NCJ Number
193975
Date Published
January 2001
Length
149 pages
Annotation
This document provides the results of the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century, who reexamined U.S. national security policies and processes.
Abstract
The 14 member commission conducted its work in three phases. Phase I was dedicated to understanding how the world would likely evolve over the next 25 years. Phase II devised a U.S. national security strategy to deal with that world. Phase III aimed to reform government structures and processes to enable the U.S. Government to implement that strategy. The Commission recommended organizational change in five key areas. The first area is ensuring the security of the American homeland by creating a new independent National Homeland Security Agency with responsibility for planning, coordinating, and integrating various U.S. Government activities involved in homeland security. The second area is recapitalizing America’s strengths in science and education by creating a comprehensive program to produce the needed numbers of science and engineering professionals as well as qualified teachers in science and math. The third area is redesigning key institutions of the Executive Branch with the President personally guiding a strategic-planning process linked to the allocation of resources throughout the government. The fourth area is overhauling the U.S. Government personnel system by implementing a national campaign to reinvigorate and enhance the prestige of service to the Nation. The fifth area is reorganizing Congress’s role in national security affairs having the congressional leadership conduct a thorough bicameral, bipartisan review of the Legislative Branch’s relationship to national security and foreign policy. The Commission concluded that if the structures and processes of the U.S. Government stand still amid a world of change, the United States would lose its capacity to shape history. 3 appendices