Events Detail

The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) is pleased to invite you to a Roundtable on Interagency Reform discussing a case study on "Managing U.S.-China Crises," by Richard Weitz, Hudson Senior Fellow and head of the PNSR Case Studies Working Group.

Monday, March 24, 2008; 10:15-11:30 AM

Hudson Institute, Betsy and Walter Stern Conference Center, 6th floor Auditorium, 1015 15th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20005. Refreshments will be provided.

Please RSVP (affirmative replies only) by sending your name and current institutional affiliation to Richard Weitz at Weitz@hudson.org

This meeting is off-the-record

This case study examines the formation and implementation of U.S. policies in response to three national security crises between the United States and the People's Republic of China: (1) the June 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown; (2) the May 1999 Belgrade Embassy Bombing; and (3) the April 2001 EP-3 collision. Three considerations make the study useful for the PNSR. First, managing the security relationship with the China has been, and will probably remain for at least several decades, one of the U.S. government's most important national security mission areas. Second, assessing the U.S. interagency response to several short-term incidents that share common characteristics illuminates how U.S. national security agencies react to acute and unexpected crises of significant importance to the international security environment. Third, although the three specific incidents under consideration deal with U.S.-Chinese security relations, each example differs sufficiently to allow for a richer evaluation of how the U.S. national security agencies respond to international crises than that provided by a single assessment. Each incident occurred under a different administration, whose disparate views about China affected how they organized, developed, and implemented U.S security policies towards China.

The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) is a non-partisan initiative sponsored by the non-profit Center for the Study of the Presidency (CSP). PNSR seeks to improve the U.S. Government's ability to integrate all elements of national power and more effectively respond to the strategic challenges of the 21st century. Modeled on the historic effort that led to the Goldwater-Nichols legislation, PNSR has established nine working groups that are undertaking a rigorous study of the national security system. Historical case studies constitute the first element of the study methodology. These case studies will inform the analytic work of PNSR's other working groups by highlighting recurring trends in the way the U.S. national security system addresses complex national security problems. Ultimately, PNSR will recommend changes to the National Security Act of 1947, presidential directives to implement other reforms, and new Congressional committee structures and practices.