June 7 , 2005
Please join the Center for American Progress for a provocative discussion on:
Threats, Solutions and American Power: A New National Security Strategy
Under the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, the President is obligated every year to present to Congress and the American people a national security strategy. The Bush White House generated the last report in 2002. Long overdue is a reassessment of the threats and opportunities we face and a strategy to protect the American people and advance our national interests. The Center for American Progress’ 2005 national security strategy looks back on developments since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and lays out a new framework for integrating and advancing American power. Larry Korb and Bob Boorstin challenge the prevailing wisdom of the “Bush doctrine” and outline an alternative vision with specific, concrete steps to protect our people and vital interests. The Center’s 2005 national security strategy is sure to stir debate among progressives on both sides of the aisle who are searching for a more constructive approach to national security.
Report
• Full Report: PDF
• Executive Summary: PDF
• Executive Summary: Text
Transcript & Video
• Transcript: Full Text
• Highlights: Video
• John D. Podesta: Video
• Robert O. Boorstin: Video
• Lawrence J. Korb: Video
• Peter Beinart: Video
• Dr. Loren B. Thompson: Video
• Q&A Session: Video
Panelists
Peter Beinart has been Editor of The New Republic since November 1999. He graduated from Yale University in 1993, winning both Rhodes and Marshall (declined) scholarships for graduate study at Oxford University. After graduating from University College, Oxford in the summer of 1995 with a Masters of Philosophy degree in international relations, Beinart returned to TNR as Managing Editor. He became Senior Editor in June 1997 and Editor two years later. He writes TNR’s weekly TRB column, which is reprinted in the New York Post, and other newspapers. He also writes a monthly column for The Washington Post, which is distributed by its syndicate. And he is a contributor to Time, where he regularly writes the “Essay” on its back page. He has also written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, and Reader’s Digest. He appears regularly on a variety of shows on CNN, including “Paula Zahn Now,” “Newsnight with Aaron Brown,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” “Late Edition,” “Inside Politics,” “Daybreak,” and “Wolf Blitzer Reports.” He provided commentary for CNN from the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. He also speaks widely before business, religious, and university audiences in the United States and abroad.
Robert O. Boorstin is Senior Vice President for National Security at the Center for American Progress. Boorstin brings to American Progress more than twenty years experience in national security, political communications, research and journalism. Over seven years with the Clinton Administration, he worked as the President’s national security speechwriter; communications and foreign policy adviser to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin; and adviser on the developing world to Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Lawrence J. Korb is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and Senior Advisor to the Center for Defense Information. He was Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration (1981-85). Prior to joining the Center, he was a Senior Fellow and Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. From July 1998 to October 2002, he was Council Vice President, Director of Studies, and holder of the Maurice Greenberg Chair. Prior to joining the Council, Mr. Korb served as Director of the Center for Public Policy Education and Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, Dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, and Vice President of Corporate Operations at the Raytheon Company. Mr. Korb served as Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics) from 1981 through 1985. In that position, he administered about 70 percent of the Defense budget. For his service in that position, he was awarded the Department of Defense’s medal for Distinguished Public Service. Mr. Korb served on active duty for four years as Naval Flight Officer, and retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Captain.
Dr. Loren B. Thompson is the Chief Operating Officer of the Lexington Institute, one of the fastest-growing public-policy think tanks in the nation’s capital. Lexington Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-policy research organization that focuses on national security, education reform, immigration and federal policy concerning science and technology. For twenty years, Dr. Thompson has taught graduate-level courses at Georgetown University in military strategy, new technology, and the media (he currently teaches “Emerging Technologies and Security”). During the 1980s, he was Deputy Director of Georgetown’s Security Studies Program, part of the university’s School of Foreign Service. He has also taught classes at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Thompson is widely quoted on military affairs in the national media, having been interviewed by every major newspaper and broadcast network. His commentaries have appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. He has also been interviewed by overseas media such as The Economist, the Financial Times, and Al Jazeera. Dr. Thompson holds a Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University. He was born in 1951 and currently resides in McLean, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts with his wife Carla and two children — Matthew and Ariel, twins born in 1997.