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The Weekly GAB Friday, November 3, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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Who's in the News

DEVEX
How Fighting Diseases Globally Makes Everyone Safer

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Chris Collins, President, Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria

The U.S. has a history of strong bipartisan support for, and
leadership on, global health. These investments see significant
returns by helping to protect U.S. health security through the
containment of disease outbreaks and the resulting economic toll. Here
are the top three reasons why fighting infectious diseases abroad both
maximizes and delivers returns on U.S. investments: 1) Global health
investments see significant returns in lives saved and economic
impact. 2) Containing diseases and bolstering health systems can
prevent outbreaks. 3) Supporting global health has diplomatic benefits
that promote safety and security.

TIME
What the U.S. Must Do to Save South Sudan, a Nation it Helped Create
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Ciaran Donnelly, Senior Vice President, International Rescue Committee

A re-evaluation of the U.S' political strategy in South Sudan is
welcomed, but we mustn't give up on the people of South Sudan.
Rather than pull out humanitarian aid - which would punish not
the government but the civilians of South Sudan - Ambassador
Haley must use her visit and U.S. diplomatic muscle to tease out that
political solution. Through the peace initiative known as the High
Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF), the U.S. has a real, but
time-limited opportunity to work with regional governments to achieve
a permanent ceasefire, implement the Agreement on the Resolution of
the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) signed in 2o15,
and revise the plan for elections to be held in 2018.

Development & Diplomacy

CBS

Diplomats Weigh in on Trump-Tillerson Tensions, Key State Department
Vacancies

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be by President Trump's side to
help navigate the high-stakes diplomacy of his trip to Asia, but once
again the president is undercutting his authority. His unusual
undermining of his secretary of state has left diplomats around the
world scratching their heads. "I think something's gotta change for
him to be effective again, or to try to be effective, something's
gotta change," David Rank said. After nearly 30 years of service, Rank
quit his job as the acting ambassador to China when president Trump
pulled out of the Paris climate accord against Tillerson's advice.

CNN
Rex Tillerson to Visit Myanmar |

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Laura Koran

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Myanmar later this month
to push for an end to the violence that has plagued the country's
northern Rakhine state in recent months, the State Department
announced Thursday. He will visit the country's capital, Naypyidaw,
where he will meet with "senior leaders and officials on actions to
address the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State," the announcement
read, and will express US support for the country's recent democratic
transition. The visit will happen on November 15, as Tillerson wraps
up a 10-day swing across Asia with President Donald Trump.

FOREIGN POLICY
White House Taps Pence Associate to Run Foreign Service |

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Robbie Gramer

The Trump administration has nominated an associate of Vice President
Mike Pence for a top diplomatic role historically reserved for senior
career diplomats, prompting fears President Donald Trump and Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson plan to further politicize American diplomacy.
His nomination has sparked fears among some officials that the
administration is stacking the State Department with political
supporters in key roles historically reserved for career officials.
The move, eight current and former officials told Foreign Policy, will
further politicize and potentially weaken the country's ranks of
professional diplomats that are already reeling from the Trump
administration's sidelining of Foggy Bottom and Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson's redesign program.

DEVEX

After Months of Waiting, USAID Foreign Service Applicants See
Opportunities Vanish |

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Michael Igoe

Some applicants for the U.S. Agency for International
Development's foreign service had waited two years...They had
undergone interviews, secured medical clearances, submitted security
paperwork. But for months they heard nothing - a
"communication blackout," one applicant called it. They
nervously scanned the news and online federal jobs forums to try to
glean what President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts would
mean for their aspirations to serve overseas as U.S. development
professionals. Many of them got their answer last Monday, when 97
foreign service applicants who were already in the U.S. Agency for
International Development's pre-employment process received
emails informing them that the positions they applied for no longer
exist, according to a USAID official.

CNN
Haley Draws on Her African Visit When Briefing Trump |

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Elise Labott and Khalil Abdallah

When she sat down to brief President Donald Trump about her trip to
Africa last week, Nikki Haley was carrying the voices of the women she
met and the stories they shared as she argued for deeper US engagement
in Africa. What remains to be seen is whether Haley can help turn the
groundwork she laid last week into policy. In keeping with his America
First foreign policy that limits US engagement abroad, Trump has also
promised to cut foreign aid, and slashed assistance for Africa in his
first budget. When asked whether she would press for more assistance
after her trip, Haley said foreign aid is "the heart and soul of the
American people." "We've never could turn our backs while people are
suffering," she said. "We are always going to fight for people who
can't fight for themselves. That's in the American DNA."

FOREIGN POLICY

Trump Doesn't Seem Very Interested in Africa - But That May Be
Changing |

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John Campbell

The defining feature of the administration's Africa policy so
far is its ramping-up of military and counterterrorism engagement, a
trend that began before Trump took office. This shift is also
reflected in the administration's budget proposal, which may end
up having the biggest initial impact on U.S. policy toward Africa. The
Defense Department budget would swell by roughly 9 percent...while the
State Department would see a roughly 30 percent cut...Included in that
cut would be USAID, meaning that almost all development assistance
would be eliminated, as would many health-related programs. Africa
would be disproportionately affected.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Here's Why Vaccines Are So Crucial |

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Cynthia Gorney

This multibillion-dollar public-private collaboration [Gavi] got under
way in 2000, just as PCVs reached the U.S. market. Kicked off in part
by a $750 million pledge from the Gates Foundation, Gavi channels
wealthy nations' resources-private philanthropy plus
government aid from such countries as the United States, the United
Kingdom, and Norway-into vaccine support for poorer countries
that apply for the aid. Gavi helps negotiate with vaccine companies to
slash prices specifically for those large-volume sales; subsidies from
the donor fund then reduce the cost to developing countries even
further, so that they pay a small fraction of the usual market price.

Politics & Foreign Policy

THE HILL
Trump: We'll See if Tillerson Lasts Duration of Term |

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Max Greenwood

President Trump would not say on Thursday whether Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson would serve out the president's first full term in
office. Asked in an interview on Fox News's "The Ingraham Angle"
whether the secretary of State would remain in Trump's administration
for the duration of the president's first term in office, Trump
replied: "we'll see." "We'll see. I don't know who's going to be [at
the State Department for the] duration," Trump said, noting that
Tillerson is "doing the best he can" as the administration's top
diplomat.

NPR

'I'm the Only One That Matters,' Trump Says of State Dept. Job
Vacancies |

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Bill Chappell

President Trump says: "I'm the only one that matters" in setting U.S.
foreign policy, thus downplaying the importance of high-level jobs
such as the assistant secretary of state, which is currently vacant.
"Let me tell you, the one that matters is me," Trump said in an
interview that aired on Fox News on Thursday night. "I'm the only one
that matters, because when it comes to it, that's what the policy is
going to be. You've seen that, you've seen it strongly." The president
was responding to a question from Fox's Laura Ingraham, who asked him,
"Are you worried that the State Department doesn't have enough Donald
Trump nominees in there to push your vision through?"

TIME

Everything You Need to Know About President Trump's Grueling
Asia Tour |

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Charlie Campbell

On Nov. 3, Donald Trump embarks on a 12-day trip to five different
Asian nations. North Korea and trade are expected to top his agenda as
he tours Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, where
leaders will be keen to ingratiate themselves to the mercurial
geopolitical neophyte. It's the longest official trip by a
sitting U.S. President since 1992, when George H.W. Bush also spent 12
days in Asia, and famously suffered a bout of flu that led him to
vomit into the lap of then Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa
during a state dinner. Trump will hope to avoid similar faux pas while
moving the news agenda away from the recent indictments of senior
former aides relating to Russian meddling in last year's
election. He travels with a phalanx of CEOs so expect a flurry of
neatly tweetable trade deals. Here's what we can expect out of
each leg.

VOICE OF AMERICA

As Trump Heads to E. Asia, Tillerson Takes More Forceful Tone Towards
Beijing |

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Nike Chin

After what U.S. officials said was several months of deliberation
among President Donald Trump's national security team, Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson recently took a rather strident tone towards
China in a major speech that came just weeks before Trump's
first state visit to China. The top U.S. diplomat's forceful
remarks came as Trump is getting ready to embark on his first travel
to Vietnam and the Philippines, two claimants of disputed areas of the
South China Sea, attending summit meetings where leaders from
Southeast Asia gather.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Lawmakers Remain Cool to Trump Pick for Export-Import Bank |

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Andrew Ackerman

President Donald Trump's choice to head the Export-Import Bank
didn't appear to sway waffling Republican senators on a key
panel into supporting him, putting his confirmation at risk. Lawmakers
from both parties criticized Scott Garrett during a Senate Banking
Committee hearing on Wednesday, saying his past votes to shut down the
bank while serving in the House made him unsuitable to run the agency.
Mr. Garrett reversed his prior opposition to the agency in testimony
before the committee, pledging to keep the bank "fully
functioning." But lawmakers indicated they weren't
satisfied by his remarks.

THE WASHINGTON POST

U.S. Pledges $60 Million to Build New African Counterterrorism Force
|

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Karen DeYoung

The Trump administration said Monday it would contribute an initial
$60 million to help five nations in Africa's Sahel region build
a cross-border counterterrorism force but balked at a plan to provide
multilateral support through the United Nations. U.S. Ambassador Nikki
Haley told the U.N. Security Council that "we have
reservations" about a proposal to expand an existing
peacekeeping operation in the arid, sub-Saharan region of West Africa
to provide logistical and other assistance to the force. The
peacekeeping group, called MINUSMA, "expends most of its
resources protecting and supplying itself" amid increasing
terrorist attacks, she said.


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