Stories of Smart Power: Colonel Greg Hermsmeyer
Greg Hermsmeyer, Former Colonel, U.S. Air Force
I am a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and am an ardent believer that Americans help themselves by helping others. My operational years as a KC-135 pilot featured continuous stability and humanitarian operations occasionally punctuated by major combat operations. From protecting the Kurds of northern Iraq, through humanitarian relief efforts for Somalia and Rwanda, and no-fly zones in the Balkans in the 1990s, to the complex operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s, major combat has been the clear exception to the rule.
My operational experiences gave me an appreciation of the critical role that diplomacy and development play in the gray space between war and peace that characterizes many failed and fragile states today. To help secure peace and security in these troubled regions, Americans need to invest much more in our government’s non-military instruments of power. In return for this increased investment, Americans should demand improvements in the quality of their government’s diplomacy and development tools. In today’s complex security environment, better outcomes require more fully coordinated and–when appropriate–integrated approaches across the “3Ds” of defense, diplomacy, and development. In other words, America needs Smart Power to make the world a more peaceful and secure place and to protect American citizens and interests from threats and challenges emanating beyond our borders.
