This issue of The National Interest marks the beginning of a new era in the life of the magazine. A new era that will be continuous with the old-that must be emphasized. But, after sixteen years, it is not surprising that there will be changes:

-Owen Harries, the founding Editor, is retiring and will be leaving in June to return to Australia, whence he came. The National Interest has been "his" magazine to the degree it has been anyone's, and his departure is painful to us all. The pain,however, will be assuaged by his remaining our Editor Emeritus and an active Consulting Editor.

-Irving Kristol, who has been Publisher since the founding of the magazine, will step down and become Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board. The new Publisher, we are pleased to announce, will be James Schlesinger, who needs no introduction to our readers.Conrad M. Black, another past contributor to our pages, will remain Chairman of the Advisory Board and will be joined in that position by Henry Kissinger.

-Adam Garfinkle, formerly Executive Editor of the magazine, will now be Editor.

-A new nonprofit organization, The National Interest, Inc., will replace National Affairs, Inc. as the institutional publisher. This organization represents a partnership between Hollinger International, Inc. (of which Mr. Black is Chairman) and The Nixon Center in Washington, DC.

All of the "new names" are also "old names," having been associated with The National Interest for many years. So the magazine itself will undergo no kind of radical transformation. It will be recognizably what it has been over the past two decades, a magazine we are all proud of.