amphibious capabilities by U.S. partners and allies in the Asia Pacific is altering the range of capabilities available in that region. It is also changing the types and frequency of exercises partner nations seek to undertake with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps team. This study examines ally- and partner-nation investments in amphibious capabilities, how those capabilities will impact demand for U.S. forces, and the range of U.S. amphibious fleet composites to meet the changing demand.

This report offers a reexamination of U.S. Army posture in Europe amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over the geopolitical orientation of Ukraine. This study reviews Russian military capabilities; considers alternative U.S. force posture arrangements; assesses how to determine whether assurance and deterrence goals are being met; and offers concrete recommendations in order to optimize the U.S. Army’s presence in Europe to deter Russian aggression against the most vulnerable NATO members.

This study examines the potential for a “federated defense” approach to U.S. action in the Middle East, the constraints to closer military cooperation in the region, and specific capability areas that would benefit from federated defense. Stabilizing the Middle East requires continued attention and investment from the United States and its global allies and partners. Federated defense involves building partner capabilities in a way that shares the burden of providing security in a more effective and efficient manner. Federated defense would, over time, create partner capabilities that augment and complement U.S. capabilities. Doing so requires identifying discrete areas of cooperation between the United States and its allies and partners that would leverage partner capabilities in pursuing common security objectives.

This report is the first regional study in the CSIS Federated Defense series. The Federated Defense Project aims to shift the paradigm with key allies and partners from capacity building to a federated approach that would expand regional security and prosperity by joining regional allies and partners together in the pursuit of shared security objectives across the conflict spectrum. Federated defense should include forward-thinking strategies for how to develop and share capabilities and capacity, thereby more deeply integrating the US military with its allies and partners. In this report, the CSIS project team highlights six potential federated initiatives in the areas of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, information and intelligence sharing, maritime security, undersea warfare, missile defense, and cyber security. Federated approaches such as these are vital to developing and integrating Asian security capabilities to manage emerging security challenges.