Rebalancing Security Relationships with Allies and Partners

Strong alliance and partner relationships are crucial to the United States’ ability to address global challenges. The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel and increasing Chinese activity in the Indo-Pacific are reinvigorating policy discussions about best practices among alliance networks.

NSRD’s body of work on alliances helps decisionmakers understand the need for and impact of collaborative efforts to tackle global threats, the benefits and risks of technological collaboration partnerships, and the ways that allied and partner forces can enhance military operational effectiveness in multiple areas of operation.

Some of NSRD’s recent cross-cutting research questions examining the strength of allied and partnered relationships include:

• What are the roles of allies and partners in U.S. national security strategies and plans?
• How can U.S. allies and partners best contribute to meeting joint logistics and resupply challenges in the Indo-Pacific theater?
• How can the Navy strengthen trans-Atlantic collaborative efforts in science and technology for dual-use applications and across developed and less developed ocean facing nations during the UN Decade of the Oceans?
• How can the United States better support allied and partner nations’ efforts to strengthen their defense institutions?

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  The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Today and Beyond

  Experts gathered in February 2026 to explore the current state and future of the U.S.-Japan alliance following the "new golden age" declaration by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

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  Russia in the High North

  With Finland and Sweden joining NATO, Russia perceives a growing threat in the High North. But its war in Ukraine has constrained Moscow's ability to achieve its military objectives in the region. How might Russia's strategy in the Arctic evolve after the war ends?

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  Exploring Duality in Space

  Dual-use space systems are technologies that can be used for peaceful purposes, but could also be weaponized. RAND researchers brought together experts from the Americas, Eurasia, and the Indo-Pacific region to examine how commercial, civil, and defense sectors increasingly overlap in space.

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  How to Create 'Order in Orbit'

  With space traffic and space debris on the rise, the need for an effective international space traffic management system has never been more pressing. What would it take to create, develop, and operationalize such a system?

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  Could Sanctions Help Deter China from Attacking Taiwan?

  Restrictive economic measures are part of the toolkit to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan but their timing, effectiveness, and desirability remain uncertain. Any sanctions against China will rebound against the countries instituting them.

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  Suppose They Held a War and Nobody Came: Systemic Approaches to Shared Military Personnel Challenges

  Allies and partners of the United States are experiencing military personnel shortages caused by demographic decline, social factors, and economic conditions. In response, RAND researchers discuss eight options for systemic reform.

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  How Might NATO Allies Respond if the United States Retrenches from Europe?

  RAND researchers explored the potential for grand strategies and policy alternatives to gain traction in the second Trump administration and examined how European allies might respond to these alternatives.

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  Anticipating Allies’ Responses to U.S. Retrenchment: Lessons from Limited Military Withdrawals During the Cold War

  The Trump administration has signaled the possibility of retrenchment, but evaluating whether it serves U.S. interests involves considering a variety of effects. RAND researchers analyzed one aspect of this broader calculation: how retrenchment affects the behaviors of U.S. allies.

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  How Allies Have Responded to Past U.S. Retrenchment

  A review of past instances of U.S. retrenchment provides insights into how allies might respond to shifts in strategy today. Cases of limited U.S. retrenchment from West Germany, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan in the 1960s and 1970s offer important lessons.