AFSAnet:  AFSA Lauds Secretary Gates' Call for Funding for Diplomacy

Below is the text of a Press Release issued by AFSA on November 30, 2007:  

AFSA LAUDS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE GATES'
CALL FOR BETTER FUNDED DIPLOMACY

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The president of the American Foreign Service Association today lauded this week's speech by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates calling for a "dramatic increase" in funding for diplomacy and foreign assistance.

AFSA President John Naland said "The American Foreign Service Association strongly endorses the visionary remarks by Secretary of Defense Gates calling for a strengthening of the civilian component of U.S. national power."

In his November 26 speech, Secretary Gates said:   

"The Department of Defense has taken on many … burdens that might have been assumed by civilian agencies in the past… [The military has] done an admirable job…but it is no replacement for the real thing - civilian involvement and expertise…  Funding for non-military foreign-affairs programs…remains disproportionately small relative to what we spend on the military… The total foreign affairs budget request for the State Department is…less than what the Pentagon spends on health care alone.  Secretary Rice has asked for a budget increase for the State Department and an expansion of the Foreign Service.  The need is real… What is clear to me is that there is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security - diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development…  We must focus our energies beyond the guns and steel of the military…  Indeed, having robust civilian capabilities available could make it less likely that military force will have to be used in the first place, as local problems might be dealt with before they become crises."  ( http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1199 )

AFSA President Naland added:  "Secretary Gates' remarks constitute a wake-up call for anyone who might have thought that military strength alone could keep American safe.  With the size of the U.S. Foreign Service currently less than one-half of 1 percent of the size of the U.S. military, Secretary Gates' ringing endorsement of a better funded diplomacy should be noted by lawmakers responsible for funding the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development."

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