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The Weekly GAB Friday, March 10, 2017
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org
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USGLC Military Letter Press Round-Up

MSNBC'S AM JOY
Trump to Cut Diplomacy, Splurge on Defense. Why? |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=2vAhAirPg1vLBRlxFsdA4g

[Video]

Is Donald Trump pushing for a war? Joy Reid and her panel discuss the
rationale behind the Trump administration pushing to cut the State
Department and USAID by 37 percent, while significantly increasing the
defense budget.

CNN
'America First' Puts Freedom and Leadership Last |

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Suzanne Nossel, former Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International
Organizations at the State Department

Trump has been told - but refuses to believe - that American global
leadership is not a public service to the rest of the world but rather
an insurance policy for our own people, one that has kept war, plague
and economic devastation mostly off-shore for many decades. Trump's
disdain for the burdens and benefits of US global leadership - so
clearly articulated in his declaration that his job "is not to
represent the world" - won't simply leave a gap. The space created by
the United States' withdrawal...is already being filled by China,
Russia and others. By ceding the United States' global leadership
role, Trump may ensure his successors cannot claim it back.

NBC NEWS

Some Military Experts Say Trump's Defense Budget Doesn't
Add Up |

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Phil McCausland

On Monday, 120 three- and four-star generals and flag officers stated
their concern about cuts to the State Department and Foreign Affairs
Budget. "As Secretary James Mattis said while Commander of U.S.
Central Command, 'If you don't fully fund the State Department, then I
need to buy more ammunition'," they wrote. Retired Gen. George Casey,
who signed the letter and served as Army Chief of Staff from 2007 to
2011, was at Capitol Hill the day Mattis made that statement. "I
started my comments...by saying that it might seem like a bit of an
anomaly to have a military guy here arguing for the State Department
budget...but that's how important it is," Casey said.

FORTUNE
Why Trump's Military Buildup Is Not As Big As He Promises |

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Paul Scharre

Earlier this week the Trump administration announced it would seek a
$54 billion increase in defense spending...This additional funding is
sorely needed to repair military readiness and fund critical
modernization initiatives...Unfortunately, this hopeful sign was
undercut by news that the administration would seek to pay for the $54
billion in defense spending above BCA caps by equal cuts in
non-defense discretionary spending, including reportedly a 30% cut in
the State Department. While this may play well with Trump's
supporters, if true this suggests a naiveté about foreign
relations not befitting a president. If diplomacy is cut, U.S. troops
will be stuck with more responsibility for handling international
issues.

Transition 2017

THE WASHINGTON POST

Vice President Pence is Quietly Becoming a Foreign Policy Power Player
|

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Josh Rogin

The role and influence of the vice president, not enshrined in any
law, is determined in any administration by three things: his direct
relationship with the president, his building of a personal portfolio
of issues, and the effectiveness of his team. When it comes to foreign
policy, Vice President Pence is quietly succeeding on all three
fronts. Pence, a traditional hawk influenced heavily by his Christian
faith, is carefully and deliberately assuming a stance that fits
within the president's agenda while respecting the prerogatives
of other senior White House aides who also want to play large foreign
policy roles, according to White House officials, lawmakers and
experts.

Who's in the News

BROOKINGS

Draconian Cuts to Diplomacy and Development: Unilateral Disarmament or
Head Fake |

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George Ingram

Last week, President Donald Trump's attack on foreign assistance
in his address to a joint session of Congress gave substance to
reports of proposed cuts to the United States international affairs
budget in the range of 37 percent. There is speculation that the
rumored 37 percent cut is a "head fake"- propose a
37 percent cut and, when it ends up a 20-25 percent cut, the
stakeholders will be relieved. Do not be fooled. Current funding
levels do not allow the U.S. to address adequately the range of
international challenges. The bottom line is you cannot make America
great by cutting $20 billion from diplomacy and development, but you
can sure endanger our national interests!

CHRISTIANITY TODAY
Foreign Aid Saves Lives - and Makes America Safer

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Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Jenny Eaton Dyer,
Executive Director of Hope Through Healing Hands and Director of the
Faith-Based Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children Worldwide

For the past two decades, we have had a front-row seat in the
bipartisan movement to end worldwide preventable, treatable diseases
like AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, and to make poverty history.
Millions of mothers, babies, children, and families are alive today
thanks to America's great leadership in the world for health,
food security, and education-all at a cost of less than 1
percent of our country's spending. We need to let our President
and our Congress know that they have our permission-in fact, our
insistence-to fully fund foreign assistance for health and
development.

Development & Diplomacy

CNN

CNN/ORC Poll: Most Back Boost in Infrastructure Spending, Oppose
Growing Military Budget |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=FJ-80KUrKXcJppfnTE10wQ

Jennifer Agiesta

The poll results come about a week after Trump outlined some of his
budget proposals in an address to a joint session of Congress. A
budget request for 2018 is expected to reach Congress on March 16.
Trump's most popular budget proposals include reducing taxes for
middle-class Americans (84% approve) and increasing spending on
infrastructure (79% approve). Fewer favor reducing tax rates for
American businesses (54% approve), and majorities disapprove of
funding for a border wall with Mexico (61%) or increasing military
spending by cutting finding for the State Department, EPA and other
non-defense agencies (58%).

THE WASHINGTON POST

Trump's Cuts Would Cripple the Country's Diplomats When We
Need Them Most

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=XXle9J4tUeCk-BRKFVY3Gw

Nicholas Burns, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs,
2005 to 2008.

No federal Cabinet agency risks a greater financial hit in President
Trump's first budget than the oldest, the most senior and one of
the most vital to our national security: the State Department. The
White House this week signaled that it will seek a massive $20 billion
reduction in funding for State and the Agency for International
Development, out of a budget of over $50 billion - the highest
proportional cuts proposed for any department. If enacted, this
proposal would cripple the department's career foreign and civil
service when we need them most.

FOREIGN POLICY

European Diplomats to Congress: For Our Sake, Don't Cut Foreign
Aid Funding |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=-CJUBKhaCVjXdKfMT5B5zw

Robbie Gramer

President Donald Trump proposed slashing State Department and foreign
aid budgets by nearly 40 percent. Now European diplomats are warning
those cuts would be dangerous and expose European allies to further
Russian aggression. Six eastern European envoys, including the
Ukrainian foreign minister, testified before the Senate Tuesday to
urge stronger U.S. leadership in the region to hedge against Russia.
While lauding U.S. military assistance and recent troop deployments to
the Baltic region under the NATO flag, they also warned cutting
funding to non-military assistance measures could strengthen
Russia's so-called hybrid warfare tactics.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
U.N. Chief, Visiting Somalia, Pleads for Aid to Avert Famine |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=fQ4RaxcKIJ8enVtAPCymVA

Hussein Mohamed and Sewell Chan

The secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres,
arrived in Somalia on Tuesday and appealed for $825 million in aid to
address drought and cholera in the East Africa nation on the brink of
famine. Mr. Guterres said the money was needed to help 5.5 million
people, about half of Somalia's population, survive the next six
months. Last week, he declared that famine was underway in part of
South Sudan, and warned that people in areas of Nigeria, Somalia and
Yemen were also at risk of dying from hunger.

NPR

South Sudan Will Now Charge $10,000 For An Aid Worker Permit. Why? |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=lX29o5JkiTmW6Th2NsmSVQ

Diane Cole

Late last month, famine was declared in two counties of the civil-war
torn East African country of South Sudan. With 100,000 people at risk
for dying of starvation in that area alone and millions more on the
brink of crisis-level food shortages throughout the country, South
Sudanese President Salva Kiir promised "unimpeded access" to
humanitarian aid organizations working there. A few days later the
South Sudanese government hiked the fee for work permits for foreign
aid workers from $100 to $10,000.

THE WASHINGTON POST
Rex Tillerson Is Off To an Agonizingly Slow Start |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=bVXEuG3vYXiNditWRhBtwA

David Ignatius

Rex Tillerson is off to an agonizingly slow start as secretary of
state. That matters, because if Tillerson doesn't develop a
stronger voice, control of foreign policy is likely to move
increasingly toward Stephen K. Bannon, the insurgent populist who is
chief White House strategist. Tillerson's State Department has
been in idle gear these past two months. He doesn't have a
deputy or other top aides. His spokesman can't give guidance on
key issues, because decisions haven't yet been made. Tillerson
didn't attend important meetings with foreign leaders.

Politics & Foreign Policy

THE NEW YORK TIMES

U.S. and South Korea Rebuff China's Proposal to Defuse Korea
Tensions |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=CiljtaRorybhDJw3D6eXQw

Chris Buckley and Somini Sengupta

China tried unsuccessfully to calm newly volatile tensions on the
Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, proposing that North Korea freeze
nuclear and missile programs in exchange for a halt to major military
exercises by American and South Korean forces. The proposal was
rejected hours later by the United States and South Korea. Reining in
North Korea has also become a focus for the Trump
administration's dealings with China. Starting next week,
Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson is to visit Japan, South Korea and
China for talks that will focus on "the advancing nuclear and
missile threat" from North Korea, the State Department said.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Trump Administration Inviting More Than 60 Countries for Strategy
Session on Countering ISIS |

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=tofdB4NtAqiLmHr3ldhNhQ

Anne Gearan

The Trump administration has invited more than 60 nations and
international organizations to Washington later this month for a
strategy session on how to counter the Islamic State after a widely
expected U.S.-backed military assault on the extremists' home
base. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will lead a two-day gathering
of a global coalition focused on fighting the extremist group
militarily and starving it of money, weapons and fighters. The session
is an important signal that the new administration intends to maintain
leadership of a sprawling diplomatic effort begun by President Barack
Obama in 2014, despite Trump's scathing assessment of
Obama's approach to the Islamic State during the presidential
campaign.


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