Quotes by Candidate:
Senator John Edwards:
Edwards, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
Despite the urgency of these programs, the same redundancy that plagues our national security activities exists in our foreign assistance programs. Over 50 separate U.S. government entities are currently involved in the delivery of foreign aid. We need to return to President Kennedy's vision. He said in 1961 that the American system was fragmented, awkward, and slow and that improvement was necessary because "the nation's interest and the cause of political freedom require it." Kennedy reformed the American foreign-aid system, and we need a similar fundamental restructuring today.
Edwards, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
As president, I will create a new cabinet-level position to coordinate global development policies across the government. I will also replace Kennedy's Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 with a Global Development Act to modernize and consolidate development assistance, and I will ask Congress to improve its oversight and revamp its committee structure so that it can be a more effective partner in this effort. With measures like these, we can reclaim our historic role as a moral leader of the world while at the same time making the world safer and more secure for the United States.
Edwards, Speech at the Council on Foreign Relations: May 23, 2007 - Link
Any new strategy must include new preventive measures to win the long-term struggle and fuel hope and opportunity. This includes strong and creative diplomacy, and also new efforts to lead the fight against global poverty. I've proposed a plan to lead an international effort to educate every child in the world. As president, I would increase foreign assistance by $5 billion a year to make millions of people safer, healthier, and more democratic, and by creating a cabinet-level post to lead this effort.
Rudy Giuliani:
Giuliani, Article in Foreign Affairs: Sept/Oct 2007 - Link
Another step in rebuilding a strong diplomacy will be to make changes in the State Department and the Foreign Service. The time has come to refine the diplomats' mission down to their core purpose: presenting U.S. policy to the rest of the world. Reforming the State Department is a matter not of changing its organizational chart -- although simplification is needed -- but of changing the way we practice diplomacy and the way we measure results.
Giuliani, Speech in Bedford New Hampshire: June 12, 2007 - Link
We will also create what I call a hybrid force in the military. A stabilization and reconstruction corps. It will be made up of military and civilians. A lot of our military has had to have on the job training In Iraq and in Afghanistan about how to build a society. How to keep schools open. How to get factories open. How to do the regular things in life that create an orderly society so people can understand the benefits of democracy. Well they’ve learned it on the job, we’ve got to make sure that they learn it for the future. And we’ll create a special organization, military and civilian, that can do this in the future.
Senator John McCain:
McCain, Speech at the Hoover Institution: May 1, 2007 - Link
Back in 1947, just a year into the Cold War, the Truman administration launched a massive overhaul of the nation's foreign policy, defense, and intelligence agencies to meet new challenges. Today, we must do the same to meet the challenges of the 21st century. I will have much more to say about this in the future but our needs are clear in the organization, skills, and capabilities needed to prevail in the conflict with violent extremists: an intelligence community that is able to collect and analyze information on and conduct operations against our enemies; a public diplomacy effort that makes our case to the world effectively; a diplomatic corps that understands stability' does not mean supporting dictatorships; foreign aid programs that foster good governance; generals that understand and learn from past wars and apply those lessons to the future; defense procurement that is transparent, accountable and effective; and civilian defense leadership that is held accountable for results and provides the resources necessary to achieve results.
McCain, Speech at the Hoover Institution: May 1, 2007 - Link
I will have much more to say about this in the future but our needs are clear in the organization, skills, and capabilities needed to prevail in the conflict with violent extremists: an intelligence community that is able to collect and analyze information on and conduct operations against our enemies; a public diplomacy effort that makes our case to the world effectively; a diplomatic corps that understands stability' does not mean supporting dictatorships; foreign aid programs that foster good governance….
Senator Barack Obama:
Obama, Democratic Debate: February 21, 2008 - Link
Because, ultimately, that's what's at stake. Understand, not only have we been diverted from Afghanistan. We've been diverted from focusing on Latin America. We contribute -- our entire foreign aid to Latin America is $2.7 billion, approximately what we spend in Iraq in a week. And it is any surprise, then, that you've seen people like Hugo Chavez and countries like China move into the void, because we've been neglectful of that.
Obama, Democratic Debate: January 31, 2008 - Link
Both of us have said that we would make sure that our embassies and our civilians are protected. Both of us have said that we've got to care for Iraqi civilians, including the four million who have been displaced already. We already have a humanitarian crisis, and we have not taken those responsibilities seriously.
Strategy Paper for Global Development: November 27, 2007 - Link
As president, Barack Obama will double our annual investments in foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012 and ensure that these new resources are invested wisely with strong accountability measures and directed towards strategic goals.
Strategy Paper for Global Development: November 27, 2007 - Link
Barack Obama will target new U.S. assistance to help the world’s weakest states to build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth. He will also work to ensure that increases in U.S. assistance are matched by our partners in the G-8 so that developed countries truly live up to their stated commitments.
Strategy Paper for Global Development: November 27, 2007 - Link
Barack Obama will spearhead an initiative to eliminate the global education deficit by 2015. An Obama administration will establish at least a $2 billion Global Education Fund to help fill the financing gap for primary education. He will lead efforts to leverage American commitments through the World Bank’s Fast Track Initiative to ensure that funding shortfall is no longer the main impediment to progress on basic education.
Strategy Paper for Global Development: November 27, 2007 - Link
Barack Obama believes that we must do more to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as malaria and tuberculosis. The first priority should be to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) when it expires in 2008, but also to rewrite much of the bill to allow best practices – not ideology – to drive funding for HIV/AIDS programs. In that context, Obama will commit $50 billion over five years to strengthen the existing program and expand it to new regions of the world, including Southeast Asia, India, and parts of Europe, where the HIV/AIDS burden is growing. An Obama administration will also increase U.S. contributions to the Global Fund to ensure that global efforts to fight endemic disease continue to move ahead.
Strategy Paper for Global Development: November 27, 2007 - Link
Building on the growing evidence that micro finance works, an Obama administration will provide initial capital for an SME Fund. Administered through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, an independent U.S. government agency, the government will provide seed capital matched by a larger portion from the private sector. The SME Fund will be designed to provide seed capital and technical assistance to catalyze the establishment of job-creating small and medium enterprises, and to build the capacity of entrepreneurs to translate their ideas into viable businesses, including through the creation of regional “SME Universities” supported by America’s business schools.
Obama, Speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center: August 1, 2007 - Link
To succeed, we must improve our civilian capacity. The finest military in the world is adapting to the challenges of the 21st century. But it cannot counter insurgent and terrorist threats without civilian counterparts who can carry out economic and political reconstruction missions -- sometimes in dangerous places. As President, I will strengthen these civilian capacities, recruiting our best and brightest to take on this challenge. I will increase both the numbers and capabilities of our diplomats, development experts, and other civilians who can work alongside our military. We can't just say there is no military solution to these problems. We need to integrate all aspects of American might.
Governor Bill Richardson:
Richardson, Speech at the Center for National Policy: June 27, 2007 - Link
We need better human intelligence and better international intelligence and law enforcement coordination to prevent nuclear trafficking.
Governor Mitt Romney:
Romney, Statement on World AIDS Day: December 1, 2007 - Link
I will fundamentally transform our international aid efforts so that more of our assistance goes to those suffering rather than bureaucracy. Today, only one-third of all foreign aid gets to the people it was intended to help. That must change.
Romney, Article in Foreign Affairs: July/Aug 2007 - Link
Just as the military has divided the world into regional theaters for all of its branches, the work of our civilian agencies should be organized along common geographic boundaries. For every region, one civilian leader should have authority over and responsibility for all the relevant agencies and departments, similar to the single military commander who heads U.S. Central Command. These new leaders should be heavy hitters, with names that are recognized around the world. They should have independent objectives, budgets, and oversight. Their performance should be evaluated according to their success in promoting America's political, military, diplomatic, and economic interests in their respective regions and building the foundations of freedom, democracy, security, and peace.
Romney, Article in Foreign Affairs: July/Aug 2007 - Link
Today, there is no such unity among our international nonmilitary resources. There is no clear leadership and no clear line of authority. Too often, we struggle to integrate our nonmilitary instruments into coherent, timely, and effective operations. For instance, even as we face the need to strengthen the democratic underpinnings of a country such as Lebanon, our resources in education, health, banking, energy, commerce, law enforcement, and diplomacy are spread across separate bureaucracies and are under separate leadership.
Romney, Speech at Yeshiva University: April 26, 2007 - Link
We have to transform our international civilian resources, to enhance our influence for peace, and for security, and for freedom. Just as the military in our country has divided the world into common regions with a single commander for each region, our civilian agencies need to do the same thing.