American Enterprise Institute announces new Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies

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American Enterprise Institute (AEI) President Arthur Brooks announced today the creation of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at AEI. Named in honor of former U.S. Ambassador to Finland and AEI trustee Marilyn Ware, the Center will substantially increase AEI's capacity to address the nation's most pressing security and defense concerns. Ambassador Ware's new multimillion-dollar initiative creating the Center is another example of her long-standing generous and visionary support of AEI's work in defense and strategic studies. Her previous gifts in support of AEI's work exceed $3 million.

The Center's establishment could not come at a more crucial time, with the U.S. military's budget being slashed, U.S. armed forces engaged in a difficult war in Central Asia, the prospect of a new conflict in the Middle East, grave uncertainty in North Africa, the continuing threat of terrorism and the rise of China as a new competitive great power. The Center's goal is to become the country's thought leader in the area of grand strategy and strategic analysis.

In a special message to AEI's Board of Trustees, Brooks thanked Ambassador Ware for her confidence and support: "Marilyn Ware has always been an innovator in both business and philanthropy. The new Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies, made possible by her generosity and vision, will be transformative in its impact. I am confident that the new Center will play a major part in keeping our country strong and perpetuating the values and principles we, allied democracies, and others seeking political freedom and economic liberty hold dear."

"I believe that a strong America is a force for good and a force for freedom and security," said Ambassador Ware. "AEI is leading this fight thanks to its unrivaled scholarly expertise and a consistent ability to turn great ideas into real-world solutions. This Center will define America's proper role in an increasingly changing and challenging world and will provide analysis and proposals designed to make America more secure now and in the years to come."

The new Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies will:

• define the proper aims of American military power and articulate its use to ensure America's continued standing as a force for good in the world;

• identify the diplomatic, economic and military means necessary to maintain U.S. leadership and alliances around the globe;

• promote human liberty, individual opportunity and the ideal conditions for the expansion of free enterprise, believing that these values have made America strong and have given so much hope and prosperity to others around the world.

The Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies will merge and strengthen two existing AEI programs: the Center for Defense Studies and the Program on Advanced Strategic Studies, directed by AEI resident scholars Thomas Donnelly and Gary Schmitt, respectively. Donnelly and Schmitt will serve as co-directors of the new Marilyn Ware Center.

Thanks to Ambassador Ware's steadfast support, AEI will expand its ranks of defense and strategic experts and cultivate our nation's next generation of leaders. To that end, defense policy expert Mackenzie Eaglen has recently joined AEI as a resident fellow, and her work will be an important part of the new Center.

For media inquiries, please contact Véronique Rodman at vrodman@aei.org (202.862.4871).

To learn more about how to donate to AEI, please contact Jason Bertsch, AEI's vice president of development, at jbertsch@aei.org (202.862.5873), or visit www.aei.org/support.