Where Have All the Strategic Thinkers Gone?
democracyarsenal.org ^ | March 11, 2010 | Michael Cohen
[Thanks, Jet Jaguar.]
Posted on 03/11/2010 10:20:17 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
There was a pretty interesting article in the Washington Post today about Hillary Clinton's tenure at State Department and it pretty much confirmed my suspicions about our Secretary of State - she's a great public diplomat and administrator, but not much of a strategic thinker.
As Stewart Patrick noted, she struggles with priorities and questioned whether she has a "grand strategic vision." This was basically part of the deal when Obama picked her; Hillary would serve as a great "face" for America to the world; she would invest time and energy in public diplomacy, something that was critically important after the tumult of the Bush years. But at the same time it was hard to expect much from her from a strategic standpoint. After all, she doesn't have an IR or even foreign policy background and doesn't appear to have spent a lot of time thinking about the future of American foreign policy.
It was very striking, for example, that the article recounted the experience of a young State Department FSO who was pushing the idea of engaging with "non-governmental power centers in Pakistan" while Clinton expressed skepticism. The story has a happy ending as the FSO was promoted, but the fact that the Sec State didn't agree about the importance of this issue is surprising. At a time when non-state actors are rising in importance - and Pakistan's non-governmental sector has been at the forefront of pushing for democratic change and adherence to the rule of law - it's hard to understand Clinton's skepticism. If this anecdote is any indication, she seems to be quite the foreign policy realist (although granted it's hard to draw too much of a conclusion from just one anecdote)
It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing to ask the Secretary of State to focus on public diplomacy if President Obama had placed strategic thinkers in other areas of the national security bureaucracy, but he hasn't. Jim Jones and Bob Gates are obviously smart men, but one doesn't get the sense (particularly from the former) that they are focused on recalibrating US strategy. Indeed, one could fairly ask where are all the Obama campaign aides that were pushing the idea of a new mindset for American foreign policy - because they don't appear to be in the higher reaches of Obama's foreign policy team.
If you look at Obama's foreign policy to date, this has clearly been a problem. You have John Brennan saying back in August that we need to get away from the jihadist terror fixation that defined the Bush years . . . and yet then you have Obama sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and spending the lion's share of his foreign aid request in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. We're now 14 months in to the Obama presidency and we still haven't seen a national security strategy, or the results of the QDDR process - just a QDR that continues the US reliance on military power and the overly broad definition of US global interests.
I realize that it's a lot to expect for things to change overnight and clearly the process of changing the mindset of American foreign policy is the work of generations. But I do worry that Obama has failed to put the pieces in place to realize this goal and that he seems intent, at least for now, to nibble around the edges of American foreign policy. But at a time when a new orientation for the way America's interacts with the world is desperately needed indefinitely delaying more systemic change is a recipe for continued strategic drift. Obama has surrounded himself with smart, competent individuals in his key foreign policy positions - but smart and competent is not what America needs today.
We're now 14 months in to the Obama presidency and we still haven't seen a national security strategy, or the results of the QDDR process - just a QDR that continues the US reliance on military power and the overly broad definition of US global interests.
National Security Strategy overdue ping.
Where Have All the Strategic Thinkers Gone?
democracyarsenal.org ^ | March 11, 2010 | Michael Cohen
[Thanks, Jet Jaguar.]
Thank you.
I wonder what he thinks she's done successfully?
Goldwater-Nichols Act requires the CIC to present a National Security Strategy to the US congress.
It was due in July, 2009.
Still nothing.
At least Cohen understands that there is no National Security Strategy.
Thank you for the ping Jet Jaguar.
"You have John Brennan saying back in August that we need to get away from the jihadist terror fixation that defined the Bush years..."
“At least Cohen understands that there is no National Security Strategy.”
And that is about ALL he understands. If he thinks a strategy hasn’t been put into place, he is blind. In a short year, our foreign policy has flipped upside down. Our friends have become targetted enemies of this administration, and our worst enemies have become this administration’s best friends.
Most people see chaos. That is what we are supposed to see. It is NOT chaos. It is evil and we have been betrayed.
What people throughout history have done is fail to recognize a great evil until it has consumed them. For many, it was too late to throw off the chains that eventually bound them. We are following in their footsteps.
Sorry,
I should have pinged you!
:0)
JJ, this guy, Cohen is a lefty loony toon.
“Previously, Michael served in the U.S. Department of State as chief speechwriter for U.S. Representative to the United Nations Bill Richardson and Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat. He has worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Foreign Policy magazine, and as chief speechwriter for Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT). He was a Senior Vice President at the strategic communications firm of Robinson, Lerer and Montgomery and has worked on political campaigns both in the United States and overseas.”
“A frequent commentator on politics and international affairs his work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, Dissent, World Politics Review, Newsweek, Sphere.com the World Policy Journal, Politico, Foreign Policy, the New York Daily News, Forbes.com, the St. Petersburg Times, Courier de la Planete, Worth Magazine and he offers commentary on national politics and foreign policy at Talkingpointsmemo.com. During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign he was a regular contributor to the New York Times Campaign Stops blog. He has also been featured on ABC News, Good Morning America NOW, Fox News, BBC TV, South African television, Al Jazeera, Press TV, Air America, WNYC’s The Brian Lerer Show, Pacifica Radio and XM Radio’s Potus ‘08”
Pacifica radio? Air America? Are you kidding me/
If you want your country’s enemies to win, you don’t need a strategy.
The article is utter rubbish.
There was no “tumult” in foreign policy during the Bush years, Hillary was not reluctant to engage “non-governmental power centers in Pakistan” (read: Taliban), 0bama doesn’t have smart/competent people running his foreign policy (save for Petraeus with our military!), etc.
What, we have a QDR but no QDDR?! Gasp, the horrors!
Bunch of freakin’ wankers at the State Department...
Obama has tried to destabilize Honduras and deliver it Chavez and Ortega. He broke an ABM deal with Poland on the anniversary of their invasion by Stalin. In the face of mainstream pro-democracy uprisings in Iran he refuses “to meddle.” He treats the Dali Lama like a leper. It takes him 100 days to decide if he should reinforce Afghanistan. He tries to ignore the anniversary of the Berlin Wall's demolition. He refuses to step foot in Israel. He snubs and insults the UK at every opportunity. He bows, curtsys, bends over, apologizes, and bad-mouths his “cowboy” predecessor all over the world. Whoever he listens to on the National Security Council ain't the right guy.
“strategic thinker”????
I’d settle for a little common sense at this point.
"If we grant amnesty to all of the illegal aliens, I can get re-elected."
Well, at least now we know Huma is still on board.
Laws, rules and the Constitution mean nothing to Obama.
He is definitely not listening to you NeoCons.
NeoCon Cheney is out, Realist Colin Powell is in.
NeoCon Rumsfeld is out Realist Bob Gates is in
NeoCon Wolfowitz is out, Realist Brent Scowcroft is in
NeoCon puppet Liz Cheney never was in, she will always be out
Notice the last sentence in the third paragraph: "she seem to be quite the foreign policy realist"
She is not a realist, she is a "liberal interventionist"
Obama's foreign policy is being run by a coalition of Realists and Liberal Interventionists. This coalition has been running the US's foreign policy since the Iraq Study Group issued it's report and Bob Gates replaced Rumsfeld.
Consequently, there is going to be a lot of squealing from the NeoCons, the left wing pacifists, and the right wing isolationists.
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