Center for a New American Security

Washington, DC

https://www.cnas.org/

mature87 peopleFounded 2007

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit think tank headquartered in Washington, DC that develops pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies. Its Technology and National Security program produces research and policy recommendations on AI, quantum computing, biotechnology, and next-generation communications technologies in the context of great power competition, particularly U.S.-China competition. CNAS runs a dedicated Artificial Intelligence Safety and Stability project that addresses catastrophic AI risks in military and national security domains, including compute governance, military AI safety, and AI-enabled threats in biosecurity, cybersecurity, and nuclear stability.

Funding Details

Annual Budget: $14,063,810
Monthly Burn Rate: $1,150,258
Current Runway: -
Funding Goal: -
Funding Raised to Date: -
Fiscal Sponsor: -

Theory of Change

CNAS believes that the most consequential near-term AI risks arise from the integration of AI into military systems, critical infrastructure, and high-stakes national security domains during a period of intensifying U.S.-China competition. Its theory of change is that rigorous, independent research informing U.S. policymakers can prevent catastrophic outcomes by: establishing governance frameworks for compute (controlling who builds and trains frontier models); setting standards for safe and trusted military AI systems; building international confidence-building measures to prevent AI-driven escalation; and clarifying which AI risks are most likely and urgent. CNAS targets senior U.S. government decision-makers and allied governments, seeking to shape policy before high-stakes AI deployments create irreversible instability.