Defense Task Force

The demise of the Soviet Union and victory in the Gulf War gave Americans an extraordinary sense of invulnerability to threats from abroad. Eight years later, however, this is rapidly becoming a dangerous illusion. Five dangers stand out in particular: (1) the demilitarization of the military; (2) “involuntary” disarmament resulting from a less diversified industrial base, procurement shortfalls, and reduced inventories of weapons and spare parts; (3) ballistic missile threat; (4) weapons of mass terror (chemical and biological weapons); and (5) cyber warfare. These five dangers are especially significant because together they jeopardize America’s ability to deter war, to win a war if deterrence fails, and to protect the United States itself from attack.

In 1997, FPRI established a Defense Task Force, under the chairmanship of former Navy Secretary John Lehman and FPRI President Harvey Sicherman, to examine these issues during three major conferences and to make recommendations. The report of the Task Force will be issued in November 2001.

For additional information, please e-mail fpri@fpri.org