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Dear Hunter,

We have a pro-development oped that Secretary Perry has agreed to sign,
which we would like to find a CEO as cosigner for. (We've heard from
Kerry's folks that the jobs/CEO arguments are more likely to work than pure
security arguments for the development budget). We were working on Gates -
but as you saw, I'm sure, he came out with his own oped today in the Post.
That's terrific for the cause! But we still need a co-signer for Sec.
Perry!

I've attached and pasted the oped below - do you have any thoughts for a
prominent CEO who might be appropriate to co-sign?

With many thanks
Rachel

*Development and Security op-ed*


As we write this, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction in
Congress is working to eliminate over a trillion dollars from the federal
budget. This is an important and difficult task: no nation remains strong
when it buckles under a weak economy. For this reason, we urge the
committee to uphold a crucial rule for reducing our deficit while ensuring
our nation's strength. Do not decouple Congress' vision, which finally
placed diplomacy and development in our national security budget, alongside
defense, homeland security and intelligence. Defunding diplomacy and
development would save pennies today and cost millions tomorrow in lost
economic opportunities, and new security threats.


We have served as a Secretary of Defense and [LEADING CEO]. Our
experience in war and in business has taught us that sound strategy must
drive our budgetary choices, never the other way round. Simply put, we must
not allow short-term political debates to dictate our strategy for
protecting America and ensuring our economic strength in a new and
challenging century. Our strategy must instead depend on a clear-eyed
assessment of the world we face, the challenges and opportunities before
us, and the tools we will need to control our future.


America confronts a hyper-connected world. The threats we face, from
terrorist networks to the economic contagion that has slowed our economic
recovery, are born of this hyper-connectivity. We learned on September
11ththat a plot created in the poverty-stricken villages of
Afghanistan could
change the Manhattan skyline.


Yet America cannot simply unplug from the world. Our greatest
opportunities, and our path back to prosperity, flow from the same
interconnection. Our nation’s CEO’s know that small investments in
stability abroad yield significant returns to the bottom lines of America’s
job-producing companies. The jobs that will end this recession will be
built in a global economy - an economy in which half the world’s consumers
living in China and India buy quality goods made here in America.


Our roots as a nation of builders, business owners, explorers, and
inventors demand that we embrace the challenge of this new, interconnected
globe. This is a time to lead and to build – not a time to withdraw from
the world and cede the future to other countries.


Today, we need our diplomats and development workers more than ever. The
Arab Spring has ushered in a new era of challenge and opportunity, as a new
generation seizes control of its own destiny. If they are to succeed in
their effort to create a newly free and stable Middle East, they will need
support that only the State Department and USAID can provide. Meanwhile,
only 300 million of the world's nearly 7 billion citizens live in the
United States - if our economy is to grow again, we need people around the
globe to have stability and prosperity so that they can buy American
products. Our development aid and State Department efforts are crucial to
creating a world in which such growth and opportunity can thrive, to the
benefit of America and the world.


Foreign aid and development programs account for less than one percent of
the federal budget, yet they are vital to our national and economic
security. Unfortunately, these essential programs are also politically
vulnerable. Last year, congress drastically cut programs that develop and
strengthen our democratic allies. Congress also slashed nearly 20% from the
budget of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a Bush Administration
program that builds global stability. And this year, Congress is
considering legislation to cut these crucial security accounts by yet
another ten to twenty percent. Cutting tens of millions of dollars from
accounts that stop the spread of nuclear materials and train governments to
identify and confront terrorists will leave America less secure.


As we prepare for future challenges and opportunities, we must remember the
hard-won lessons that made us a great nation. Our predecessors understood
what we too have learned: that building and defending a great nation
requires warriors and businessmen, diplomats and development aid. Our
businesses have circled the world - but only when the world welcomed
America. We have won battles through force of arms, but many of our
greatest victories have been wars ended or averted at the diplomatic table.
Our Armed Forces have liberated continents and freed captive nations, but
our Peace Corps and USAID have unshackled countless millions from disease,
poverty and despair. Their brave work was more than charity. It was the
bedrock of an international stability based on hope, opportunity and
freedom in which America prospered.


Now more than ever, we must remember the lessons of our past and apply
those lessons as we face the future. We call on our elected leaders to
embrace a broad vision of national and economic security for this new
century – one that recognizes our diplomacy and development efforts as the
vital tools they are for ensuring American strength.


--
CEO and President
Truman National Security Project and Truman Educational Institute

Office: 202-216-9723
Cell: 202-320-2918

www.TrumanProject.or