New Global Directorate Created at NSC
In yet another sign the Administration is looking to elevate development and diplomacy as a central part of our national security, the White House announced the creation of a Global Engagement Directorate to deal with development assistance, diplomacy, communications, and domestic outreach in relation to national security as well as homeland security. This is part of a broader announcement that the Homeland Security Council is being integrated into the National Security Council to better coordinate efforts and combat new threats. As part of the announcement, the President said the purpose of the Global Engagement Directorate is “to drive comprehensive engagement policies that leverage diplomacy, communications, international development and assistance, and domestic engagement and outreach in pursuit of a host of national security objectives.”
In explaining the new NSC structure, National Security Advisor Jim Jones reinforced the need for non-military assistance stating how national security is more than purely a military effort, specifically noting, “It is not about how many troops you put on the ground, it’s about whether you can achieve security, economic development and governance and rule of law simultaneously. It’s a three pronged approach that will serve us well if we do it well.”
Click Here for the White House Release on the NSC
Click Here to Read NSC Jones’ Remarks
We are spending 7-8 Billion $ to train 28,000 additional Afghan Troops. The entire budget of the Afghan Central Government is $700-800 Million. If we concentrated $1B on non-military assistance through a new agency to replace U.S less AID that was actually effective we might solve the innate problem rather than repressing the reaction to the economic problem by force. Read “Seeds of Terror” by Gretchen Peters.