Business Executives for National Security (BENS) is an American nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. Prominent members include Amazon founder

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...

, former Cisco chairman John P. Morgridge, and former Infor CEO Charles E. Phillips. The organization's current President is retired U.S. Army General

Joseph Votel Joseph Leonard Votel (born February 14, 1958) is a retired four-star general in the United States Army who was commander of United States Central Command from March 2016 to March 2019. Before that, he served as commander of the United States Specia ...

, the 13th commander of

U.S. Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...

, and their current chairman is Mark J. Gerencser, former Managing Partner of

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

. Founded in 1982 by mining executive Stanley A. Weiss, BENS provides a channel through which senior American business leaders volunteer their experience and expertise to help national security agencies become more efficient and effective. BENS has 7 regional offices across the country, with a national office based in Washington, D.C. BENS’ early work focused extensively on initiatives aimed at U.S.-Soviet threat reduction and inefficiencies within support functions of the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

, e.g., the maintenance and construction of military housing. The organization was also active in BRAC, championing the process and helping develop transition plans for locations affected by base closure. Over the last decade, the organization expanded their focus, addressing issues such as cybersecurity, domestic counterterrorism, and talent management. They have also broadened their partnerships to include other government agencies such as the Departments of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security; the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and the

unified combatant commands A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint command (military formation), military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the ...

. Work provided by BENS members is pro bono.

References

External links

www.bens.org
Organizations based in Washington, D.C. {{US-org-stub