SFRC hearing 2pm - Defining the Military's Role Towards Foreign Policy

[Muttocracy]

Live feed link off Committee page:
http://foreign.senate.gov/index.html

or directly: http://foreign.senate.gov/hearing.ram

oops - pasted wrong link! thanks, gateley - correct one above

(feed has started now but hearing is supposed to start 2pm)

Hearing info
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2008/hrg080731p.html

Witnesses:

Panel 1:
+The Honorable John D. Negroponte
Deputy Secretary
Department of State
Washington, DC
+The Honorable Eric S. Edelman
Undersecretary for Policy
Department of Defense
Washington, DC

Panel 2:
+Dr. George Rupp
CEO and President
International Rescue Committee
New York, New York
+Dr. Reuben E. Brigety, II,
Director of the Sustainable Security
Program Center for American Progress
Washington, DC
+Ms. Mary Locke
Former Senior Professional Staff
Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate
Washington, DC
+Mr. Robert M. Perito
Senior Program Officer
Center for Post-Conflict Peace
and Stability Operations
United States Institute of Peace
Washington, DC

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1. oops - fixed the link above. Still hasn't started yet - is Senate voting on something?

[gateley]

2. This will be good - Hope they crush Negroponte. nt

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3. Just got audio, not sure when video started (mid-Biden's opening statement)

:shrug:

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4. Lugar talking about foreign affairs budget falling short

far less than military health care costs

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5. Negroponte intro; starts with thanking them for help w/ Libya relations. nt

[gateley]

7. Someone here yesterday told me it was believed that

Negroponte is the REAL SOS, kind of like Cheney is the real President. Is that how you view him?

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8. That someone would be me...

:rofl:

[gateley]

10. I KNEW there was a reason why I took it as the truth!

:rofl:

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6. Negroponte - saying admin proud of increase in for. aid budget. nt

[gateley]

9. I'm actually surprised (and suspicious) that the foreign aid budget has been

increased since this administration has shredded every other budget imaginable.

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11. yeah, tone of that didn't match what Lugar said (needing more funding relative to military) nt

[gateley]

15. And when Biden asked for money for Afghanistan, he was told

"we don't have it".

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12. Edelman statement nt

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14. risk not from DoD doing too much... hmm...

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18. hey, take out the wars and DoD budget is modest!!!!

:crazy:

Did I hear that right?

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19. trying to have it both ways - supporting State, but saying increasing DoD's role is critical.

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20. civilian capacity still lacking (meaning in Iraq I assume) - so much for the surge success

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21. interesting info about night mission in Pakistan

in context of "1206 funding" - when building "partner capacity" in other countries - via military to partners, not traditionally done by State Dept.

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22. suggests same tools will be needed by next administration. nt

[gateley]

13. That little exchange between Negroponte and Biden --

classic Biden. Person to person. We're all in this together doing what we feel is best. THEN he destroys their actions, policies. Nothing personal. I think that's a big reason why he has such a good relationship with those on both sides of the aisle.

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16. Biden also starts out cordial, but the Q&A could be quite different

Negroponte may get squirmy in a hurry (he has NO poker face)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

17. kick

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23. Kerry's questions (Biden letting others go ahead of him)

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24. praise for Gates, Petraeus on their statements on need for non-military effort. nt

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25. are we constraining ourselves by talking about 1206 and other funding structures

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26. Kerry praising soldiers for doing civil jobs well despite it not being their job

but asking about need for civilian reconstruction team separate from Pentagon but with need for skills to defend themselves (like contractors!)

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27. Lines between Intelligence, Defense, State seem awfully fuzzy to me... nt

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28. Kerry reference to speech he gave this morning; Saudi Arabia's counterindoctrination. nt

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29. Kerry - local culture HAS to be taken into account, military not best entity to do that. nt

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30. Lugar asking for nom for ambassador to Libya to be moved forward in Sept.

Negroponte says it's underway

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31. Lugar - to fight Al Qaeda cells requires counterinsurgency expertise, not large # of troops!

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32. Lugar - Pakistan is most dangerous area; need long-term plans with Pakistan

(biden-lugar funding bill for diplomatic aid to PK)

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33. approach terror problem as broad multi-national issue, not country by country large force

Negroponte agrees.

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34. Lugar making funding point - need different course for fiscal responsibility too

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35. Menendez Questions

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36. concern - training and equipping foreign military is a *major foreign policy* decision.

can change balance of power in nations, regions

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37. questions about funding allocations esp. Latin American SouthCOM plans

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39. Edelman - both SecDef and SecDefense sign off on 1206 activities

and those also fall under foreign assistance act and other regulations

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40. menendez - you're doing what state used to do, right? ans - no

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44. N response - 90% of assistance via civilian, state dept says not a problem

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38. civilian and military assistance are viewed very differently by other countries. nt

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41. M to N: some suggest State has just rolled over here on being lead in foreign policy

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42. M - we are losing civilian development capacity. nt

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45. N- AID is a shadow of its former self. nt

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43. N response - Gate and Rice talk. nt

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46. Biden - N. making $39.5b for State sound big - Defense gets $600b

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47. Biden asking about comments from Admiral Mullen

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48. back and forth; Biden says primary agent for civilian roles is military at this point

by default, not because they asked for the authority

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49. there are insufficient # of civilian personnel available to deal with problems around world - exampl

examples

centcom and africom - need many more civilians to accomplish their missions.

detailed discussion, I can't keep up, good ?

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50. Biden "I have become huge fan of U.S. military" (soldiers on ground...)

"they blow me away" seeing when they have done good work in Balkans, middle east.

Anecdote about Iraq visit several years

military guy there told him to be successful - "give me guys from agriculture dept and state dept!"

having to use military helicopters for crop spraying.

he says military is not trying to grab power, but HAS to do civilian tasks to have any shot at progress.

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51. biden - mission creep by military into state affairs by necessity - throughout world. nt

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52. how do we prevent iraq/afghan model from being std for military/state balance in future

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53. Casey up - discussing Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan trip

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54. Negronponte - Afghan PRTs mostly military; Iraq PRTs better civilian component

sounded like tiny staff #s in Afghanistan to me!

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55. Feingold up - foreign military assistance has increased without balance or human rights

considerations - will undermine long-term security; overly reliant on DoD to do work should be done by state and usaid.

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56. questions about aid to Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia... vs. foreign assistance act & human rights

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57. more tough questions on torture in other countries.nt

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58. 2nd panel - I can't jot notes any longer. nt