2009 in Review
As 2009 winds to a close, it is an appropriate time to reflect on what was a momentous year for the USGLC. Throughout the year, USGLC activists around the country continued to build upon the success of our Impact ’08 campaign by meeting with their Members of Congress and supporting our efforts to call on Congress to enact a robust FY 2010 International Affairs Budget. In particular, activists encouraged their Senators to pass the Kerry-Lugar amendment to add $4 billion back into the International Affairs Budget, and they helped make the FY 2011 letter to the President such a record-breaking success.
Soon after the inauguration of President Obama, the USGLC released Putting Smart Power to Work, its plan for the new administration. Putting Smart Power to Work was a comprehensive report analyzing over 20 reports and 2,000 pages created by a diverse group of over 500 expert contributors from various institutions. The report distilled these wide ranging proposals into an extraordinary bipartisan consensus that America must strengthen its civilian capacity as a critical component to our national security.
The USGLC marked the release of its new report with a panel discussion featuring Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Congressman Jim Leach (R-IA), U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and Ambassador Wendy Sherman, a Principal at the Albright Group LLC. Nearly 1,000 people attended or watched the live webcast of the event.
Momentum began to build at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue for a restructuring of U.S. development and diplomacy. The White House launched its Presidential Study Directive on Global Development (PSD) to take a whole of Government review of U.S. development efforts, which includes more than sixty government agencies. The State Department launched its Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) in July to identify opportunities for improvement, increase efficiency, and achieve better results from diplomacy and development programs at the State Department and USAID; and Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the Senate (S. 1524, “Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act”) and the House (H.R. 2139, “Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act”) to begin a comprehensive foreign assistance reform process.
October featured the USGLC’s QDDR event, the first public discussion of that process by administration officials. Participating in a widely-discussed panel were Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew, Director of Policy Planning Anne-Marie Slaughter and USAID Acting Administrator Alonzo Fulgham.
Finally, the USGLC hosted a tribute dinner honoring Secretary Clinton for her commitment to development and diplomacy. Secretary Clinton delivered an eloquent speech on the value of a balanced, smart power approach to foreign policy, based on strengthened development and diplomacy tools, saying “we are following, in effect, the USGLC model by trying to leverage our civilian power.” She said it “has been my goal since becoming the 67th Secretary of State to do all that I could to make sure that diplomacy and development were elevated alongside a strong defense.”
All in all, it’s been an impressive year for the USGLC, and its commitment to putting smart power to work.
