Founded in 1989 by Barry Blechman and Michael Krepon, the Stimson Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to offering practical solutions to problems of national and international security. From the beginning, the Stimson Center has been a place devoted to meaningful impact, a thorough integration of analysis and outreach, and a creative and innovative approach to problems. Perhaps the Center's chief advantage, and the primary reason for such support, has been the unquestioned expertise and credibility of its senior staff, a quality the Center is committed to maintaining.

Stimson draws inspiration from the life and work of Henry L. Stimson, whose distinguished career in foreign and defense policy reflected a singular ability to steer a steady course toward long-range public policy goals while serving presidents of both political parties. Although Henry Stimson could not have anticipated many of the challenges that confront the world a half-century after his second tenure as secretary of war, we believe that his practical, non-partisan approach to the issues remains as relevant today as in his lifetime. The Stimson Center has a 21-year track record of meaningful work on key international security issues. Past projects have covered a wide range of topic areas, from eliminating weapons of mass destruction, to the roles and missions of the US Armed Forces, to confidence-building measures for the Korean Peninsula.

The Stimson Center's work is focused on three priorities that are essential to global security:

-strengthening institutions for international peace and security

-building regional security, and

-reducing weapons of mass destruction and transnational threats

Stimson's approach is pragmatic - geared toward providing policy alternatives, solving problems, and overcoming obstacles to a more peaceful and secure world. Through in-depth research and analysis, we seek to understand and illuminate complex issues. By engaging policymakers, policy implementers, and nongovernmental institutions as well as other experts, we craft recommendations that are cross-partisan, actionable, and effective.

 

PROGRAMS

Innovation has always been a core value of the Stimson community. Increasingly, stove-piped thinking and policy responses no longer yield lasting solutions in our complex world. Stimson works independently from the rhetorical flourish of political ideas, at the level of practitioners seeking pragmatic solutions.

 

TRANSNATIONAL THREATS

-Environmental Security

-Managing Across Boundaries

-Space Security

-Unblocking the Road to Zero

 

REGIONAL SECURITY

-East Asia

-Regional Voices

-South Asia

-Southeast Asia

-Southwest Asia/Gulf

 

EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONS

-Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense

-Future of Peace Operations

-Global Health Security

-Security for a New Century Study Group