Csis Commission On Smart Power

Over the past decade, the United States has jump-started an historic health transformation in poor villages, communities, and countries worldwide. American engagement, in partnership with others, has saved and lifted human lives on a scale never known before. In the past, such impressive humanitarian gains might have been seen merely as 'soft, ' yet we now understand their benefits include advancing economic development and regional stability. More than ever, we realize that U.S. global health programs are a vital tool in a smart power approach to promoting U.S. interests around the world. It has also revealed how U.S. health investments advance America's standing and interests in the world.

How three key figures in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran built ruthless irregular warfare campaigns that are eroding American power. In Three Dangerous Men, defense expert Seth Jones argues that the US is woefully unprepared for the future of global competition. While America has focused on building fighter jets, missiles, and conventional warfighting capabilities, its three principal rivals—Russia, Iran, and China—have increasingly adopted irregular warfare: cyber attacks, the use of proxy forces, propaganda, espionage, and disinformation to undermine American power. Jones profiles three pioneers of irregular warfare in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran who adapted American techniques and made huge gains without waging traditional warfare: Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov; the deceased Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani; and vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia. Each has spent his career studying American power and devised techniques to avoid a conventional or nuclear war with the US. Gerasimov helped oversee a resurgence of Russian irregular warfare, which included attempts to undermine the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections and the SolarWinds cyber attack. Soleimani was so effective in expanding Iranian power in the Middle East that Washington targeted him for assassination. Zhang Youxia presents the most alarming challenge because China has more power and potential at its disposal. Drawing on interviews with dozens of US military, diplomatic, and intelligence officials, as well as hundreds of documents translated from Russian, Farsi, and Mandarin, Jones shows how America’s rivals have bloodied its reputation and seized territory worldwide. Instead of standing up to autocratic regimes, Jones demonstrates that the United States has largely abandoned the kind of information, special operations, intelligence, and economic and diplomatic action that helped win the Cold War. In a powerful conclusion, Jones details the key steps the United States must take to alter how it thinks about—and engages in—competition before it is too late.

Dr. Jon Alterman, Natasha Hall, and Will Todman examine the power, water, and sanitation sectors in Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia and explore how environmentally sustainable public utilities could help bridge the trust deficit between citizens and their governments.

The CSIS Commission on Countering Violent Extremism, co-chaired by Tony Blair and Leon Panetta, was formed to develop a comprehensive and actionable blueprint to combat the growing appeal of violent extremism in the United States and abroad. This report is the culmination of the Commission’s work.