The Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, also referred to as the Defense Policy Board (DPBAC or DPB), is a federal advisory committee to the United States Department of Defense. Their charter is available online through the office of the Director of Administration and Management of the Department of Defense. The committee type is discretionary.
Richard Perle was the chairman of the committee during the initial years of the George W. Bush administration.
Excerpt of Objectives and Scope of Activities from charter:
1. The Defense Policy Board will serve the public interest by providing the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy. It will focus upon long-term, enduring issues central to strategic planning for the Department of Defense and will be responsible for research and analysis of topics, long or short range, addressed to it by the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
Announcements for upcoming meetings of the DPBAC are published in the Federal Register.
Historically, the DPBAC has mostly served as a method for the Pentagon to leverage consulting expertise in the private sector. However, the DPBAC served a very powerful and influential role in foreign policy in the George W. Bush presidency. Former Chairman Richard Perle was an influence in the decision to go to war in Iraq, and Jack Keane was instrumental in the implementation of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.
On 1 July 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced a new lineup that Matthew B. Stannard said offered a look at Gates' defense priorities.