In the fall of 1999 the Ethics and Public Policy Center initiated a new joint project with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation called the Ronald Reagan Institute for Public Policy. The Institute's inaugural event, a conference entitled "Rebuilding American Power" was held on November 12, 1999.

The conference featured a keynote address by former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, a luncheon address by Paul Wolfowitz, dean of Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and three topical panels. Each paper presented for a panel is reprinted here.

The first panel, "National Strategy and Military Power," featured a paper by Eliot Cohen, Director of Strategic Studies at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Andrew Bacevich, Director of the Center for International Relations at Boston University, led the second panel, with a paper on " Leadership, Manpower, and Morale." The day-long conference ended with a presentation by Michael Vickers, Director of Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, on the subject of, "Science, Technology, and Military Strength."