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The Weekly GAB Friday, September 15, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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USGLC in the News

THE HILL
On Afghanistan, Generals Know the Lessons From Charlie Wilson's War

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Liz Schrayer, President & CEO, USGLC

The Twin Towers fell 16 years ago, and our country has been engaged in
Afghanistan practically every day since. So, like many Americans, I
listened with great interest as President Trump outlined our
country's new strategy for tackling our nation's longest
war. I heard the expected plans to deploy additional military support
to the Afghan government. But my ears perked up when the president
declared that "another fundamental pillar of our new strategy is
the integration of all instruments of American power -
diplomatic, economic and military - toward a successful
outcome."

FOREIGN POLICY
Foreign-Policy Uber Report Targets State Department Overhaul |

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Ruby Mellen

A new report released Thursday sends a strong message to Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson just as he begins his top-to-bottom overhaul of
Foggy Bottom: To enhance national security, don't sacrifice aid
and diplomacy. First among the report's findings is a broad
consensus that State should "ensure a distinct and independent
U.S. development agency." ... "Nearly all reports agree
that diplomacy and development have different, equally important
strategic missions that require a distinct and independent development
agency."

Top Headline

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Senators in Search of a Foreign Policy |

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The Editorial Board

What's needed is a robust foreign policy led by a reinvigorated
State Department that right now is suffering from presidential
neglect, poor leadership and an absence of professional firepower in
pivotal positions. Two people who understand the urgency of helping
the department recover from the damages inflicted by Mr. Trump are
Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Patrick
Leahy, Democrat of Vermont. Leading members of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, they have sought to rally their colleagues
around a bipartisan spending bill for 2018 that would strengthen the
department and replenish important foreign aid programs.

Who's in the News

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Let's Keep Investing in the World's Poor

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Bill and Melinda Gates

The two of us have spent nearly every day of the past 17 years working
on the fight against disease and poverty, but today, we are concerned.
After a generation of historic progress, the world's commitment
to helping its poorest people is more uncertain than at any time since
we started our foundation. President Donald Trump has recommended a
cut of some 30% to the State Department's budget, which includes
the funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and most
of America's investments in global health. Congress is unlikely
to go along with such large cuts, but our best guess is that, by the
time the dust settles, key foreign-aid programs will be scaled back.

DEVEX
Mark Green on Why He Is an 'Optimist' About USAID |

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Michael Igoe

Mark Green, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International
Development, believes that under the right circumstances, the end of a
foreign assistance program can be cause for a "massive
celebration." Speaking with Devex, Green said he would focus on
procurement reform, "strategic transitions" for countries
to wean themselves off U.S. assistance, new ways to measure country
capacity, and technological innovation. The USAID chief now faces the
challenge of doing that in service to a president who has proposed
cutting billions of dollars from U.S. foreign assistance, and at a
time when humanitarian needs vastly outpace funding.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Reclaiming America's Values

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Former Vice President Joe Biden

In over 45 years of working in global affairs, I've observed a
simple truth: America's ability to lead the world depends not
just on the example of our power, but on the power of our example. The
constant American endeavor to live by our values is a great strength
that has drawn generations of strivers and dreamers to the United
States, enriching our population. Around the world, other nations
follow our lead because they know that America does not simply protect
its own interests, but tries to advance the aspirations of all. This
has stood as the foundation of American foreign policy throughout my
political career - until recently.

THE HILL
Trade With South Korea Makes America a Stronger Nation

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Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

The president's threats and actions on trade has hurt our
allies, our economy and in particular, our farmers...To begin with,
South Korea is a close American ally who is under serious and perhaps
imminent threat of nuclear war with North Korea, one of the most
dangerous nations in our time. This is not only a national security
issue of the highest magnitude, but a serious attack on our trade
relationship with a key ally that will impact numerous industries and
jobs in America. The reciprocal trade between the U.S. and South Korea
runs into the tens of billions of dollars, benefitting both countries.
Especially hard hit would be American agriculture, which has made good
progress in recent years in selling agricultural commodities to South
Korea.

Development & Diplomacy

POLITICO
Tillerson Offers Peek Into State Dept. Redesign Plan |

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Nahal Toosi

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hopes to save as much as $10 billion
over five years under his plan to restructure the State Department by
better aligning, if not outright merging, it with USAID. In an email
sent to State Department employees Wednesday, Tillerson offered just a
glimpse into his plan to reshape the department, a blueprint that he
said he would submit to the White House Office of Management and
Budget this week. His main point, however, focused on ways to better
coordinate what the State Department does with what USAID does.
Tillerson never explicitly says he wants to merge the two entities,
which would probably require congressional approval, but leaves the
impression that he wants to eliminate redundancies.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Diplomacy? Tillerson Says His Top Priority Is Efficiency |

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Gardiner Harris

Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said Thursday that the most
important thing he could do during his tenure was to make the State
Department more efficient, and in a lengthy letter to employees he
promised that the efforts would yield significant savings. To his
critics, his remarks and the letter outlining his proposals were
simply more evidence of their contention that the former petroleum
engineer is still acting like a corporate chief executive and not the
nation's chief diplomat. "The most important thing I can
do is to enable this organization to be more effective, more efficient
and for all of you to take greater satisfaction in what you do day in
and day out," Mr. Tillerson told a gathering of embassy
employees in London.

DEVEX
New OPIC Chief: 'I'm Here to Build it' Not Wind it Down |

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Adva Saldinger

For the better part of the past year, a cloud of uncertainty has
shrouded the future of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation,
but its new CEO is unequivocal about one thing: he's there to
build the organization, not shut it down. "I think OPIC has a
very exciting future. I'm a builder of businesses, I'm not a lawyer or
someone who's an administrator to wind something down or babysit it,
I'm here to build it," Ray Washburne told Devex in an exclusive
interview. Washburne has already taken on the role of agency advocate
with Congress - meeting with congressmen and senators to talk
about OPIC and educate them about what the agency does.

CNN

State Dept. Official to Travel to Myanmar Following Rohingya Attacks
|

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Michelle Kosinski and Laura Koran

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy will travel to
Myanmar to meet with officials this weekend regarding the violence in
the country, including the attacks on Rohingya Muslims. Murphy
summoned Myanmar's ambassador to the US, Aung Lynn, Wednesday to
express US concerns about the violence, including recent attacks on
Rohingya villages, according to a senior State Department official,
who called the message sent by the move "a tough one." Murphy also
emphasized the need for easier access for aid groups trying to reach
Rakhine state, where journalists and human rights advocates have also
been kept out.

REUTERS
Global Hunger Rises for First Time in Decade: U.N. Agencies |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=8TNs-myzlgnsVSVWhfa8iA

Alex Whiting

Global hunger levels have risen for the first time in more than a
decade, now affecting 11 percent of the world's population, as
conflict, climate change and economic woes bite, U.N. agencies said on
Friday. Last year, 815 million people were hungry - 38 million more
than in 2015 - the five agencies said in the first global assessment
since governments set an international target to eliminate hunger and
malnutrition by 2030, as one of a set of so-called Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). The number of hungry began to rise in 2014,
but this is the first time in more then a decade that the proportion
of the global population going hungry has risen.

Politics & Foreign Policy

ROLL CALL

Senate Appropriators Reject Trump Administration's
'Apparent Doctrine of Retreat' |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=G7PbyTnSQaiOCY5YB-Tn6g

Niels Lesniewski

Senate appropriators are rejecting the Trump administration's
foreign policy, blasting what they call an "apparent doctrine of
retreat." Appropriations Committee reports are not usually
must-reads, but the report to accompany the next fiscal year's
State-Foreign Operations spending package might be the exception. The
bill and report go beyond just dismissing the budget request. The most
biting commentary came in the introduction to the report, saying that
the purported "message of strength and resolve in President
Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 budget request, "is not
reflected in the International Affairs budget request."

THE WASHINGTON POST
Latest North Korea Missile Launch Suggests Guam Is Within Reach |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=YyRtIdpb8GYmmFsn1qPfIQ

Adam Taylor, Laris Karklis and Tim Meko

On Friday morning, a North Korean ballistic missile flew over the
Japanese island of Hokkaido and into the Pacific Ocean. This was the
second time in less than three weeks that a missile has flown over
Japan; worryingly, it came just a day after Pyongyang said that Japan
"should be sunken into the sea." However, as sirens
sounded in Japan, Americans quickly grew concerned that the real
threat revealed by this latest missile test was not just against Japan
but also the U.S. territory of Guam. North Korea's missile, believed
to be an intermediate-range Hwasong-12, had flown 2,300 miles in just
over 17 minutes, according to South Korea's joint chiefs of staff.
That range means that Guam, which lies 2,100 miles from North Korea,
is now in reach.

POLITICO
U.N. Braces for Trump Tirade |

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Nahal Toosi

President Donald Trump has denounced "the utter weakness and
incompetence" of the United Nations, derided it as "a club for
people to get together, talk and have a good time," and proposed
deep cuts to its U.S. taxpayer funding. Trump will likely take a more
measured approach when he attends the U.N. General Assembly in New
York next week, according to sources tracking the issue inside and
outside his administration. In one of his most visible moments yet as
a statesman, Trump will deliver a speech to dozens of world leaders on
Tuesday in line with past presidential addresses to the annual
gathering.


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