“The interagency process is hopelessly broken… At a minimum, we will need closer relationships between the intelligence agencies, the diplomatic agencies, the economic agencies, the military agencies, the news media and the political structure. There has to be a synergism in which our assessment of what is happening relates to our policies as they are developed and implemented. Both analyses and implementation must be related to the new media and political system because all basic policies must have public support if they are to succeed.”
-Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the House
Study Methodology
Outreach And Problem Definition
At the outset of the project, there will be a concerted effort to reach out to all the different actors who have a role in the national security mission, to include Executive branch departments and agencies and Congressional committees. The project will seek to identify past and current public and private national security reform efforts that it can benefit from or incorporate into its own study plan. During this preliminary stage, the project will identify working group leaders, who will recruit working group members and research fellows. Working group leaders and members of the Executive Secretariat will, in consultation with academics, experts, and practitioners, select a list of case studies that the project will use to identify, illustration, and examine recurring interagency challenges in the U.S. national security system. The leader and members of the Case Studies Working Group will initiate work during this phase of the project. The research fellows, under the supervision of the working group leaders, will conduct literature reviews within the domain of each working group, interview experts in the field, and undertake research in government archives.
The output of this effort will be research papers that outline problems in interagency affairs and causes of these problems within the mandate of each working group. These papers will be presented at a kick off conference July 25-26, which will initiate the study phase of the project. This phase of the project has been funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, with contributions from the National Defense University, Institute for Defense Analyses, Science Applications International Corporation, Hudson Institute, Heritage Foundation, Military Professional Resources, Inc., and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as well as the pro bono participation of numerous private individuals.
Analysis of Deficiencies in the National Security System
This part of the project will involve a major independent, nonpartisan, comprehensive study, which will provide a common analytical framework for understanding the key deficiencies in the interagency component of the U.S. national security system. Each of the study’s nine areas will be assigned to a working group via a mandate developed by the Executive Secretariat, at the direction of the Guiding Coalition.
Each working group will use the literature review and problems and causes papers developed in the previous phase of the project to structure its research and analysis, within its mandate. The working groups will begin to develop a full range of alternative solutions, collaborating with other working groups as necessary. They will evaluate and prioritize these alternative solutions.
Developing Mechanisms for Reform
Concurrently with the Analysis of Deficiencies in the National Security System, the project will work with Congressional leadership and staff to identify challenges to interagency national security affairs within Congress—to include oversight, authorization and appropriation processes, committee jurisdiction, House and Senate rules—and propose mechanisms for addressing these challenges. This work will continue through the end of the project.
The Congressional Liason working group will develop a detailed plan for this phase and will have the overall responsibility for this work, but will be assisted by members of the Guiding Coalition and Executive Secretariat, as well as by the working group on Congressional Oversight.
This component of the project will initially seek to work closely with the leadership and senior staff of four Senate committees and five House committees, all of which directly involve national security affairs.
In later phases, the project will begin to address members from other committees with jurisdictions that address some element of national security.
Each of the analytic working groups will develop briefings for the Congressional Caucus on Interagency Reform, based on the output of the July 2007 conference. The project will be a resource for Congressional leadership if it decides to schedule hearings in the fall of 2007 on the need for interagency reform and on the need for reform to committee jurisdiction and oversight responsibilities.
Formulation of Recommendations
As the working groups move forward with the study, the Executive Secretariat and a Legal Working Group will begin to integrate the different conclusions from the analysis of the other nine working groups and start to bring to fashion recommendations.
The Legal Working Group will determine what existing provisions of United States Code related to the national security system are most relevant for the project’s recommendations and will provide suggestions on how to best advance the project’s recommendations vis a vis these provisions to the Office of Legislative Counsel in the Senate and House of Representatives, appropriate Senate and House committees with national-security jurisdictions, appropriate White House and National Security Council staff elements, and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the House Committee on Rules. The Legal Working Group will also provide similar suggestions regarding executive orders or other administrative directives, as well as Senate and House Rules.
Support to Implementation Process
The project will support Congressional and Executive branch leadership in acting on any of the project’s recommendations. As committees begin consideration of legislation, the project will assist committee by preparing papers and doing research. An effort would also be made to meet with Members of Congress to answer any questions or concerns they may have.
The work on implementation – both of law and executive orders/administrative directives – would be led by the Implementation Working Group, staffed by members of the Executive Secretariat and other working groups. The group would attempt to identify issues of implementation that could have an impact on the content or specificity of recommendations and legal text. It would also identify recommendations with long lead-times where advanced planning would be important. For example, if the Senate and House decided to create a committee to handle interagency affairs, designing a staff and beginning the recruiting process would need to be started early. The group would also formulate a methodology for monitoring and maintaining the reform momentum over time.