Investigators
William J. Perry - Stanford University
Ashton B. Carter - John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall - Stanford University

The Preventive Defense Project is a research collaboration of Stanford University and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, co-directed by William J. Perry and Ashton B. Carter. Preventive Defense is a concept for American defense strategy in the post-Cold War era, premised on the belief that the absence of an imminent, major, traditional military threat to American security presents today's leaders with an unaccustomed challenge and opportunity to prevent future Cold War-scale threats to international security from emerging. While the U.S. defense establishment must continue to deter major regional conflicts and provide peacekeeping and humanitarian relief missions when necessary, its highest priority is to contribute to forestalling developments that could directly threaten the survival and vital interests of American citizens.

To this end, the Project focuses on forging productive security partnerships with Russia and its neighbors, engaging an emerging China, addressing the lethal legacy of Cold War weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and countering WMD proliferation and potential acts of catastrophic terrorism. Through intense personal interaction with political and military leaders around the world, the Project nourishes a highly informed but non-governmental "track-two" dialogue that explores opportunities for international innovation, agreement and cooperation. In doing so, PDP seeks to devise creative new policy approaches that reflect a preventive defense posture. The Preventive Defense Project is also examining the U.S. government's structural capacity to deal with security challenges of a new era.

Contact
Deborah C. Gordon

Funding provided by
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Packard Foundation
• W. Alton Jones Foundation
• Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Compton Foundation, Inc., and private sources