First CPD (1950s) On December 12, 1950,
James Conant,
Tracy Voorhees and
Vannevar Bush announced the creation of the committee on the Present Danger. The group was formed in order to support the Truman Administration's remilitarization plans contained within
NSC 68. 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
Director of Central Intelligence William Casey,
National Security Advisor Richard V. Allen,
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick,
Secretary of the Navy John Lehman,
Secretary of State George Shultz, and
Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle. Reagan himself was a member in 1979.
Founding members of the second CPD •
Achilles, Theodore C. •
Allen, Richard V. •
Allison, John M. •
Anderson, Eugenie •
Beam, Jacob D. •
Bellow, Saul •
Bendetsen, Karl R. •
Burgess, W. Randolph •
Cabot, John M. •
Casey, William J, •
Chaikin, Sol C. •
Cline, Ray S. •
Colby, William E. •
Connally, John B. •
Connor, John T. •
Darden, Colgate W. Jr. •
Dean, Arthur H. •
Dillon, C. Douglas •
Dogole, S. Harrison •
Dominick, Peter H. •
Dowling, Walter •
DuBrow, Evelyn •
Farrell, James T. •
Fellman, David •
Fowler, Henry H. •
Frelinghuysen, Peter H. B. •
Glazer, Nathan •
Goodpaster, Andrew J. •
Grace, J. Peter •
Gray, Gordon •
Handlin, Oscar •
Hauser, Rita E. •
Hurewitz, J. C. •
Johnson, Chalmers •
Jordan, David C. •
Kampelman, Max M. •
Kemp, Geoffrey •
Keyserling, Leon H. •
Kirkland, Lane •
Kirkpatrick, Jeanne J. •
Kohler Foy D. •
Krogh, Peter •
Lefever, Ernest W. •
Lemnitzer, Lyman L. •
Libby, W. F. •
Lipset, Seymour Martin •
Lovestone, Jay •
Luce, Clare Boothe •
Martin, William McChesney Jr. •
McCabe, Edward A. •
McGhee, George C. •
McNair, Robert E. •
Morse, Joshua M. •
Muller, Steven •
Mulliken, Robert S. •
Myerson, Bess •
Nitze, Paul H. •
Olmsted, George •
Packard, David •
Podhoretz, Midge Dector •
Podhoretz, Norman •
Ramey, Estelle R. •
Ramsey, Paul •
Ridgway, Matthew B. •
Rostow, Eugene V. •
Rusk, Dean •
Rustin, Bayard •
Saltzman, Charles E. •
Scaife, Richard M. •
Schifter, Richard •
Seabury, Paul •
Shanker, Albert •
Tanham, George K. •
Taylor, Maxwell D. •
Teller, Edward •
Tyroler, Charles, II. •
Van Cleave, William R. •
Walker, Charls E. •
Wigner, Eugene P. •
Wilcox, Francis O. •
Wolfe, Bertram D. •
Zumwalt, Elmo R. Third CPD (2004) In June 2004,
The Hill reported that a third incarnation of CPD was being planned, to address the
war on terrorism. 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.
Fourth CPD (2019) The fourth iteration of the Committee on the Present Danger was unveiled on March 25, 2019. The revived CPDC was focused on education and advocacy on a perceived existential and ideological threat posed by Communist China to the United States. The relaunched organization was announced with
Frank Gaffney, a former White House official under
Ronald Reagan, playing a key role. Its stated aim is to "educate and inform American citizens and policymakers about the existential threats presented from the People's Republic of China under the misrule of the
Chinese Communist Party". Between 2000 and 2023, there were 224 reported instances of Chinese espionage directed at the United States. The CPDC takes the view that there is "no hope of coexistence with China as long as the Communist Party governs the country". 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."
Members The Committee on the Present Danger: China lists a variety of members including the former politicians and national security professionals, White House officials, business leaders, and others: •
Frank Gaffney •
Greg Autry •
Steve Bannon •
J. Kyle Bass •
William Bennett •
William G. Boykin •
Robert Charles •
Kenneth DeGraffenreid •
Paula DeSutter •
Nicholas Eftimiades •
Kevin Freeman •
Bob Fu •
Richard Fisher •
Mark Helprin •
Rosemary Gibson •
Steven L. Kwast •
Tidal McCoy •
Robert McEwen •
Thomas McInerney •
Steven W. Mosher •
Jay Lucas •
Scott Perry •
Benedict Peters •
Miles Prentice •
Suzanne Scholte •
Arthur Waldron •
Frank Wolf •
R. James Woolsey Jr. •
Yang Jianli 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. 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.
Charles W. Freeman Jr. at the
Watson Institute called the CPDC "a ''
Who's Who'' of contemporary
wing-nuts, very few of whom have any expertise at all about China and most of whom represent ideological causes only peripherally connected to it." ==See also==