Center for National Policy

The Center for National Policy (CNP) is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy organization dedicated to engaging government leaders with practical policy solutions on global security. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CNP brings together decision makers, policy experts, opinion leaders and the American public to encourage innovative policy and programs on the challenges facing America’s national security, including U.S. engagement abroad, national security and intelligence reform, terrorism, proliferation, homeland security, post-conflict reconstruction, as well as the budgetary, trade and educational tools required to meet these challenges.

=History=The Center for National Policy was founded in 1981. It is currently led by Tim Roemer, former six-term member of Congress from Indiana and member of the 9/11 Commission. Peter Kovler, Director of the Majorie Kovler Fund, serves as Chairman of the Center, succeeding Leon Panetta, CNP’s National Advisory Board Chair and former White House Chief of Staff.

Previous Presidents and Chairmen of CNP include three former U.S. Secretaries of State, Madeleine Albright, Edmund Muskie and Cyrus Vance. Other CNP Board members have included former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas Foley, former Republican Members of Congress Jack Buechner and Rod Chandler, and former Democratic Members of Congress John Brademas and Michael Barnes.

=Nuclear Security Study Group=

NSSG Background

In the spring of 2005, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded CNP a two year grant to launch the Nuclear Security Study Group (NSSG), a program specifically designed to help improve Congressional understanding and deliberation of nuclear security issues. The NSSG includes twenty-nine Representatives and eight Senators who are committed to building a bi-partisan consensus to place nuclear security at the top of America’s national security agenda.Since its inception in 2005, the program has sought to directly engage members of both houses of Congress, as well as their senior and working-level staff. CNP specifically designed programs to suit each audience. Our Nuclear Security Study Group provides members of Congress with an intimate, non-confrontational, media-free setting to encourage a full and comprehensive discussion of the issues. We also host a Nuclear Security Speakers Series, which provides a regular opportunity for Congressional staff to engage a broader cross-section of the nuclear security community to explore the most pressing issues, with a special emphasis on helping to bridge the technical and political divides which so often hamper Congressional action on these issues.

These programs are an excellent way of bringing together the Congress and its staff with executive branch officials, as well as nuclear experts from across the academic, policy, and non-profit community. Since the series began, over 400 individual policy professionals have attended one or more of these events. During the 109th and 110th Congresses, speakers included such leaders in the field as former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Senator Sam Nunn, among others.

Over the past few years, the nuclear proliferation landscape has become increasingly more complex: North Korea is believed to have tested a plutonium-core nuclear warhead, Iran continues to enrich uranium, and India, locked in a strategic conflict with Pakistan and China, is expanding its nuclear program. If this trend continues, experts warn there will be up to 25 nuclear weapons states in coming decades, dramatically increasing the likelihood of an accidental or deliberate nuclear detonation.

In the context of such a threat, it is critical that Washington’s policy making community have the capacity to address such issues in a knowledgeable, thoughtful and strategic fashion. Providing key decision makers with access to the experts and information is now more critical than ever, and we are pleased that the MacArthur Foundation has renewed our grant for an additional two years in 2007.

NSSG Members

Senate MembersSenator Harry Reid, Senator Pete Domenici, Senator Diane Feinstein, Senator Jack Reed, Senator Evan Bayh, Senator Barack Obama, Senator Robert Menendez, Senator Ron Wyden

House MembersRep. Rob Andrews, Rep. Yvette Clarke, Rep. Jim Cooper, Rep. Joe Courtney, Rep. Chet Edwards, Rep. Brad Ellsworth, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Rep. Jane Harman, Rep. David Hobson, Rep. Rush Holt, Rep. Steve Israel, Rep. Hank Johnson, Rep. Ray Lahood, Rep. Jim Langevin, Rep. Ron Lewis, Rep. John Linder, Rep. Ed Markey, Rep. Martin Meehan, Rep. Patrick Murphy, Rep. Rick Renzi, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, Rep. Dave Reichert, Rep. Mike Rogers (Alabama), Rep. Mike Rogers (Michigan), Rep. Joe Sestak, Rep. Chris Shays, Rep. Brad Sherman, Rep. John Spratt, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, Rep. Mac Thornberry

=Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award=

Muskie Award Background

The Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Service Award honors the late Edmund S. Muskie (1914-1996) who served in the Navy, as governor of Maine, as U.S. senator and as U.S. secretary of state. He chaired the CNP board following his retirement from government service.

Past Muskie Recipients

1996
*Madeleine Albright

1997
*Hon. Lee Hamilton, U.S. House of Representatives

1998
*Hillary Clinton

1999
*Hon. Charles Dodd, U.S. Senate
*Hon. John Warner, U.S. Senate

2000
*Hon. William Cohen, Secretary of Defense

2002
*Hon. Charles Rangel, U.S. House of Representatives
*Hon. Amory Houghton, U.S. House of Representatives

2003
*Hon. Robert Byrd, U.S. Senate
*Hon. Richard Lugar, U.S. Senate

2004
*Hon. Charles Hagel, U.S. Senate
*Hon. Edward Kennedy, U.S. Senate

2005
*Hon. John McCain, U.S. Senate
*Hon. Mark Warner, Governor of Virginia

2006
*Hon. John Murtha, U.S. House of Representatives

2007
*Hon. Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House of Representatives
*Hon. Susan Collins, U.S. Senate

=President=The Honorable Timothy J. Roemer serves as President of the Center for National Policy. From the floor of the U.S. Congress to the chambers of the 9/11 Commission, Tim Roemer has dedicated his professional career to strengthening national security and improving education in America. As Congressman from the Third District of Indiana (1991-2003), Roemer was recognized for his successful leadership on legislation that helped improve America’s competitiveness by balancing the federal budget, reforming elementary and secondary public education and improving the affordability of higher education.

Roemer was well acquainted with Capitol Hill before he served in Congress, having worked on the staffs of Representative John Brademas of Indiana (1978-1979) and Senator Dennis DeConcini of Arizona (1985-1989).

After the attacks of September 11th, Roemer used his position on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to support the work of a Joint Congressional Inquiry into the nature of the attacks. Roemer also was the key sponsor of legislation to establish the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known as “The 9/11 Commission.”

Since leaving Congress in 2003, Roemer has continued to work on developing ways to strengthen national security as President of the Center for National Policy. He has promoted new ideas on national security issues on NBC Nightly News, CNN, FOX, NPR and in the pages of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report and others. As a Distinguished Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Roemer works with Members of Congress and staff to improve public policy outcomes by teaching on the legislative branch and policy analysis.

Roemer currently serves on the board of the Osh Kosh Truck Corporation, the Adams Memorial Foundation, and the Meridian International Center. He previously served on the board of the Trust for Historic Preservation. He holds a PhD in American Government from the University of Notre Dame. Roemer also earned his MA from Notre Dame and received his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.

Tim Roemer married Sally Johnston in 1989 and they have four children: Patrick, Matthew, Sarah and Grace. They attend St. Thomas a’ Becket Catholic Church and live in Great Falls, Virginia. Roemer enjoys coaching his children’s basketball teams, reading history and biography, playing sports, and collecting old, used first edition books.

=CNP Board of Directors=

*Peter B. Kovler, Chairman (CNP), The Marjorie Kovler Fund, Washington, D.C.
*Leon E. Panetta, National Advisory Board Chairman (CNP), Panetta Institute, Monterey, CA
*Tim Roemer, President, Center for National Policy, Washington, D.C.
*Michael Evans, Counsel, Preston Gates, Washington, D.C.
*Stephanie O'Keefe, Treasurer, Retirement Security Project, Washington, DC
*Michael Barnes, Director, The Brady Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, Washington, DC Washington, D.C.
*John Brademas, Director, New York University, New York, NY
*John Bridgeland, Director, Civic Enterprises, Washington, DC
*Robert Brooks, Director, Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
*Jack Buechner, Director, Presidential Classroom, Alexandria, VA
*Robert Cavnar, Director, Milagro Exploration, Houston, TX
*John Freidenrich, Director, Regis Management Company, Palo Alto, CA
*David Geanacopoulos, Director, Volkswagen of America, Washington, DC
*Daniel Glickman, Director, Motion Picture Association of America, Washington, DC
*Benjamin Heineman, Director, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
*Lester Hyman, Director, Swidler & Berlin, Washington, DC
*Markos Kounalakis, Director, The Washington Monthly, Washington, DC
*Maurice Tempelsman, Director, Lazare Kaplan International, New York, NY
*Samuel Tenenbaum, Director, Lexington, SC

=External links =
* [http://www.cnponline.org/ Center for National Policy Homepage]