Dan Glickman
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
Secretary Glickman, welcome. Thank you, Mary Louise. A pleasure to be with you.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
Well, I think the actions of the Doge group of the administration were unconscionable in my view. I was very involved in the creation of this organization, not the only sponsor, but the lead house sponsor back in the late 1970s, early 1980s.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
And in my case, I came from central Kansas, where there were a large number of Mennonites who wanted to see the United States establish a peace academy, kind of like a military academy. So we worked on that for years and years.
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Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
And ultimately, it was decided that instead of an academy, an institute that would try to promote conflict resolution techniques, try to deal with extremism in the world and try to do our best to assert American power responsibly, along with other soft power aspects of the American government, including USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation and other things. And so it works.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
I thought it's worked very well.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
I think in South Asia, in the Middle East, Certainly in the entire continent of Africa, there have been all sorts of ways where we have tried to improve the governance systems of the countries to make it so that their systems are much more stable. USIP will contract with various organizations, including the U.S. military, to try to deal with these problems as they occur.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
Well, I know think tanks that do a very good job, but this is kind of unique. Imagine, you know, we have this big building in downtown Washington near the State Department. It says U.S. Institute of Peace, and its goal is to promote peace and conflict resolution around the world.
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Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
It works with the State Department, but it's a wonderful thing that the United States not only has this great military establishment, the Defense Department does a spectacular job, but also has an entity that deals with the causes of conflict, not just the results of conflict.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
It directly benefits the United States. It establishes our influence as engaged in the world. We work with other governments in this regard. It doesn't have the restrictions that a lot of bureaucracies have in the State Department and the Defense Department, but it does work with them as well.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
And in the big scheme of things, when we're talking about spending close to a trillion dollars a year on our military – that we're spending a tiny, tiny percentage of that funding to try to deal in advance with the causes of conflict, the causes of extremism, and trying to prevent those bad things from happening, which ultimately may lead us into war.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
Well, first of all, I hope it's not disappearing. There is no entity of government that should escape scrutiny. So I want to make that clear. And I think the USIP probably shouldn't escape scrutiny either. But if it's gone, then we lose the opportunity to make the case for conflict resolution and peaceful ways to resolve these conflicts before war occurs, before death occurs.
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Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
And, you know, you're not always successful. But in many cases, you move the ball forward. And it's the United States of America that's moving the ball forward. So you take this USIP. You add all the stuff that the Agency for International Development does. You add all the stuff that the Voice of America does to try to project America's influence around the world. This is part of our soft power.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
We need hard power, too. We desperately need our government to have an adequate military, but we also need soft power. And by the way, this was created in a very bipartisan atmosphere. I remember how it was created. It was added to the defense authorization bill. And so it's one of the few things that we've had bipartisanship on in this area.
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Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
Well, that's a problem we all have right now. I mean, how does the Congress work in this moment that we're dealing with? Back in the historic period when I was in the Congress, it was more bipartisan than it is now. And I wish that we had a lot of that same environment that we did back then. But yes, it can do some good. I don't think it does any harm at all. It can do some good.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
We have potential conflicts around the world. And, you know, this is an area where we have a lot of competitors. So if we're not involved in this, it either doesn't happen or countries like China and North Korea and Iran and Russia are involved. China's influence around the world in the soft power area has grown rather significantly in the last several years.
Consider This from NPR
Trump is taking a hammer to traditional pillars of soft power
And so in my judgment, it deserves scrutiny like every other agency. But let's do it the right way.