Americas

Board Member Lee Wolosky to be Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure For Immediate Release – June 30, 2015 The National Security Network welcomes the appointment of Lee Wolosky as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure. A decade ago, Lee was a founding member of the National Security Network, and he has served as a board member since that time. Lee’s extensive experience in government, law, and diplomacy will allow him to make progress toward the critical national security goal of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which has damaged relationships with U.S. allies and served as a propaganda tool for terrorists.In addition to his background in counterterrorism, transnational threats, and the rule of law, Lee brings to the position a demonstrated ability to work in a… Read More ›

Corker Bill Goes Forward Despite Deal-Killing Efforts May 4, 2015 The Senate is expected to move toward voting on legislation put forward by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) that would allow Congress a greater role in approving the international agreement being negotiated by the United States and its P5+1 partners with Iran. Previous iterations of the contentious bill contained provisions that would have placed impossible expectations on the deal, including on issues outside the scope of the negotiations, but a compromise brokered by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) stripped those provisions. The compromise has allowed bipartisan support for the bill to coalesce and the Obama Administration says it will not veto it if it passes in its current form. That hasn’t stopped dead-ender conservatives including Sen. Tom… Read More ›

Defense Bill Creates Needless New Obstacles for Guantanamo Transfers April 29, 2015 The House Armed Services Committee is reviewing the proposed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today. The legislation, which covers a range of subjects, would authorize new restrictions on the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, including the 57 individuals who have been cleared for release by all relevant government agencies. The NDAA would also impose new reporting requirements on released detainees and recidivism rates based on concerns that have been inflated by misleading statistics. These new, unwarranted restrictions are a step away from President Obama’s stated goal of closing the detention facility, which remains a threat to U.S. national security. The Guantanamo provisions in the NDAA would hinder or prevent the transfer of… Read More ›

Reagan still Republicans’ reference point for White House seekers By Ivan Couronne April 18, 2015 | AFP Washington (AFP) – Barack Obama is weak and Ronald Reagan exuded power, Republicans say. But while conservative White House hopefuls revere the 1980s president as a foreign-policy icon, oversimplifying Reaganism may mask nuances of his diplomacy… “One of the things that these Republican candidates are missing is that Ronald Reagan always believed that even though the Soviet Union was our enemy, we could negotiate with them, we could resolve issues like the nuclear issue while other issues we still disagreed on,” said John Bradshaw, executive director of the National Security Network, a Democratic-leaning think-tank. When Reagan officials started negotiating with the Soviets, “neoconservatives… were horrified,” he said. To… Read More ›

Bring back the drone debate, Sen. Paul By Tobias Gibson April 21, 2015 | The Hill When Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) declared his candidacy for the presidency, I will admit to having a certain excitement. In part, this feeling is based on the opportunity he offered to literally blanketmyself in the Constitution. Another is the opportunity to read a political comic book — but the real reason is that he clearly embraces his willingness to be a voice of concern about American use of drones. In other words, Paul’s campaign offers the most likely possibility that discussion and debate around the U.S. counterterrorism, military and diplomatic use of drones will reemerge. Despite the fact that the drone debate has quieted dramatically in the recent past,… Read More ›

Recognizing Reality: Removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List April 10, 2015 Starting today, President Obama will attend the two-day Summit of the Americas held in Panama, where he is expected to interact with Cuba’s Raul Castro. The summit, which takes place every three years, comes as the Obama Administration’s policy of normalizing relations with Cuba is set to proceed. Most notably, the State Department has just recommended that Cuba be removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list on the grounds that the country has not practiced or aided terrorism for decades. President Obama is expected to act on the State Department’s recommendation, removing an obstacle to the normalization of ties between the United States and Cuba and opening the door to… Read More ›

Senator Ted Cruz’s Imaginary Foreign Policy March 23, 2015 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced his candidacy this morning at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. His speech was long on rhetoric and short on policy, especially foreign policy. Sen. Cruz stressed goals for U.S. policy, asking his audience to “imagine a president who says ‘I will honor the Constitution, and under no circumstances will Iran be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon,’” to “imagine a president who says ‘We will stand up and defeat radical Islamic terrorism,’” to “imagine a president who stands unapologetically with the nation of Israel,” and to “imagine a president that finally, finally, finally secures the borders.” But this isn’t an imaginary foreign policy: these are the actual goals of current U.S.… Read More ›

Partisan Republican Actions Damaging U.S. National Security March 11, 2015 The letter on the Iran negotiations by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), signed by 46 of his Senate Republican colleagues, is the latest and most blatant example of what is becoming an emerging pattern of Republican partisanship that expressly works to undermine U.S. foreign policy and national security. More than just an embarrassing political stunt, Sen. Cotton’s unprecedented letter will damage U.S. international credibility and weaken the United States’ ability to conclude a deal that would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. This willingness to put short-term political goals ahead of U.S. interests has been on display with other Republican initiatives in recent weeks, particularly Speaker of the House John Boehner’s (R-OH) efforts to circumvent… Read More ›

White House Extremism Summit More Symbolism Than Substance, Experts Say By Susan Crabtree February 20, 2015 | Washington Examiner President Obama’s closing remarks at the Countering Violent Extremism Summit Thursday perfectly captured his awkward balancing act when it comes to talking about Islamic terrorist groups and his policies aimed at stopping their deadly goals. While Obama studiously avoided words like “Islamic” and “Muslim,” he made no bones about the need to confront the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, mentioning the terrorist group nine times. In the end, the summit was more symbolism than substance, say foreign policy experts across the political spectrum. “The Obama administration is demonstrating some much-needed international initiative by hosting this summit,” said John Dana Stuster, a policy analyst for the National… Read More ›

Jeb Bush Lays out Limited Foreign Policy Vision February 20, 2015 On Wednesday, Jeb Bush laid out the foreign policy framework for his anticipated presidential campaign in a speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Bush’s remarks covered a broad range of subjects, and while he identified many of the pressing international challenges facing the United States, his remarks lacked clarity or solutions. As the presidential race moves forward, the national security debate will require more depth of understanding on issues including resolving Iran’s nuclear program, addressing the threat from the Islamic State, the fighting in Ukraine, normalizing relations with Cuba, and ongoing Pentagon spending debates, and we will look for candidates that back up emerging positions with effective policies. Bush doesn’t seem to… Read More ›