Center for the Industrial Base

Reimagining government-industry collaboration to foster innovation, build capacity, and achieve victory.

CSIS’s Center for the Industrial Base (CIB), formerly the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group (DIIG), provides impactful research on the ways in which the United States and its allies can collaborate more effectively with industry of all types and build their respective industrial bases. The center primarily focuses on 1) DOD and federal industrial base challenges, 2) government contracting trends in defense, civilian agencies, and international markets, 3) industry-government collaboration, and 4) international industrial cooperation. CIB monitors important developments in the global defense industry and produces major research projects and long-form reports; commentaries and articles in popular media; and annual conferences and livestream roundtables.

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Learn more about the CSIS Center for the Industrial Base and the experts and staff that contribute to our analysis.

Jerry McGinn
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Photo: MATTHEW WEINBERGER/DVIDS

Photo: MATTHEW WEINBERGER/DVIDS

Outlining the Challenges to U.S. Naval Shipbuilding

The U.S. naval shipbuilding enterprise struggles to produce ships at the scale and speed demanded despite being a bipartisan priority for successive administrations and Congress. The White House must tackle complex, longstanding challenges to improve shipbuilding capacity.

Report by Seamus P. Daniels, Henry H. Carroll, Cynthia R. Cook, Oliver Buntin, and Sarah O’Rourke — December 16, 2025

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Outlining the Challenges to U.S. Naval Shipbuilding

The U.S. naval shipbuilding enterprise struggles to produce ships at the scale and speed demanded despite being a bipartisan priority for successive administrations and Congress. The White House must tackle complex, longstanding challenges to improve shipbuilding capacity.

Report by Seamus P. Daniels, Henry H. Carroll, Cynthia R. Cook, Oliver Buntin, and Sarah O’Rourke — December 16, 2025

Enabling Forward Sustainment

To reduce the risks relating to contested logistics in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Air Force should consider deepening maintenance and repair cooperation with Japan—leveraging its industrial strength to build a more resilient, forward-positioned sustainment capability.

Report by Cynthia R. Cook, Nicholas Szechenyi, Henry H. Carroll, Audrey Aldisert, Sarah Hendrick, and Javier Nater — June 26, 2025

Identifying Pathways for U.S. Shipbuilding Cooperation with Northeast Asian Allies

U.S. naval shipbuilding faces production and capacity constraints that undermine fleet readiness. Closer cooperation with allies like Japan and South Korea on ship construction and repair could help counter China’s maritime threat and bolster U.S. industrial resilience.

Brief by Henry H. Carroll and Cynthia R. Cook — May 15, 2025

Enhancing Defense Industrial Cooperation Between Australia and the United States

In a time of deepening geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific, the United States and Australia should strengthen their defense industrial cooperation to deter potential adversaries while integrating and expanding both nations’ defense industrial bases.

Report by Cynthia R. Cook, Charles Edel, Kathryn Paik, Gregory Sanders, Henry H. Carroll, Katy Buda, and John Augé — March 3, 2025

Alternative Funding Mechanisms in Review

DOD’s new Office of Strategic Capital will work to ensure that the future warfighter has the capabilities they need by attracting and scaling private capital to critical technologies for national security, with the advantages and risks of a portfolio investment approach.

Report by Erin L. Murphy, Cynthia R. Cook, Emily Harding, Gregory Sanders, Nicholas Velazquez, Julia Dickson, and Maeve Sockwell — November 21, 2024

Building a Mutually Complementary Supply Chain between Japan and the United States

Japan’s recent increases in defense spending and relaxation of defense export rules have prompted a new era of opportunity in defense industrial cooperation with the United States, specifically in the realm of uncrewed aerial systems and electro-optical sensors.

Report by Christopher B. Johnstone, Cynthia R. Cook, Audrey Aldisert, Leah Klaas, Christine Michienzi, Gregg Rubinstein, Gregory Sanders, and Nicholas Szechenyi — August 15, 2024

Is NATO Ready for War?

Allied leaders will soon gather in Washington for NATO’s 75th anniversary summit. Ahead of that historic meeting, this paper takes stock of the progress allies have made to strengthen their deterrence and defense since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Report by Sean Monaghan, Eskil Jakobsen, Sissy Martinez, Mathieu Droin, Gregory Sanders, Nicholas Velazquez, Cynthia R. Cook, Anna Dowd, and Maeve Sockwell — June 11, 2024