Truman National Security Project

Truman National Security Project
Subpage	•Truman National Security Project/Board

The Truman National Security Project describes itself as being 'dedicated to forging a Democratic foreign policy founded on strength and security..' "We are united in the belief that America is strongest when we stand with our allies to lead, support, and defend a growing global community of free people and just societies...We believe that America is at its best when we use all the tools in our toolbox: diplomacy, defense, development, and democracy promotion" (ie imperialism and regime changes).

The Truman National Security Project, along with its sister organization Truman Center for National Policy, identifies, trains, and positions leaders across America who share this worldview.

One of its founders, Rachel Kleinfeld, described the impetus for the project as national security as being an asset for the Republicans. 'We decided there really was a need to create a movement of Democrats to stand up for these ideas and to really start to think about it, very much as a counterpart to the neoconservatives of the 1970s,' she told Forward. The group aims to change the Democratic Party so that national security is seen as a strength rather than as a weakness.

At its 2005 conference one of the panel discussions was on 'what Democrats did wrong, Republicans did right, and neo-cons did better' and 'the need to increase the size of the deployable military.'

European links

In September 2006, The Euston Manifesto website reprinted an article on the '9/11 Generation' by Rachel Kleinfeld and Matthew Spence of the Truman National Security Project.

In December 2006, Alan Johnson and Abdullah Muhsin met with Rachel Kleinfeld during a visit to the United States. Johnson would go on to edit the anthology Global Politics After 9/11: The Democratiya Interviews published by the Foreign Policy Centre in 2008. In the acknowledgements, he credited "Rachel Kleinfeld of the Truman Security Project who offered encouragement, and the idea for the book, after a warm meeting on a frosty Washington DC morning."

The Three Truman Cohorts

The members enter the community through one of three paths: the Defense Council, the Political Partnership, or the Security Fellowship. All three cohorts follow the same first year training programs, which lead to the same goal: full Truman membership. The main difference between the cohorts lies in the particular background and experience of each member. A community of equals, each cohort significantly contributes to Truman Project, the national security conversation, and the larger realm of public service.

Fellows are policy experts, academics, and other thought leaders who anticipate and articulate new global challenges and opportunities. Many work within the U.S. national security apparatus and legislative bodies, as well as the international community and an expansive network of nongovernmental and private organizations.

Partners are political leaders, advocates, communicators, journalists, and aspiring or actively serving public officials. Fluent in campaign management, media, journalism, organizing, and more, they advance progressive principles and a shared liberal internationalist worldview at all levels of civil society.

Members of the Defense Council include veterans and frontline civilians who have firsthand experience implementing U.S. foreign policy. They have wide-ranging expertise in hard security and an ongoing professional interest in defense and intelligence operations as they continue in government, business, policy, and nonprofit ventures.

People

The community includes more than 1,700 post-9/11 veterans, frontline civilians, policy experts, and political professionals who share a common vision of U.S. leadership abroad and hail from 16 Chapters and 47 different states across the nation.

Staff

• Rachel Kleinfeld - CEO and President
• Jonathan Powers - Chief Operating Officer
• Michael Moschella - Political Director
• Camille Eiss - Director of Programs
• Marc Grinberg - Program Director
• Sarah Lassner - Director of Development
• Melissa Skorka - Membership Director
• Frankie Sturm -Communications Director
• Tabitha Whissemore - Office Manager

Board of Directors

Full article: Truman National Security Project/Board

Board of Advisors

The Honorable Dr. Madeleine K. Albright - Principal, The Albright Group LLC | Dr. Kurt M. Campbell - CEO and Co-Founder, Center for a New American Security | Gregory B. Craig - Partner, Williams and Connolly LLP | Dr. Leslie H. Gelb - President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations | William Marshall - President, Progressive Policy Institute | The Honorable Dr. William J. Perry - Professor and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University | John D. Podesta President and CEO, Center for American Progress | The Honorable Wendy R. Sherman - Principal, The Albright Group LLC | Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter - Dean, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

Senior Fellows

Wendy R. Anderson | Ronald D. Asmus | Scott Bates | Peter Beinart | Cory Booker | Janet Breslin-Smith | Rachel Bronson | Pierre A. Chao | Andrei Cherny | Derek Chollet | Paul Clarke | Nelson Cunningham | Ivo H. Daalder | William C. Danvers | Janine Davidson | Larry Diamond | William Dobson | Joy Drucker | Michèle A. Flournoy | M. Taylor Fravel | Lukas Haynes | Chris Howard | Erez Kalir | Brian Katulis | Lorelei Kelly | Ronald A. Klain | Michael McFaul | Mark Medish | Thomas Melia | Derek Mitchell | Steven J. Nider | Suzanne Nossel | Michael O'Hanlon | Sally A. Painter | Jay M. Parker | Alan Platt | Jeremy Rosner | Kathryn Roth-Douquet | David Rothkopf | David Samuels | Peter Singer | Jeffrey H. Smith | Andrew S. Weiss | Kenneth Wollack

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.

External links

• E.J. Kessler, "FACES FORWARD: Putting National Security on the Democratic Agenda", Forward, June 3, 2005.