An Appeal to the National Security Community to Fight Racial Injustice
People protesting the death of George Floyd hold up placards near the White House in Washington on May 31. MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
This is a cross-post article excerpt from Foreign Policy’s “Shadow Government.”
Two former U.S. officials argue there is no security abroad without justice at home.
By Bishop Garrison, Jon Wolfstahl
We have both had the honor of serving our country, albeit in different ways. One of us is a West Point graduate, former Obama appointee, and combat veteran with experience in homeland security; the other has been a civil servant and political appointee and has worked in places such as North Korea and Russia to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. One of us is black, and one of us is white. One of us is Jewish, and the other is Christian.
We have different backgrounds, but both of us have spent our lives in service of the same goal: a safe and secure country where our fellow citizens can thrive and reach their potential. We are proud to be part of a dedicated, highly educated, and principled national security community made up of people who serve and believe in the promise of America. Those who make up this broader community give their considerable talents not to making money or gathering power, but instead to ensuring U.S. security and promoting a foreign policy that protects not just U.S. citizens and interests, but also the universal ideals of freedom and self-determination around the world.
It is time for this great community to explicitly and collectively turn serious attention and energy to the issue that fundamentally threatens our ability to protect U.S. national security: racial injustice and inequality at home. The United States cannot claim to be a beacon of freedom in the world if it continues to witness and accept the ongoing murder of innocent black people. Unless the country makes fundamental changes, cities and communities will continue to be torn apart through over-policing and abuse, economic and racial inequity, and other persistent legacies of racism—all undermining both the United States’ ability to function as a society and its credibility on the global stage.
Read the full article at the Foreign Policy website.
Disclosure: Bishop Garrison is also a Policy Fellow with the Center for Climate and Security, an institute of the Council on Strategic Risks.
Building a Resilient Future Post COVID-19
While states partially reopen and begin taking the first steps to bring back the American economy, many are still feeling the damaging effects COVID-19 has put on the workforce. As of May 21st, almost 40 million have people claimed unemployment benefits, and those that have returned to work often do so at reduced hours and pay.[1] In response, Sherri Goodman and Greg Douquet have proposed the establishment of a Citizens Energy and Climate Corps (CEEC) that would “put Americans back to work building a sustainable and resilient advanced-energy future” once economic activity rebounds.
Sherri Goodman served as the first Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (environmental security), serves on the board of the Council on Strategic Risks and as a Senior Strategist for its Center for Climate and Security. She is also a senior fellow at the Wilson Center. Greg Douquet is a former Marine Corps colonel, co-founder and managing partner of Red Duke Strategies LLC, and co-Director of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s Veterans Advanced Energy Project. Their proposal for a Citizens Energy and Climate Corps is inspired by the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps that put Americans back to work following the Great Depression and built many of America’s critical infrastructure. Today, the CEEC would “train and educate workers so they can be on the front lines of the energy industry of tomorrow.”[2] (more…)