Our Work

We believe that the primary task for our generation is to build a new American strategy attuned to the pressing realities of our time. This framework must be comprehensive of the major regions and dimensions of U.S. power and interests. It must also be willing to challenge established wisdom and inertia in U.S. national security policy and related fields.

Resourcing the Strategy of Denial: Optimizing the Defense Budget in Three Alternative Futures

by Austin J. Dahmer

This study identifies the priority military forces and capabilities for the strategy of denial, identifies what extant forces and capabilities could be de-prioritized, and simulates three defense budgets under this rubric over the five-year defense planning period known as the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).
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Classics and Strategy

by Jakub Grygiel 

Classic texts – whether by Roman historians such as Tacitus or Greek tragedians such as Aeschylus or Florentine diplomats such as Francesco Guicciardini – give us important, and even unusual, insights into strategy. They certainly do not supply a ready-made strategy that could be applied to a specific security problem we face now. But they can open for us new or forgotten ways of thinking about threats and the competitive security environment, offering a perspective that is missing in modern intellectual and educational circles. Free of technical jargon and without abstractions, classics favor simplicity over simplification, privilege practical insights over abstraction, and elevate the role of individuals over impersonal trends and institutions. And they describe the motivations and the drivers behind men’s actions, the core of any strategy. This book brings back some of these classic writers, examining their thoughts on strategy and politics.
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The Strategy of Denial

by Elbridge Colby 

The most informed and in-depth reappraisal of America’s defense strategy in decades, this book outlines a rigorous but practical approach, showing how the United States can prepare to win a war with China that we cannot afford to lose—precisely in order to deter that war from happening.
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Sharing the Load: Developing Better Strategies for Burden Sharing

by Elbridge Colby with Robert Almelor Delfeld

The purpose of this study is to provide a strategic framework which the United States can use to lead to better burden sharing outcomes, in turn driving greater and more aligned efforts by Washington’s allies and partners.
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Building a Strategy for Escalation and War Termination

by Elbridge Colby and Yashar Parsie 

This paper examines the necessity for the United States to formulate a theory of success in a conflict over Taiwan that includes denial but also indicates how to favorably manage escalation – that is, achieving its strategic-political goals without, at a minimum, precipitating a massive attack on the United States.
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Statement of Elbridge A. Colby to the Special Committee on the Canada-China Relationship, House of Commons of Canada

by Elbridge Colby

Thank you very much for the invitation to testify. It is a great honor to be able to submit testimony to this important and timely Committee. Whether we like it or not, the world has now entered into an era of great power rivalry. While the United States and China are the two primary poles in this new old world, everyone – including Canada – will be profoundly affected.
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Zeitenwende – German Defence Policy in an Era of Great Power Conflict: Keynote Remarks

by Elbridge Colby

“The Zeitenwende is thus an historic and enormously commendable step by Germany, as it points in the direction of a truly collaborative solution to this global set of problems we as allies now face …”
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Strategic Sequencing: How Great Powers Avoid Multi-Front War

by A. Wess Mitchell

This paper examines how four great powers in history have handled simultaneity …
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Association of the United States Army LANPAC: Keynote Remarks

by Elbridge Colby

“Our empowerment, our bolstering of military efforts is focused on denial – a goal that is in the most basic sense defensive …”
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Economic Interdependence Will Not Deter U.S.-China War

by Christopher Vassallo

Economic ties linking the U.S. with China are insufficient to prevent a war …
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Realizing the Contact & Blunt Layers in Europe and Asia

by Elbridge Colby and Jakub Grygiel (with Yashar Parsie)

The purpose of this study is to provide a strategic framework for how the U.S. should think about and act toward allies and partners in an era defined by great power competition…
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June 2, 2023

Why Biden’s China Reset Is a Bad Idea

Foreign Policy | "Now is not the time for the United States to pursue détente with China, as the Biden administration has been trying to do for several weeks now."....
May 26, 2023

China’s infrastructure threat ‘very serious’: Elbridge Colby

Fox Business | Former defense official Elbridge Colby discusses the seriousness of a China cyber threat and penetration of U.S. infrastructure on 'The Bottom Line.'...
May 25, 2023

There is a clear recognition that China is the top threat: Elbridge Colby

Fox News | Elbridge Colby rejoins the Ingraham Angle to discuss China as the top threat and to give his take on U.S.-PRC relations under the Biden administration......
May 24, 2023

Jacek Bartosiak speaks to Elbridge Colby on strategy vs China

Strategy&Future | Elbridge Colby sits down with Strategy&Future for a discussion about China strategy in 2023 and beyond.....
May 18, 2023

The top-line fact in the weapons to Ukraine or Taiwan debate

Washington Examiner | Elbridge Colby and Alex Velez-Green note the basic point in their Washington Post op-ed on Thursday. As they put it, "The fact is that both Ukraine and Taiwan need many of the same weapons, the United States only has limited quantities of those weapons in....
May 18, 2023

To avert war with China, the U.S. must prioritize Taiwan over Ukraine

The Washington Post | Prioritization is never easy — but it is long overdue. The administration and Congress have rightly described China as the preeminent threat to the United States, but they have not acted with the focus, scale and urgency needed to address it....
May 17, 2023

Why a ballistic sub can visit South Korea but not Japan

Nikkei Asia | Former Pentagon official Elbridge Colby called the port call "meaningless" in a recent webinar hosted by the Institute for Korean-American Studies." A ballistic missile submarine can launch a ...
May 12, 2023

Elbridge Colby joins The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast to talk Taiwan Defense

National Review: The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast | “On this week’s episode I talked to Elbridge Colby about Taiwan. Among the topics we discussed are why Taiwan matters more to the United States and the West more generally than, say, the Falkland Islands; whether Americans are prepared for an invasion of Taiwan....
May 9, 2023

China is chastising the US while Biden tries to play nice: Elbridge Colby.

Fox News | Elbridge Colby joins “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss the latest on China and the U.S....
May 9, 2023

Rethinking a Conservative Foreign Policy

WSJ Podcast: Free Expression | How can U.S. foreign policy succeed in a new age of great power confrontation? Does the challenge of an ascendant China mean U.S. support for a European war against Russia is a dangerous distraction?...