It provided strictly confidential advisories to the U.S. government on conduct in the war and the subsequent peace.
Its full title was Studies of American Interests in the War and the Peace.
The project was divided into four major areas: economic and financial, security and armaments, territorial, and political.
A steering committee was created in December 1939 chaired by U.S diplomat Norman Davis with Foreign Affairs editor Hamilton Fish Armstrong as vice-chairman.
Initial area heads were:[1] A research secretary was appointed to each group: From March 1942, the project supplied research secretaries to the State Department's Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policy, with each group's secretary serving the corresponding subcommittee at the State Department.