The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) was founded to the sound of many hosannas in 2007. The organization was the brainchild of Kurt Campbell, now the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, and Michele Flournoy, who is now deputy secretary of defense and often mentioned as a potential successor to Robert Gates at the Pentagon. They day-to-day operations of CNAS used to be in the capable hands of Jim Miller, currently principal undersecretary of defense for policy. CNAS also provided a good number of lesser bodies to the Obama administration and the Defense Department.

While Campbell, Flournoy, and Miller had solid reputations as “responsible” and “moderate” Democrats (the first object of CNAS’s attention was the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign), since their departure, CNAS has more frequently put the accent on the “New” part of its name. Under the new management of John Nagl and Nate Fick, CNAS first became the home of the counterinsurgency “COINdinistas” but has also been in the forefront on issues like “natural security” – that is, security the way environmentalists would think about it – and “energy security” – including how the Navy can get better gas mileage – and “soft power” in all its various manifestations.