Recent Publications

Decoding China’s 15th Five-Year Plan
May 15, 2026 — China’s latest Five-Year Plan signals that it has become more pessimistic about the global environment, seeing it as uncertain and unstable. However, the Chinese Communist Party sees opportunity in that instability to promote the Community of Common Destiny, their new model of global governance. The Five-Year Plan also signals that the Chinese will continue to use the United Nations to advance this new global governance system... MORE

Slide for Decoding China’s 15th Five-Year Plan by COL Kyle Marcrum, published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute

Taiwan’s Special Defense Budget and KMT Trip to Beijing, Part 2
May 14, 2026 — In part two of this two-part episode, COL Kyle Marcrum and Dr. Jessica Liao discuss Taiwan President Lai’s special defense budget and the Kuomingdang Chair, Cheng Li-wun, visit to Beijing... MORE

CLSC Dialogues podcast: Taiwan’s Special Defense Budget and KMT Trip to Beijing, Part 2, COL Kyle Marcrum and Dr. Jessica Liao

Parameters | Summer 2026
May 14, 2026 — Welcome to the Summer 2026 issue of Parameters, which consists of two In Focus special commentaries, three forums (Indo-Pacific, Strategy, and Historical Studies) and the Strategic Competition Corner... MORE

Web graphic for the summer 2026 issue of Parameters

Closing the Gap Between Threat and Rival
May 14, 2026 — This essay explores the advantages and risks associated with leveraging interstate rivalry frameworks for strategy development and planning. Advantages include reducing strategic uncertainty and gaining efficiencies in some aspects of force planning. Risks include trusting the data and accepting the methodical pace of research. While US security documents typically describe adversaries as threats or competitors, they rarely acknowledge that the behavior patterns among America’s three current interstate rivals—China, Russia, and Iran—differ fundamentally from those of mere threats or competitors. This analysis will benefit defense professionals responsible for developing regional or global strategies and for directing war-gaming efforts... MORE

Slide for Closing the Gap Between Threat and Rival by Antulio J. Echevarria II

Taiwan’s Special Defense Budget and KMT Trip to Beijing, Part 1
May 13, 2026 — In part one of this two-part episode, COL Kyle Marcrum and Dr. Jessica Liao discuss Taiwan President Lai’s special defense budget and why it is stalled in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan... MORE

CLSC Dialogues podcast: Taiwan’s Special Defense Budget and KMT Trip to Beijing, Part 1, COL Kyle Marcrum and Dr Jessica Liao

Book Review: Hero of Fort Sumter: The Extraordinary Life of Robert Anderson
May 12, 2026 — In Hero of Fort Sumter: The Extraordinary Life of Robert Anderson, Wesley Moody brings to life the man whose stand at the dawn of the Civil War helped shape the nation’s destiny. From frontier battles to the dramatic siege of Fort Sumter, Anderson’s story is one of quiet courage and pivotal leadership. This compelling biography reveals how one soldier’s sense of duty helped ignite a war—and preserve a Union... MORE

Cover of Hero of Fort Sumter: The Extraordinary Life of Robert Anderson

Book Review: The New Cold War and the Remaking of Regions
May 12, 2026 — Great-power rivalry is reshaping the global landscape, and The New Cold War and the Remaking of Regions explores how this competition is redefining regional orders across the world. Edited by T. V. Paul and Markus Kornprobst, the book brings together leading scholars to examine how states respond to strategic pressures in a fragmented international system. It’s a timely and thought-provoking analysis of the new geopolitical realities facing regions from Europe to Asia... MORE

Cover of The New Cold War and the Remaking of Regions

Book Review: Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective: Non-State Actors and Armed Conflicts
May 12, 2026 — States are increasingly turning to non-state actors to fight their battles, reshaping the nature of modern warfare. Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective, edited by Paweł Bernat, Cüneyt Gürer, and Cyprian Aleksander Kozera, offers a sweeping analysis of this trend through case studies from Mali, Ukraine, Syria, and beyond. With insights from international relations and security experts, the book challenges outdated Cold War frameworks and introduces a new paradigm for understanding outsourced conflict in a multipolar world... MORE

Cover of Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective: Non-State Actors and Armed Conflicts

Book Review: Nothing but Courage: The 82nd Airborne's Daring D-Day Mission—and Their Heroic Charge Across the La Fière Bridge
May 12, 2026 — In this riveting account, James Donovan tells the dramatic story of the 82nd Airborne Division’s mission to seize and hold the La Fière bridge—an unassuming but vital link in the success of the D-Day invasion. Dropped behind enemy lines hours before the beach landings, these paratroopers faced overwhelming odds in a brutal three-day battle that culminated in a near-suicidal charge across a narrow causeway. Blending firsthand accounts, archival research, and battlefield visits, Donovan honors the courage and sacrifice that helped turn the tide of World War II... MORE

Cover of Nothing but Courage: The 82nd Airborne's Daring D-Day Mission—and Their Heroic Charge Across the La Fière Bridge

Book Review: China's Air Power and Maritime Strategies Towards the Indian Ocean Region
May 12, 2026 — How is China reshaping the strategic balance in the Indian Ocean? In China's Air Power and Maritime Strategies Towards the Indian Ocean Region, Joshy M. Paul explores Beijing’s military modernization, naval expansion, and airpower ambitions as it seeks dominance through bases, partnerships, and economic leverage. This timely analysis reveals the growing contest between China’s expeditionary capabilities and India’s deterrence strategies in one of the world’s most critical maritime theaters... MORE

Cover of China's Air Power and Maritime Strategies Towards the Indian Ocean Region

Taking a Toll: How Allowing Iran to Charge for Transit in the Strait of Hormuz Could Undermine US Strategy in the Pacific and Beyond
May 11, 2026 — In April, Iran began charging ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz a “toll” for safe passage. By itself, this represents a dangerous new dynamic in the Middle East that may have begun with the Houthis in Yemen as early as 2024, wherein parties extort international commerce by imposing fees in exchange for safe transit as part of their war effort. Although some countries have agreed to pay Iran’s fees, many countries such as the United Kingdom as well as organizations, including one representing the majority of tanker firms, have condemned it... MORE

Just Security: Taking a Toll slide By Daphné Richemond-Barak and Jacob Stoil

Sustaining the Vanguard: PRC Subsistence Modernization and the Calculus of PLA Endurance
May 11, 2026 — Ali Ayoub... MORE

CLSC Quick Take: Sustaining the Vanguard: PRC Subsistence Modernization and the Calculus of PLA Endurance by Ali Ayoub