Project on National Security Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C.– PNSR Executive Director James R. Locher III applauds the analysis and recommendations in the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Roles and Missions Review Report. He is encouraged that the Defense Department has affirmed several key themes and recommendations illustrated by the Project on National Security Reform’s recently released report entitled, Forging a New Shield.

The DOD report adds strength to a growing chorus of government leaders, think tanks, and academics calling for a new integrative and collaborative approach to securing our nation. Both the Project’s report and DOD’s report recognize the urgent need for strategic planning and guidance at the national level. The Project has recommended National Security Planning Guidance to be issued annually by the President. Likewise, the DOD report urges “a whole-of-government strategic planning document that outlines national objectives, priorities and specific actions for improving interagency coordination and operational planning.”

Additionally, the Project’s report identified the need for new funding, budgetary, and oversight processes that account not only for departmental capabilities, but national missions and outcomes. The DOD report similarly finds that, “Funding and authorities dedicated solely to individual agencies may not be sufficient to ensure that the activities of multiple agencies are fully integrated and that all seam issues between organizations are addressed.”

Locher was encouraged by the release of the DOD report. “With the release of the QRM, Secretary Gates has again demonstrated leadership that transcends parochial interests for the sake of national interests,” said Locher. He added the U.S. needs more visionaries, willing to pursue a new national security system that is aligned with the modern security environment. “Our country is wearing concrete shoes in a security environment that demands speed and agility,” said Locher. “The need for fundamental reform is urgent and the consequences of inaction are dire.”

The Project has gained the attention of many Washington insiders as several members of the PNSR Guiding Coalition members were recently appointed to senior positions in the Obama Administration, including National Security Advisor General Jim Jones and Director of National Intelligence Admiral Denny Blair.
James Locher is available for interviews to discuss the PNSR recommendations.

PNSR is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization funded by Congress, foundations and corporations to carry out a comprehensive examination of the U.S. national security system. For more information, visit www.pnsr.org

Contact
media@pnsr.org

Frances Hardin
(703) 387-7613 (o)
(202) 640-9387 (c)

Judith Evans
(703) 387-7610 (o)
(202) 679-6668 (c)

Three other former Guiding Coalition members also selected to serve in Obama Administration

WASHINGTON, D.C.– The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) today congratulates former Guiding Coalition member James B. Steinberg on his confirmation as Deputy Secretary of State.

Steinberg, who served as a deputy national security advisor to President Bill Clinton, had most recently served as dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. He is the fourth member of PNSR’s Guiding Coalition to be selected to serve on President Barack Obama’s national security team.

PNSR also praises the earlier selections of General James L. Jones as National Security Advisor, Admiral Dennis C. Blair for Director of National Intelligence and Michèle Flournoy to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
In response to Steinberg’s confirmation, PNSR Executive Director James R. Locher III issued the following statement:

“Jim Steinberg possesses incredible policy formulation skills. To the Project on National Security Reform, he brought his vast experience and expertise from his time on Capitol Hill, his early service in the State Department, and his assignment as deputy national security adviser. Jim is well-versed in the foreign policy challenges of the 21st Century, the need for strengthening the State Department, and the urgent requirement to establish effective mechanisms for integrating the expertise and capabilities of all national security departments and agencies.”

In selecting General Jim Jones as National Security Adviser and Admiral Denny Blair as Director of National Intelligence, President-elect Barack Obama has added two highly capable, experienced leaders to his national security team. Jones and Blair distinguished themselves in challenging leadership assignments throughout their varied national security careers. They bring the right mixture of leadership, experience, and knowledge to confront the complex threats of the 21st Century.

“PNSR has recommended that the National Security Adviser position be transformed into a National Security Manager. The president needs a principal national security assistant who is much more than just an adviser. The top assistant must help produce unity of purpose and unity of effort and ensure that the national security system is decisive, agile, and fast. General Jones would excel in this new role.

“Admiral Blair is extremely well prepared to lead the intelligence community. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is still under development, and Denny Blair understands the organizational changes that are required. As his career has demonstrated, he has the leadership skills to bring about these changes and integrate the expertise and capabilities of the sixteen intelligence components.

“Michèle Flournoy is an outstanding selection for the Defense Department where she had previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction. She is well-grounded and highly effective in policy formulation and implementation, and represents another superb selection by the incoming administration.

“The other members of the Guiding Coalition and the entire PNSR community congratulate Jim Jones, Denny Blair, Jim Steinberg and Michèle Flournoy on their selections for these important positions.”

WASHINGTON, DC– The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) today hailed the selection by President-elect Barack Obama of PNSR Guiding Coalition members Admiral Dennis C. Blair for Director of National Intelligence and Michèle Flournoy to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

PNSR also congratulates General James L. Jones on his earlier selection as the National Security Adviser.

In response, PNSR Executive Director James R. Locher III issued the following statement:

“In selecting General Jim Jones as National Security Adviser and Admiral Denny Blair as Director of National Intelligence, President-elect Barack Obama has added two highly capable, experienced leaders to his national security team. Jones and Blair have distinguished themselves in challenging leadership assignments throughout their varied national security careers. They bring the right mixture of leadership, experience, and knowledge to confront the complex threats of the 21st Century.

“PNSR has recommended that the National Security Adviser position be transformed into a National Security Manager. The president needs a principal national security assistant who is much more than just an adviser. The top assistant must help produce unity of purpose and unity of effort and ensure that the national security system is decisive, agile, and fast. General Jones would excel in this new role.

“Admiral Blair is extremely well prepared to lead the intelligence community. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is still under development, and Denny Blair understands the organizational changes that are required. As his career has demonstrated, he has the leadership skills to bring about these changes and integrate the expertise and capabilities of the sixteen intelligence components.

“Michèle Flournoy is an outstanding selection for the Defense Department where she had previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction. She is well-grounded and highly effective in policy formulation and implementation, and represents another superb selection by the incoming administration.

“The other members of the Guiding Coalition and the entire PNSR community congratulate Jim Jones, Denny Blair and Michèle Flournoy on their selections for these important positions.”

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CONTACT
media@pnsr.org
Frances Hardin (703) 387-7613 (o) (202) 640-9387 (c)

Judith Evans (703) 387-7610 (o) (202) 679-6668 (c)
www.pnsr.org

Watch Jim Locher’s introduction here

Watch Admiral Dennis C. Blair’s presentation here

Download the full report here

Download only the executive summary here

Watch Executive Director James R. Locher III and Deputy Executive Director Adm. Dennis C. Blair discuss the release of Forging A New Shield, PNSR’s recommendations to overhaul the U.S. national security system, during a press conference held at the National Press Club December 3, 2008.

Press Release for the Event:

WASHINGTON– The national security system must be massively reorganized if federal agencies are to cooperate and collaborate more effectively to combat the multitude of threats facing the U.S. in the 21st century, according to recommendations released today by the Project on National Security Reform (PNSR).

The PNSR recommendations outlined in Forging A New Shield would replace a national security system created 60 years ago, that despite many marginal attempts to reform, often discourages agencies from working together on joint assignments and policy implementation to respond to crises and effectively manage national security affairs.

The recommendations comprise a broad set of mandates to improve the national security system by streamlining integrated strategy and policy among agencies and programs, improving coordination with a newly established network for sharing information, providing better job training for employees and consolidating Congressional oversight, the report says.

Among the PNSR’s key recommendations are:

• Establishing a President’s Security Council to replace the National Security Council and Homeland Security.
• Creating an empowered Director for National Security in the Executive Office of the President.
• Initiating the process of shifting highly collaborative, mission-focused interagency teams for priority issues.
• Mandating annual National Security Planning Guidance and an integrated national security budget.
• Building an interagency personnel system, including a National Security Professional Corps.
• Establishing a Chief Knowledge Officer in the PSC Executive Secretariat to ensure that the national security system as a whole can develop, store, retrieve and share knowledge.
• Forming Select Committees on National Security in the Senate and House of Representatives.

“To respond effectively and efficiently to the complex, rapidly changing threats and challenges of the 21st century security environment requires tight integration of the expertise and capabilities of many diverse departments and agencies,” says PNSR Executive Director James R. Locher III. “Current organizational arrangements provide only weak mechanism for such integration.”

PNSR’s Locher presented the recommendations today during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The 800-page report culminates two years of study in which more than 300 national security experts identified the problems within the system, and produced more than 100 case studies to document the research and analysis.

Since the passage of the National Security Act in 1947, the world has changed dramatically from the single Cold War threat to a multitude of diverse challenges – ranging from rogue regimes to terrorists to transnational criminals. The terrorist attacks of 9/11, troubled stability operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina provide compelling evidence of the inadequacy of the current system.

Twenty-two members of the PNSR Guiding Coalition, which includes former senior federal officials with extensive national security experience, unanimously agreed that the U.S. national security system needs reform. Joining Locher at the conference were Guiding Coalition members former U.S. Pacific Commander-in-Chief Dennis G. Blair, former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Admiral James M. Loy, former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John McLaughlin and former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Thomas Pickering.

“The focus must shift to national missions and outcomes,” says Admiral James M. Loy, former deputy secretary of Homeland Security. “This will require strategic direction to produce unity of purpose and more collaboration to achieve unity of effort.”

Through its research and analysis, PNSR has determined the following problems with the current system:

• The system is grossly imbalanced, favoring strong departmental capabilities at the expense of integrating mechanism.
• Executive Branch department and agencies are shaped by their narrowly defined core mandates rather than by the requisites of broader national missions.
• The need for presidential integration to compensate for the systematic inability to integrate or resource missions overly centralizes issues management and overburdens the White House.
• A burdened White House cannot manage the national security system as a whole to be agile and collaborative at any time, but it is particularly vulnerable to breakdown during protracted transition periods between administrations.
• Congress provides resources and conducts oversight in ways that reinforce all these problems and make improving performance extremely difficult.

CONTACT
media@pnsr.org
Judith Evans
(703) 387-7610 (o)
(202) 679-6668 (c)

Effective November 18th, PNSR has moved its offices to:

4075 Wilson Boulevard, Ninth Floor

Arlington, VA 22203

703-387-7600

Please update your information to reflect this change. Thank you.

Former National Security Advisor to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford, and PNSR Guiding Coalition member, General Brent Scowcroft discusses what issues he sees as needing attention in reforming America’s national security Policy.

Video of Richard Weitz of the Hudson Institute discussing his study on Managing U.S.-China relations at the PNSR Case Studies Conference,has been added to the PNSR website. The conference was held at the Hudson Institute, September 29th, 2008.