The United States requires an efficient and effective national security system to successfully face security challenges during an era of increasing national threats. However, as demonstrated by the challenges following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Hurricane Katrina, a cooperative interagency system is often impeded under the current national security system, the groundwork for which was laid out 60 years ago in National Security Act of 1947.
In 2001, shortly before to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Center for the Study of the Presidency issued Comprehensive Strategic Reform, which called for a complete reworking of the U.S. national security system. As noted in Comprehensive Strategic Reform, "The structures and doctrines the nation developed to win the Cold War have in some cases become weaknesses; many of their assumptions are no longer valid." Building on this work, the Center now serves as the sponsoring organization for the Project on National Security Reform (PNSR), which will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the current national security system and formulate recommendations on how this system might better be restructured. PSNR leaders are engaged in a dialogue with the Executive and Legislative branches and are receiving research and analytical support from more than 160 policy experts and others at universities and think tanks across the nation.
The non-partisan PNSR is led by James R. Locher III, a principal architect of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act that restructured the joint military system. Strategic direction for the Project is set forth by a Guiding Coalition, including CSP President Ambassador David Abshire. Project participants have been organized into twelve working groups, which are divided into teams to conduct research and propose solutions within a specific domain or to assist in developing and implementing recommendations. CSP leads the Human Capital and Resources Working Group, which addresses the critical role of human capital in the realm of interagency reform.
Research on challenges, successes, and failures of the current national security system has been conducted through the production of twenty-one case studies that examine enduring problems in interagency operations and their consequences for national security. CSP Director of Policy Studies Alex Douville is the author of a case study on the Iran-Contra affair, and CSP Senior Advisor Dwight Ink, who has served seven Presidents, has written on recovering from the Alaskan earthquake.
The Center also provides overall administrative and accounting support for the PNSR. Center CFO Thomas M. Kirlin has worked with the Project's leadership and Lisa Phillips, the Center's Managing Accountant, to develop administrative structures and procedures for a project that will attract several million dollars in public and private support during the next two years.
In July 2007, the PNSR convened a two-day conference on "Integrating Instruments of National Power for the New Security Environment" to bring together leaders public and private sector leaders for a strategic dialogue on challenges facing the current national security system and possible reforms, including legislation to remedy deficits.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York provided initial funding for the Project, which also receives pro bono support from the Institute for Defense Analysis, National Defense University, the Hudson Institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Science Applications International Corporation. The Project is in the process of seeking additional private funding. The Project also hopes to receive funding from Congress in FY08, as well as possible support from several Executive Branch departments and agencies.
PNSR Preliminary Report, July 2008
For more information about CSP's role in PNSR, please contact Limor Ben-Har, Senior Fellow, via e-mail or Thomas M. Kirlin, CFO, via e-mail. Both can also be reached at 202-872-9800.
