National Security, U.S. Commission on (USCNS)

A federal advisory commission, more commonly known as the Rudman-Hart Commission, formed under President Bill Clinton and funded by the secretary of defense, established to look comprehensively at how the United States provided for its own security since the National Security Act of 1947.

Cochaired by Senator Warren Rudman and Senator Gary Hart, the U.S. Commission on National Security (USCNS) included 12 other prominent Americans chosen by the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, and the national security advisor. The commission released three reports over three years (1999–2001) that warned of the potential for terrorist attacks at home, and offered a long list of short- and longer-term reforms.

The report, whose final volume was released shortly before the September 11, 2001, attacks, warned that “attacks against American citizens on American soil causing heavy casualties are likely over the next quarter century.” It added, “These attacks may involve weapons of mass destruction and weapons of mass disruption,” and that “The United States is today very poorly organized to design and implement any comprehensive strategy to protect the homeland.”

Chartered in 1998, the USCNS's project was intended as a study that would last two and a half years, and was divided into three phases of research. The first report, completed on September 15, 1999, entitled, “New World Coming: American Security in the 21st Century,” endeavored to describe the world as it would emerge in the first quarter of the 21st century. Among its conclusions, the report stated that “America will become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack on our homeland, and our military superiority will not entirely protect us,” and “Foreign crises will be replete with atrocities and the deliberate terrorizing of civilian populations.”

The second phase of the report, completed on April 15, 2000, entitled, “Seeking a National Strategy: A Concert for Preserving Security and Promoting Freedom,” attempted to devise a U.S. national security strategy to deal with the world in 2025. The report defined an American strategy based on U.S. interests and key objectives. It outlined a “strategy for America to reap the benefits of a more integrated world to expand freedom, security, and prosperity and to dampen the forces of instability.”

The third and final report, “Roadmap for National Security: Imperative for Change,” was completed on February 15, 2001. That report recommended “significant and comprehensive institutional and procedural changes throughout the Executive and Legislative Branches in order to meet the challenges of 2025.” The report suggested major changes to many of the executive branch departments and recommended the creation of a department of homeland security.

The USCNS consisted of Gary Hart and Warren Bruce Rudman as cochairs, with 12 additional commissioners: Anne Armstrong, Norm R. Augustine, John Dancy, John R. Galvin, Leslie H. Gelb, Newt Gingrich, Lee H. Hamilton, Lionel H. Olmer, Donald B. Rice, James R. Schlesinger, Harry D. Train II, and Andrew Jackson Young, Jr.