In its final report to Congress, the bipartisan Commission on the National Defense Strategy describes the most serious threats to U.S. national security since World War II. The Commission—chaired by Congresswoman Jane Harman with vice chairman Ambassador Eric Edelman—cautions that China and Russia's "no-limits" partnership, formed in February 2022 just prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, creates a real risk, if not likelihood, that the United States could soon find itself in a war across multiple theaters—for which it is unprepared and could lose. To match, deter, and prevail in combat with our adversaries, the Commission recommends a U.S. defense strategy that draws on all elements of national power, combining military strength with technological innovation, diplomacy, economic investment, cybersecurity, trade, education, industrial capacity, civic engagement, and international cooperation. 
 

On Tuesday, October 15, the Pacific Council and RAND Corporation will co-host an in-person, off-the-record discussion on the Commission's report and its recommendations for the next presidential administration’s 2025 National Defense Strategy. In conversation with Dr. Kiron K. Skinner, Pacific Council board director and former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State, Congresswoman Harman will offer her insights into the threats to U.S. national security and the necessary steps to regain deterrence. 
 

A Q&A will follow the conversation, offering the opportunity to engage directly with Congresswoman Harman and Dr. Kiron Skinner. We invite you to submit questions in advance at events@pacificcouncil.org.
 

Congress created the Commission on the National Defense Strategy in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Its members are non-governmental experts in national security. The Commission released its final report on July 29, 2024. RAND contributed analytic and administrative support.

Please RSVP by Friday, October 11, to secure your spot at this exclusive event. 

*Please note that a government ID will be required for entry. We will serve coffee and breakfast items starting at 8 am.

Guest Speaker

Jane Harman.png

Chair, Commission on the National Defense Strategy

Jane Harman served nine terms in Congress as the U.S. representative for California's 36th congressional district and was a ranking member of the Intelligence Committee after 9/11. After leaving the House in 2011, she was the first woman president and CEO of the Wilson Center until 2021. She has served on numerous government advisory boards (Central Intelligence Agency, Director of National Intelligence, DoD, and State Department). She is a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and the NASA and DHS advisory councils. She chairs the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, co-chairs the Board of Freedom House, and is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Munich Security Conference Executive Committee, and the Board of Governors of the National Intelligence University. Harman's book, Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2021.

Presider

Dr. Kiron K. Skinner.png

Pacific Council Board Director, Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics, Pepperdine School of Public Policy

Kiron K. Skinner is the W. Glenn Campbell Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. She is a member of three Hoover Institution projects: the Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy; the working group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict; and the Arctic Security Initiative. At Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), she is the founding director of the Center for International Relations and Politics; founding director of the Institute for Strategic Analysis; director of the Institute for Politics and Strategy, a new academic unit in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences; director of the Carnegie Mellon University Washington Semester Program; and associate professor (tenured) of international relations and political science. She has also taught political science courses at Hamilton College, Harvard University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Her areas of expertise are international relations, international security, US foreign policy, and political strategy.

Professor Skinner’s government service includes membership on the US Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board as an adviser on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (2001–07);  the Eisenhower Commission’s Legacy Committee of Historians (2002-03); the Chief of Naval Operations’ (CNO) Executive Panel (2004–present); the National Academies’ Committee on Behavioral and Social Science Research to Improve Intelligence Analysis for National Security (2009–11); and the National Security Education Board (2004–11). In 2010, Skinner was appointed to the advisory board of the George W. Bush Oral History Project.

Professor Skinner holds MA and PhD degrees in political science and international relations from Harvard University and undergraduate degrees from Spelman College and Sacramento City College. She received an honorary doctor of law degree from Molloy College, Long Island.