This 1999 report, from a Department of Defense-appointed panel led by former Senators Warren Rudman and Gary Hart, predicts increasing American strategic vulnerability, especially to terrorist attack. The United States Commission on National Security/21st Century has been charged with examining and assessing post-Cold War defense requirements in the most comprehensive reassessment of US defense...

Every four years, the military issues the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) Report, a document that is key in setting military goals and priorities. This 79-page report, issued September 30, 2001, is divided into seven main sections (e.g., Defense Strategy, Revitalizing the DoD Establishment) and includes a statement by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The report explains that, "Even...

The US Commission on National Security/21st Century has been tasked with conducting the "most comprehensive government-sponsored review of US national security in more than 50 years." The commission has recently posted the report from its third and final phase: "Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change." The 131-page report covers topics such as institutional redesign, human...

This release on George Washington University's (GWU) National Security Archive site includes documents related to CIA projects in science and technology. The 44 documents are wide ranging, covering the years 1951-2000 and a broad span of projects from satellite reconnaissance systems to the failed "Acoustic Kitty" project, in which a cat was surgically altered to "become a mobile, eavesdropping...

Once again, the inestimable National Security Archive (NSA) has created a timely and useful electronic briefing book with declassified documents that shed light on recent events. In this case, the event is the accidental shoot down of a civilian aircraft carrying missionaries in Peru on April 20. The site offers the full text of thirteen declassified documents from 1994 which shed light on...

The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) is "the U.S. Army's institute for geostrategic and national security research and analysis." The Institute's staff includes research professors, military officers, and a variety of support staff affiliates. SSI's publications are distributed widely to strategic leaders across the Department of Defense, the media, and major colleges and universities. Visitors...

The ANSER Institute, a non-profit research institute, which began its existence as a Federal Contract Research Center (FCRC) for the Air Force Director of Development Planning, offers this site devoted to "homeland security." The site provides a great deal of information and opinion, and while skeptics of the US military/ industrial complex may not find much here to answer their particular...

On May 19, 1997, as mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996, US Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen presented the Quadrennial Defense Review to Congress. This site contains the May 19 Defense Department news release and briefing (along with slides), the text of the report, and the legislation mandating it. The report is composed of ten sections ranging from "The Global...

Committed to vigilance, integrity, and service to the United States, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency performs a wide range of tasks every day, including monitoring the borders of the country as well as investigating disputes over imports and exports. On their site, users can learn about the agency’s latest accomplishments and read about some of their most recent initiatives along the...

Operating as part of the Border and Transportation Security Office (which itself is part of the Department of Homeland Security), the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office is designed "to prevent acts of terrorism by targeting the people, money, and materials that support terrorist and criminal activities." The agency's tremendously useful website contains sections that address border...