"...over the long term, the United States cannot kill or capture its way to victory. Where possible, what the military calls kinetic operations should be subordinated to measures aimed at promoting better governance, economic programs that spur development, and efforts to address the grievances among the discontented, from whom the terrorists recruit." Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2009

Read NSI's recently released paper - Fragility and Extremism in Yemen - here.

As the events of 9/11 tragically demonstrated, a few determined individuals can threaten U.S. strategic interests. Their actions were in large part facilitated by safe-haven provided by a weak and radical government in Afghanistan, demonstrating that fragile states – never considered a strategic priority during the Cold War – are central in today’s international security landscape.

The inability of failed states to carry out basic functions—securing their own borders and populations, providing essential civil services and public goods, and maintaining rule of law and governing legitimacy—can spark a range of crises that might undermine U.S. strategic interests, involving terrorism, international crime, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and limiting US access to vital natural resources. Neutralizing these threats posed by state failure is rightly becoming top a national security priority.

This ongoing project addresses this new strategic imperative by asking the question: how can the U.S. help stabilize key fragile states before they fail and threaten national security interests? The goal of the project is to produce a comprehensive report that, foremost, evaluates which non-military instruments of U.S. foreign policy would be most effective at addressing such threats with respect to the three key arenas of security, governing services, and civic resilience. This facilitates a natural transition to the debate regarding the bureaucratic structures and interagency cooperation necessary for planning, funding, coordinating, and implementing foreign assistance missions.

In addition, the project will analyze the underlying sources of fragility; scrutinize commonly held assumptions about fragile states; determine the nature of the threat that fragile states pose to U.S. national security; and ultimately develop concrete proposals for designing and implementing policy structures and instruments that can help to stabilize fragile states.

The Stabilizing Fragile States project was formerly chaired by General (ret.) James L. Jones, who was the Supreme Allied Commander for NATO and the Commander of the U.S. European Command. Previously, he was the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps. Jones retired from active duty in February 2007, after more than 40 years of service, following which he served as the president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber Institute for 21st Century Energy. During the same time, he also served as chairman of three boards of directors, representing both the business and national security sectors of the United States. At the request of Congress, Jones chaired the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq. In November of 2007, General Jones was named Special Envoy for Middle East Security by the Department of State.

On December 1, 2008 President Obama announced Jones as his selection for National Security Advisor. He is no longer directly affiliated with the project.

In addition, Steering Committee member Michele Fluornoy joined the Obama Administration as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Ms. Fluornoy was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 9, 2009 and is no longer directly affiliated with the project.