Author Description

The attacks of September 11, 2001, represented the beginning of what President Bush has called “a new kind of war.” While terrorism itself has long been on our spectrum of real and immediate threats, the magnitude of the attacks and the administration’s aggressive and expansive response have changed the definition of national security. Homeland security, the new first priority, needs to be integrated with more traditional national security concerns. The role of the Intelligence Community must strike a new balance in terms of foreign intelligence and domestic security. The military mission should be redefined. Meeting all of these challenges demands a fundamental transformation of American strategy, armed forces, and national security organization. On November 22-23, 2002, the Strategic Studies Institute, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Security Series cosponsored a workshop on security transformation which brought together a number of the top thinkers in the field. The conference, which identified key issues and questions, was the inaugural event in a long-term project to assess defense transformation This report, by Dr. John Deutch and Dr. John White, former high-level defense officials, summarizes the discussions from that workshop. The Strategic Studies Institute is pleased to offer it as part of the ongoing assessment of the challenges and opportunities posed by defense transformation.