1/25/11 

The past two years have demonstrated that a principled, pragmatic and progressive approach to national security keeps America safe and strengthens America's power.  A consensus national security experts, centrists and progressives has brought progress on core security issues; fruitful engagement that rebuilds alliances and isolates foes; and renewed energy for the diplomatic, economic, social and moral aspects of our national power.  The challenges ahead:  maintaining a U.S. approach to the world that is resilient, balanced, competitive - and engaged with the toughest global challenges - are severe. In addressing these challenges, political polarization and 20^th-century thinking will fail us.

Engagement Proving Fruitful, Backed by Strong Consensus From Military and National Security Experts

Reducing the nuclear threat. Since April 2009, when President Obama convened the first-ever nuclear security summit and pledged to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years, the U.S. has secured 3,085 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium, enough nuclear material to make more than 120 nuclear weapons. The U.S. has assisted six countries in completely eliminating all of their HEU. The U.S. also secured commitments from nearly 190 countries to take specific steps to strengthen the global rules against spreading nuclear weapons and technology. And the New START treaty will reduce the strategic nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia and reinstate a stringent verification regime to ensure strategic stability between the two countries that hold more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons. [NSN, 1/4/11]

Rallying international efforts to isolate Iran.  Sanctions, technical setbacks and unified diplomatic pressure have isolated Iran and slowed its nuclear program.  As Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution recently wrote: "The United States has achieved some truly remarkable feats in pursuit of the White House's Iran policy over the course of the past twelve months, achievements many critics from left, right and center all thought impossible. With perseverance and perspicacity, and some help from the stupidity of the Islamic Republic's leadership, Washington has secured widespread backing in Europe, East Asia and the Middle East for imposing various new sanctions on the country." Such measures have also been accompanied by strong diplomatic efforts. David Rothkopf of Foreign Policy Magazine concludes that President Obama's engagement strategy has given the U.S. "more credibility with allies in Europe as well as with critical partners like Russia and China. Via his engagement language he sent a clear message that America was moving away from the ‘us versus them' world of the Bush years and this restored some of the diplomatic high ground to U.S. diplomats." [Kenneth Pollack, National Interest, 10/20/10. David Rothkopf, 1/10/11]

Resetting relations with Russia.  Since the "reset" policy began, Russia has helped the U.S. and our allies to isolate Iran, by both voting for strong sanctions and canceling its long-planned sale of an S-300 air defense system to Iran.  Russia has also provided overflight privileges for our troops and supplies headed to Afghanistan.  [Samuel Charap, 11/1/10]

Reaffirming NATO ties. Last year's NATO summit in Lisbon set a clear course for future relations by:  adopting a new strategic concept with applications to cyberdefense and missile defense; building NATO-Russia interaction; and setting an endpoint for the transition of security responsibility in Afghanistan.  Supreme Allied Commander Europe Admiral James Stavridis said of the summit, "It was perfect. It was really extremely well organized, extremely well done... An excellent summit, from my viewpoint." [James Stavridis, 11/24/10]

Progress on Core Security Issues

Successfully combating terrorism:

Incapacitating extremist movements threatening the U.S.: Since taking office, the Obama administration has killed or captured hundreds of extremists, including al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, prompting former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke to declare: "It is an objective and undeniable fact that U.S. counterterrorism efforts have reduced the overall threat from what it was a few years ago." [Third Way, 7/1/10. Richard Clarke, 5/9/10]

Disrupting plots at home.  Law enforcement and counterterrorism officials have stamped out a number of plots at home, including the planned attack by Najibullah Zazi, which authorities called one of the most serious terrorism plots against Americans since Sept. 11, 2001. [NSN, 2/23/10]

Successfully bringing terrorists to justice. There were more terrorist convictions in the first months of the Obama administration through civilian courts than in five years of Bush administration military tribunals. In addition to Najibullah Zazi and Fasial Shazhad  both being sentenced to life in prison, and a number of other terrorist suspects awaiting justice, 2010 also saw the conviction of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, in civilian court. 

Delivering on Iraq.  This summer saw the close of America's combat mission in Iraq and the redeployment of nearly 90,000 U.S. troops, marking the culmination of years of effort to replace the failed invasion strategy with one that better serves core American interests. America's mission in Iraq is changing to a civilian-led partnership, though thousands of troops will remain to advise and assist Iraqi forces.   Challenges remain, but these are problems that demand Iraqi-led solutions. [NSN, 8/31/10]

Anticipating 21^st century threats. As the U.S. rebalances its foreign policy approach way from purely military solutions, it increasingly faces an altered national security landscape.  To prepare for this reality, the Obama administration begun several initiatives anticipating the challenges of the 21^stcentury, including establishing CIA center for climate change and national security, appointing a cyber security coordinator to craft government policy for the threats of the digital age, and linking its nonproliferation policy to the nexus of loose nuclear material and terrorism

Rebalancing and Using all Elements of American Power

Rebuilding economic strength at home. A strong economy is the wellspring of American power. The stimulus bill and overhaul of the financial system will strengthen the foundations of our economy, thereby enabling us to continue to advance our interests globally - as will efforts to increase U.S. exports highlighted recently in deals with India and China. [David Leonhardt, 2/16/10. Chris Dodd, via the NY Times, 3/15/10.

Taking important steps towards keeping America's promises to our troops. "In April, the president secured the biggest increase in VA spending in 30 years," reports MSNBC.  Just yesterday, the President, First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden announced a new initiative to keep America's promises to its military families.  As Politico's Morning Defense writes, "The White House was not kidding about bringing the whole of government into its long-term program to take care of military families: Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture and other agencies you don't normally link to defense or veterans issues are part of Obama's support plan announced Monday. The initiative lays out many goals across a range of issues, from reducing Army suicides to better health care and education for troops' children, creating a long-term plan for how Uncle Sam will help troops, veterans and their families." [MSNBC, 1/24/11. Politico, 1/25/11]

Rebuilding strategic diplomatic power with the first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. Patrick Cronin, senior advisor and senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security: "A world filled with war, terrorism, poverty, disease and humanitarian disaster will demand more civilian power to defend and advance America's interests and values.  The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review is a necessary first step toward overhauling our diplomatic corps and development expertise for the 21st Century.  Some will say the report does not go far enough, but it begins an all-important process that allows the State Department and USAID to continuously assess ends and means." [CNAS, 12/16/10]

Progress at Cancun in combating climate change. John Podesta and Andrew Light of the Center for American Progress outline the importance of last December's Cancun climate change agreement: "we now have an agreement on critical areas of carbon mitigation and adaption to climate change. While not yet solving the global warming problem, Cancun advances substantive areas of agreement - and vindicates a process that many were ready to abandon." [John Podesta and Andrew Light, 12/17/10]

Under-the-radar successes. As House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer explained at CSIS, "President Obama has announced major new initiatives on food security and global health, and his administration is working to strengthen them through partnerships with other donors and the private sector, data-driven analysis, and strong standards for accountability from aid recipients." Progressives have also made steps to tackle corruption. As Mark Brzezinski writes, "Among the more underreported developments of the Obama administration is the ramp-up in international ‘anti-bribery' enforcement." [Steny Hoyer, 6/28/10. Mark Brzezinski, 5/28/10]

This Vision, and the Progressive-Centrist-Military Consensus Behind it, Face Significant Challenges in 2011

Rebalancing American power. With the release of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, the blueprint for a balanced international affairs budget has been drawn.  Moves in Congress to cut or zero out civilian spending - including for Afghanistan, nuclear modernization and other national security priorities - are the polar opposite of Secretary Gates' view: "There has to be a change in attitude in the recognition of the critical role that agencies like [the] State [Department] and AID [the U.S. Agency for International Development] play . . . for them to play the leading role that I think they need to play." [Robert Gates, via QDDR, 2010]

Competitiveness. Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, recently wrote that "a strong economy is the basis of both a vibrant democracy at home and U.S. military might abroad." In order to ensure American economic strength, a renewed focus on competitiveness is essential. As Treasury Secretary Geithner has said, "the prosperity of Americans depends overwhelmingly on the economic policies we pursue to strengthen American competitiveness... we need to understand that our strength as a nation will depend, not on choices made by China's leaders, but on the choices we make here at home." [Leslie Gelb, Dec. 2010. Timothy Geithner, 1/12/11]

Resilience in the face of terrorism. No amount of fear-mongering will change the reality that keeping Guantanamo Bay open, demonizing American Muslims, and other efforts to take shortcuts for our security will actually undermine us.  As General David Petraeus has said: "I have always been on the record, in fact, since 2003, with the concept of living our values... situations like [Guantanamo Bay] are nonbiodegradables. They don't go away. The enemy continues to beat you with them like a stick." [David Petraeus, Meet the Press,2/21/10]

Political solutions for the toughest security problems.. Despite brave and laudable efforts by America's military, diplomatic and aid corps, progress in Afghanistan remains halting and a new emphasis on political progress is critical.  New creativity and determination are needed on the Middle East Peace Process. 

Veterans. IAVA's Congressional report card reminds that much remains to be done to keep our promises to those who serve: "Despite pressure from IAVA and other veterans services organizations (VSO's), Congress was unsuccessful in passing reform in four key areas: improving the outdated VA disability process, upgrading the Post-9/11 GI Bill, helping veterans find employment opportunities, and approving the VA budget. As a result of Congressional inaction, veterans are forced to wait another year for these critical improvements to the benefits and services that they have earned."  [IAVA Action, 10/10]

What We're Reading

Thousands of Egyptian protesters gathered in Cairo and other major cities, calling for reforms and demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The choice of Najib Miqati, the Hezbollah-backed candidate, for prime minister of Lebanon sparked protests by backers of the former leader, Saad Hariri, who called the move a "coup d'etat."

Russia's lower house of parliament ratified the landmark New START nuclear arms pact with the United States that was earlier been approved by the U.S. Senate; the treaty will now go to the upper house for final approval.

The international effort to isolate and dislodge Laurent Gbagbo, who lost a presidential election in Ivory Coast but refuses to step down, continues, with West African leaders moving to cut off vital sources of cash and renewing threats of military intervention.

Officials in Brazil say more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south east of the country.

Fast-growing emerging nations are taking increasingly aggressive actions to beat back rising food prices as concerns about stability also rise.

Taliban violence and religious extremism grew in Pakistan in 2010, with the government doing little to improve the situation and often making things worse, Human Rights Watch said.

Britain's economy experienced a shock 0.5 percent contraction in the last three months of 2010, with unusually poor winter weather accounting for only part of its first shrinkage in five quarters.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed strong support for Mexico's battle against violent drug cartels, but she emphasized that the country needed to do more to build democratic institutions and defend human rights.

President Dmitri A. Medvedev sharply questioned security precautions at the airport in Moscow that was hit by a suicide bomber, saying that officials must be held responsible for failing to prevent the devastating attack.

Commentary of the Day

Benjamin H. Friedman of the Cato Institute says Tea Partiers aren't looking tough on the Pentagon.

Saifedean Ammous and Edmund Phelps write that regimes that stifle their people's chances for prosperity and personal development do not deserve to survive - and nor should they expect to.

Matthias Schepp argues that the terror attack in Moscow shows once again how hard it will be to weaken Islamist militants and win the hearts and minds of the people of the Caucasus.