The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservativeThe following refer to or label PNAC as a neoconservative organization:First Impressions, Second Thoughts: Reflections on the Changing Role of Think Tanks in U.S. Foreign Policy , Abelson, Critical Issues of Our Time, v. 8, Center for American Studies, University of Western Ontario, 2011Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power, David Rothkopf, PublicAffairs, 2006 think tank based in Washington, D.C., that focused on United States foreign policy. It was established as a non-profit educational organization in 1997, and founded by William Kristol and Robert Kagan.Home page of the , accessed March 4, 2015.Elliott Abrams, et al., , June 3, 1997, newamericancentury.org, accessed May 28, 2007. PNAC's stated goal was "to promote American global leadership"., newamericancentury.org, n.d., accessed May 30, 2007: "Established in the spring of 1997, the Project for the New American Century is a non-profit, educational organization whose goal is to promote American global leadership. The Project was an initiative of the New Citizenship Project (501c3); the New Citizenship Project's chairman is William Kristol and its president is Gary Schmitt." The organization stated that "American leadership is good both for America and for the world", and sought to build support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity". of the Project for a New American Century:
Of the twenty-five people who signed PNAC's founding statement of principles, ten went on to serve in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. United States Foreign Policy and National Identity in the 21st Century, Kenneth Christie (ed.), Routledge, 2008Max Boot, "Neocons", Foreign Policy No. 140 (January–February 2004), pp. 20–22, 24, 26, 28 JSTOR "The PNAC's 33 leaders were highly connected with the American state – displaying 115 such connections: 27 with the Department of Defense, 13 with State, 12 with the White House, 10 with the National Security Council, and 23 with Congress." "The PNAC may be considered strongly integrated into the political and administrative machinery of US power; certainly, it is not an outsider institution in this regard." "Of the twenty-five signatories of the PNAC's Statement of Principles ... ten went on to serve in the George W. Bush administration, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, among others." Observers such as Irwin Stelzer and Dave Grondin have suggested that the PNAC played a key role in shaping the foreign policy of the Bush Administration, particularly in building support for the Iraq War.(on PNAC, founded by Kristol): "Its other founders included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliot Abrams, all of whom were destined for key positions in the Bush administration – with the exception of Kristol." "No one can doubt that PNAC was an important contributor to the Bush administration's foreign policy. To suggest, however, that it is a part of some secret effort to overthrow traditional American foreign policy is not true.""Critics have made much of the fact that US actions after 9/11 seemed to follow neoconservative thinking on foreign and security policy formulated before Bush took office", p. 72. "In particular, Rebuilding American Defenses ... is often cited as evidence that a blueprint for American domination of the world was implemented under of cover of the War on Terrorism", p. 72."It is often argued that the neo-cons hijacked the Bush administration – particularly through the influence of PNAC.""There can be no question that the September 2002 'National security strategy of the United States of America,' announcing a Bush doctrine predicated upon military prevention, regime change, and enhanced defence spending, has been heavily influenced by neoconservative writings. Among these have been works published under the aegis of the 'Project for a new American century,' including Rebuilding America's Defenses (by Donald Kagan, Gary Schmitt, and Thomas Donnelly), and Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy (by William Kristol and Robert Kagan)." pp. 231–232. Academics such as Inderjeet Parmar, Phillip Hammond, and Donald E. Abelson have said PNAC's influence on the George W. Bush administration has been exaggerated.
The Project for the New American Century ceased to function in 2006; it was replaced by a new think-tank named the Foreign Policy Initiative, co-founded by Kristol and Kagan in 2009. The Foreign Policy Initiative was dissolved in 2017.
Origins and operation The Project for the New American Century developed from Kristol and Kagan's belief that the Republican Party lacked a "compelling vision for American foreign policy", which would allow Republican leaders to effectively criticize President Bill Clinton's foreign policy record.
During mid-1996, Kristol and Kagan co-authored an article in Foreign Affairs titled "Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy" – referring to the foreign policy of President Ronald Reagan. In the article, they argued that American conservatives were "adrift" in the area of foreign policy, advocated a "more elevated vision of America's international role", and suggested that the United States' should adopt a stance of "benevolent global hegemony." In June 1997, Kristol and Kagan founded the PNAC in order to advance the goals they had first laid out in Foreign Affairs, echoing the article's statements and goals in PNAC's founding Statement of Principles.
According to Maria Ryan, the individuals who signed the PNAC's statements and letters were not employees or members of the group, and "supporters of PNAC's initiatives differed from case to case." While its permanent staff was relatively small, the organization was "especially well connected", with some of its statements and letters attracting the support of prominent conservatives and neoconservatives.
In this regard, Stuart Elden has stated that "The influence that PNAC had was astonishing", and noted thatThe number of figures associated with PNAC that had been members of the Reagan or the first Bush administration and the number that would take up office with the administration of the second President Bush demonstrate that it is not merely a question of employees and budgets. Terror and Territory: The Spatial Extent of Sovereignty, Stuart Elden, Univ of Minnesota Press, 2009, p. 15
Statement of Principles PNAC's first public act was to release a "Statement of Principles" on June 3, 1997. The statement had 25 signers, including project members and outside supporters (see Signatories to Statement of Principles). It described the United States as the "world's pre-eminent power", and said that the nation faced a challenge to "shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests". To this goal, the statement's signers called for significant increases in defense spending, and for the promotion of "political and economic freedom abroad". It said the United States should strengthen ties with its democratic allies, "challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values", and preserve and extend "an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles". Calling for a "Reaganite" policy of "military strength and moral clarity", it concluded that PNAC's principles were necessary "if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next".
In September 2000 PNAC released "Rebuilding America's Defenses" a report that promotes "the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces". The report states, "advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool".
Calls for regime change in Iraq In 1998, Kristol and Kagan advocated regime change in Iraq throughout the Iraq disarmament process through articles that were published in the New York Times. Following perceived Iraqi unwillingness to co-operate with UN weapons inspections, core members of the PNAC including Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, R. James Woolsey, Elliott Abrams, Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Zoellick, and John Bolton were among the signatories of an open letter initiated by the PNAC to President Bill Clinton calling for the removal of Saddam Hussein. Portraying Saddam Hussein as a threat to the United States, its Middle East allies, and oil resources in the region, and emphasizing the potential danger of any weapons of mass destruction under Iraq's control, the letter asserted that the United States could "no longer depend on our partners in the Gulf War to continue to uphold the sanctions or to punish Saddam when he blocks or evades UN inspections". Stating that American policy "cannot continue to be crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN Security Council", the letter's signatories asserted that "the U.S. has the authority under existing UN resolutions to take the necessary steps, including military steps, to protect our vital interests in the Gulf"., January 26, 1998, accessed May 28, 2007. Believing that UN sanctions against Iraq would be an ineffective means of disarming Iraq, PNAC members also wrote a letter to Republican members of the U.S. Congress Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott,Elliott Abrams, et al.,, May 28, 1998, newamericancentury.org, accessed May 30, 2007. urging Congress to act, and supported the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (H.R. 4655)Arin, Kubilay Yado (2013): Think Tanks, the Brain Trusts of US Foreign Policy. (Wiesbaden: VS Springer) ."Public Law 105–338—Oct. 31, 1998. Iraq Liberation Act of 1998" Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, January 27, 1998, accessed June 20, 2014. which President Clinton signed into law in October 1998.
In February 1998, some of the same individuals who had signed the PNAC letter in January also signed a similar letter to Clinton, from the bipartisan Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf.
In January 1999, the PNAC circulated a memo that criticized the December 1998 bombing of Iraq in Operation Desert Fox as ineffective. The memo questioned the viability of Iraqi democratic opposition, which the U.S. was supporting through the Iraq Liberation Act, and referred to any "containment" policy as an illusion., January 7, 1999, newamericancentury.org, web.archive.org, accessed May 30, 2007.