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Founded in 1988 by Frank Gaffney, the Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a prominent member of the hardline advocacy community. The organization claims to promote the "establishment of successful national security policies through the use of all elements of national power." According to the CSP: "The philosophy of 'Peace through Strength' is not a slogan for military might but a belief that America's national power must be preserved and properly used for it holds a unique global role in maintaining peace and stability."

Like other promoters of the "peace through strength" credo, Gaffney criticized President Ronald Reagan during his second term for moving toward the liberal frameworks of détente and arms control. Gaffney, who worked under Richard Perle in the Reagan Pentagon, broke with the administration in 1987 over Reagan's decision to pursue nuclear arms reductions agreements like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (see William Hartung and Jonathan Reingold, "About Face," World Policy Institute, May 2002).

Gaffney, a member of the third incarnation of the Committee on Present Danger (CPD), established in June 2004, said that the CSP "prides itself on being loosely modeled" on an earlier version of the committee, which had been established in the 1970s to combat the politics of détente and push aggressive anti-Soviet defense policies (2002 Annual Report, Center for Security Policy).

In a 2002 article about the CSP, journalist Jason Vest likened the center to a latter-day version of the CPD: "Gaffney and CSP's prescriptions for national security have been fairly simple: Gut all arms control treaties, push ahead with weapons systems virtually everyone agrees should be killed (such as the V-22 Osprey), give no quarter to the Palestinians and, most important, go full-steam ahead on just about every national missile defense program" (Jason Vest, "The Men from JINSA and CSP," Nation, August 15, 2002).

CSP in the 1990s. Following a long tradition of advancing policy objectives through pressure groups and citizen committees, neoconservatives organized the Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf (CPSG) in 1990. A spin-off from the CSP, the CPSG, headed by Perle, mobilized bipartisan support for the George H.W. Bush administration's war plans in the Persian Gulf. CPSG received start-up funding from the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation and worked closely with Citizens for a Free Kuwait, a pressure group financed by the Kuwaiti monarchy (Jim Lobe, "Committee for the Liberation of Iraq Sets Up Shop," Foreign Policy In Focus, November 2002).

In 1998, paralleling a similar initiative at the time organized by neoconservatives at the then newly created Project for the New American Century, CPSG drafted a letter to President Bill Clinton to endorse attacking Iraq. The letter said: "We urge you to provide the leadership necessary to save ourselves and the world from the scourge of Saddam and the weapons of mass destruction that he refuses to relinquish." Among the letter's signatories were several prominent national security militarists and rightist figures, including Gaffney, Elliott Abrams, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Joshua Muravchik, Donald Rumsfeld, Frank Carlucci, Caspar Weinberger, and John Bolton, as well as a few putative liberal internationalists, Stephen Solarz and Robert Pastor. Other signatories were: Richard Allen, Richard Armitage, Jeffrey Bergner, Stephen Bryen, Richard Burt, William Clark, Paula Dobriansky, Fred Ikle, Zalmay Khalilzad, Sven Kraemer, Michael Ledeen, Bernard Lewis, Frederick Lewis, Jarvis Lynch, Robert McFarlane, Martin Peretz, Roger Robinson, Peter Rodman, Peter Rosenblatt, Gary Schmitt, Max Singer, Helmut Sonnenfeldt, Leon Wieseltier, David Wurmser, and Dov Zakheim ("Open Letter to the President," February 19, 1998).

CSP and its associates also spent much of the 1990s pushing extravagant threat claims and urging controversial weapons programs. As Gaffney proudly noted in his organization's 2002 annual report, CSP associates played key roles in two congressionally mandated commissions chaired by Rumsfeld—one on missile defense and the other on space weapons—as well as a commission concerned with the WMD proliferation and three commissions that addressed the perceived China threat (for more information, see the Right Web profiles, the Rumsfeld Missile Commission and the Rumsfeld Space Commission).

While spending enormous energy worrying about purported threats from Russia, Cuba, China, North Korea, and Iraq, the CSP missed the emergence of a new threat to U.S. security: international non-state terrorism. Before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the CSP had warned of terrorism's threat to the U.S. homeland but had equated that threat with potential missile attacks from Asia or the Middle East. The opening scenes of its 1998 "educational" videotape, "America the Vulnerable," show a missile launched from "somewhere in the Middle East" and vectoring toward the United States. After a barrage of clips juxtaposing scenes of frightened U.S. schoolchildren, mushroom clouds, and menacing Arab leaders such as Saddam Hussein, the video closed on a hopeful note by CSP advisory council member Henry Cooper, former director of Reagan's strategic defense initiative office and head of the missile defense advocacy group, High Frontier. A safe U.S. homeland, according to Cooper, is but "$2 to $3 billion dollars and three to four years away" (Silverstein, pp. 248-249).

The Bush Years. After George W. Bush became president, the CSP changed gears. Instead of working to consolidate congressional opposition to arms control or support for new weapons systems, the center began issuing a series of media releases and news commentaries congratulating the Bush foreign policy hardliners for championing CSP's "peace through strength" platform. By 2005, however, the CSP had become increasingly critical of Bush's foreign and military policy and his foreign policy team, which saw many of its neoconservative-aligned members leave the administration shortly into Bush's second term ("Eroding Sovereignty," CSP Decision Brief, August 20, 2007).

Despite its often harsh criticism of government officials, the CSP has managed to maintain a prominent position, in part through its ability to marshal a network of neoconservative activists, industry representatives, former high-ranking military officers, former defense officials, and former or current members of Congress to support its agenda. Although the CSP offers recommendations on most major foreign and military issues—with a special concentration on Israel, missile defense, nuclear weapons, the military budget, and China—Gaffney's outfit adheres to the key idea of peace through strength. Every year, the CSP bestows its "Keeper of the Flame" award on an individual who best exemplifies this credo. Recipients include Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Steve Forbes, Newt Gingrich, Christopher Cox, and James Schlesinger.

Addressing the November 2001 Keeper of the Flame banquet (the year it was given to Schlesinger) Rumsfeld turned toward Gaffney and said: "If there was any doubt about the power of your ideas, one only has to look at the number of center associates who people this administration—and particularly the Department of Defense—to dispel them." Standing in front of the CSP's large "Peace Through Strength" banner, Rumsfeld joked: "I was thinking about calling a staff meeting, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow morning" (Wil S. Hylton, "Dick and Don Go to War," Esquire, February 2002).

According to its own count, two dozen CSP directors and National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) members joined the first Bush administration. The number of CSP associates joining the administration rose steadily during the first three years of the Bush administration. CSP advisers who joined the administration include Perle, Abrams, Robert Andrews, Devon Gaffney Cross, J.D. Crouch, Mitchell Daniels, Kenneth deGraffenreid, Paula Dobriansky, Douglas Feith, Evan Galbraith, Marlin Hefti, Robert Joseph, Steven Kraemer, Keith Payne, Robert Reilly, Roger Robinson, James Roche, William Schneider Jr., Wayne Schroeder, José Sorzano, Michelle Van Cleave, Arthur Waldron, Pete Wilson, and Dov Zakheim (Center for Security Policy, Annual Report2002, p. 6).

Before becoming undersecretary of defense for policy, Feith was the CSP's chairman and legal counsel as well as a financial contributor. And Rumsfeld and Richard Cheney have long been close associates of CSP. Rumsfeld, in addition to being the 1998 Keeper of the Flame award winner, has been a CSP financial backer (see Michelle Ciarrocca and William D. Hartung, Axis of Influence: Behind Bush Administration's Missile Defense Revival, July 2002) . CSP has extolled Cheney's supposed good judgment since his service as a CSP board member ("Center Gives 'Attaboys' to Alumni Quayle, Cheney over Comments on Gulf Crisis," CSP Press Release, December 4, 1990).

The neoconservatives and militarists associated with CSP regarded the election of George W. Bush as an opportunity to bring their team into the heart of government. Zakheim, a former CSP adviser and past director of a major missile defense firm who became the Defense Department's comptroller, once said of CSP: "Basically this is family. We have been in the trenches together well before Frank set up the Center for Security Policy. It's an honor to be back with people that we know—in the Pentagon—are always with us" (Dov Zakheim, quoted in CSP 2002 Annual Report).

But Gaffney has been quick to criticize any perceived backtracking from the principles and imperatives of U.S. military supremacy. Consequently, he and other hawks have badgered the Bush administration when it has appeared to drift from the agenda outlined by neoconservatives, including faulting the administration for failing to increase substantially aid to an "independent" Taiwan, criticizing efforts to work with the United Nations, and complaining when officials express even mild concern about Israel's violation of international law and human rights (Frank Gaffney, "One War," Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2006).

In 2006 the CSP established an archive of the writings of Feith, who left the administration under a cloud of criticism over his connection to alleged efforts to misrepresent intel about Iraq before the 2003 invasion. In its introduction to the archive, the CSP states: "Anyone who wishes to understand the actual, extraordinary caliber of this man—and the loss to the country represented by his departure from public service—is invited to peruse his record of profoundly thoughtful, well-reasoned, and brilliantly articulated writings. And note will be taken of those who, by their persistent refusal to examine such materials, signal a laziness, indifference to the truth, and/or partisanship that is truly worthy of criticism, if not contempt" (CSP, "Doug Feith: On the Record").

The CSP's "peace through strength" mission is not limited to U.S. national security. A core component of its work is its view of Israeli national security. The CSP has sponsored several television ad campaigns that focus on Israeli policies. In May 2006, for example, the center launched an advertising campaign in the United States protesting the plan by the Israeli government to withdraw from some Palestinian territories, which the CSP said was "giving territory to terrorists." According to the CSP, the campaign targeted "Israel's proposed surrender of most of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem to terrorists like al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The ad recalled the consequences for Israeli and for U.S. interests of previous Israeli retreats from Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and urged U.S. officials to oppose further territorial concessions. The ad drew on analysis by CSP senior fellow Caroline Glick, a former member of the Israeli Defense Force and deputy editor of the Jerusalem Post ("Center for Security Policy Launches Ad Campaign to Stop Giving Territory to Terrorists").

In unveiling the 30-second spot, Gaffney said: "[Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert needs to know that Americans will not support, let alone finance, such an action that would threaten the future survival of both Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, endanger the effort to consolidate the liberation of Iraq, and create a new safe-haven from which Islamo-fascist terrorists will be able to plot and launch attacks against the United States."

CSP Projects. In recent years, the CSP has expanded its notion of national security to include immigration. In April 2006, the center launched its "Secure America" campaign. In introducing its campaign, the CSP said that "ongoing demonstrations" by immigrants were leading Congress to "give short shrift to contrary sentiments of millions of American citizens. All other things being equal, their views will be trumped by the folks who have dominated our dysfunctional border security and workplace policies for years: the vocal, highly disciplined, and well-financed special interest comprised of immigration lawyers, Latino activist organizations, and businesses that have long prospered by exploiting illegal aliens."

The CSP encouraged the U.S. public "to reverse this dynamic that entails real national security, as well as socio-economic, risks. One way to do so would be by challenging elected officials (and wannabes) to endorse the 'Secure America' pledge," which has 10 principles. The pledge stipulates: "Illegal aliens currently in the United States may be afforded a one-time opportunity to leave the United States without penalty and seek permission to reenter legally if they qualify under existing law. Those who do not take advantage of this opportunity will be removed and permanently barred from returning." The CSP points to a BearStearns study estimating that there may be as many as 20 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States, although most studies estimate 12-13 million. According to the pledge: "No federal, state, or local entity shall reward individuals for violating immigration laws by granting public benefits or services, or by issuing or accepting any form of identification, or by providing any other assistance that facilitates unlawful presence or employment in this country. All federal and law enforcement agencies shall cooperate fully with federal immigration authorities, and shall report to such authorities any information they receive indicating that an individual may have violated immigration laws."

The CSP explicitly ties the issue of immigration to the rise of the center-left in Latin America. In a May 1, 2006 policy brief entitled "Who's Losing Latin America?" the CSP warns that the "prospective surge in illegal immigration—perhaps coupled with a further radicalization of those already in this country—are just some of the reasons why these worrisome trends should command far greater attention from American policymakers and citizens alike. Despite the serious and almost-without-exception adverse implications of events throughout Central and South America for our strategic, trade, and security interests, however, neither the Bush administration nor either party in Congress is doing much to address them." The CSP's Hemispheric Security Project examines what it perceives as "threats to American interests in the Western Hemisphere" that have "direct and immediate impacts on the vital security and economic interests of the United States. Such threats can range from those internal to the region—notably the Castro-Chavez axis and democratic institutions faltering under their assault—to external threats such as the rising influence of the Communist Chinese government in the region and the continued spread of radical Islam" (The Menges Hemispheric Security Project, Center for Security Policy).

The center has set up a number of initiatives aimed at supporting the "war on terror," including the Coalition for Security, Liberty, and the Law, whose purpose is to support the USA Patriot Act. According to the coalition: "The government's success in preventing another catastrophic attack on the American homeland since September 11, 2001, would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without the USA Patriot Act. The authorities Congress provided have substantially enhanced our ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute acts of terror" ("Coalition for Security, Liberty, and the Law," Center for Security Policy).

CSP's Divest Terror project is modeled on the anti-apartheid divestment campaign. Divest Terror states: "By demanding that our public and private pension plans, college endowments, individual retirement account managers, 401(k) plans, and other investment vehicles exploit the leverage represented by investments in publicly traded companies that operate in terrorist-sponsoring states. In a unified front, we should all be saying 'This is my money and it will not go to support terror'" ("Divest Terror Mission Statement," Center for Security Policy).

With its "Islamist Project," CSP seeks to "explore the sources and manifestations of this ideology and promote political warfare, economic and financial divestment, and other techniques for countering Islamofascism." The project takes aim at such Islamic groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Islamic civil liberties group in America, and advocates instead, for Muslims whom it deems to be "moderate, mainstream" ("Mission of the Islamist Project," Center for Security Policy). Through Muslims Speak Out, a subproject of the Islamist Project founded in March 2006, the CSP amplifies these voices in an effort to counteract the influence of so-called "Islamofascists."

Other CSP Projects include: African Peace & Security; Asian Security; the Casey Institute; Congressional Watch; Defense and Deterrence; Energy Security; the Homefront Project; Homeland Institute; Middle East Security; Security and the Law; Setting the Record Straight; Sovereignty Project; and the War of Ideas.

Although a relatively small institute, the Center for Security Policy's board, staff, and advisers enjoy an array of financial links to military industries, with Lockheed Martin, the nation's largest defense contractor, particularly well represented. CSP board member Charles Kupperman is a vice president for business development at Boeing Missile Defense Systems. CSP adviser Brian Dailey is a vice president at Lockheed and a former executive director of the National Space Council (William Hartung and Michelle Ciarrocca "The Ties that Bind," World Policy Institute, October 2004).

Although CSP is not bashful about its liaisons with the arms industry, it is careful about what information it chooses to publicize. In its 2002 Annual Report, the center proudly noted that former CSP adviser James Roche joined the Bush II administration as secretary of the Air Force, but it failed to mention that Roche was also a vice president of Northrop Grumman—the nation's fifth-largest military contractor ("Dr. James G. Roche Stepped down as Secretary of the Air Force," Air Force Link, January 20, 2005) .

Members, Staff, and Funding. Gaffney's deep roots in the neoconservative camp extend as far back as the late 1970s, when he was an aide to Sen. Henry (Scoop) Jackson, leader of the Cold Warriors and Israel boosters in Congress. Gaffney served as the assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during the Reagan administration, following four years of service as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear forces and arms control policy. Before that, he was a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee under the chairmanship of the late Sen. John Tower, and a national security legislative aide to the late Senator Henry M. Jackson

Terry Elkes is currently the chairman of the CSP board's executive committee. He manages and co-owns Apollo Partners, LLC, a private equity firm engaged in acquiring media, communications, entertainment, and broadcasting companies. Elkes' experience in media acquisition dates back to his work as president and CEO of Viacom in the 1970s and 1980s ("Ralph Baruch Rode the Television Wave," Multichannel News, May 7, 2007).

James T. deGraffenreid is a former CSP chairman, and he remains on the board. He was a principal in two major defense-related industries: HP Associates (formerly Phillips Publishing), which is a "key information supplier to the Defense, Aviation, Telecommunication, and Energy Industries"; and First Service Networks (formerly Sure Air Corp) (Web Archive of "James T. deGraffenreid Chairman, Center Board of Directors," Center for Security Policy).

In addition to Gaffney, Kupperman, Elkes, and deGraffenreid, CSP's board of directors includes: Bruce J. Brotman, v ice president of strategic plans at National Biometric Security Project; Miles Prentice III , a partner at Eaton & Van Winkle; Dominic J. Monetta, president of Resource Alternatives, Inc.; Marlin L. Hefti, vice president, Van Scoyoc Associates; David P. Steinmann, managing director of American Securities and longtime chairman of Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA).

In 2003, the CSP established a board of regents for the purpose of "bringing our work to the attention of new and influential audiences, and in securing the resources needed to perform our many tasks." To complement the board of regents, the center also has a Regents' Council, "a group of younger professionals working closely with the Board of Regents" (Board of Regents, Center for Security Policy)."

CSP's NSAC illustrates the organization's strong connections to the military, government, and other right-wing institutes. The council has been co-chaired by Kyl and former CIA director James Woolsey. Other NSAC members include: former Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), former Sen. Robert Smith (R-NH), former Gov. Pete Wilson, Morris Amitay, Midge Decter, Daniel Gouré, Edwin Feulner of the Heritage Foundation, Phyllis Kaminsky, and Michael Rubin.

In an effort to establish working links with the armed forces, the CSP in 1999 created a committee of former high-ranking officers, the CSP Military Committee, which aims to "put U.S. national security once again on sound footing—not only in the war against terrorism but in the defense transformation that is so desperately needed." The committee includes an impressive array of former flag officers, such as the former Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic; the former commander-in-chief of U.S. Space Command; and the former Chief of Staff of Allied Powers in Europe. Former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Carl Mundy was the committee's first chairman. The current chairman, Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, is a past deputy commander of all U.S. Army forces in the Pacific. According to CSP, "General Vallely is working with other members of the Committee—many of whom are among the foremost national security practitioners and thinkers of our time—to engage the military community, and those attentive to its views, as catalysts for renewing America's defense capabilities and adopting effective peace-through-strength policies to guide their use." Vallely is also a co-chair of the Iran Policy Committee, and he sits on the advisory boards of the American Congress for Truth, of Family Security Matters, and of the International Intelligence Summit.

An important CSP supporter has been Irving Moskowitz, a JINSA director and rightist pro-Israel figure who has used earnings from his California bingo business to underwrite Israeli settler groups. Another prominent CSP backer is Lawrence Kadish, a New York investment banker, prominent patron of the Republican Party (as well as chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition), and financial backer of Americans for Victory over Terrorism (AVOT). Both he and Gaffney served as senior advisers to AVOT (see Jason Vest). Poju Zabludowicz, who has generously donated to CSP, is, according to journalist Jason Vest, "heir to a formidable diversified international empire that includes arms manufacturer Soltam—which once employed Perle—and benefactor of the recently established Britain Israel Communication and Research Centre, a London-based group that appears to equate reportage or commentary uncomplimentary to Zionism with anti-Semitism."

CSP has also attracted the usual cachet of right-wing foundations, which provide as much as two-thirds of the CSP's annual budget. Olin, Sarah Scaife, Carthage, Bradley, and a few other right-wing foundations provided at least $6.2 million to CSP in the 1988-2006 period (MediaTransparency.org).

Major weapons contractors such as Boeing, General Atomics, General Dynamics, Litton, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Thiokol, and TRW have shown their appreciation for the CSP's lobbying and public education campaigns through rising financial support. The CSP's annual reports indicate that the center has received more than $3 million in corporate support since 1988 ("Axis of Influence: Behind the Bush Administration's Missile Defense Revival," World Policy Institute, July 2002).