Bipartisan Group of 8 Former U.S. Defense Secretaries Send Letter to U.S. Congressional Leadership in Support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2016 - On Thursday, April 28 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) will convene a conference call with reporters on behalf of former United States Defense Secretaries William S. Cohen and Leon E. Panetta, who will discuss a letter they and six former Defense Secretaries today sent to the U.S. congressional leadership in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).

Former U.S. Defense Secretaries Harold Brown (1977-1981), Frank C. Carlucci (1987-1989), William J. Perry (1994-1997), William S. Cohen (1997-2001), Donald H. Rumsfeld (1975-1977, 2001-2006), Robert M. Gates (2006-2011), Leon E. Panetta (2011-2013), and Charles T. Hagel (2013-2015) have sent a letter to the U.S. congressional leadership urging them to “support the TPP and to help the United States maintain its leadership in furthering a modern era in the 21st Century defined by peace and prosperity.” A copy of the letter is available by visiting this link.

CSIS’s role in this endeavor is to assist former Secretaries Brown, Cohen, and Panetta who are members of the CSIS Board of Trustees. We are assisting them and their co-signatories by transmitting the letter, posting it to the CSIS website, and convening a conference call. CSIS President and CEO John Hamre will moderate the conference call. CSIS does not take policy positions as a Center.

CONFERENCE CALL DIAL-IN:
In the United States: 800-288-8967
International: 612-288-0337

TO JOIN THE CONFERENCE CALL, PLEASE RSVP TO ANDREW SCHWARTZ, aschwartz@csis.org

###

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1962 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It seeks to advance global security and prosperity by providing strategic insights and policy solutions to decisionmakers.