Committee on the Present Danger

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The Committee on the Present Danger (CPD) is the name used by a succession of American

China Communist Party.[3]

Overview

The committee first met in 1950, founded by Tracy Voorhees, to promote the plans proposed in NSC 68 by Paul Nitze and Dean Acheson. It lobbied the government directly and sought to influence public opinion through a publicity campaign, notably a weekly radio broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System throughout 1951.[5] This iteration was effectively disbanded after 1952, following the appointment of Voorhees and others to senior positions in the administration.[6]

It was privately revived in March 1976 to try to influence the

CIA's future reporting on the Soviet threat.[citation needed] This iteration of the CPD provided 33 officials to the Ronald Reagan administration, plus Reagan himself.[7]

History

First CPD (1950s)

On December 12, 1950,

James Conant, Tracy Voorhees and Vannevar Bush announced the creation of the committee on the Present Danger.[5] The group was formed in order to support the Truman Administration's remilitarization plans contained within NSC 68.[5] The 'present danger' to which the group's title referred was "the aggressive designs of the Soviet Union", the CPD announced.[5]

Members of the First CPD

Second CPD (1970s)

On November 11, 1976, the second iteration was announced. The name of this version of the committee was "borrow[ed]" from the 1950s version, and was not a direct successor.[8]

Some of its members lobbied for, and were members of, the 1976 Team B, providing an opposing view to the CIA's Team A.

Thirty-three officials of the Reagan administration were CPD members, including

. Reagan himself was a member in 1979.

Founding members of the second CPD

Third CPD (2004)

War on Terrorism.[4] This incarnation of the committee was still active as of 2008. The head of the 2004 CPD, PR pro and former Reagan adviser Peter D. Hannaford, explained, "we saw a parallel" between the Soviet threat and the threat from terrorism. The message that CPD will convey through lobbying, media work and conferences is that the war on terror needs to be won, he said.[4]

Members of the 2004 CPD included Vice President for Policy

Robert C. McFarlane, and Reagan administration official and 1976 Committee founder Max Kampelman.[4] At the July 20, 2004, launching of the 2004 CPD, Lieberman and Senator Jon Kyl were identified as the honorary co-chairs.[9]

Fourth CPD (2019)

Committee on the Present Danger: China
Logo of the Committee on the Present Danger: China

The fourth CPD was established on March 25, 2019 as the

hawkish.[12]

In a statement on the launch of the committee, the Population Research Institute stated:

"The United States is in a new cold war. The Chinese Communist Party poses the greatest threat to both the United States and the world since the fall of the Soviet Union. Then, as now, the threat of a totalitarian regime with an evil ideology – one that is willing to kill 400 million of its own unborn children – must be stopped."[13]

Members of the Fourth CPD

Source:[14]

Criticisms

The CPDC has been criticized as promoting a revival of Red Scare politics in the United States, and for the involvement of Frank Gaffney and activist Steve Bannon.[10][15] David Skidmore, writing for The Diplomat, described it as the latest instance of "what was once referred to as the 'military-industrial complex'” influencing policy.[15]

See also

References

  1. OCLC 65562600
    .
  2. .
  3. ^ a b "Steve Bannon helps revive US cold war-era committee to target China". South China Morning Post. March 26, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Kirchick, James (June 30, 2004). "Cold warriors return for war on terrorism". The Hill. Archived from the original on December 19, 2006.
  5. ^ .
  6. .
  7. . Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  8. .
  9. ^ Lieberman, Joe and Jon Kyl (July 20, 2004). "The Present Danger". The Washington Post.
  10. ^ a b Swanson, Ana (July 20, 2019). "A New Red Scare Is Reshaping Washington". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  11. ^ Wu, Wendy (March 26, 2019). "Cold War is back: Bannon helps revive U.S. committee to target 'aggressive totalitarian foe' China". Politico. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  12. ^ Rogin, Josh (April 10, 2019). "China hawks call on America to fight a new Cold War". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  13. ^ "Distinguished Team Launches the Committee on the Present Danger: China". PRI. March 28, 2019. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  14. ^ "Members". Committee on the Present Danger. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Skidmore, David (July 23, 2019). "The US Scare Campaign Against China: The political calculations behind exaggerating the 'present danger' – from the Cold War to today". The Diplomat. Retrieved December 31, 2020.

Further reading

  • Boies, John, and Nelson A. Pichardo (1993–1994). "The Committee on the Present Danger: A Case for the Importance of Elite Social Movement Organizations to Theories of Social Movements and the State". Berkeley Journal of Sociology 38: 57-87.
    JSTOR 41035466
    .
  • Singh, Robert. "Neoconservatism in the Age of Obama", in Inderjeet Parmar, ed., Obama and the World (Routledge, 2014). pp. 51–62.
  • Vaïsse, Justin (2010). "Chapter 5: Nuclear Alarm: The Committee on the Present Danger". Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement. Belknap. .
  • Walker, Martin (1995). The Cold War: A History. Chapter 11: "The Death of Détente and the Change of the Western System"; and Chapter 12: "The New Cold War". Macmillan. .

External links