Defense Sec. Gates Embraces View of Military Officers on Global Engagement 
Center Releases Poll of Military Attitudes on Global Engagement

as part of National Conference

 

Watch Secretary Gates' Remarks

Defense Secretary Roberts Gates, addressing the Center for U.S. Global Engagement’s sister organization, the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, declared, “It has become clear that America's civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long -- relative to what we traditionally spend on the military, and more importantly, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world.”

According to the Center’s new poll of post-9/11 military officers, his military commanders agree. As the Center’s bipartisan polling team of Geoff Garin (Peter D. Hart Research Associates) and Bill McInturff (Public Opinion Strategies) wrote in a memo on the poll results, “A significant majority of officers surveyed embrace a new paradigm in which strengthened diplomacy and development assistance are important companions to traditional military tools for achieving America's national security goals.”

“Eighty-four percent (84%) of officers,” Garin and McInturff noted, “say that strengthening non-military tools such as diplomacy and development efforts should be at least equal to strengthening military efforts when it comes to improving America’s ability to address threats to our national security.”

The poll, released yesterday morning at the Center’s National Conference, “Election ’08: The Global Impact,” surveyed active duty and recently retired (post-9/11) military officers and their views on the national security challenges facing America and the set of tools required to meet those challenges.

Conference Video Footage          Poll Result Presentation          Poll Results Memorandum