Center for a New American Security (CNAS)

August 12, 2026 In this episode of Chief Influencer, Anthony Shop sits down with JoAnne "Jo" Bass, the 19th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force and the first woman to serve as the highest-ranking enlisted leader of any U.S. military service, now an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Watch the full interview on Chief Influencer.

Iran is the second-most sanctioned country globally, with more than 6,000 sanctions targeting its financial, energy, aviation and cryptocurrency sectors. Iran's economy is deteriorating rapidly, with inflation at 53.9 per cent and the IMF forecasting a 6 per cent contraction this year. The US naval blockade slashed Iran's seaborne crude exports from two million barrels per day to 200,000, costing Tehran $435 million daily.

As Russia pounds Ukraine’s capital with a near-daily barrage of ballistic missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has so far failed to rally allies to send precious Patriot interceptors to the country to help protect Ukrainian skies. “They now see — and they’re right about this — a very real threat at some point from the Russians.

Headline numbers looked better in the second quarter, but not all analysts are reading that as evidence that the Kingdom’s harder questions have been answered. “Saudi Arabia’s increasing reliance on debt extends well before the war, reflecting the extensive costs of diversification and desire to leverage assets to meet economic goals,” Geo-economic risk analyst Rachel Ziemba, founder of Ziemba Insights and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, tells EnterpriseAM.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker is riding high on the AI boom while adroitly navigating international expansion and competition with China. PHOTOS: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Business has never been better for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and paramount Taiwanese company. In the second quarter, TSMC posted record earnings.

President Trump extended a waiver Monday for foreign ships transporting oil around the US as the war in Iran continues to disrupt supply chains. Bloomberg News' Mike McKee & Bloomberg Economics' Chris Kennedy, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, explain the implications. Watch the full interview on Bloomberg.

To repel any future Chinese invasion, Taiwan is building fleets of flying drones and unmanned attack boats. The goal is to use them to help locate and attack Chinese forces approaching the island, relying on Taiwanese soldiers trained to move quickly before China can strike them.

This article was originally published in The Wall Street Journal. Washington has spent the past decade working to secure choke points of the semiconductor industry: fabrication plants, lithography equipment, advanced packaging, critical minerals and the handful of companies that dominate each. Now a new choke point has emerged in part of the industry that policymakers have barely considered: the instruction set architecture, or ISA.

The Pentagon presses defense companies to accelerate weapons production as the Iran war depletes key US stockpiles and raises questions about readiness in other regions.

The U.S. Army said Friday that it is opening five military test ranges to private companies developing missiles, drones, and other weapons, in an effort to cut months—and potentially years—from the time it takes to test new systems and get them into the acquisition pipeline. But officials say the initiative is not a response to concerns about dwindling munitions stockpiles.