Policy Dialogue in DC - National Security Reform
Each year, graduate students in the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public
Policy (TJPPP) have the opportunity to travel to Washington 
D.C. once a
month and engage in a dialogue with policy experts. On Friday,
September 21st, eighteen TJPPP students participated in the
first policy dialogue of the 2007-08 academic year. Three distinguished
individuals addressed the students on the issue of national security
reform, specifically on the need for federal agencies to cooperate with
each other to promote national security.
James Locher, Executive Director of the Project for National Security
Reform (PNSR), emphasized the need for interagency transformation in
order for the United States to effectively address international
security threats. According to Locher, the federal government lacks
sufficient horizontal interaction between the Defense, 
State, Justice,
Treasury, and other departments. Furthermore, he pointed out that
common procedures and terminology do not exist across departments and
agencies, resulting often times in confusion. Rather, these
departments often come in conflict with one another instead of helping
each other. And while the national security apparatus of the US has
changed little since the National Security Act of 1947, global
conditions have changed dramatically in those 60 years. To deal with
these deficiencies, the PNSR is proposing significant reforms, with
particular focus on more effective planning, execution, and oversight
of interagency operations. Locher aims for this reform to take place
after the next president is sworn in.
Christopher Lamb, Research Director
of the PNSR, echoed many of the same points discussed by Locher in the
earlier session. Lamb, who spent many years in the Pentagon, brought
his experiences to light by presenting anecdotal stories which
exemplified the need for broader interagency cooperation. His main
point was that leaders accomplish 
successes by going around the current
national security system, not by working through it. The PNSR, on the
other hand, wants less emphasis to be put on the efforts of a strong
leader and more emphasis on a system that provides mechanisms for good
leaders to emerge and succeed within the system. As an example of this,
Lamb pointed out his experiences with former Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld. While he was a strong proponent of national security
reform and broader interagency cooperation, Rumsfeld nonetheless
continued to operate around the broken national security system rather
than through it.
Finally, Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, engaged in a casual discussion with the students on a wide range of topics, mostly focusing on the recent testimony of General David Petraeus on the state of affairs in Iraq. The students appreciated Wilkerson’s willingness to talk straight with them on issues that are of greatest concern to them.
Special thanks to Drew Cramer, who interned with the Project on National Security Reform during the summer of 2007. He was instrumental in arranging for the speakers to attend this policy dialogue.
Pictures by Geoff Peck '08
