The Committee on the Present Danger (CPD) is the name used by a succession of American anti-communist foreign policy interest groups. Throughout its four iterations—in the 1950s, the 1970s, the 2000s, and 2019—it has influenced foreign policy since the administration of Harry S. Truman. Its first iteration disbanded as its leading members joined the Dwight Eisenhower administration, leading for it to be reformed in 1976 to counter the Soviet Union during the cold war. This iteration achieved notable success during the Reagan administration. The third iteration was formed by veterans of the Cold War in 2004 in support of the war on terror. The fourth iteration, the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) returned the group to its anti-communist roots with a focus on the threat posed to the United States by the China Communist Party.

Overview

The committee first met in 1950, founded by Tracy Voorhees, to promote the plans proposed in NSC 68 by Paul Nitze and Dean Acheson. It lobbied the government directly and sought to influence public opinion through a publicity campaign, notably a weekly radio broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System throughout 1951. This iteration was effectively disbanded after 1952, following the appointment of Voorhees and others to senior positions in the administration. It was privately revived in March 1976 to try to influence the presidential candidates and their advisors. After Jimmy Carter won the election, CPD went public again and spent the next four years lobbying, particularly against détente and the SALT II agreement. Its hawkish conclusions influenced the CIA's future reporting on the Soviet threat. This iteration of the CPD provided 33 officials to the Ronald Reagan administration, plus Reagan himself.

History

First CPD (1950s)

On December 12, 1950, James Conant, Tracy Voorhees and Vannevar Bush announced the creation of the committee on the Present Danger. The group was formed in order to support the Truman Administration's remilitarization plans contained within NSC 68. The 'present danger' to which the group's title referred was "the aggressive designs of the Soviet Union", the CPD announced.

Members of the First CPD

Second CPD (1970s)

On November 11, 1976, the second iteration was announced. The name of this version of the committee was "borrow[ed]" from the 1950s version, and was not a direct successor. Some of its members lobbied for, and were members of, the 1976 Team B, providing an opposing view to the CIA's Team A. Thirty-three officials of the Reagan administration were CPD members, including Director of Central Intelligence William Casey, National Security Advisor Richard V. Allen, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, Secretary of State George Shultz, and Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle. Reagan himself was a member in 1979.

Founding members of the second CPD

Third CPD (2004)

In June 2004, The Hill reported that a third incarnation of CPD was being planned, to address the War on Terrorism. This incarnation of the committee was still active as of 2008. The head of the 2004 CPD, PR pro and former Reagan adviser Peter D. Hannaford, explained, "we saw a parallel" between the Soviet threat and the threat from terrorism. The message that CPD will convey through lobbying, media work and conferences is that the war on terror needs to be won, he said. Members of the 2004 CPD included Vice President for Policy Larry Haas, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, former CIA director R. James Woolsey Jr., former National Security Advisor to President Reagan, Robert C. McFarlane, and Reagan administration official and 1976 Committee founder Max Kampelman. At the July 20, 2004, launching of the 2004 CPD, Lieberman and Senator Jon Kyl were identified as the honorary co-chairs.

Fourth CPD (2019)

The fourth CPD was established on March 25, 2019 as the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC). It is focused on education and advocacy on the existential and ideological threat to the United States posed by Communist China. It has been described as hawkish. In a statement on the launch of the committee, the Population Research Institute stated: "'The United States is in a new cold war. The Chinese Communist Party poses the greatest threat to both the United States and the world since the fall of the Soviet Union. Then, as now, the threat of a totalitarian regime with an evil ideology – one that is willing to kill 400 million of its own unborn children – must be stopped.'"

Members of the Fourth CPD

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Criticisms

The CPDC has been criticized as promoting a revival of Red Scare politics in the United States, and for the involvement of Frank Gaffney and activist Steve Bannon. David Skidmore, writing for The Diplomat, described it as the latest instance of "what was once referred to as the 'military-industrial complex'” influencing policy.