Todd Harrison

Todd Harrison is the director of defense budget analysis and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at CSIS. He leads the Center’s efforts to provide in-depth, nonpartisan research and analysis of defense funding issues and provides expert analysis on space security issues. Mr. Harrison joined CSIS from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, where he was a senior fellow for defense budget studies. He has authored publications on trends in the overall defense budget, defense acquisitions, military compensation, military readiness, the cost of nuclear forces, military space systems, and the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Posts by Todd Harrison

Opinion

Four steps to creating a National Defense Strategy built on strength

In this op-ed, analysts from the American Enterprise Institute lay out four priorities Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should focus on in the next National Defense Strategy.

Congress

Two things the Space Force needs from Congress – and one thing it definitely doesn’t

In this op-ed, Todd Harrison dives into what the Space Forces needs in the 2024 NDAA, and what it doesn't, to continue its maturing as the newest military service.

Air Warfare

Why We Need A Space Force: CSIS’s Todd Harrison

Space Corps? Space Force? Space Command? Ever since Rep. Mike Rogers put the Space Corps cat amongst the Air Force pigeons in April last year, debate has raged within the Air Force, the wider space enterprise, Congress and across the four services about just what must be done. President Trump glommed onto the idea and […]

Air Warfare

CBO’s Nuclear Weapons Cost Estimate Is Way Too High ; Hint — Bombers

Todd Harrison is one of the best defense budget folks around. Like many budget weenies (that’s the technical term) he really cares about how people come up with cost estimates because the underlying assumptions for them can lead in radically different directions. One example is the recent estimate on how much the next generation of […]

Space

Commercial Space Needs Regulatory Clarity

Commercial space has many military applications, The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency relies heavily on commercial imagery supplied by DigitalGlobe satellites. The National Reconnaissance Office recently joined with NGA in something called the Commercial GEOINT Activity to buy commercial satellite imagery. A raft of companies are talking about building and operating satellites to provide imagery and other data. […]

Featured: