The Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, also referred to as the Defense Policy Board (DPBAC or DPB), is a

federal advisory committee The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (), is a United States federal law which governs the behavior of federal advisory committees. In particular, it has special emphasis on open meetings, chartering, public involvement, and reporting. The U.S. ...

to the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

. Their charter is available online through the office of the

Director of Administration and Management The Director of Administration and Management, or DA&M, is a position within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) at the Department of Defense. As the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense ...

of the Department of Defense. The committee type is discretionary. Excerpt of Objectives and Scope of Activities from charter: 1. The Defense Policy Board will serve the public interest by providing the Secretary of Defense,

Deputy Secretary of Defense The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the se ...

and the

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the Unite ...

with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy. It will focus upon long-term, enduring issues central to strategic planning for the Department of Defense and will be responsible for research and analysis of topics, long or short range, addressed to it by the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Announcements for upcoming meetings of the DPBAC are published in the ''

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on feder ...

''.

History

The board was created under the

Reagan Administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over D ...

. Historically, the DPBAC has mostly served as a method for the Pentagon to leverage consulting expertise in the private sector. However, the DPBAC served a very powerful and influential role in foreign policy in the George W. Bush presidency. In the early years of the Bush Administration, Defense Policy Board chairman

Richard Perle Richard Norman Perle (born September 16, 1941) is an American political advisor who served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs under President Ronald Reagan. He began his political career as a senior staff member to S ...

was an influence in the decision to go to war in Iraq. Later in the administration

Jack Keane John M. "Jack" Keane (born February 1, 1943) is a retired American four-star general, a former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is a national security analyst, primarily on F ...

was instrumental in the implementation of the

Iraq War troop surge of 2007 The Iraq War troop surge of 2007, commonly known as the troop surge, or simply the surge, refers to the George W. Bush administration, George W. Bush administration's 2007 increase in the number of U.S. military combat troops in Iraq in order to ...

. On 1 July 2009, Secretary of Defense

Robert M. Gates Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush an ...

announced a new lineup that Matthew B. Stannard said offered a look at Gates' defense priorities. On 25 November 2020, just before the Thanksgiving weekend, the Trump administration removed at least 11 of 13 board members, including senior defense policy experts such as

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...

and

Jane Harman Jane Margaret Lakes Harman (born June 28, 1945) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011; she is a member of the Democratic Party. Harman was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committ ...

, leaving

Paula Dobriansky Paula Jon Dobriansky (born September 14, 1955) is an American diplomat, public official, and foreign policy expert who served as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (2001-2009) and the President's Envoy to Northern Ireland (2007-2009). A sp ...

and

Jim Talent James Matthes Talent (born October 18, 1956) is an American politician who was a U.S. Senator from Missouri from 2002 to 2007. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office. After serving for eight years ...

. As of 27 November 2020, replacements have not been named. In December 2020 Trump administration's Department of Defense announced several replacements to the Defense Policy Board. The included a

Hudson Institute The Hudson Institute is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporat ...

analyst

Michael Pillsbury Michael Paul Pillsbury (born February 8, 1945) is an author, and former public official in the United States. He has been the Director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. since 2014. Before Hudson, he he ...

as the new board chair, former

National Nuclear Security Administration The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is a United States federal agency responsible for safeguarding national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, and e ...

Administrator

Lisa Gordon-Hagerty Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty is an American scientist and former government official who served as the under secretary of energy for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Earlier in her career, she had ser ...

, former House Speaker

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...

, former Ambassador Thomas Carter, a historian and consultant

Edward Luttwak Edward Nicolae Luttwak (born 4 November 1942) is an American author known for his works on grand strategy, military strategy, geoeconomics, military history, and international relations. He is best known for being the author of '' Coup d'État: ...

, a retired Air Force Capt.

Scott O'Grady Scott Francis O'Grady (born October 12, 1965) is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot. On June 2, 1995, he was shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina by a 2K12 Kub mobile SAM launcher and forced to eject from his F-16C into hostile ter ...

, presidential adviser Thomas Stewart, former Rep.

Randy Forbes James Randy Forbes (born February 17, 1952) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for , serving from 2001 to 2017. Prior to joining the United States Congress, he was a member of the Virgin ...

, former Sen. Robert Smith and former Ambassador

Charles Glazer Charles Louis Glazer (born June 21, 1943) is a United States diplomat. He was sworn in as United States Ambassador to El Salvador on January 16, 2007. Mr. Glazer tendered his resignation, effective Tuesday, January 20, 2009, following an order b ...

. On 19 January 2021, Trump's last full day in office,

Kash Patel Kashyap Pramod "Kash" Patel (born February 25, 1980) is an American attorney, children's book author and former government official. He served as chief of staff to the Acting United States Secretary of Defense under President Donald Trump. Pa ...

and

Anthony Tata Anthony Jean Tata (born September 7, 1959) (), is an American retired United States Army officer, author, and government official. He is a retired brigadier general of the United States Army (1981–2009), and later served as a school district ad ...

were named to the board as well. In a 30 January 2021 memo, newly confirmed president Biden's Secretary of Defense

Lloyd Austin Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense. He is the first African American to serv ...

ordered a "zero-based" review of all the Pentagon advisory boards, and fired all members of the Pentagon advisory boards who are appointed by the DoD effective 16 February 2021. That includes all members of the Defense Police Board.

Current members of the board

* Herman Bulls *

Ash Carter Ashton Baldwin Carter (September 24, 1954 – October 24, 2022) was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Be ...

Victor Cha Victor D. Cha (born 1960) is an American academic, author and former national foreign policy advisor. He is a former Director for Asian Affairs in the White House's National Security Council, with responsibility for Japan, North and South Korea, ...

* Janine Davidson * Thomas E. Donilon *

Eric S. Edelman Eric Steven Edelman (born October 27, 1951) is an American diplomat who served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (2005–2009), U.S. Ambassador to Turkey (2003–2005), U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Finland (1998–2001), and Princip ...

Michèle Flournoy Michèle Angélique Flournoy (, born December 14, 1960) is an American defense policy advisor and former government official. She was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy under President Bill Clinton and Under Secretary of Defense ...

* Richard Fontaine * Nina L. Hachigian * Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. * John "Jack" Keane *

Henry A. Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the preside ...

* Anja Manuel * Michael O'Hanlon *

BJ Penn Jay Dee "B.J." Penn III (born December 13, 1978) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Penn competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and in K-1. Penn was the first American G ...

Kori Schake Kori N. Schake ( ; born 1962) is the Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. She has held several high positions in the U.S. Defense and State Departments and on the National Security Council. She was a foreign ...

* Rajiv J. Shah *

Dana Shell Smith Dana Shell Smith (born 1970) is a former United States, American diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer who served as the United States Ambassador to Qatar from July 2014 to June 2017. She was confirmed by the United States Senate, Senate as ...

* H. Patrick Swygert

References

External links

Defense Policy Board
*

Federal Register

Current members
{{authority control Policy Board Advisory Committee American advisory organizations United States defense policymaking