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Dear Chris and Hunter,

Continued thanks to both of you for joining Truman's effort to bring ROTC back to the Ivies. I'm happy to say that things are moving in the right direction. I thought you might appreciate a semi-brief update on the situation as it now stands at Harvard and Yale.

Harvard is moving very quickly - as you both know, Navy ROTC has already been officially welcomed back to campus. I've been told that the Army is quietly but aggressively negotiating with Harvard as well, and hopes to sign a similar agreement shortly. The word at the Pentagon is that Army Cadet Command is not particularly enthusiastic about investing in new programs at the Ivies, including Harvard, but they are feeling the pressure from above to get it done and responding. At this point, most of that pressure seems to be coming from the Army Chief of Staff, General Casey - his father was a Harvard graduate and an Army General who was killed in Vietnam. GEN Casey and Drew Faust have a long-standing and friendly relationship, and GEN Casey has been involved in a number of events at Harvard over the last few years. The bad news is that GEN Casey has less than 40 days left as Chief, and his replacement is an excellent officer but has no personal stake in this issue. The good news is that GEN Casey seems to be pushing hard to close the deal before he leaves his post.

Meanwhile, Yale is taking a slow and steady approach. Yale's Vice-President, Linda Lorimer, is an Admiral's daughter and has long supported veterans on campus. She met with the Air Force about two weeks ago and Yale is working on scheduling a follow-up meeting. The perspective at Yale on this is that the university is more flexible than the military about the terms of the deal right now, but they fully expect to have things worked out in time for ROTC classes to be offered in the fall. I've also been told that General Jones and Rick Levin had a conversation about the ROTC issue recently, and that GEN Jones offered Rick his full support should it be needed.

At this point, Yale's administration is telling me that high-profile outside advocacy would do more harm than good. My understanding is that they said the same thing to GEN Jones, asking him to hold his fire until and unless more aggressive action is needed. I'll be speaking with Linda Lorimer again shortly, and hope to emerge from the conversation with a better idea of how we can be most helpful.

In the meantime, I greatly appreciate your willingness to lead on this issue. It's an honor to be working with you both, and to have you involved in Truman!

Best,
Mike

Michael Breen
Vice-President
Truman National Security Project

Cell: 603-828-9550

www.TrumanProject.org<http://www.TrumanProject.org>
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