U.S. National Security System Deemed "Fundamentally at Risk"

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A congressionally-mandated study released Wednesday
concludes the national security of the United States is "fundamentally at risk"
and recommends a major overall of the system designed more than 60 years ago to
protect the nation.

The 751-page report by the Project on National Security Reform (PNSR)
states the threats today are so "diffuse and ambiguous" that the national
security system needs to be more agile and collaborative. Current national
security problems are undermined by the government's inability to formulate
effective policy and to act in an integrated manner across multiple agencies.

"The terrorist attacks of 9/11, troubled stability operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and poor response to Hurricane Katrina provide compelling evidence
of the inadequacy of current arrangements," PSNR Executive Director James
Locher said during a panel discussion discussing the study's findings.  "These
setbacks were not coincidental. They evidence a system failure."

The report cites major problems with a national security system that
supports individual departments and agencies at the expense of cooperation;
provides resources based on narrow mandates; agencies that fail to coordinate
and implement policies, an overburdened White House unable to manage the system
and inadequacies with Congressional oversight and budgeting.

Locher noted, however, that while there is "compelling evidence the
national security system is broken... it is fixable."