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Today the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States (“the Commission”) submitted an interim report to members of the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committees. The interim report summarizes the Commission’s activities since it began its work in spring 2008 and reiterates its commitment to deliver a final report on April 1, 2009. 

Recognizing that the definition of “strategic posture” is evolving, the Commission is examining the nation’s strategic posture in all of its aspects – military capabilities, arms control initiatives, and nonproliferation strategies.  This includes all uses of nuclear weapons and all tools to counter the nuclear threat to the U.S., including missile defense and countering nuclear proliferation.  Additionally, the Commission is examining national political and economic tools with the intent to develop the relationship between the nation’s military capabilities and both its arms control and nonproliferation strategies.

Congress created the Commission as part of the National Defense Authorization of 2008 and directed that the Commission deliver an interim report to Congress in December 2008. The House Armed Services Committee named six of the Commission’s 12 members; the Senate Armed Services Committee named the other six.  

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) was asked to facilitate the Commission’s work after doing so for two other Congressionally-created projects -- the Iraq Study Group and the Task Force on the United Nations.  The Institute for Defense Analyses is assisting the Commission with the classified aspects of its work.  USIP does not handle classified materials. 

To study the many questions of policy and strategy within the Commission’s purview, USIP facilitated the formation of five working groups of experts drawn from across the political spectrum to explore issues of strategic policy and strategy, force structure and deterrence, countering proliferation, the nation’s nuclear infrastructure, and the evolving security environment.

The interim report solely represents the views and findings of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.

Members of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States (also known as the Strategic Posture Review Committee) include:

• William Perry, Commission Chairman, former Secretary of Defense;
• James Schlesinger, Commission Vice Chairman, former Secretary of Energy and Secretary of Defense;
• John Foster, Director Emeritus of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory;
• Lee Hamilton, former Congressman and Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission;
• Keith Payne, CEO and President, National Institute for Public Policy;
• Ellen Williams, University of Maryland Distinguished Professor;
• Harry Cartland, former physicist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory;
• John Glenn, former Senator and NASA astronaut;
• Fred Ikle, former Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency;
• Morton Halperin, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs;
• James Woolsey, former Director, Central Intelligence Agency;
• Bruce Tarter, former Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The five expert working groups and their directors are:

• National Security Strategy & Policies – Dr. Ashton Carter, chair
• Deterrent Force Posture – Admiral (Ret.) Dennis C. Blair, chair
• Nuclear Infrastructure – Linton Brooks, chair
• Countering WMD Proliferation – Dr. Arnold Kanter, chair
• External Conditions & Trends – Dr. Gordon Oehler, chair