Background: Divergent Options is a non-politically aligned, non-revenue generating national security website that, in 1,000 words or less, provides unbiased, dispassionate, candid articles that assess a national security situation, present multiple options to address the situation, and articulate the risk and gain of each option. Please note that while we assess a national security situation and may provide options, we never recommend a specific option.

Below you will see a Call for Papers. If you are not interested in writing on this topic, we always welcome individual articles on virtually any national security situation an author is passionate about. Please do not let our call for papers cause you to hesitate to send us your idea. We look forward to hearing from you!

Call for Papers: The concurrent demands of three global theaters have placed an unprecedented tax on American and allied defense industrial capacity. Years of sustained resupply to Ukraine have severely drawn down stockpiles of artillery, ground armor, and tactical munitions, while high-intensity engagements across the Middle East—highlighted by the rapid expenditure of advanced air defense interceptors and precision-guided munitions during Operation Epic Fury—have laid bare acute inventory fragilities. Simultaneously, the overarching imperative to deter peer conflict in the Indo-Pacific requires a continuous, high-volume pipeline of long-range strike systems, anti-ship weapons, and naval reloading assets. The defense industrial base now faces a severe tri-theater strain, where legacy production timelines, single-point component bottlenecks, and raw material dependencies directly threaten Western strategic readiness and long-term deterrence credibility.

Below is a list of prompts that may inspire potential writers:

• Assess the vulnerabilities of allied defense supply chains that rely on foreign or adversarial sources for critical raw materials, energetic compounds, and microelectronics.

• Assess the trade-offs between maintaining costly cold-reserve manufacturing capacity versus establishing rapid commercial surge production and co-production frameworks with international allies.

• Provide options for defense acquisition frameworks to streamline technology transfer, export control regulations, and joint manufacturing across coalition partners.

• Provide options to overcome critical component bottlenecks—such as solid rocket motors, explosives, microelectronics, and naval Vertical Launch System (VLS) reload mechanisms—exacerbated by simultaneous multi-theater commitments.

• Assess how persistent munition shortfalls across European, Middle Eastern, and Indo-Pacific theaters alter joint force operational planning, operational risk, and deterrence calculus.

• Provide options for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and non-traditional defense vendors to bypass legacy acquisition barriers and scale rapid, low-cost mass production capabilities.

Please limit your submission to 1,000 words and write using our Options Paper or Assessment Paper templates which are designed for ease of use by both writers and readers alike.

Please send your article to submissions@divergentoptions.org by November 15, 2026.