WASHINGTON, DC – In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama put forth a powerful vision for the nation. Included in that vision was the important goal “to merge, consolidate and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America.” To successfully achieve this task we must transform our inefficient and ineffective national security system, the largest component of our broken government. Renowned government transformation agent and President and CEO of the Project on National Security Reform (PNSR), James R. Locher III, provides commentary on this issue here:

Like many Americans, I tuned in to watch the State of the Union Address last night. And beforehand, like most, I had several thoughts and anticipations on topics President Obama would choose to address. As the president and CEO of the Project on National Security Reform, I was pleased to see so many corresponding themes between the President’s vision for America and ways in which PNSR can help to advance America toward that vision.

The President was absolutely right, “the world has changed,” and we must change with it. On many levels, this has already occurred. Individuals all over the nation have adapted to the changing pace and order of the current times. However, to make this change on a larger scale – the scale of government – will require much more effort and coordination…and undoubtedly, government transformation.

At PNSR, we often describe transformation with words like “innovation” and “reinvention”. Last night, the President chose these words as well.

He eloquently laid out the task ahead, and challenged us all with comments like:

“The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still,” and
“That’s what Americans have done for over 200 years: reinvented ourselves.”

In my opinion, the single most telling excerpt from the State of the Union Address, was the following:

“We shouldn’t just give our people a government that’s more affordable. We should give them a government that’s more competent and more efficient. We can’t win the future with a government of the past.”

Our Declaration of Independence states, “governments are instituted among men to ensure these rights” (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). How can we ensure these basic principles with such an outdated government structure, the largest component of which is our national security system? From domestic natural disasters to foreign policy, from the economy to education, and from terrorism to national infrastructure, these are all parts of our national security. Government transformation starts with transformation of our national security system.

I believe the way ahead is straightforward. We need effective strategic management, prioritized investment, a unifying culture, adaptive structures, and comprehensive accountability and oversight. An improved national security system would equip our nation and government to manage and overcome the complex and interconnected security challenges of the 21st century.

The president has provided a more detailed vision for transforming the national security system in the National Security Strategy with twelve organizational goals paralleling PNSR’s recommendations. PNSR has developed the specific steps that are necessary. What is needed now is the political will to make these imperative changes. It must be a bipartisan campaign with both branches having important roles. The president will need put action behind last night’s words. PNSR and others are ready to help with bold intellectual, political, and implementation ideas. We can’t win the future without transforming the national security system.

For further comment please contact:
Project on National Security Reform
(202) 643-7049
media@pnsr.org
www.pnsr.org

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WASHINGTON, DC – The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) is pleased to announce that former Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair rejoined PNSR’s Board of Directors and Guiding Coalition, where he served previously from 2007 to 2009. The 25-member Guiding Coalition includes former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Norman Augustine, and former U.S. Supreme Allied Commander of Europe General Wes Clark.

“My service as Director of National Intelligence confirmed my conviction that our national security system needs transformation. It is full of dedicated and hard-working officials, but its antiquated structure does not serve the nation’s current and future needs,” said Admiral Blair.

“I am delighted that Denny Blair has brought his powerful intellect and visionary leadership back to PNSR,” said President and CEO James R. Locher III. “The nation owes Denny a debt of gratitude for his dedication to America’s security and prosperity and his devotion to public service. His depth of experience and understanding of the security environment of the 21st century will once again be invaluable in PNSR’s work.” During his previous term at PNSR, Admiral Blair also served as the Project’s Deputy Executive Director.

Admiral Blair served as Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration from January 2009 to May 2010, overseeing and working to transform the sixteen intelligence agencies. Prior to joining the administration, he held the John M. Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and General of the Army Omar N. Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership at Dickinson College and the U.S. Army War College. From 2003-2006, Blair led the Institute for Defense Analyses as president and CEO.

Prior to retiring from the U.S. Navy in 2002, Admiral Blair served as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command, the largest U.S. combatant command with an area of responsibility covering half of the earth’s surface. He also served as the Director of the Joint Staff, first Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support, and on the National Security Council staff.

In addition to being awarded four Defense Distinguished Service Medals and numerous decorations from foreign governments, Admiral Blair graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and received a master’s degree in History and Languages from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

For further comment please contact:
Project on National Security Reform
(202) 643-7049
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WASHINGTON, DC – In today’s Washington Post, renowned American journalist and political commentator E.J. Dionne called for President Obama to revive his presidency through a bold and persistent campaign for national reform and renewal. The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) applauds his rationale and suggests that the key to restoring the faith of the American people, as well as preserving America’s world leadership role, is to engage the nation in envisioning and co-creating the future in a comprehensive transformation effort.

In his op.ed. “Can Obama find his morning in America?”, Dionne asserts that “Obama was elected for many reasons in 2008, but the country’s underlying desire to reverse this sense of decline was central to his victory.” He argues, “Obama’s biggest failures in his first two years lay in not fully grasping the opportunity this intimation of crisis created and in not appreciating that he was being asked to do more than fix the economy.” Dionne advises Obama: “What’s lacking is a coherent call for reform and restoration that is unapologetically patriotic and challenging.”

The preeminent lens through which to develop this campaign is national security transformation. Organized for a world that no longer exists, the U.S. national security system has become dangerously inefficient, ineffective, and myopic. It cannot handle the increased complexity of a radically different security environment; the pace, variety, and interdependence of new non-traditional threats (climate change, failing schools, economic decline, etc); or the rising competition for resources and for leadership of the world community. Our government is adapting too slowly to rapidly changing national security challenges and opportunities, cannot take whole-of-government or whole-of-nation approaches, and lacks a strategy to inform its plans and actions. The transpartisan PNSR has been pursuing a bold transformation agenda for the past the four years, and this work has not split along party lines. Political leaders are beginning to understand that this desperately needed set of reforms could become a bipartisan priority.

Momentum for this change within the Obama administration is already building; it has positioned itself in favor of many elements of the transformation agenda. The administration’s May 2010 National Security Strategy gave prominent attention to the need to “update, balance, and integrate all the tools of American power” in a whole-of-government approach. Its Cabinet officers, including Vice President Biden, Secretaries Clinton and Gates, former National Security Advisor Jim Jones, and former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, have expressed strong support for national security transformation. Secretary Gates has called adapting and reforming our 63-year old national security apparatus “the institutional challenge of our time.”

PNSR stands ready to help the U.S. government co-create practical, innovative solutions that will provide the basis for a new national security system and bring about its political realization and implementation. It is focused solely on this mission. PNSR President and CEO James R. Locher III commented, “Reform and renewal of the national security system is not only the #1 national security issue, it is also one on which the two parties can work together. Please join the call for President Obama to forcefully and steadfastly lead this patriotic and historic mission to overcome the nation’s most critical challenge.”

For further comment please contact:
Project on National Security Reform
(646) 662-4092
media@pnsr.org
www.pnsr.org

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WASHINGTON, DC – As the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform releases its recommendations on reducing United States government spending, the Project on National Security Reform’s (PNSR) experts provide the following commentary and resources on fiscal responsibility and national security transformation:

PNSR EXPERT COMMENTARY

James R. Locher III, President and CEO – “Headlines about setbacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, terrorism, counterproliferation, and other challenges often vividly portray the ineffectiveness of the U.S. national security system in the 21st century. Less visible, but equally troubling, is the system’s gross inefficiency and wastefulness. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform should press for transforming the system to realize huge savings. In a $1 trillion national security budget, the potential for massive cost reductions is enormous. Why is the system wasting money? First, it has no foresight mechanism; it doesn’t begin to work on problems until they are expensive-to-solve crises. Second, the budget process is not oriented on what we hope to achieve — our missions and other outcomes; it funds capabilities that the departments desire which are often misaligned with our needs. Third, departments and agencies don’t work as teams; they work in isolated stovepipes, often with costly duplication or conflicting objectives. A transformed national security system can dramatically strengthen the nation’s security and at less cost. Over to you, Erskine and Alan.”

Nancy Bearg, Senior Advisor – “The members of the Deficit Commission have been thinking hard about change. Their recommendations are a new, daring way of thinking about how fundamental changes — difficult as they are — are essential to the strength of this country. The Project on National Security Reform has a new way of thinking too — and it relates directly to deficit reduction: transform the way we think about and act on national security. Make it whole-of-government and whole-of-nation. Reform processes and perspectives to include all instruments of national power in preventing and solving problems. The current system is increasingly crippled in dealing with modern challenges. Transforming the system into a more integrated whole will result in more efficient and effective use of our national security resources, resulting in less cost. National security transformation is an idea whose time has come — just in time to be put in the mix of crucially important, daring ideas to set this great country on sounder and safer fiscal and national security footing.”

John Depenbrock, Chief Operating Officer – “There can be no transformation of our national security system without fiscal responsibility and some sacrifices by all citizens. Indeed, comprehensive national security transformation will lead to economic security that will serve our nations’ community of interests by placing America on a positive and prosperous economic foundation as we move forward in the 21st century.”

Rahul Gupta, Senior Advisor – “We are in a dire budgetary situation where our security is being destabilized by our lack of economic prowess, yet we believe we cannot reduce defense spending. The first problem we have to acknowledge and fix is that the national security budget is derived through an outdated process that imposes no demands for prioritization or rationalization of capabilities across the portfolio of investments. For this reason, no one really knows if additional spending buys more security. We continue to buy additional planes, ships, and other major equipment even though less expensive platforms could provide the same capability. The second problem we must recognize is that the Pentagon and other departments have yet to fully comply with the CFO Act and present fully auditable financial statements for each major acquisition and do so with all of the costs clearly identified. Until then, there will no true accountability for the costs of systems and therefore no reliable data to prioritize and rationalize. The third problem is due to a combination of acquisition practices and culture. We must acknowledge that the national security community has yet to benefit fully from performance- and service- based contracting for much of its consumables. Even though the laws call for commercial approaches to acquisition, DOD has yet to fully develop and implement these practices. In addition, the staff that has to carry out these different practices lack the training to be successful or the sponsorship to fully execute. To save hundreds of billions per year will require (1) prioritization and rationalization, (2) transparency, auditability, and accountability, and (3) modern acquisition processes and acquisition staff trained in these methods.”

Daniel Langberg, Deputy Director for Interagency Teams and Planning – “Secretary Clinton and Admiral Mullen have each recognized national debt as a pressing national security concern. Under this broadened scope of national security, national security transformation would enable a more strategic and long-term approach by institutionalizing capabilities such as scanning and long-term assessments of the strategic environment, as well as visioning and long-term strategy development. Institutionalizing these and other much-needed capabilities on a whole-of-government basis would allow for a clearer picture of the strategic environment, wiser prioritization of our national security investment portfolio, and a stronger grasp of long-range impacts of near-term decisions — insights that could have gone a long way in helping to avoid the situation we are in today.”

Jack LeCuyer, Distinguished Fellow – “Transformation of the national security system and fiscal responsibility are two sides of the same coin. This is about more than just the Defense and State Department budgets. It is about taking the president’s national security strategy which includes a broadened definition of national security and asking how to implement it in an efficient and effective way to ensure outcomes that truly enhance our national security and maintain our leadership role in the global environment. The next required step in this process of aligning resources with national security objectives is the development and promulgation of the president’s planning and resource guidance for national security missions to the departments and agencies with the requirement to review each of the major departmental quadrennial reviews in light of this guidance. Each of these reviews to date has been accomplished in a vacuum of strategic guidance from the top — and each of these reviews is more about maintaining a share of the budget to develop departmental capabilities than they are about ensuring a truly integrated whole-of-government approach to accomplishing the goals outlined in the president’s national security strategy. We have the opportunity to do a system check and to ensure that we have properly aligned resources — both for “hard” and “soft” power elements of national power — into a seamless and integrated interagency national security budgetary approach. We need not do more; we cannot afford to do less. Let us begin that path toward transformation of the national security system today.”

Dale Pfeifer, Director of Network Development and Strategic Communications – “In testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Secretary Clinton recently argued that the U.S. budget deficit and debt be addressed “as a matter of national security, not only as a matter of economics.” It is essential we identify strategies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long-run. To do this, budget processes should evolve to allow the government to manage budgets more innovatively. For example, transitioning from allocating resources by departments and agencies to a prioritized mission is likely to allow for substantial savings and increased effectiveness.”

Tom Rautenberg, Director of Strategy and Development – “National security transformation drives fiscal responsibility by demanding breakthrough efficiency and effectiveness in ways that are measurable and based on scientific evidence. Thus, now that the President’s Commission has put defense and intelligence spending in play, transformational thinking can help us spend our dollars more wisely.”

Rei Tang, Research Analyst – “Outdated budgeting processes seriously hamper the ability of the national security system to conduct policy without wasteful and inefficient spending. From the $52 billion spent on Iraq War reconstruction to the sprawl of the national security system since 9/11, reports and studies have repeatedly noted the inefficiencies and costs from a scattered and ad hoc approach to national security spending. This occurs even as the United States recognizes a coming fiscal crisis, often deemed a national security issue by the nation’s military leadership. Even more troubling, the United States faces emerging national security challenges that are piling up as the government remains slow to anticipate and react. National security transformation has the potential to save billions while increasing the effectiveness of the government, and would put our institutions in a better place to deal with our fiscal issues.”

PNSR Senior Staffer – “How could national security transformation contribute to fiscal responsibility? It is nearly impossible to overstate the importance of resource allocation in the execution of policy. Yet one of the overarching themes we see in our goal for national security transformation is that government spending is not aligned with our national security strategy. Additionally, there is no overarching fiscal plan that takes a wholistic, government-wide view. What is needed is a system that helps to unite agencies on the strategic level, which, in turn would address the fiscal issue. To quote an early PNSR publication, the system is “simply not designed to address interagency needs” (Forging a New Shield). National security transformation would provide an organizational framework to better align strategy and resources.”

PNSR REPORTS & PUBLICATIONS

- Michael Leonard, Matching Policy and Strategy with Resources: An Issue Brief (2009).

- Turning Ideas in Action (2009), Alignment of Strategy and Resources (Chapter 3).

- Forging a New Shield (2008), Resource Management (Part 4).

- PNSR Resource Working Group, Annotated Bibliography (2007).

For further comment please contact:
Project on National Security Reform
(646) 662-4092
media@pnsr.org
www.pnsr.org

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WASHINGTON, DC – The Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded a grant to the Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) to conduct a series of events on the legal issues of national security transformation. The American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standing Committee on Law and National Security, Bingham McCutchen LLC, and the National Security Preparedness Group of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) will collaborate with PNSR on these events.

New and revised legal instruments, including laws, executive orders, presidential directives, and regulations, are required as key mechanisms of governmental change. This series of events will pave the way to a more integrated approach to the legal issues involved in transforming the U.S. national security system to better handle the challenges of the 21st century.

PNSR President and CEO James R. Locher III stated, “Advancing national security reform requires the study and resolution of important legal issues. PNSR is delighted to join three preeminent organizations studying these issues — ABA’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security, Bingham McCutchen, and BPC’s National Security Preparedness Group -– in advancing the collective understanding of these issues.”

This project includes three roundtables, a concluding conference, and a report for use by the Executive Branch, Congress, and reform-minded private organizations. Major themes for discussion will include National Security Council authorities, dual chains of command in interagency operations, and intelligence reform. The first roundtable will be held on December 8.

PNSR, ABA, Bingham McCutchen, and BPC will bring a unique and fresh approach to these issues, applying the lessons of existing efforts, broad knowledge of the national security environment, and a wealth of talent with experience throughout and beyond the government. Expert panels consisting of former officials who have deep expertise in these thematic areas and who have led large-scale government reforms will participate in these events.

PNSR appreciates the Carnegie Corporation’s foresight in investing in this necessary step to transform the antiquated U.S. national security system into a more dynamic, adaptive, efficient, and effective model.

For further comment please contact:
Project on National Security Reform
(646) 662-4092
media@pnsr.org
www.pnsr.org

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) announced today that the Honorable Robert M. “Bob” Kimmitt has joined PNSR’s Guiding Coalition of senior national security practitioners. Following his service as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (2005-09), Mr. Kimmitt rejoined the law firm WilmerHale, where he serves as a senior international counsel. He is also Independent Chairman of the Deloitte Center for Cross-Border Investment.

Mr. Kimmitt has had a distinguished career in government and the private sector. He was posted as Ambassador to Germany (1991-93) and served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1989-91), General Counsel for the U.S. Treasury (1985-87), and Executive Secretary and General Counsel of the National Security Council (1983-85). Mr. Kimmitt also served in the U.S. Army, including a combat tour in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and retired as a major general in the Army Reserve. During 1997, Mr. Kimmitt was a member of the National Defense Panel, and from 1998 to 2005 he was a member of the Director of Central Intelligence’s National Security Advisory Panel.

In the private sector, Mr. Kimmitt held senior positions in three businesses: Vice Chairman and President of Commerce One, a software company; Executive Vice President for Global Public Policy at Time Warner, Inc.; and managing director at Lehman Brothers. He had first joined WilmerHale in 1997, serving for three years as a partner focused on international matters.

Of Mr. Kimmitt’s membership on the Guiding Coalition, PNSR President and CEO James R. Locher III said, “Bob Kimmitt brings unsurpassed experience and expertise on national security matters to PNSR’s historic mission. Having worked over three decades at the highest levels of the national security system, Bob will provide powerful insights as to the needed direction and pace of reforms. His knowledge from his time at the Department of the Treasury will be especially helpful in strengthening PNSR’s efforts to ensure that financial and economic perspectives are fully integrated into national security decision-making.” Locher added, “I have the greatest respect for Bob Kimmitt’s intellect and judgment. I am delighted to have him join PNSR’s team.”

Project on National Security Reform
media@pnsr.org
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WASHINGTON, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) today joined with Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY) in announcing a bipartisan bill touted as “the most noteworthy [national security] reform since the 2004 reorganization of the intelligence community.” The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) applauds this effort, which aims to strengthen the development of interagency national security professionals.

Recent months have seen many calls for sweeping reforms to enable a whole-of-government approach, including those in the National Security Strategy and the Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel’s report. The Skelton-Davis bill (H.R. 6249) would take a significant step toward answering these calls through the establishment of an Interagency National Security Professional Education, Administration, and Development System (INSPEAD System).

PNSR has been working for nearly four years to assist in the transformation of the antiquated national security system. Recent work has focused heavily on the personnel and human capital dimension. On June 25 of this year, the Department of Defense, acting as the Executive agent for the President, selected PNSR to conduct a study on interagency national security professionals, pursuant to a mandate in section 1054 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2010. PNSR’s report is due to Congress with the president’s comments by December 1, 2010.

PNSR’s President and CEO, James R. Locher III, praised the bill, saying, “I commend Congressmen Skelton and Davis for their leadership in introducing this bill. Their willingness to work across party lines sets an example that I hope many others in Congress are prepared to follow. We need a broad coalition to stand up and put national security transformation in its rightful place as a priority that transcends partisan divides.”

Contact:
Project on National Security Reform
media@pnsr.org
www.pnsr.org

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WASHINGTON, DC – The new issue of Homeland Security Affairs — a journal of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) — contains an article on interagency organizations that is rooted in PNSR’s 2010 report, “Towards Integrating Complex National Missions: Lessons from the National Counterterrorism Center’s Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning.”

The article, “Organizational Innovations in Counterterrorism: Lessons for Cyber-security, Human Trafficking, and Other Complex National Missions,”  argues that today’s national security environment demands whole-of-government approaches to complex national missions ranging from combating terrorism and trafficking in persons to securing cyberspace. These and many other twenty-first century security challenges require an agile and integrated response; however, our national security system is organized along functional lines (diplomatic, military, intelligence, law enforcement, etc.) with weak coordinating mechanisms across these functions.

Daniel R. Langberg, article author and Deputy Director of the PNSR study, stated: “Recent reforms in the U.S. government counterterrorism community offer valuable insights into this challenge as well as lessons that should be considered in the context of other complex national security missions.”

The article highlights the fact that key functions such as strategy development, linking strategy to resources, planning, and assessments are not being fulfilled on a whole-of-government basis for several high priority national missions. Drawing on PNSR’s analysis of NCTC’s Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning, the author explores the potential of interagency organizations and teams as national level integrating mechanisms that can support the National Security Staff in fulfilling these and other functions on a whole-of-government basis for complex national security missions such as cybersecurity.

The article is available from the Homeland Security Affairs website at: http://www.hsaj.org/

For further comment please contact:
Project on National Security Reform
(646) 662-4092
media@pnsr.org
www.pnsr.org

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