In this second decade of the 21st Century, the need for national security reform is greater than ever. Security challenges are changing faster and growing more complex. Our antiquated system cannot handle the load. The breadth and diversity of challenges is staggering: wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Haiti earthquake response, compromises in cyber security, a suicide bomber on an airplane, economic and environmental impact of world energy use, countries building nuclear weapons, aftermath of an unexpected economic crisis, and new powers rising on the world stage. Every day we fail to adapt our institutions, we fail to secure the nation and expose the nation to unacceptable risk.

In the past year, the new administration has taken steps to modernize our national security institutions, but only a small part of the required transformation has been achieved. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently noted:

As PNSR has pushed for reform, we have seen a groundswell of demand for change from national security stakeholders, both outside and inside the government. Experiences of the last decade awoke many people to the reality that the system created half a century ago can no longer withstand the new world’s strains.

As more voices call for reform, PNSR is pressing ahead. We are building new partnerships. We worked with the National Counterterrorism Center to understand how interagency teams can improve whole-of-government coordination on issues that demand multidisciplinary problem solving. We have continued our strong relationships with the National Defense University and Hudson Institute. We have brought on the world-class consulting firm PRTM to build a reform roadmap and scorecard and provide PNSR with top program-management practices.

To replace our six Guiding Coalition members who joined the administration, we recruited senior leaders dedicated to reform: Jim Nussle, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Mike McConnell, former Director of National Intelligence; Gen. Anthony Zinni, USMC (Ret.), Chairman of the Board of BAE Systems, Inc.; and John A. Nagl, President and CEO of the Center for a New American Security.

We recruited new staff skilled in development and networking, while our long time staff continues to perform as well as ever. We published two new major reports -- Turning Ideas into Action and Integrating Complex National Missions – as well as articles, briefs, and papers. We have set up programs dedicated to implementing our recommendations and gained the participation of leading national security experts and government officials.

As we move ahead, PNSR stands ready to support government leadership through its roles as a:

Trusted advisor and authoritative resource: Provide high-level advice and implementation assistance to government.

Facilitator and coalition-builder: Create a unifying framework under which stakeholders from across the system, both inside and outside of government, can act as agents of reform.

Monitor and referee: Develop reliable metrics against which progress can be measured and reported to various constituencies and the public at large.

Many lessons learned over the past year will inform this year’s implementation. Most of all, we recognize more than ever that reform is hard and will take a sustained long-term commitment, but we are increasingly confident that national security reform will be achieved. The stakes are too high not to persevere and succeed. In the past year, we laid the foundations for a long-term effort.  

We invite you join to us in our profoundly important journey.