In his remarks to HEPAP, Undersecretary Orbach requested a dialog with the HEP community: "In making our plans for the future, it is important to be conservative and to learn from our experiences. Even assuming a positive decision to build an ILC, the schedules will almost certainly be lengthier than the optimistic projections. Completing the R&D and engineering design, negotiating an international structure, selecting a site, obtaining firm financial commitments, and building the machine could take us well into the mid-2020s, if not later. Within this context, I would like to re-engage HEPAP in discussion of the future of particle physics. If the ILC were not to turn on until the middle or end of the 2020s, what are the right investment choices to ensure the vitality and continuity of the field during the next two to three decades and to maximize the potential for major discovery during that period?"

With the encouragement of the Office of Science and the support of Professor Mel Shochet, the chair of HEPAP, Fermilab will develop a strategic roadmap for the evolution of the accelerator-based HEP program, focusing on facilities at Fermilab that will provide discovery opportunities in the next two to three decades. This roadmap should keep the construction of the ILC as a goal of paramount importance. To guide this proposal, the Fermilab Director has appointed a Steering Group consisting of members from Fermilab and the national particle and accelerator physics community to insure that the plan serves national needs. The Steering Group will also engage additional constituents in the analysis of the various physics opportunities.

The Steering Group will build the roadmap based on the recommendations of the EPP2010 National Academy report and the recommendations of the P5 subpanel of HEPAP. The Steering Group should consider the Fermilab based facilities in the context of the global particle physics program. Specifically the group should develop a strategic roadmap that:

1. supports the international R&D and engineering design for as early a start of the ILC as possible and supports the development of Fermilab as a potential host site for the ILC;
2. develops options for an accelerator-based high energy physics program in the event the start of the ILC construction is slower than the technically-limited schedule; and
3. includes the steps necessary to explore higher energy colliders that might follow the ILC or be needed should the results from LHC point toward a higher energy than that planned for the ILC.

I am asking Deputy Director Kim to chair the Steering Group. Any recommendations that might be relevant to the FY09 budget should be transmitted as early as possible. The Steering Group's final report should be finished and delivered to the Fermilab Director by August 1, 2007. This deadline would allow for presentations to the DOE and its advisory bodies before the structuring of the FY2010 budget.