Center Releases Survey of Military Attitudes on Global Engagement on Eve of Conference
Featuring McCain, Obama Senior Foreign Policy Surrogates and former Sen. Edwards
WASHINGTON , July 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Center for U.S. Global Engagement is releasing today the results of a unique and compelling national survey exploring the attitudes of active duty and recently retired (post-9/11) military officers toward the United States' use of military and non-military tools to enhance our national security. The survey, conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Peter D. Hart Research Associates (D) and Public Opinion Strategies (R), is being released as part of the Center's July 15th national conference, Election '08: The Global Impact, at 9 a.m. at the Mayflower Hotel, Senate Room, 1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC . Live streaming video of the poll release and conference program can be seen at www.usglobalengagement.org.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080709/DC27147LOGO )
Following the 9 a.m. poll briefing for the media, conference participants will hear from senior foreign policy representatives from both presidential candidates - Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) for McCain and Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) for Obama - and other prominent national security and foreign policy leaders. The Center's conference will also feature a keynote address, "Smart Power: America and Global Poverty," by former Sen. John Edwards , in his first foreign policy address since withdrawing from the presidential election.
Pollsters Geoff Garin of Peter D. Hart Research Associates and Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies will provide an overview of the poll results in a presentation and memorandum. "Today's military officers believe we face very different security challenges than we did during the Cold War and must use different tools and strategies to address those challenges," Garin and McInturff write in the memorandum, with "a significant majority of officers surveyed embrac[ing] a new paradigm in which strengthened diplomacy and development assistance are important companions to traditional military tools for achieving America's national security goals."
The Center's Executive Director Liz Schrayer explained why the Center commissioned the poll. "There has been growing interest from the Defense community to see greater investments in diplomacy and development assistance," Schrayer said. "Secretary Gates has called for a 'dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security,' and the more than fifty retired generals and admirals on Center's National Security Advisory Council have called on the 2008 Presidential candidates to elevate and strengthen our non-military tools of global engagement. This poll demonstrated that the vast majority of their colleagues in uniform see the value - many of them from firsthand experience - in these investments."
Reacting to the poll results, General Gregory Newbold , USMC (Ret.), a member of the Center's National Security Advisory Council who served as Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2000 to 2002, said, "These poll results make clear that the next Commander in Chief has the strong support of active and retired military officers to place increased emphasis on the non-military tools of national power."
Other featured speakers at the Conference include USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore on modernizing foreign assistance and a panel discussion with two former White House Chiefs of Staff. Tuesday evening, the Center's sister organization, the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, will honor Defense Secretary Robert Gates for his leadership in support of the International Affairs Budget.
Additional information on the conference program can be found at www.usglobalengagement.org. Video highlights from the conference will be posted in the days following the conference at www.cusge.blip.tv and www.youtube.com/cusge.
The Center for U.S. Global Engagement (www.usglobalengagement.org), the educational arm of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, unites business, civic, military, faith-based, and political leaders around the country to broaden understanding of America's interests in building a better, safer world.
Impact '08: Building a Better, Safer World is the Center's national, non-partisan initiative, chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci , calling on all of the Presidential candidates to elevate and strengthen America's investments in global development and diplomacy.
The Center's National Security Advisory Council is a unique, non-partisan group of over 50 prominent retired three and four-star generals and admirals representing all five branches of the Armed Forces who have united with the Center in support of strengthening America's national security strategy with increased use of non-military tools. The Council is co-chaired by General Anthony C. Zinni , USMC (Ret.) and Admiral Leighton W. Smith, Jr. , USN (Ret.).
SOURCE U.S. Global Leadership Campaign
