As I assume my responsibilities and duties as CDI's President, I wish to express my gratitude for your support and share my thoughts about the future direction of this vital organization.

The challenge is evident. Despite the decline or disappearance of most threats to American vital interests at home and abroad, U.S. military spending is not abating but growing. A drumbeat of threat-mongering amidst warning cries of starvation defense budgets continues to drown out voices of reason in the political debate and drive spending to new heights. That the level of current military spending is scarcely below the Cold-War average and is misallocated to boot is sad testimony to a lack of political leadership, sound financial management, and public attention. Similarly, leadership and judgment are in short supply as nuclear insecurity grows around the world.

CDI needs to raise its voice and make it heard like never before if we are to hold our policymakers accountable and rectify the situation. CDI also needs its messages to flow from solid, objective, and astute analysis conforming to principles of truth-seeking and fairness.

In tackling the problem of military spending, it is important to review, without preconception, the future military needs of the country. This entails a comprehensive analysis of threats and of the military requirements those threats imply, including the strategy and forces the United States should acquire. CDI will undertake this ambitious project which, once completed, will provide a framework for a positive statement of the defense posture, weapons systems, and budget that CDI deems justified, as well as a framework for critically evaluating weapons that deserve scorn and rejection. If done well, this review would fill a void in the debate inasmuch as other official and unofficial efforts along these lines have been either superficial or biased.

In the course of conducting this end-to-end review, we will rigorously illuminate regional military balances such as the confrontations on the Korean Peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait, and become a responsive source of information and commentary whenever crises erupt in such regions. CDI will occupy a special niche in providing up-to-date information, images (including video, as discussed later) and analysis.

Another linchpin in CDI's program on military spending will be a stronger effort to investigate and report issues that deserve greater exposure. CDI's tradition of watchdog monitoring of the budget and related defense issues will be intensified.

On the nuclear front, the area of my particular expertise, I foresee a growing portfolio of issues for CDI's attention. As a nation we find ourselves in deepening trouble over our nuclear relations with Russia, China, and proliferant states. Nuclear arms control has a weak pulse, weapons of mass destruction continue to spread, and the deteriorating operational safety of the world's nuclear arsenals, particularly Russia's, poses a growing danger of mistaken or unauthorized use or theft. The nuclear establishments in the United States and Russia continue to keep many thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert, poised for launch on a moment's notice, an inherently dangerous stance rationalized on the grounds that they need to be able to promptly destroy thousands of targets in each other's country in order to deter each other from launching a deliberate cold-blooded attack.

CDI must relentlessly call policymakers to task for this sorry state of affairs. A grain of common sense is sufficient to understand that far smaller arsenals on far lower levels of alert are adequate to deter, and that the more serious threats to our security stem from the risk of accidental use that accompanies the hair-trigger configuration of our missile forces, and from the proliferation of weapons that has been stimulated instead of retarded by the poor examples set by U.S. and Russian nuclear policies. To drive home the fact that U.S. policy in this area defies reason, let me note that during the past five years our nuclear planners have increased the number of targets in the U.S. strategic war plan from 2,500 to 3,000, and added China to the attack plan.

While concentrating on military spending and the nuclear threat, CDI will continue to work on topical subjects on a case-by-case basis. Our rich portfolio of current issues include child soldiers, landmines, failed states, environmental degradation, NATO expansion, U.S. security policy toward Russia, China, and South Asia, national ballistic missile defense, and proliferation.

CDI's success in informing the public and influencing policymakers depends not only on our credibility, but also on our ability to get our message into widespread circulation, reaching audiences inside and outside the Washington beltway with clear and compelling information. It has been my experience that even with excellent contacts with Congress, the Executive Branch, and the media, change occurs slowly in the absence of pressure from constituents around the country.

In addition to The Defense Monitor, CDI possesses a unique asset for popular outreach: television program production and dissemination. Our messages lend themselves to visual imagery for television and, in the future, for Internet broadcasting over broadband computer networks. We are accelerating our efforts to acquire the capability to stream TV-quality video through our web site. Through this and other media innovations, we will better serve our traditional audience and, hopefully, attract a broader audience that could coalesce into the critical mass of public interest that everyone aspires to catalyze.

Our loyal supporters can look to CDI to take the lead in advancing our common agenda of sensible nuclear policy and military spending. We will work hard to reverse spending growth, and to move us toward the global elimination of nuclear weapons. One ambitious but feasible CDI goal is to help bring about a stand-down of nuclear forces worldwide, getting all the arsenals of all nations off hair-trigger alert, and putting their bombs in storage.

Your dedication to our cause gives me a deep sense of confidence and optimism about our chances of success. I am eager to join you in this quest. I pledge CDI's utmost effort to fulfill the hope that your support represents.

I value your feedback. Please convey to me your views of CDI's goals, effectiveness, and opportunities. My e-mail is bblair@cdi.org and office phone is 202-332-0600 Ext. 111. I look forward to hearing from and working with you.

                                                                              Bruce G. Blair