Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources
The Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program (SD&R) conducts research to help the Army understand the emerging strategic context, identify and adjust external demands, and optimize the use of its resources. Employing objective, high-quality expertise developed over many years of focused, sustained research, the program provides both long-term and quick-response support on issues of critical importance to the Army.
Sponsors of Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program Research
Army senior leaders sponsor the research conducted in SD&R. Before accepting funding for any new study, we work closely with the sponsor and their staff to ensure it focuses on a major policy concern and that its tasks are carefully scoped to allow objective, analytic research in a timely manner.
The Army Deputy Chiefs of Staff, G-2, G-3/5/7, G-8; U.S. Army European Command; U.S. Army Pacific Command; U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command; U.S. Army Futures Command; and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command are among the most frequent sponsors of SD&R studies. The program supports senior leaders from across the Army, however, and provides objective research and analysis for Army leadership with pressing issues in our research streams.
Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program Leadership
Research Streams
SD&R sustains research streams in seven major policy domains, below.
Competition With Near Peer Adversaries
Ongoing and Recent Projects
- Anticipating Adversary Intervention and Aggression
- Making Mischief: China-Russia Axis
- Strategic Competition with China in the Indo-Pacific Theater
- Extending Russia
Featured Publication
Operational Concepts
Ongoing and Recent Projects
- U.S. Army Concepts, Forces, And Posture for the Fight in Europe
- Multi-Domain Battle/Multi-Domain Operations Exploring Army-Air Force Command and Control Issues
- Deterrence and Operational Unpredictability
Featured Publication
Modernization and Readiness
Ongoing and Recent Projects
- Value of readiness
- Linking Costs to the Army Strategic Readiness Assessment
- Army 2.0: Developing Concepts and Capabilities for a Threat-Based Army and Its Formation
Posture and Force Employment
Ongoing and Recent Projects
- Forecasting Demand for Army Forces
- Impact of U.S. Military Posture and Operations on the Incidence of Conflict
- Enhanced Forward Presence Red Team TTX
Featured Publication
Allies and Partners
Ongoing and Recent Projects
- Prioritizing U.S. Army Security Cooperation with Allies
- Strengthening Partner Will to Fight
- The Value of Interoperability to the Army
Featured Publication
Risk Assessment and Resource Use
Ongoing and Recent Projects
- Applying the Strategic Framework to Match Army Capacity to National Security Demands
- Army Force Sufficiency and Risk Analysis
- Enhancing Cost Saving Army Installation Real Estate and Facility Partnership Approaches
Featured Publication
Strategic and Emerging Threats
Ongoing and Recent Projects
- Preventing the Reconstitution of Defeated Insurgents in the Middle East and Beyond
- Assessing Potential USASOC Adaptations for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Mission
- The Adaptability of Violent Non-State Actors: Anticipating Change in the Operational Environment
Featured Publication
Research Methods
SD&R uses a diverse set of methods to tackle questions across research streams.
Wargames
- Meta-Wargame on the Challenges Posed by a Nuclear Armed, Militant North Korea
- Information War Game
Featured Publication
Statistical Analysis and Forecasting
- Conflict Trends and Propensity for U.S. Intervention
- Past and Future Trends in U.S. Army Interventions Featured: Limited war
Featured Publication
History and case studies
- Partnering to Defeat ISIS: Lessons and Limits of the Philippine Model
- What deters and why
Featured Publication
Surveys and Expert Elicitation
- Enhancing Army Capabilities for Assessing Cost and Performance at the Strategic Level
- Russian Grand Strategy Amid Resource Constraints
Featured Publication
Risk Analysis
- Applying the Strategic Framework: Assess Risk in Executing the Defense Strategy
- Army Force Sufficiency and Risk Analysis
Featured Publication
For more about a particular research stream or method, contact Jennifer Kavanagh, Director, Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program.