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The Weekly GAB Friday, January 6, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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USGLC in the News

FOX NEWS

Five Freshmen Congressmen (All With Military Backgrounds): Why We
Support Mattis for Defense Secretary

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=8B4S6fertTq_c0z-4wJpkA

Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Jim Banks (R-IN), Don
Bacon (R-NE) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)

There is no one better equipped to understand the dangers we face, how
to repair our world image, and set us on a path to rebuild our
military than President-elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of
Defense, General James Mattis. General Mattis also understands that
the military alone cannot keep our nation safe. His longstanding
history of championing investments in development and diplomacy earned
him the endorsement of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC).
The organization noted that General Mattis values the State Department
and USAID as "'essential' to promoting America's
interests abroad along with 'preventing conflict and countering
extremism.'"

Transition 2017

POLITICO
Trump Picks Lighthizer to Serve as U.S. Trade Representative |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=0dHNVOgSSqJ8Y-plm-naZA

Matthew Korade, Adam Behsudi and Louis Nelson

President-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. trade
representative is a battle-scarred veteran of trade negotiations who
shares many of the Manhattan billionaire's views on trade
- including the problems posed by China. Robert Lighthizer, a
prominent trade attorney and former deputy USTR under President Ronald
Reagan, got the Trump transition team's nod for the top trade
spot Tuesday morning, leaving only two other Cabinet-level positions
unannounced, including the secretaries of Agriculture and Veterans
Affairs and the Council of Economic Advisers.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Dan Coats, the 'Mister Rogers' Senator Poised to Be
Intelligence Chief |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=NcEDluq9ck7qBe5cxGDPtg

Jennifer Steinhauer and Michael D. Shear

President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to choose as director of
national intelligence two-time Senator Dan Coats, a former ambassador
to Germany, secret foodie and lover of all things Indiana who also
served as a member of his chamber's Intelligence Committee.
While fiscally conservative, Mr. Coats, an Indiana Republican who
completed his second Senate stint this month, often found common cause
with Democrats, who described him as thoughtful on intelligence and
national security issues, with a sharp intellect and disarming humor.

THE WASHINGTON POST
Mattis Clashing With Trump Transition Team Over Pentagon Staffing |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=bNecz14Dci7wHFIe7PK0yw

Josh Rogin

The honeymoon seems to be ending between retired Gen. James N. Mattis
and Donald Trump's transition team amid an increasingly
acrimonious dispute over who will get top jobs in the Defense
Department - and who gets to make those decisions. With only two
weeks left before Inauguration Day and days before Mattis's
Senate confirmation hearing, most major Pentagon civilian positions
remain unfilled. Behind the scenes, Mattis has been rejecting large
numbers of candidates offered by the transition team for several top
posts, two sources close to the transition said. The dispute over
personnel appointments is contributing to a tenser relationship
between Mattis and the transition officials, which could set the stage
for turf wars between the Pentagon and the White House in the coming
Trump administration.

POLITICO
Trump Won't Give Grace Period to Obama's Ambassadors |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=ggPWo7Ne_KHr-jPjCInPOQ

Nahal Toosi

In an unusual step, President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has
decided not to let U.S. ambassadors who are political appointees of
President Barack Obama stay on for a grace period beyond Inauguration
Day, a source confirmed Thursday. In typical presidential transitions,
politically appointed ambassadors have at times been allowed to stay
on the job for weeks or months after the new president has taken
office. It's partly been done this way out of personal courtesy for
their family situations, but it can also help allow for some
continuity as the new administration moves to fill a vast number of
postings stateside and abroad.

Who's in the News

VOICE OF AMERICA
US Democrats, Citing Russia, Exxon, Want Tillerson Hearing Delay

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=OYpER_z8B0mqYPr6h-ZOLQ

Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of
state, won over Republicans during meetings at the U.S. Senate on
Wednesday, but Democrats want more time to consider his record,
especially his ties to Russia. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described
Tillerson as "very much in the mainstream" of U.S. foreign
policy thinking. Senator Chris Coons, another Democrat on the foreign
relations panel, said next week may be too soon for the hearing, given
Republicans' plans to vote at the same time to repeal Democratic
President Barack Obama's healthcare law. "It strikes me as
trying to get too many things done at the same time," he said.
Coons said he was "generally encouraged" by some of
Tillerson's answers during their 1-1/2-hour meeting but had not
decided whether to support his nomination.

THE BOSTON GLOBE

Gates Foundation in $140M Anti-AIDS Pact With Boston-Based Intarcia |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=-_60YscrLKOAXMZQOYwWQA

Adam Vaccaro

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is investing $50 million in
Boston-based biotech firm Intarcia Therapeutics and plans to
contribute another $90 million to the company in an effort to better
prevent HIV in Africa. The Gates Foundation money will help fund a
preventive HIV treatment based on a "mini-pump" technology
Intarcia developed that also could be used to treat type 2 diabetes.
"There's a vital need for an HIV/AIDS intervention that
allows those at risk to incorporate prevention more easily into their
daily lives," Gates foundation chief executive Sue
Desmond-Hellmann said in a statement.

Development & Diplomacy

THE HUFFINGTON POST
Reflections on a Post-Election Development Agenda |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=joByvfGnr_kdBL7mz9q0fg

Bill Reese

Like most people, I've been thinking a lot about how the results
of the hard-fought presidential election of 2016 will shape the
future. In this new year, as we near Inauguration Day, I think
particularly of the realms of foreign policy and international
development-and our world's young people. Over the past 20
years, I've been engaged in ongoing foreign aid reform efforts
under numerous presidents. Frankly, I am guardedly optimistic that
there remains solid bipartisan support for many of those priorities.
But there's no question we need to redouble our work in other
areas, including efforts to empower the poor and disenfranchised. Here
are a few of my reflections, and some fervent hopes, as we enter this
newly transformed landscape of the Trump administration:

UN DISPATCH

Poll: The UN is More Popular With Americans Than Donald Trump (and
Even Barack Obama) |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=TtDG_X9MGzLZajJQT_dFuQ

Mark Leon Goldberg

New research from bi-partisan polling firms shows that the United
Nations is quite popular with Americans - more popular, in fact
than the current US president or the president-elect. The nationwide
poll of 800 registered votessplit evenly between those who voted for
Trump and Clinton - found that 61% have favorable view of the UN
and 26% negative view. A further 88% support active US engagement at
the United Nations and 81% agree that the USA is better able to
achieve its foreign policy objectives when it "works with major
allies and through international organizations."

FORBES
What Does the Trump Administration Mean for Power Africa? |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=LDCa6K1xkMmtfYoHkm_0_w

Todd Moss

Power Africa, President Obama's signature African
electrification push, is in limbo. The initiative was launched in June
2013, but-consistent with the nature of large-scale long-term
infrastructure investments-is really just getting started. Until
we see key appointments (e.g., OPIC president, USAID administrator,
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs) we probably
won't know what's in store for Power Africa under a Trump
administration. The nomination of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State
is potentially positive for Power Africa. The former ExxonMobil CEO
knows the role of energy in promoting prosperity and should see
efforts like Power Africa as both important and useful to promoting US
interests. Nevertheless, speculation is rife that the new
administration will cancel the initiative out of budgetary concerns
(which are probably misplaced; see #2 below).

DEVEX
In Exit Memo to Obama, USAID Chief Points to 'Hard Work Ahead' |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=P8tEHKN819-Wg1wCrjlO5A

Michael Igoe

In a cabinet exit memo delivered to President Barack Obama on
Thursday, outgoing U.S. Agency for International Development
Administrator Gayle Smith pointed to eight years of progress but
warned advancing U.S. global development efforts will require
"hard work ahead." Smith, who will vacate her position when
President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, listed six
recommendations for "building the USAID the world needs."
It remains to be seen who might take these recommendations on board.
After an unusually long wait, Trump's USAID transition effort is
now underway, but the team, led by former Goldman Sachs Vice President
Erin Walsh, has not given any indication of who it might tap to lead
the agency. There has also not been any decision yet about who will
serve as acting administrator in the intervening time between
Smith's departure and the eventual Trump nominee's
confirmation, according to a USAID official.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Secretary of State John Kerry's Exit Memo is Filled With
Policies That Trump Could Undo |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=4xLlQuT1EVnVHf8bq2ATnQ

Carol Morello

Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in an exit memo written with the
incoming administration in mind, on Thursday called for the United
States to continue resettling refugees from the Middle East and to
keep up the battle against climate change. "It would be a moral
failing of the highest caliber to turn our backs on those in need
- including and especially from countries like Syria and
Iraq," Kerry wrote in a memo that was among about two dozen
released by the White House from cabinet secretaries enumerating their
accomplishments.

Politics & Foreign Policy

THE HILL
Trump Can Surprise World by Using Hard and Soft Power Equally

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=LKkoB3AmOBVTBDTNdI0UzA

András Simonyi is the Managing Director of the Center for
Transatlantic Relations at the School of Advanced International
Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and a former Hungarian ambassador
to NATO and to the United States.

It has been suggested that Donald Trump will be a president who will
focus on "hard power" to underpin his foreign policy goals rather than
focusing on "soft power," which was Obama's preference. Both
approaches are one-sided, though, and both are wrong. The United
States cannot just use this or that; it needs to use both. Hard or
soft, it's about power, period. Time and again, we must remember how
communism was defeated by a combination of hard and soft power tools,
the attraction of Western freedoms, and a steadfast NATO, the U.S.-led
Western military alliance. While taking a strong stance on security
and defense, Trump needs deploy American soft power institutionally in
his foreign policy.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
After Kerry's Speech, Is the Two-State Solution Dead?

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=20OTGLjdXEeqOvtwvfBNLQ

Aaron David Miller is a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson Center
for Scholars.

Last month's U.S. abstention on the U.N. resolution critical of
Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories and follow-up speech by
Secretary of State John Kerry may not have been intended as a eulogy
for the two-state solution. But in laying out the formidable obstacles
that stand in the way of a two-state solution the Israeli settlements
enterprise, bad Palestinian behavior, and principles for a deal which
neither side is remotely close to accepting the speech made clear how
long the odds actually are against its success.

POLITICO

McConnell, Schumer Back Resolution Condemning U.N. Over Israel Vote |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=y_vBZv6Dg4_UhyAZYcf_WQ

Burgess Everett

Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer are backing a resolution championed
by Marco Rubio that objects to the United Nations' recent
condemnations of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East
Jerusalem, all but assuring the Senate will move to publicly criticize
the international body. The resolution "urges the current
presidential administration and all future presidential
administrations to uphold the practice of vetoing all United Nations
Security Council resolutions that seek to insert the Council into the
peace process, recognize unilateral Palestinian actions including
declaration of a Palestinian state, or dictate terms and a timeline
for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," according
to the draft text. It also "demands that the United States
ensure that no action is taken at the Paris Conference on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict scheduled for January 15, 2017."


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