People in the news

Rand Beers

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate (since June 2009)

(Netroots 08)

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At a Glance

  • Career History: Acting Deputy Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (February-April 2009); National security adviser to John F. Kerry 's presidential campaign, (2004); National Security Council , senior director for combating terrorism (2002-2003)
  • Hometown: Washington, D.C.
  • Alma Mater: Dartmouth College, B.A.; University of Michigan, M.A. (History), 1970
  • Spouse: Bonnie Beers
 

Path to Power

Beers was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He went to Dartmouth College and spent four years in the Army afterwards, during which time he led a rifle company in Vietnam He received a master's degree in history from the University of Michigan in 1970.

Beers entered the Foreign Service in 1971 and held a variety of positions there until 1983. From 1983 to 1988 during the Reagan administration, he held civil service positions in the State Department. During his tenure at state, he was: deputy assistant secretary for regional affairs and export control, deputy for strategy and the operations coordinator for regional affairs and security assistance, director of the Office of Security Analysis and the Office of International Security Policy and deputy director of the Office of Policy Analysis.

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The Issues

Beers advocates a policy of engagement that is consistent with Obama's campaign pledge to always use diplomacy before military force. "You have to find ways to talk about this that doesn't sound like you're condemning the entire Islamic world," said Beers. "You're not going to ultimately succeed unless we can find friends and allies in the Muslim world."

In the years since he left the White House, Beers has spoken and written publicly about his foreign policy views, articulating an approach that emphasizes using non-military as well as military personnel in the war against terror. "We are asking our firemen, policemen, Customs and Coast Guard to do far more with far less than we ever ask of our military," he told the Boston Globe.

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The Network

With over three decades in the federal government, Beers is well-connected throughout foreign policy circles in Washington, D.C. He worked closely with former chief counter-terrorism adviser on the NSC Richard A. Clarke, who attracted attention in 2004 when he released his memoir Against All Enemies. Clarke, like Beers, is a career civil servant who served in Republican and Democratic presidential administrations. He was opposed to what he saw as the reckless course of the George W. Bush administration.

The National Security Network's advisory board reads as a who's who of major left-leaning defense and security experts. It includes Gen. Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander for NATO and candidate for president in the Democratic primaries, Richard Holbrooke who served as United Nations ambassador under President Clinton, and Anne-Marie Slaughter, former dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, who is Obama State Department director of policy planning.

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Additional Resources

  1. http://www.nsnetwork.org/about
  2. Blumenfeld, Laura, "Former Bush Intelligence Insider Assails Counterterrorism Tactics," Boston Globe,June 16, 2003
  3. Blumenfeld, Laura, "Former Bush Intelligence Insider Assails Counterterrorism Tactics," Boston Globe,June 16, 2003
  4. Beers, Rand, "No Torture, No Exceptions," Washington Monthly, January/February/March 2008, http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.beers.html
  5. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rand_Beers
  6. http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/node/14935
  7. Blumenfeld, Laura, "Former Bush Intelligence Insider Assails Counterterrorism Tactics," Boston Globe, June 16, 2003, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0616-01.htm
  8. Kopel, David B., and Krauss, Michael, "This is Kerry on Drugs," Reason, July 15, 2004, http://www.reason.com/news/show/32535.html
  9. Shane, Scott, "Rand Beers," New York Times, Nov. 18, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/us/politics/18web-beers.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
  10. Donohue, Sean, "The Toxic Career of Rand Beers," Counterpunch, Jan. 26, 2004, http://www.counterpunch.org/donahue01262004.html
  11. http://www.nsnetwork.org/about/board
  12. Shane, Scott, "Rand Beers," New York Times, Nov. 18, 2008
  13. Shane, Scott, "Rand Beers," New York Times, Nov. 18, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/us/politics/18web-beers.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss