Change Of Hart

Former Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO) will succeed former Defense Secretary William Perry as chairman of the State Department's International Security Advisory Board, Secretary of State John Kerry recently announced. The panel provides independent advice and insight on scientific, technical and policy aspects of arms control, disarmament, nonproliferation, international security and related aspects of public diplomacy. The board is sponsored and overseen by acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller and provides its recommendations through Gottemoeller to Kerry and other department officials. Perry will remain a board member.

"Bill Perry and Gary Hart are two brilliant strategic thinkers whose guidance and insight I’ve been privileged to lean on for many years," Kerry said in a statement late last week. "I greatly appreciate Dr. Perry's skillful and superb leadership of the [board] over two very productive years, and I am looking forward to similarly impressive results under Senator Hart, who is rightly regarded as an ahead of the curve leader on international security issues."

Hart previously co-chaired the Hart-Rudman commission, which predicted in 1999 that terrorism would bloody American soil in the 21st century.

InsideDefense.com reported on June 28 that Perry and retired Gen. John Abizaid would lead an independent panel tasked with assessing the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review.