AAM DISPATCH

The U.S. is quietly increasing its presence in the Gulf and speeding up arms sales to several Gulf Arab states against a potential Iranian strike in advance of increased sanctions against Iran. The U.S. Navy has been deployed to key strategic areas where they will be capable of knocking hostile missiles down in flight to the region. U.S. officials have let it be known that it now has Patriot batteries in four Gulf states – Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. These moves are designed to deter Iran from launching attacks against its Sunni Muslim neighbors and to send a message to Israel that a preemptive strike against Iran is unnecessary. From the BBC:

The U.S. position on Iran was delicately summed up on 7 January by Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: “I believe they’re on a path that has a strategic intent to develop nuclear weapons, and have been for some time. I think that outcome is potentially a very, very destabilizing outcome. On the other hand, when asked about striking Iran, specifically, that also has a very, very destabilizing outcome.”

This defensive measure is seen as an adjustment in the U.S. approach since the failure to engage the Iranians diplomatically has not yielded any results. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters last week that the U.S. will now press for additional sanctions against the Iranian government. Listen to an excerpt from Secretary Clinton on Power and Persuation: A Conversation with Secretaries Clinton and Gates with Frank Sesno and Christiane Amanpour on Iranian nuclear ambitions:

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Javier Barrera Diplomacy, Iran

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke this week from the Council on Foreign Relations to discuss State Department initiatives. She highlighted her international agenda and foreign policy goals:

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Clinton also spoke about the use of smart power in foreign diplomacy. She talks about smart power as “the intelligent use of all means at our disposal, including our ability to convene and connect. It means our economic and military strength, our capacity for entrepreneurship and innovation and the ability and credibility of our new president and his team.”

Below, Clinton shares her diplomatic strategies for key areas around the world. First, renewing ties to Europe and other global institutions:

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North Korea:

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Israel and Palestine:

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Iran:

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Afghanistan and Pakistan:

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Iraq:

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and Clinton’s forthcoming trip to India:

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With much on her plate, Clinton will have to delicately balance tough talk and decisive action. She will also have to make sure that there are enough resources and manpower on the ground to tackle these issues and to complete her international agenda. In Diplomacy Under Fire, America Abroad talks to foreign service officers and diplomats on how the US is transforming the Foreign Service to confront the realities on the ground today. There is widespread agreement that the US is short on diplomats, especially ones who speak strategically important languages like Dari, Urdu, Chinese, or Arabic. Today’s diplomats need new skills and training as they are operating on the front lines in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Secretary Clinton addresses these issues in her speech:

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To listen or watch the full speech, visit the Council on Foreign Relations website.

Javier Barrera Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Service

Interesting tidbit that comes just a few days after we released our program on US diplomacy. This is from a press release from Congressman Berman’s office (he’s the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Berman Welcomes State Department Plan for Strategic Planning of Diplomacy and Development

Washington, DC – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard L. Berman (D-CA) issued the following statement today after Secretary of State Clinton’s announcement that the State Department plans to launch a Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review:

“I share the Secretary’s view of the importance of undertaking a comprehensive and strategic planning process that will clarify the goals and objectives of our foreign policy and foreign aid programs, define the roles of the various civilian agencies in implementing them, and identify the appropriate resources and mechanisms for achieving them.

Seems that the State Department and Congress are getting more serious about reforming and strengthening America’s diplomatic infrastructure. Of course, it remains to be seen what will come out of the review process, and what action items result, but for those hoping for reforms at Foggy Bottom, this should be welcome news.

Sean Carberry Congress, Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Service, State Department

It’s not often that you get eight former Secretaries of State sharing the same byline, but yesterday that rarest of occurrences happened when the former secretaries, from Henry Kissinger to Condoleezza Rice, contributed a piece to Politico speaking out in defense of the two less affluent pillars of “smart power”: development and diplomacy.

A growing chorus—in fact, a cross-section of the defense, diplomatic and development communities—have sounded alarm bells over the State Department’s inadequate resources and the national security implications of a weak civilian infrastructure and workforce. One of the key institutions the secretaries cite is the Foreign Service. The US needs to engage not only with key governments in the Middle East but also with community leaders, college students and the Arabic-language press—key constituents in the battle for hearts and minds.

But it’s sending many of its foreign service officers out without the most critical of diplomatic tools: the ability to communicate in Arabic. In some embassies in the Arab world, upwards of 50 percent of the positions requiring Arabic language proficiency are filled by people who don’t meet the post’s requirements. The secretaries cited an American Academy of Diplomacy report saying that sending diplomats out into the field without language skills is like sending soldiers to war without bullets.

It seems that those controlling the purse strings have registered the State Department’s repeated calls for more funding for more officers. Earlier this month, the House passed the Foreign Relations Reauthorization Act, which includes a provision to add 1,500 new Foreign Service Officers over the next two fiscal years. A larger workforce could lead to a better prepared workforce, as it will allow for more time spent studying languages, and a solution to the proliferation of unfilled posts due to what one career Foreign Service Officer I spoke to called the ‘Baghdad tax’—the empty positions that are left as diplomats are pulled from other embassies to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On our next radio program, America’s Diplomacy Deficit, we look at this issue of language readiness and also explore how the State Department is doing on transformational diplomacy. Check America Abroad’s website in July.

Monica Villavicencio Diplomacy, International Politics