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Published February 15, 2001
This report by the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century offers a plan for reworking national security agencies and programs for the 21st century. The foreward states,
"This Commission was established to redefine national security in this age and to do so in
a more comprehensive fashion than any other similar effort since 1947. We have carried out our duties in an independent and totally bipartisan spirit. This report is a blueprint for reorganizing the U.S. national security structure in order to focus that structure’s attention on the most important new and serious problems before the nation, and to produce organizational competence capable of addressing those problems creatively.
The key to our vision is the need for a culture of coordinated strategic planning to
permeate all U.S. national security institutions. Our challenges are no longer defined for us by a
single prominent threat. Without creative strategic planning in this new environment, we will
default in time of crisis to a reactive posture. Such a posture is inadequate to the challenges and
opportunities before us.
We have concluded that, despite the end of the Cold War threat, America faces distinctly
new dangers, particularly to the homeland and to our scientific and educational base. These
dangers must be addressed forthwith."
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