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

FPRI Wishes to Thank its 2011 Partners
Who help make all our programs possible.

On November 15th at the FPRI annual dinner Fouad Ajami was presented with the Seventh Annual Benjamin Franklin Public Service Award. The event was attended by over 360 people.
Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. was dinner chairman.

FPRI 2011 Annual Dinner

Video of keynote address
Reflections on the Arab Spring
Fouad Ajami

Special Partner Event
Al Qaeda and Jihadi Movements After Bin Laden
Christopher Swift

Special Partner Event
The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al Qaeda
Peter Bergen

FPRI Dinner Booklet and Annual report