William J. Schneider Jr. (born November 20, 1941) is an American who has served in a number of federal government positions. Schneider served as Under-Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, and later became a member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). He was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, PNAC Letter sent to President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

that encouraged an attack against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. In that same year he served on the

Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States The Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, commonly called the Rumsfeld Commission, was an independent commission formed by the US Congress to evaluate the ballistic missile threat posed to the United States. The g ...

, which came to the conclusion that Iraq could develop a ballistic missile capable of striking the US in ten years. In January 2001, as President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

prepared to take office, Schneider served on a panel for

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

issues sponsored by the National Institute for Public Policy, a conservative

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

. Other members of the panel included

Stephen Hadley Stephen John Hadley (born February 13, 1947) is an American attorney and senior government official who served as the 20th United States National Security Advisor from 2005 to 2009. He served under President George W. Bush during the second term ...

Stephen Cambone Stephen Anthony Cambone (born June 22, 1952) was the first United States Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, a post created in March 2003. Cambone first came to the attention of the public at large during the testimony of Major General An ...

, and

Robert Joseph Robert G. Joseph (born 1949) is a senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and professor at Missouri State University. He was the United States Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation, with ambassadorial rank.Amb. Robert Jos ...

, who later were appointed to senior positions in the Bush administration. This panel advocated using tactical nuclear weapons as a standard part of the United States defense arsenal. In 2001 he was appointed by the

US Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

to the

Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry The Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry (CFUSAI) was formed jointly by United States President George W. Bush and the United States Congress in 2001. Its first public meeting was held on November 27, 2001, and its final ...

. Schneider was selected by

Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...

to chair the

Defense Science Board The Defense Science Board (DSB) is a committee of civilian experts appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters. It was established in 1956 on the recommendation of the second Hoover Commission. Charter ...

. In this position, Schneider continued to advocate using nuclear weapons in certain limited first-strike situations.

External links

The Iran Plans
by Seymour Hersh, from

the New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, William J. Harvard University alumni Living people United States Under Secretaries of State 1941 births