The SHIELD Framework
EY designed the SHIELD framework to help understand national preparedness and strategic readiness ahead of evolving threats. Inspired by previous and existing military scholarship, including the work of Dr. Thomas P. Galvin at the U.S. Army War College and others, the SHIELD framework is not a measure of military readiness alone, but a structured way to understand how effectively national power can be mobilized at speed—before conflict, during crisis, and through prolonged high-intensity competition. SHIELD provides a lens to understand how nations align warfighting readiness with a wartime-capable economy, innovation and procurement adaptation, coordinated use of national power, human capability and skills flexibility, and domestic and capability resilience. Together, these dimensions describe the extent to which a nation is prepared to both respond to an imminent threat or crisis and sustain strategic effect and operational advantage when needed.
The SHIELD framework assesses this challenge across six critical dimensions. Each letter in SHIELD corresponds to a domain that contributes to two connected outcomes: the ability to ahead of emerging threats, and the ability to mobilize and sustain national effort under pressure. The SHIELD framework underpins the analysis found in the report, country case studies, and data dashboard, helping to guide the design of survey and interview questionnaires and open-source data collection.
The six dimensions of SHIELD are:
SHIELD
Strategic Readiness and Decision Velocity
Advance from deterrence to full-spectrum warfighting readiness by integrating multi-domain forces, designing rapid decision cycles, and institutionalizing the agility to deploy, sustain, and adapt ahead of the speed of evolving threats—with the discipline, agility, and integrated management characteristic of high-performing enterprises
SHIELD
Human Capability and Skills Flexibility
Build a defense ecosystem that enables reliable, flexible access to critical skills at scale and with the ability to expand, rebalance, and contract the workforce rapidly— through pipelines, upskilling, talent mobility, and surge-ready staffing arrangements across military, civil service, and industry.
SHIELD
Innovation Translation and Procurement Adaptation
Translate research-based innovation into operational adoption and scaling of disruptive technologies – through agile procurement, experimentation, and collaboration across government, industry, and academia.
SHIELD
Economic Mobilization
Finance and build a wartime-capable economy with sovereign industrial capacity, resilient stockpiles, and production surge capacity—leveraging defense infrastructure investment as a driver of growth.
SHIELD
Leverage Over National Power
Synchronize diplomatic, informational, military, and economic levers of national power to enable both defensive and offensive strategic options, strengthen alliances and partnerships, and safeguard sovereign capability—through institutional and legal alignment for coordinated decision-making and action.
SHIELD
Domestic and Capability Resilience
Strengthen deterrence by building the validated ability to withstand, continue operating during and recover from cyber, physical, and economic disruption across critical infrastructure, defense-relevant economic output, and combat power generation—continuously improving through regular stress tests and mobilization exercises across stakeholders and society.