Schiff Introduces Bill to Ensure our National Security Strategy Can Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century
Measure would establish a bipartisan commission to assess and develop a new national security strategy
WASHINGTON, DC – As the catastrophic events of 9/11 showed us more than six years ago, the threats facing the United States have changed from those we faced during the four decades of the Cold War. To ensure that we have adapted to these new challenges, Rep. Schiff has introduced legislation to establish a bipartisan commission to study the global security environment and develop a new national security strategy for the 21st century. “The Commission on Securing the United States in the 21st Century Act,” will build on the work of previous reviews, like the Hart-Rudman Commission, the 9/11 Commission and others, and recommend structural, budgetary and policy oriented reforms.
“We need to ensure that we are ready to face the security challenges of tomorrow and not just the challenges of yesterday,” said Schiff. “The Hart-Rudman Commission correctly identified many of the features that have dominated the global security environment of the last decade, but unfortunately their recommendations were not enacted in time. We need to ensure we don’t make the same mistake twice, and it’s time to take a fresh look at the challenges ahead.”
The bill calls on Congressional leaders, the Secretaries of State and Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence to appoint the commission’s members. The commission will be tasked with developing a national security strategy for the next quarter century.
Specifically the commission will work to:
- Conduct a comprehensive review of the global security environment;
- Perform a detailed overview of American strategic interests and objectives for the security environment we will likely encounter in the next two decades and beyond;
- Define a national security strategy appropriate to that environment;
- Identify a range of alternatives to implement the national security strategy;
- Develop a detailed plan to implement the range of alternatives; and
- Report to Congress and the President on its findings, conclusions, and recommendations to enhance American national security.
Rep. Schiff is the co-founder of the Democratic Study Group on National Security and a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Judiciary Committee. He represents California’s 29th Congressional District, which includes the communities of Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, East Pasadena, East San Gabriel, Glendale, Monterey Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Temple City.