Honoring Amb. Nikki Haley and 200 Military Leaders at USGLC’s 2017 Tribute Dinner

This week, the USGLC pays tribute to the 200 retired three and four-star generals and admirals of its National Security Advisory Council after a decade of voicing their support for America’s civilian forces.

Some say Washington is broken, but that’s not the whole story. In recent years, Congress has passed significant pieces of bipartisan legislation on global development – advancing America’s interests around the world. Watch 15 members of Congress who helped make it all happen – they might even get a little wild.

America’s ability to advance our nation’s interests around the world through effective diplomacy and development is severely at risk due to a series of disproportionate and damaging personnel policies, hiring freezes and an unusually slow nominations process. While every agency in the federal government has opportunities to streamline for greater efficiency, this decline puts America at risk. As critical human capital at the State Department is being lost and not replaced, there is serious risk of irreversible damage to our Foreign Service that has taken decades to build and could take decades to rebuild.

Senator Joni Ernst, Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. General Daniel Christman joined the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) in Iowa on November 23, 2015 for the first event of its Impact 2016 initiative and to discuss how America’s development and diplomacy efforts are critical issues for this election.

President Reagan valued U.S. foreign assistance as a critical tool in his commitment to “peace through strength” and the fight for freedom around the world. George Shultz, Secretary of State during the Reagan administration, spoke with the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition two days before the 2016 GOP presidential candidates take the debate stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

As the USGLC marks its 20th year, we are incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished together to strengthen American global leadership over the past two decades. These short remarks from President and CEO Liz Schrayer at our annual tribute dinner on June 17th offer a quick snapshot of our successes, ongoing efforts, and where we are headed in the future.