U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century

U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century has become commonly known as the Hart-Rudman Task Force on Homeland Security for it's co-chairs Gary Hart and Warren Bruce Rudman. The Commission was chartered by Secretary of Defense William Cohen in 1998 to provide a comprehensive review of US national security requirements in the 21st century. The third of the Commission's five reports was released in January 2001 and is famous for having predicted that "a direct attack against American citizens on American soil is likely over the next quarter century."

Nine out of the twelve members of the Commission were members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). CFR also directed the Commission.

Some point to the Commission's 1998 mandate and its recommendations as proof that the proposal for a Homeland Security Department originated well before the events of September 11, 2001.

History
Chartered originally in July 1998 by the Secretary of Defense and supported by both the White House and the Congress as the National Security Study's Senior Advisory Board to operate as a Federal advisory committee to the National Security Study Group in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Advisory Board was renamed "to better reflect both the scope and significance of its tasking" to provide the most comprehensive review of U.S. national security requirements since the National Security Act of 1947 was signed into law over 50 years ago.

Activities & Publications
The USCNS project was intended as a study that would last two and a half years, divided into three phases of research:

(See the USCNS/21 Wikipedia entry for extensive information about each phase's reports.)


 * Phase 1: "New World Coming: American Security in the 21st Century." Completed September 15, 1999.
 * Major Themes and Implications.
 * Supporting Research and Analysis.
 * Study Addendum.


 * Phase 2: The Phase II Report -- "Seeking a National Strategy: A Concert for Preserving Security and Promoting Freedom" -- Completed April 15, 2000 -- "devised a U.S. national security strategy to deal with the world in 2025. The purpose of the Phase II Report is to define an American strategy based on U.S. interests and key objectives. It develops a strategy for America to reap the benefits of a more integrated world to expand freedom, security, and prosperity and to dampen the forces of instability."


 * Phase 3: The Phase 3 Report -- "Roadmap for National Security: Imperative for Change" -- Completed February 15, 2001 -- "recommends significant and comprehensive institutional and procedural changes throughout the Executive and Legislative Branches in order to meet the challenges of 2025."
 * Phase 3 Study Addendum: Structure and Processes Addendum. On October 25, 2002, the Council on Foreign Relations hosted a presentation of the Independent Task Force Report: "America--Still Unprepared, Still in Danger"

Contact Information
The former website for the 'U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century', http://www.nssg.gov/, is no longer accessible.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Clinton administration anti-terrorism law
 * Council on Foreign Relations - Homeland Security
 * Homeland Security
 * National Security State

External Resources

 * Andrew F. Krepinevich, Michael G. Vickers and Steven M. Kosiak, Hart-Rudman Commission Report-A Critique, April 19, 2000.
 * October 11, 2003 followup report by Anne-Marie Cusac in The Progressive
 * Press Release for October 25, 2002 Report Event.
 * Executive Summary of the Report.
 * Lawrence F. Skibbie, Hart-Rudman Study Emphasizes Immediacy of Homeland Threats, National Defense, November 1999.
 * Andrew F. Krepinevich, Michael G. Vickers, and Steven M. Kosiak, Hart-Rudman Commission Report-A Critique. Commission released report: Seeking A National Strategy: A Concert for Preserving Security and Promoting Freedom on April 19, 2000.
 * Cohen Criticizes Hart-Rudman Commission Report, National Guard Association of the United States, May 8, 2000.
 * Tom Donnelly, Newt Gingrich's Last Boondoggle: The Hart-Rudman national security commission shows every sign of being an expensive flop, The Weekly Standard, May 29, 2000.
 * Full Report: "Road Map for National Security". The Phase III Report of the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, Council on Foreign Relations. Final Draft Report Embargoed Until January 31, 2001. [149 pages].
 * Hart/Rudman -- 21st Century Commission Recommends New Anti-Terror Cabinet Agency, Emergency Response & Research Institute, February 2, 2001.
 * Recommendations of Hart-Rudman National Security Report: Education, FYI, March 1, 2001.
 * Keith J. Costa, The commission predicts a direct attack on the United States. Hart-Rudman Calls for Homeland Defense, Air Force Magazine Online, April 2001.
 * Chairman Jon Kyl, Opening Statement for Subcommittee Hearing: "Homeland Defense: Exploring the Hart-Rudman Report", April 3, 2001.
 * U.S. General Accounting Office, Combatting Terrorism: Observations on Options to Improve the Federal Response, Statement of Raymond J. Decker, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management, April 24, 2001.
 * Ian Roxborough, The Hart-Rudman Commission and Homeland Defense, Study Funded Under U.S. Army War College External Research Associates Program, September 2001.
 * Jake Tapper, Commission warned Bush But White House passed on recommendations by a bipartisan, Defense department-ordered commission on domestic terrorism, Salon.com, September 12, 2001.
 * Kennedy School Forum: Hart-Rudman and Beyond the Department of Homeland Security, Kennedy School of Government, September 20, 2002.
 * Notes from a Keynote Address by Sen. Gary Hart to the Security Symposium, Science Policy, Colorado, October 10, 2002.
 * Harold Evans, What We Knew: Warning Given...Story Missed. How a Report on Terrorism Flew Under the Radar, Columbia Journalism Review, November-December 2001.
 * James Bowman, CYA in D.C. How about telling us something we don't already know?, National Review Online, November 2, 2002.
 * James Bowman, Diary of November 4, 2002, JamesBowman.net, November 4, 2002.
 * Robet Kuttner, Sins of Commission, The American Prospect, December 30, 2002.

Members
Co-Chairs
 * Gary Hart
 * Warren Bruce Rudman

Commissioners
 * Anne Armstrong
 * Norm R. Augustine
 * John Dancy
 * John R. Galvin
 * Leslie H. Gelb
 * Newt Gingrich
 * Lee H. Hamilton
 * Lionel H. Olmer
 * Donald B. Rice
 * James R. Schlesinger
 * Harry D. Train II
 * Andrew Jackson Young, Jr.

Executive Director
 * Charles G. Boyd

Deputy Executive Director
 * Arnold Punaro

Chief of Staff
 * Hank Scharpenberg

Study Group Coordinator and Study Group Member
 * Dr. Pat Pentland

Study Group Members
 * Dr. Jeffrey Bergner
 * Dr. Coit Dennis Blacker
 * Dr. Christopher J. Bowie
 * Dr. Ivo H. Daalder
 * Rhett Dawson
 * Amb. Charles W. Freeman, Jr.
 * Dr. Adam Garfinkle
 * Richard Haas
 * Keith Hahn
 * Dr. Charles B. Johnson
 * Robert Killebrew
 * Dr. Richard H. Kohn
 * Dr. William Lewis
 * James R. Locher III
 * Dr. Charles Moskos
 * Dr. Williamson Murray
 * Dr. Barry Ross Posen
 * Dr. Barbara Samuels
 * Dr. James S. Thomason
 * Ruth Wedgwood