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The Weekly GAB Friday, December 2, 2016
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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USGLC in the News

FOREIGN POLICY
[See below for full text]
Will Foreign Aid Get Cut on Trump's Chopping Block? |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=kL4OMX0bEBOojR8DrMwl6g

David Francis, John Hudson and Dan De Luce

Despite a deeply polarized and often dysfunctional atmosphere in
Washington, lawmakers from both parties have managed to find common
ground on foreign aid programs, said Liz Schrayer of the U.S. Global
Leadership Coalition, which promotes international assistance.
"In the last 18 months, six pieces of bipartisan global
development legislation have been passed," said Schrayer,
including backing for water projects, electricity for African states,
global food security initiatives, transparency in aid, and
women's education efforts. "There is real bipartisan
support for...global development, diplomacy, and foreign
assistance," she said.

Transition 2016

THE WASHINGTON POST

Trump Has Chosen Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for Secretary of
Defense |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=P38RqxKSjkB1N7e4z5jTrw

Dan Lamothe

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James N.
Mattis to be secretary of defense, according to people familiar with
the decision, nominating a former senior military officer who led
operations across the Middle East to run the Pentagon less than four
years after he hung up his uniform. To take the job, Mattis will need
Congress to pass new legislation to bypass a federal law stating that
defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous
seven years. Congress has granted a similar exception just once, when
Gen. George C. Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950.

POLITICO
Trump Taps K.T. McFarland to Be Deputy National Security Adviser |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=yvpZf6mnN4r-mr0FP72nEg

Alex Isenstadt

Donald Trump has selected K.T. McFarland to be his deputy national
security adviser, the president-elect's transition team announced.
McFarland, a Fox News analyst, served as an official in the Reagan
White House. She also unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in New York
in 2006. "In asking KT McFarland to become his Deputy National
Security Advisor, President-elect Trump has brought to the top ranks
of his Administration one of our country's most experienced, informed,
and wise foreign policy and national security experts" former Sen. Joe
Lieberman said in a release. Trump previously announced that retired
Gen. Michael Flynn will serve as his national security adviser.

THE HILL
Corker Praises Trump's Foreign Policy 'Instincts' |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Buxm37W-V7IvedGoHbZrZw

Ben Kamisar

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) lauded Donald Trump's foreign policy
chops after meeting with the president-elect at Trump Tower on
Tuesday. "It's been an honor to have the kind of meeting that I had
today," said Corker, who is reportedly under consideration to be
Trump's secretary of State. "We had a very wide-ranging meeting,
actually a couple meetings, and his instincts on foreign policy are
obviously very, very good." Corker confirmed that he's "in the running
for a Cabinet position," adding that while the decision is
narrowed down to a "very small group," he's unsure of the timeline.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Death of Fidel Castro May Pressure Donald Trump on Cuba Promises |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=gtjo8RzIIFI2WyByc78DAA

Felicia Schwartz and Carol E. Lee

The death of Fidel Castro is putting unexpected pressure on
President-elect Donald Trump to follow through on earlier promises to
reverse the recent openings to Cuba made by President Barack Obama.
While Mr. Trump could undo Mr. Obama's efforts, which were
implemented using executive authority, he could face pushback from
U.S. companies now deeply invested in Cuba under the current
administration's policy. Mr. Trump's top aides said Sunday
that he would demand the release of political prisoners held in Cuba
and push the government to allow more religious and economic freedoms.

Who's in the News

TIME
How to Save the Children of Mosul
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=6_RuoY5eLhJ38yemBa4o-Q

Carolyn Miles is President and CEO of Save the Children.

The Mosul offensive continues-both militarily and in terms of
help for civilians-but it is not too soon to help the
region's children start to recover from years of suffering. As
Iraqi forces enter Mosul, they are not only faced with ISIS militants
but also up to 1.5 million civilians still trapped, including about
600,000 children, who are growing increasingly desperate. In the short
term, safe routes must be established so these families can escape the
violence.

Development & Diplomacy

NPR
Colombia's Congress Ratifies Second Peace Deal With Marxist Rebels |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=gMzq76_bZ2sfnANTBTVsMA

Mark Katkov

Two months after Colombian voters narrowly rejected a peace deal with
the Marxist rebel group FARC, the nation's Congress has ratified a
renegotiated agreement. If implemented, it will bring to an end a more
than half-century guerrilla war that has killed more than 200,000
people and displaced an estimated 8 million. Colombian President Juan
Manuel Santos and top rebel leader Rodrigo Londoño, known as
Timochenko, signed the first peace accord to great fanfare in
September in the resort city of Cartagena. The accord was submitted to
voters in a national referendum and rejected by a slim margin.

THE HILL
The Role of Foreign Aid in a Challenging Time

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=GiZ3BWmSTuDZ57XANj0asg

Ray Offenheiser is the president of Oxfam America.

The United States has long been a leader in the international arena,
from diplomacy, to business, to philanthropy. This leadership is
needed now more than ever - in fact, we need more of it. Over
the next few months, we're expecting to hear increasing calls
here at home for the United States to isolate itself and take a
backseat on the world stage. But for a Trump administration to halt
our involvement and support for things like foreign aid would be a
grave mistake. Foreign aid is a tiny piece of the U.S. budget each
year, but it is greatly outweighed by its power and potential.

THE GUARDIAN

HIV Vaccine Test Hopes for Breakthrough in Combat Against the Virus |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=oXiOaFXEtkByNbkL5HxkRQ

Sarah Boseley

The first new trial of a potential vaccine against HIV in seven years
has begun in South Africa, raising hopes that it will help bring about
the end of the epidemic. Although fewer people are now dying from Aids
because 18.2 million are on drug treatment for life to suppress the
virus, efforts to prevent people from becoming infected have not been
very successful. The infection rate has continued to rise and experts
do not believe the epidemic will be ended without a vaccine. The
vaccine being tested is a modified version of the only one to have
shown a positive effect, out of many that have gone into trials.

THE WASHINGTON POST
Inside Kerry's Race to Stop the Siege of Aleppo |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=soE4y4qXVRJXXh-lI_dGkA

Josh Rogin

Our indefatigable outgoing Secretary of State John F. Kerry is engaged
in a furious if implausible diplomatic effort to strike a deal with
Russia to end the siege of Aleppo. He is motivated not just by the
scale of the humanitarian crisis in the Syrian city but also by the
prospect that the incoming president will strike a different kind of
deal with Moscow, one that abandons the Syrian opposition and places
the United States squarely on the side of dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Politics & Foreign Policy

REUTERS

U.S., China Agree on New North Korea U.N. Sanctions, Russia Has
Issues: Diplomats |
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=4UAHZ1_zWkuLxTFo8Q0wRw

Michelle Nichols

The United States and China have agreed on new U.N. sanctions to
impose on North Korea over the nuclear test it conducted in September,
but Russia is delaying action on a draft resolution, a senior Security
Council diplomat said on Wednesday. The United States and China have
agreed on new U.N. sanctions to impose on North Korea over the nuclear
test it conducted in September, but Russia is delaying action on a
draft resolution, a senior Security Council diplomat said on
Wednesday. Since North Korea's fifth and largest nuclear test on Sept.
9, the United States and China, a close ally of North Korea, have been
negotiating a new draft Security Council resolution to punish
Pyongyang.

THE HILL
House, Senate Finalize Annual Defense Policy Bill |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=XNecsZw05lLt74wJVIFwtQ

Rebecca Kheel

The final version of an annual defense policy bill jettisons a number
of controversial provisions and would authorize $3.2 billion more than
President Obama requested. Senior staffers from the House and Senate
Armed Services committees in a Tuesday background briefing detailed
the end result of months of negotiations to reconcile the two
chambers' versions of the National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA). The bill would authorize a total of $618.7 billion. Of that,
$59.5 would be used for a war fund known as the Overseas Contingency
Operations (OCO) account.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
U.S. Is Close to Violating Nuclear Deal, Iran Says |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=SAIPgmwDYolfrPQk2xiKlg

Curt Mills

Iran warned Friday that the United States is close to violating the
2015 nuclear agreement. The U.S. Senate voted Thursday, 99-0, to
extend sanctions on Iran for 10 years, rebuffing the lobbying of
Secretary of State John Kerry, who pressed the case against doing so.
Tehran says if the U.S. fully implements the Iran Sanctions Act, it
would violate the historic deal brokered last year. U.S. officials
maintain the act's renewal does not break the deal. "We are closely
monitoring the developments," Iranian state TV quoted Ali Akbar
Salehi, the country's nuclear chief, as saying. "If they implement the
ISA, Iran will take action accordingly."

STARS AND STRIPES
Kerry Lays Out Foreign Policy Vision Very Unlike Trump's |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Nc8aE-FHKiJ6Cneda2lwRA

Bradley Klapper

Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged the nation to step up
its engagement with the rest of the world on matters of trade, climate
change and security, and to increase foreign aid. It is a message that
clashes in many ways with the policies President-elect Donald Trump
has spoken about introducing. In a speech to a women's foreign policy
group, Kerry said the United States must resist the urge to "turn
inward and search for ways to fence off our own safety and our
prosperity." Without mentioning Trump at any point, he called it
"folly" to imagine that you can build a better future by hiding from
the real world.

FOREIGN POLICY
Will Foreign Aid Get Cut on Trump's Chopping Block? |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=5_dEM9B9loHsyXjyqlLdCw

David Francis, John Hudson and Dan De Luce
November 23, 2016

Anxious humanitarian organizations are worried that President-elect
Donald Trump, who sharply questioned the value of foreign aid during
his campaign, is poised to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S.
assistance for developing countries - including programs
promoting democracy, family planning, LGBT rights and efforts to
address climate change.

Aid workers say many of the plans will come under close scrutiny and
possibly be scrapped altogether. But the future of the nearly $34
billion annual budget proposed for foreign assistance next year
remains a mystery after a campaign in which Trump made contradictory
and vague comments about the role of international aid programs.

Reinforcing the uncertainty, Trump's transition team has so far
failed to reach out to the U.S. Agency for International Development
- the government body that oversees the delivery of most foreign
aid - more than two weeks since the election.

A USAID official told Foreign Policy that the aid agency "has
not been contacted by the office of the president-elect" even
though "we have appointed a team of USAID career staff to ensure
this is done smoothly."

"Ensuring an orderly transition is a top priority for
USAID," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Incoming administrations typically have a team ready to take over at
USAID with detailed policy plans and lists of prospective appointees.
But so far there has been no sign of that kind of preparation from
Trump's associates, administration officials said.

The president-elect's transition representatives did not respond
to requests for comment.

The United States is the biggest foreign aid donor in the world,
representing about 24 percent of development assistance from major
governments in 2014. Washington's decisions on foreign
assistance have a far-reaching effect that influences how much other
other governments are willing to contribute to development projects
around the world aimed at reducing poverty, promoting public health,
bolstering stability, and countering terrorism.

Aid groups hope Republicans in Congress will ultimately protect the
$37.9 billion the Obama administration allocated to foreign assistance
- a fraction of the $4 trillion 2016 federal budget. But the
silence from the Trump camp, which has yet to name a nominee for
secretary of state, has unnerved some development experts who are
waiting to see whether the next president will make good on some of
his more strident "America First" rhetoric.

As a candidate, Trump sent mixed messages on foreign assistance. He
has said, albeit vaguely, that he broadly supports the idea of
development aid. But he's also suggested it's time to
slash aid in favor of spending on priorities at home.

In his June 2015 speech announcing his candidacy, Trump said the
United States should "stop sending foreign aid to countries that
hate us" and to spend the funds to "invest in our
infrastructure ... our tunnels, roads, bridges, and
schools." In August, he said he would end "our current
strategy of nation-building" abroad.

However, in a foreign-policy address in April, Trump seemed to reverse
himself. America, he said, will "continue forever to play the
role of peacemaker. We will always help save lives and indeed,
humanity itself. ... We are a humanitarian nation."

In an interview that month with Fox News, the former reality
television star embraced the rationale for U.S. assistance over the
past decade and a half.

"If we don't help" countries facing disasters, Trump
said then, "bigger problems" would be created. In that
same appearance, he said the United States needed to continue to give
aid to countries such as Pakistan because "we don't want
to see total instability" there. For nations struggling with
poverty, Trump said he would "try to keep some of these
countries going."

He has criticized U.S. funding for efforts to combat climate change
while saying the United States should invest in helping provide clean
water to poor populations and fighting diseases such as malaria.

Whatever Trump's intentions, aid experts said his transition
team needed to make contact with USAID as soon as possible to set the
agency's agenda and leadership for the next administration.
Gayle Smith, the current USAID chief, is expected to step down, as is
customary in a new administration.

"There are a tremendous amount of technical details that must be
ironed out with the new team," said Ryan Greer, CEO of Vasa
Strategies, a consultancy focusing on countering violent extremism
abroad. He said U.S. national security and foreign-policy experts
"are eager to see the transition team move the process
forward."

Other development experts say there's time for Trump to get off
on the right foot with the aid community. "We think it's
not that unusual that transition officials haven't met with
USAID when you compare to past administrations," said Madeline
Rose, senior policy advisor at Mercy Corps.

Development organizations that receive funding and advise the U.S.
government on foreign assistance had assumed - and perhaps
banked on - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
would win the election as polls predicted. But Trump's victory
shocked aid groups and raised fears of a potential major disruption in
funding levels and priorities for foreign assistance.

John Simpkins, who was USAID's general counsel until last month,
told the Devex website that the future of family planning initiatives,
LBGT support programs, and democracy promotion efforts could be
jeopardized in a Trump administration.

But other U.S. officials and experts said it was too early to make any
firm predictions - and that congressional Republicans would come
to the rescue if necessary. They said the need to counter Islamist
extremists and to prevent the outbreak of epidemics could temper any
bid by the next administration to jettison major elements of the
foreign-assistance budget.

"Some of the biggest champions of effective foreign assistance
are key Republicans on Capitol Hill," said Peter Yeo, president
of the Better World Campaign.

Todd Moss, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said
evangelical Christians and other elements of the GOP have championed
foreign aid, and he doesn't expect that to change under a Trump
presidency.

"There is a longstanding Republican tradition of GOP support for
certain areas of public health," Moss said. "Capitol Hill
has been pretty clear that they would like it to be more effective,
but they see it as a critical tool for the U.S. around the
world."

Despite a deeply polarized and often dysfunctional atmosphere in
Washington, lawmakers from both parties have managed to find common
ground on foreign aid programs, said Liz Schrayer of the U.S. Global
Leadership Coalition, which promotes international assistance.

"In the last 18 months, six pieces of bipartisan global
development legislation have been passed," said Schrayer,
including backing for water projects, electricity for African states,
global food security initiatives, transparency in aid, and
women's education efforts.

"There is real bipartisan support for ... global
development, diplomacy, and foreign assistance," she said.

During his time on the House Foreign Affairs committee, Vice
President-elect Mike Pence pushed for U.S. programs to help stem the
spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. He said in 2008 that
the United States had a "moral obligation to lead the world in
confronting the pandemics of HIV/AIDS."

The Republican view of foreign aid has undergone a sea change since
the 1990s, when members of the party voiced deep skepticism about
international development assistance. The 9/11 attacks led
conservative lawmakers to take a second look at aid as a tool of
diplomacy and bolstering national security. Then-President George W.
Bush's push to reform the way aid was delivered won converts
inside the party.

Republican lawmakers tend to support the view that foreign aid
contributes to the national security of the United States, something
Trump has made a top priority. The 2016 Republican convention platform
says, "International assistance is a critical tool for advancing
America's security and economic interests by preventing
conflict, building stability, opening markets for private investment,
and responding to suffering and need with the compassion that is at
the heart of our country's values."

It specifically praises the Millennium Challenge Corp., created under
Bush, to hand out aid when countries meet certain economic and
political benchmarks.

But the Republican Party platform also accuses the Obama
administration of imposing a "radical social agenda" on
some African countries, an apparent reference to support for LGBT
rights and family planning programs. In 2014, about 20 percent of U.S.
foreign assistance went to African nations.

Even if Trump embraces a more bipartisan approach to foreign
assistance, most aid experts and congressional staffers expect his
administration will try to cut, or even eliminate, funding for a host
of programs. They include efforts to combat climate change, which
Trump has called a hoax orchestrated by China, and projects related to
contraception, family planning, women's reproductive health, and
LGBT communities.

Some parts of Obama's legacy on foreign assistance enjoy
bipartisan support and are likely to remain in place, including
programs to help provide electricity to African countries and to
alleviate hunger in developing nations. But given Trump's
rhetoric as a candidate and the stance of Republican lawmakers,
experts say funding for initiatives related to climate change probably
will be on the chopping block under the next administration.

The Obama administration has delivered $500 million as part of a
promised U.S. contribution of $3 billion for a Green Climate Fund that
is designed to pool funds from rich countries to help poorer states
develop clean technologies and adapt to the effects of climate change.
But a Trump administration could rescind that pledge.

"I think that's over," said Daniel Runde of the
Center for Strategic and International Studies.

A withdrawal by Washington from the Green Climate Fund could have
damaging influence on other governments, said Yeo, of the Better World
Campaign.

"If the U.S. failed to contribute financially to these efforts,
it could very well undermine the willingness of other countries to
participate" in the Paris climate agreement that was ratified
earlier this month, he said.

However, Trump's stance on climate change appeared to soften on
Tuesday when he indicated to the New York Times that there was at
least "some" connection between human activity and global
warming. His comment was the latest in which the president-elect has
appeared to renounce or pull back from more strident positions he
adopted during the campaign, including a vow to build a wall along the
Mexican border and to employ waterboarding against terror suspects.

Apart from aid programs linked to climate change, Runde said
it's possible Trump will bring a renewed commitment to some
important development problems.

"The development community should keep an open mind, because
President-elect Trump could shift our assistance to respond better to
a series of pressing issues that deserve more attention," he
said, citing the global refugee crisis and efforts to prevent
pandemics.

Yeo said the most pressing problem facing the next head of USAID will
be the unprecedented global refugee crisis triggered by the war in
Syria.

"There are millions of refugees and displaced people still not
getting the assistance they need," he said.

As of September, the U.S. government has spent $4.5 billion since the
start of the refugee crisis there in 2011. Much of that funding has
gone directly to U.N. programs and not through USAID.

###


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