This morning, the USGLC is thrilled to announce Ambassador Mark Green is joining the team as a Senior Director, leading the public policy and national field operations teams.  Ambassador Green served as a Member of Congress for four terms and his experience will be invaluable to us as USGLC makes the case for the importance of the International Affairs Budget  to our national and economic security in Washington and across the country.  Green served as the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania from 2007 to 2009 under President Bush, overseeing some of the largest PEPFAR programs and MCC compacts, learning first-hand the critical difference the International Affairs Budget can make in our foreign policy.  He represented the 8^th district of Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007, serving on the House Judiciary and International Relations Committees, and as an Assistant Majority Whip.  He was a champion of development and diplomacy during his time in Congress.  Green currently serves on the board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and will begin his work at the USGLC on March 1.

Must Reads

Who’s In the News

What Do the Budget Battles Mean for Latin America? (Lisa Haugaard, the Huffington Post)

Is the United States really more secure if its neighbors view it as narrowly interested only in its own security? Do we want our nation’s reputation to be more about guns and less about helping to fight diseases and recover from natural disasters? Do we win good will and allies by being perceived as selfish?

House Republicans Cut National Security Priorities (Alex Cornell du Houx, the Huffington Post)

We all agree that we need to reduce our national debt, and one surefire way to reduce our spending is to fine-tune the national budget. However, certain budget expenditures are vital to America’s security. House Republicans made reckless and dangerous choices in their latest budget proposal, demonstrating that they are willing to make America less safe in order to make a partisan point.

Smart Power

Aid groups plead with Congress to stop funding cuts (Erik Wasson, the Hill)

The heads of 29 international aid organizations have written to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other House leaders urging them to restore funding cut in the spending bill the House passed early Saturday morning. They call the cuts devastating and say they will hurt America’s reputation.

Politics/Foreign Policy

Afghan girls’ education backsliding as donors shift focus to withdrawal (Annie Kelly, the Guardian)

A new report is warning that hard-won progress in girls’ education in Afghanistan, heralded as one of few success stories of the last nine years, is increasingly under threat as international interest in reconstruction efforts ebbs away.

In the Middle East protests, a seismic shift (Fareed Zakaria, the Washington Post)

We are in the midst of a revolution in the Middle East, one that has unleashed long-suppressed forces that will continue to send shock waves across an arc of countries  from Morocco to Iran. We are all looking at each crisis individually as it breaks out. But if we step back we can see that this is really a seismic shift and that it will in time reverberate throughout the region.