Please join CNAS for a public event on the U.S. use of sanctions for national security and foreign policy goals. Though sanctions are a primary policy instrument of the administration and Congress, their use by the United States often sends mixed signals about policy intent to adversaries and partners. This risks undermining foreign policy goals and U.S. national security. If the United States wishes to use sanctions instruments to greater effect policy leaders need to improve their ability to signal to foreign powers and deter national security threats.

This panel will: (1) discuss policies the U.S. administration and Congress should adopt to improve messaging and deterrence in the use of sanctions and (2) offer a novel framework for national security leaders to understand the place of sanctions in escalating confrontation with adversaries.

The event will coincide with the release of the new CNAS report titled Strengthening the Economic Arsenal: Bolstering the Deterrent and Signaling Effects of Sanctions, co-authored by Elizabeth Rosenberg and Jordan Tama.