Promises and Proposals – National Security & Foreign Policy

Selected Contents
*Selected Recap ……2

Part I — General Promises & Policies
1.	1.	Foreign Policy Process, Structure, Strategy, and America’s Moral Standing ……4
2.	2.	Intelligence ……6
3.	3.	Defense ……6
4.	4.	Homeland Security ……10
5.	5.	Diplomacy ……12
6.	6.	Development & Democracy ……14
7.	7.	Threat-Specific Policies ……18
A.	A.	Terrorism ……18
B.	B.	Nuclear Threats ……18
C.	C.	Biological Threats ……22
D.	D.	Cyber Threats ……23
E.	E.	Space Threats ……24

Part II — Region or State Specific Promises & Policies
A.	1.	Iraq ……25
B.	2.	Afghanistan & Pakistan ……28
C.	3.	Iran ……29
D.	4.	Russia ……30
E.	5.	North Korea ……31
F.	6.	Israel ……32
G.	7.	Mexico ……34
H.	8.	Latin America and the Caribbean ……34
I.	9.	East and South Asia ……38
J.	10.	Middle East ……40
K.	11.	Africa ……40
L.	12.	Europe and Central Asia ……41

*Sources Reviewed ……43

Selected Recap

A.  Priorities for the first 100 days

•	•	Iraq — On his first day as President, Barack Obama would give the military a new mission: ending the Iraq war.  Barack Obama will make getting out of Iraq his first priority as president.
•	•	Al-Qaeda / Taliban — As Commander-in-Chief, I will have no greater priority than taking out these terrorists who threaten America, and finishing the job against the Taliban.
•	•	Middle East Peace Process — From the start of his Administration, Barack Obama would take an active role in the Middle East Peace Process and personally commit to do everything he could advance the cause of peace.
•	•	The Americas — Pursue aggressive, principled, and sustained diplomacy in the Americas from Day One.
•	•	Speech to Islamic forum — Give a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his administration.
•	•	Korean Peninsula — Barack Obama would work from the very beginning of his term in office to secure the American people and our interests in the Korean peninsula.

B.  Personnel-Related Issues

New Jobs/Offices that Definitely Require Personnel
•	•	National Declassification Center — will serve as a clearinghouse to set rules and regulations for declassification for federal agencies, and to make declassification secure but routine, efficient, and cost-effective.
•	•	Military Families Advisory Board — consisting of experts and family representatives from each service, it would help identify and develop actionable policies to ease the burden on spouses and families. The board would provide an institutionalized conduit (presently missing) for the evolving concerns of military families to be brought to the attention of senior policymakers and the public.
•	•	State Department — Office of Conflict Prevention and Resolution — office with senior ambassadors to support high-level negotiations and provide the expertise and capacity to seize opportunities or address crises as they arise.
•	•	Create a senior position to coordinate domestic intelligence gathering.
•	•	National Cyber Advisor — Establish the position of national cyber advisor who will report directly to the president and will be responsible for coordinating federal agency efforts and development of national cyber policy.
•	•	Reinstate the position of Special Envoy to the Americas, which has been vacant since June 2004.

Significant New Programs that May Require New Senior-Level Personnel
•	•	Mobile Development Teams (MDTs) that bring together personnel from the military, the Pentagon, the State Department, and USAID. 
•	•	Civilian Assistance Corps — (modeled after similar auxiliary groups in Virginia and California) would provide each federal agency a pool of volunteer experts (doctors, lawyers, engineers, city planners, agriculture specialists, police, etc.) willing to deploy in crises.  They would be pre-trained and screened for deployment to supplement departments’ expeditionary teams. 
•	•	Create a National Family Locator System to help families locate loved ones after a disaster.
•	•	Add Value to Agriculture Initiative (AVTA) —  Spur research and innovation aimed at bringing about a Green Revolution for Africa, by partnering with land grant institutions, private philanthropies and business to support agricultural processing through increased investment in research and development for improved seeds, irrigation methods, and affordable and safe fertilizers.  Make critical investments in providing the package of tools needed to allow poor farmers to succeed in the agricultural market, including by providing training in regulation and quality control standards and by increasing finance and financing instruments for rural enterprises as well as access to markets..
•	•	Global Education Fund — Devote at least $2 billion of the $50 billion in foreign assistance to a Global Education Fund to eliminate the global education deficit, fill the financing gap for primary education, and offer an alternative to extremist schools.
•	•	Rapid Response Fund — A seed fund that will provide a shot of adrenaline to young democracies and post-conflict societies, through foreign aid, debt relief, technical assistance and investment packages that show the people of newly hopeful countries that democracy and peace deliver, and the United States stands by them.
•	•	Shared Security Partnership Program — Will forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to take down terrorist networks.  Invest $5 billion over three years to improve counter-terrorism cooperation between U.S. and foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies.  Program will include information sharing, as well as funding for training, operations, border security, anti-corruption programs, technology, and the targeting of terrorist financing.

Significant Adjustments to Existing Jobs/Offices
•	•	Restructured USAID — Coordinate and consolidate PEPFAR, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Middle East Partnership Initiative and many foreign assistance programs currently housed in more than 20 executive agencies into a restructured, empowered and streamlined USAID.
•	•	Director of National Intelligence — Give the DNI a fixed term like the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
•	•	Elevate the Chief of the National Guard to the rank of four-star general and make the chief a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top military advisory panel to the president.
•	•	National Security Council — empower a Deputy National Security Advisor to develop integrated strategies to build capable, democratic states and ensure policy coherence in the application of development and democracy programs as key elements of U.S. power.
•	•	National Security Council — Appoint a deputy security advisor to be in charge of coordinating all U.S. programs aimed at reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism and weapons proliferation.  The deputy will work closely with him, the national security adviser, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and senior officials of the relevant cabinet departments.  The deputy will have budgetary oversight over all programs related to nuclear security.

Suggestions of Specific People

Part I — General Promises and Policies

1.  Foreign Policy Process and Structure

A.  Foreign Policy Process

Involve the American people
•	•	Require national security officials to have periodic national broadband town hall meetings to discuss foreign policy.
•	•	Personally deliver occasional fireside chats via webcast.
•	•	Deliver an annual State of the World address that clearly lays out the foreign policy challenges and opportunities the U.S. faces and explains the direction of, and rationale for, American foreign policy.
•	•	Provide opportunities for a new generation of Americans to serve their country – in the State Department, in the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in the Peace Corps and in an expanded military.

Promote transparency
•	•	“I will always tell the American people the truth. I will always tell you where I stand.”
•	•	Reverse Bush’s policy of secrecy.  Protect sources and methods, but don't use sources and methods as pretexts to hide the truth.”
•	•	Create a National Declassification Center with a mission to streamline declassification.  The Center will serve as a clearinghouse to set rules and regulations for declassification for federal agencies, and to make declassification secure but routine, efficient, and cost-effective.

Diminish Partisanship in Foreign Policy
•	•	Convene a bipartisan, bicameral Consultative Group of leading members of Congress to foster better executive-legislative relations and bipartisan unity on foreign policy.
•	o	Group will be comprised of the congressional leadership of both political parties, and the chair and ranking members of the Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Intelligence, and Appropriations Committees.
•	o	Group will meet with the president once every month to review U.S. foreign policy priorities, and will be consulted in advance of major military action.
•	•	Seek durable bi-partisan support for our foreign policy, so that a broad majority of the American people supports our efforts to promote both our interests and our values around the world.

Strengthen Civil-Military Relations
•	•	Establish sound, strategic leadership at the White House and the Pentagon and restore mutual respect and a common sense of purpose in civil-military relations.
•	•	Draw upon the vital expertise of military leaders and have a Defense Secretary who appreciates the counsel of the professional military.

Command with Responsibility and Accountability
•	•	Assign military leaders and senior national security officials to positions and hold them accountable for performance based on their abilities, not in accord with political preferences or to reward loyalty.
•	•	In the rare instances of wrongdoing (for example at Abu Ghraib), senior leaders should face the same accountability as enlisted personnel and junior officers.

B.  Foreign Policy Structure

Review National Security Structure
•	•	Use the process of preparing the National Security Strategy (required by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986) to determine the appropriate inter-agency infrastructure to maximize the use of all elements of our national power.  This exhaustive review will include an examination of force sizing, intelligence agencies, and weapons systems, as well as the development of long-term plans to deal with emerging threats like cyber-terrorism. 
Integrate Civilian and Military Capacities
•	•	Integrate federal agencies and the military in stabilization and aid efforts.
•	•	Create Mobile Development Teams (MDTs) that bring together personnel from the military, the Pentagon, the State Department, and USAID, fully integrating U.S. government efforts in counter-terror, state-building and post-conflict operations.
•	•	Establish an expeditionary capability within non-Pentagon agencies (State Department, US Agency for International Development, Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury,  Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, etc.) to deploy personnel where they are needed. These civilians will be integrated with, and sometimes operate independently from, our military expeditionary capabilities.

Civilian Assistance Corps (CAC)
•	•	The Civilian Assistance Corps (modeled after auxiliary groups in Virginia and California) would provide each federal agency a pool of volunteer experts (doctors, lawyers, engineers, city planners, agriculture specialists, police, etc.) willing to deploy in crises.  They would be pre-trained and screened for deployment to supplement departments’ expeditionary teams. 
•	•	Set a goal of creating a national CAC of 25,000 personnel.

C.  Foreign Policy Strategy

•	•	Focus strategy on five goals essential to making America safer:
•	o	End the war in Iraq responsibly.
•	o	Finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban.
•	o	Secure all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states.
•	o	Achieve true energy security.
•	o	Rebuild our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

D.  America’s Moral Standing

Treatment of Suspected Terrorists
•	•	End the use of torture (including so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques”) without exception.
•	•	Reject the Bush legal framework for detainees related to terrorism.
•	o	Eliminate the practice of extreme rendition.
•	o	End the practice of indefinite detention.
•	o	Close the detention facility at Guantanamo.
•	o	Reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees.
•	o	Develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can’t be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries.

Privacy, Civil Liberties, and Security
•	•	Provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.
•	o	No more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens.  Update FISA to provide greater oversight and accountability to the congressional intelligence committees to prevent future threats to the rule of law.
•	o	No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime.
•	o	No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war.
•	o	No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient.
•	o	Revisit the PATRIOT Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision. 
•	o	Require real oversight to avoid jeopardizing the rights and ideals of all Americans.
•	•	Habeas Corpus —Restore habeas rights.  Obama believes that those who pose a danger to this country should be swiftly tried and brought to justice, but those who do not should have sufficient due process to ensure that we are not wrongfully denying them their liberty.

2.  Intelligence

Director of National Intelligence
•	•	Insulate the DNI from political pressure by giving the DNI a fixed term like the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Quality
•	•	Improve the American intelligence apparatus by investing in its capacity to collect and analyze information, share information with other agencies and carry out operations to disrupt terrorist operations and networks.
•	•	Never twist the facts to support bad policies.

Improve Information Sharing and Analysis
•	•	Create a senior position to coordinate domestic intelligence gathering.
•	•	Establish a grant program to support thousands more state and local level intelligence analysts.
•	o	Address the problem in our prisons, where inmates are being explicitly targeted for conversion by al Qaeda and its ideological allies.
•	•	Increase our capacity to share intelligence across all levels of government.
•	•	Force agencies to share information.

3.  Defense

Maintain Conventional Strength
•	•	Maintain the strongest, best-equipped military in the world to defeat and deter conventional threats.

Rebuild the Military for 21st-Century Tasks
•	•	Reevaluate every major defense program in light of current needs, gaps in the field, and likely future threat scenarios in the post 9-11 world.  Rebalance our capabilities to ensure that our forces can succeed in both conventional war-fighting and in stabilization and counter-insurgency operations.
•	•	Listen to our ground commanders when they tell us what kinds of technology and skills they need to fight most effectively.  Prioritize getting vitally needed equipment to our Soldiers and Marines before lives are lost.
•	•	Meet the full-spectrum needs of the new century.  
•	o	Focus on strengthening the ground force units and skills that military officers have dubbed “High Demand/Low Density”
•	o	Create a specialized military advisors corps, which will enable us to better build up local allies’ capacities to take on mutual threats.
•	o	Ensure the United States Armed Forces maintain their technological edge.
•	o	Ensure that our military becomes more stealthy, agile, and lethal in its ability to capture or kill terrorists.

Reset the Military
•	•	Provide the armed forces with the reset capability that they need.
•	•	Invest in an equipment reset for the Armed Services, including the National Guard, which has seen its readiness for homeland security missions decrease significantly.  Replace essential equipment.

Personnel
•	•	Increase the size of the Army by 65,000 troops and the Marines by 27,000 troops.
•	•	Encourage young people to serve their country, including in the military. 
•	•	Bring pay parity more in line with that of the private sector, as measured by the employment cost index (ECI).
•	•	Recruit, train, and equip our armed forces to better target terrorists, and to help foreign militaries to do the same. This will include a program to bolster our military’s ability to speak different languages, understand different cultures, and coordinate complex missions with our civilian agencies.
•	o	Ensure that soldiers and Marines have sufficient training time before they are sent into battle.
•	o	Ensure that every service member has what they need to do the job safely and successfully.
•	o	Support incentives such as foreign language proficiency pay for high-demand languages.
•	o	Build up our special operations forces, civil affairs, information operations, engineers, foreign area officers, and other units and capabilities that remain in chronic short supply.
•	o	Invest in foreign language training, cultural awareness, and human intelligence and other needed counterinsurgency and stabilization skill sets.
•	•	Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. 
•	•	End “Back Door Draft” policies that allow an individual to be forced to remain on active duty after his or her enlistment has expired.
•	•	Establish regularity in deployments so that active duty and reserves know what they must expect, rather than the current trend of changing the deployment schedules after they have left home, which harms the morale of troops and their families.
•	•	Health & Rest
•	o	Ensure that military personnel get the care and support they have earned, including adequate rest between deployments.
•	o	Expand and enhance our ability to identify and treat PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury at all levels: from enlistment, to deployment, to civilian life. No one should suffer in silence, or slip through the cracks in the system. Stop the unfair practice of kicking out troops who suffer from them.   Provide more mental health professionals, more training to recognize signs and to reject the stigma of seeking care. Develop clear standards of care for Traumatic Brain Injury.
•	o	Improve healthcare for wounded soldiers — improve outpatient facilities, slash red tape, and reform the disability review process.
•	•	Military families
•	o	Better support military families.
•	o	Create a military families advisory board — consisting of experts and family representatives from each service, it would help identify and develop actionable policies to ease the burden on spouses and families. The board would provide an institutionalized conduit (presently missing) for the evolving concerns of military families to be brought to the attention of senior policymakers and the public.
•	o	More official support for the volunteer networks that help military spouses get by.
•	•	Veterans — See Veterans Section of Promise Book
•	•	Consistent with the military’s former standards, count all wounded men and women in uniform in casualty numbers.

Air Power
•	•	Preserve airpower capabilities to deter and defeat any conventional competitors, swiftly respond to crises across the globe, and support our ground forces.
•	•	Adapt and make tradeoffs among systems originally designed for the Cold War and those required for current and future challenges.
•	•	Invest more in advanced technology ranging from the revolutionary, like unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare capabilities, to systems like the C-17 cargo and KC-X air refueling aircraft.

Sea Power
•	•	Ensure that potential ocean choke points remain open, protect the undersea fiber optic network that powers globalization, and protect the growing percentage of global energy supplies derived from offshore, undersea fields.
•	•	Capital expenditures
•	o	Work to maintain the shipbuilding design and industrial bases.
•	o	Support increased R&D for naval forces.
•	o	Prioritize fixing the naval acquisitions system.
•	o	Fleet investments
•	♣	Recapitalize our naval forces, replacing aging ships and modernizing existing platforms and capable ships, while adapting them to the 21st century.
•	♣	Tilt the investment balance towards more capable, smaller combatants, while maintaining the Navy’s ability to command the seas.
•	♣	Support sea basing ships capable of supporting humanitarian missions as well as combat missions.
•	♣	Increase investment in riverine craft and small coastal patrol craft.
•	♣	Littoral Combat Ship — Endorse the concept, with its modular design to meet changing needs.  However, the process to build the ship was flawed, and indicative of a broader failure in the Navy’s acquisition process.
•	o	Operational capacities
•	♣	Ensure the maximum interoperability between the Navy and the Coast Guard.
•	♣	Improve our ability to patrol and protect the “brown” waters of river systems important to our friends and allies and the “green” waters close to our shores.

Humanitarian Activity
•	•	Expand humanitarian programs like the military’s response to the tsunami in South and Southeast Asia.
•	•	Regularize such humanitarian programs into the annual budget.

Military to Military Cooperation
•	•	Strengthen and expand our global network of military to military cooperation.
•	•	Reorient existing U.S. programs of military to military exchanges, joint training, education, and human rights programs from their current Cold War standards to reflect new strategic priorities and ethical standards.
•	•	Prioritize training and working relationships with the next generation of military leaders in allied states in the Muslim and wider developing world.

National Guard and Reserves
•	•	Deployment Policies
•	o	Restore the deployment policies under which the Guard and Reserve enlisted:
•	o	Limit lengthy deployments to one year for every six years.
•	o	Restore the 24-month limit on cumulative deployment time.
•	o	End the “Stop-Loss” program of forcing troops to stay in service beyond their expected commitments.
•	•	Readiness
•	o	Ensure that the Guard and Reserves can meet their homeland security missions.
•	o	Reverse the trend of “cross-leveling,” the cannibalizing of soldiers and machines from units back home for missions abroad.
•	•	Resources
•	o	Resource and equip the Reserve and Guard to meet their missions not only overseas, but also at home.
•	o	Consult regularly with governors of the 50 states on the needs of their Guard units.
•	•	Role in Decision-making
•	o	Elevate the Chief of the National Guard to the rank of four-star general and make the chief a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
•	•	Employment Rights & Benefits of Guard/Reservists
•	o	Do not allow Justice Department to ignore ongoing employment discrimination against reservists.
•	o	Ensure that reservists and Guard members are treated fairly when it comes to employment, health, and education benefits, including ensuring that they can keep the education benefits that they gain while in service (currently, reservists must forfeit them, once their active deployment time ends).
•	•	Help Military Families Cope with Deployment
•	o	Expand Family Medical Leave to include reserve families facing mobilization. This will allow workers whose spouse is called to active duty to get their affairs in order, without losing their jobs.
•	•	Transition Services
•	o	Ensure that the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) coordinate to provide a truly seamless transition for service members from military to civilian life, including for reservists.
•	o	Model plan on legislation Sen. Obama introduced to standardize electronic records for active duty and transition them intact to the VA upon separation and to enhance military and VA outreach to separating members of the National Guard and Reserves.
•	o	Prioritize mental health services — Ensure that veterans in all 50 states have a psychological coordinator to serve local Reserve and Guard vets and that baseline screening happens while they are on active duty (this will both ensure early outreach for those in need, as well as ensure reservist rights in any disability hearings).
•	o	Extend the window for new veterans to enroll in the VA from two years to five years.
•	o	Expand vet centers in rural areas.

Military Contracting Reform
•	•	Transparency for military contractors
•	o	Create the reporting requirements, accounting, and accountability needed for good governance and actual money savings with contracting.
•	o	Require the Pentagon to develop a strategy for figuring out when contracting makes sense and when it doesn’t.
•	o	Establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors.
•	•	Reform the Contracting Process
•	o	Launch a program of acquisition reform and management to gain massive savings in the Pentagon budget, including a special focus on ending the common practice of no-bid contracting.
•	o	End the abuse of the supplemental budgets by creating system of oversight for war funds as stringent as in the regular budget.
•	o	Restore the government’s ability to manage contracts by rebuilding our contract officer corps.
•	•	Order the Justice Department to prioritize prosecutions that will punish and deter waste and theft that undermines security.
•	•	Enact a program of market incentives and sanctions for Pentagon contractors to reward companies that perform well and come in under budget, while punishing firms that fail to perform as originally hired.

Deployment of Military Force
•	•	Never hesitate to use force, unilaterally when necessary, to protect our vital interests and confront imminent threats to U.S. national security.
•	•	When using force in situations other than self-defense, the U.S. should make every effort to garner the clear support and participation of other nations.
•	•	Make wise, informed judgments about when to use military force — When sending troops in harm’s way, the U.S. must clearly define the mission, prescribe concrete political and military objectives, seek out the advice of our military commanders, evaluate the intelligence, plan accordingly, and ensure that our troops have the resources, support, and equipment they need to protect themselves and fulfill their mission.
•	•	Will not use nuclear weapons to destroy terrorist training camps.

4.  Homeland Security

Quadrennial Review
•	•	Direct the Department of Homeland Security to complete a Quadrennial Review (like the Pentagon’s).  The review will be a comprehensive examination of the national homeland defense strategy, inter-agency cooperation, preparedness of Federal response assets, infrastructure, budget plan, and other elements of the homeland defense program and policies of the United States with a view toward determining and expressing the homeland defense strategy of the United States and establishing a homeland defense program for the next 20 years.

Funding Reform
•	•	Allocate homeland security funding according to risk, not as a form of general revenue sharing.
•	•	Roll back funding cuts that have affected first responders and increase federal resources and logistic support to local emergency planning efforts.

Infrastructure Protection
•	•	Develop a meaningful critical infrastructure protection plan across the nation and work with the private sector to ensure that all real targets are prepared for disasters both natural and man-made.
•	•	Prioritize security investments in refineries, pipelines and power grids.
•	•	Establish a clear set of federal regulations that all chemical plants must follow, including improving barriers, containment, mitigation, and safety training, and, where possible, using safer technology, such as less toxic chemicals.
•	•	Strengthen port security — mandate screening of all inbound cargo to the U.S., improve scanning of cargo at foreign ports, and promote greater sharing of shipping data across nations.
•	•	Public transportation
•	o	Fight for greater information sharing between national intelligence agents and local officials and provide local law enforcement agencies with the everyday tools they need to protect their transportation systems.
•	o	Fully fund homeland security improvements for mass transit.
•	•	Water Supplies
•	o	Provide $37.5 million over five years to upgrade the monitoring and security efforts of drinking water systems.
•	o	Direct the EPA and CDC to develop tools for drinking water systems to detect and respond to biological, chemical, and radiological contamination.

Emergency Communications Systems
•	•	Systems must enable communications across city, county, and state lines and there must be a system by which the federal government communicates with local entities.
•	•	Support efforts to provide greater technical assistance to local and state first responders. 
•	•	Dramatically increase funding for reliable, interoperable communications systems.
•	•	Support more rapid turnover of broadcast spectrum to first responders.

Emergency Response
•	•	Planning
•	o	Prepare effective emergency response plans.
•	o	Require mandatory planning for evacuating individuals with special needs from emergency zones.
•	•	Create a National Family Locator System to help families locate loved ones after a disaster.
•	•	Work with state and local government
•	o	Expand efforts to help build local and state programs and ensure they have the resources to respond to disasters.
•	o	Improve coordination between all levels of government, create better evacuation plan guidelines, ensure prompt federal assistance to emergency zones, and increase medical surge capacity.
•	o	Strengthen the federal government’s partnership with local and state governments on these issues by improving the mechanisms for clear communication, eliminating redundant programs, and building on the key strengths possessed by each level of government.
•	•	Provide funding for programs in order to enhance emergency care systems throughout the country.

Nuclear Fuel Disposal
•	•	Ensure safe and secure disposal of nuclear fuel.
•	•	Implement regulations and guidelines to account for all dangerous nuclear waste.
•	•	Ensure that nuclear power plants and waste facilities have the resources to keep terrorists from obtaining potential weapons.
•	•	Create specific and uniform guidelines to track and control individual spent fuel rods or segments.

Airline Security
•	•	Improve airline security.
•	•	Redouble our efforts to determine if the measures implemented after 9/11 are adequately addressing the threats our nation continues to face from airplane-based terrorism.
•	•	Support increased numbers of federal airport screeners and improved funding for aviation security.
•	•	Develop and use a comprehensive terrorist watch list in a way that safeguards passengers’ privacy while ensuring the safety of air travel.

Border Security
•	•	Improve border security
•	•	Transfer $367.6 million to add an additional 1,000 border agents to our nation’s most vulnerable areas as well as increase funding overall for border protection efforts.
•	•	Increase the federal attention paid to those who enter our borders by water and air.
•	•	Support comprehensive immigration reform to ensure that we solve this critical issue.

5.  Diplomacy

A.  Capacity

State Department
•	•	Ensure that the State Department has the authorities and resources to lead U.S. government efforts to prevent and respond to conflict.
•	•	Foreign Service
•	o	Increase the size of the Service by 25 percent — adding more language specialists, economists, agricultural and public health experts as well as economic development experts.
•	o	Treat Foreign Service officers with the respect, pay, and career advancement opportunities they deserve, and ensure their voices are heard in policy debates.
•	•	Diplomatic Presence
•	o	Open more consulates in tough parts of the world.
•	o	Increase diplomatic presence in key parts of the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean.
•	•	Fully fund the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
•	•	Create a new Office of Conflict Prevention and Resolution with senior ambassadors to support high-level negotiations and provide the expertise and capacity to seize opportunities or address crises as they arise.

B.  Policy

Talk to Adversaries
•	•	Be willing to engage with all nations, friend and foe.
•	o	Pursue direct diplomacy, without preconditions, but with careful preparation.  Set a clear agenda.  Barack Obama will be willing to lead that diplomacy at a time and place of our choosing, but only when we have an opportunity to advance the interests of the United States.
•	•	Deploy the power of American diplomacy before we deploy our troops.

Burden-Sharing of Security Challenges
•	•	Build alliances and ensure our allies contribute their fair share to our common security.
•	•	Strengthen NATO by asking more of our allies, while always approaching them with the respect owed a partner.
•	•	The “Global Maritime Partnerships” concept, developed by the Chief of Naval Operations, seeks to leverage the naval forces of friends and allies to expand the effectiveness of the U.S. Navy. Expand this sound initiative, where possible, into the planning of all our military forces to shape the global security environment.

Strengthen the UN and Regional Organizations
•	•	Support renewed U.S. leadership in support of effective UN and regional peace operations.  Provide the political leadership required so that UN missions are backed by workable political strategies.
•	•	Lead in the UN Security Council, work with Congress to ensure the US pays its peacekeeping assessments on time, and marry peacekeeping missions with serious diplomatic initiatives.
•	•	Pursue significant UN reforms and improve the UN’s ability to conduct future peace and stability operations.
•	•	Work with other multinational actors that deploy peacekeeping forces like the African Union, the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and NATO to help strengthen their capacity to conduct such missions.

Bolster NATO and Other Alliances
•	•	Transform and strengthen America’s traditional alliances (such as NATO) to focus on partnering in homeland security and counter-terrorism. 
•	•	Continue NATO’s evolution to meet the emerging threats of the 21st century, including terrorism and weapons proliferation.  
•	•	Close the gap between NATO’s expanding missions and its lagging capabilities.
•	o	Rally members to contribute more troops and increase NATO’s ability to deploy forces rapidly over long distances and sustain high intensity operations for extended periods of time.
•	o	Work to streamline decision-making processes, and give commanders in the field more flexibility.
•	o	Urge member states to invest more in reconstruction and stabilization.

6.  Development & Democracy

A.  Development

Five-part Strategy
•	•	Structure the U.S. government to meet critical 21st-century security challenges.
•	•	Make the critical investments needed to fight global poverty.
•	•	Expand prosperity by increasing the capacity of developing countries to generate wealth.
•	•	Support the building of effective, accountable, and democratic institutions and civil societies that meet the needs of their people.
•	•	Build the capacity of weak states to confront the common, transnational challenges we face including terrorism, conflict, climate change, proliferation and epidemic disease.

Structure & Capacity
•	•	National Security Council — Assert a powerful coordinating role for the National Security Council, with a Deputy National Security Advisor empowered to develop integrated strategies to build capable, democratic states and ensure policy coherence in the application of development and democracy programs as key elements of U.S. power.
•	•	USAID
•	o	Coordinate and consolidate PEPFAR, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Middle East Partnership Initiative and many foreign assistance programs currently housed in more than 20 executive agencies into a restructured, empowered and streamlined USAID.
•	o	Ensure that this agency has the highest caliber leadership and plays a central role in the formulation and implementation of critical development and related foreign policy strategies.
•	o	Modernize our foreign assistance policies, tools, and operations.  Accountable, flexible, and transparent processes are most needed.
•	o	Mobilize our civilian agencies to address a new set of global challenges and boost the stature of the government’s long-term development mission to attract the most talented professionals.
•	o	Invest the necessary resources to staff a modern development agency — hire, train, and support a substantial new cadre of development experts.
•	•	Peace Corps
•	o	Double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and push Congress to fully fund this expansion, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.
•	o	Work with the leaders of other countries to build an international network of overseas volunteers so that Peace Corps volunteers work side-by-side with volunteers from other countries.
•	o	Make the Peace Corps an integral part of Senator Obama’s vision of American leadership that understands the security and well-being of every American is tied to the security and well-being of those who live beyond our borders.
•	•	Call upon the know-how, generosity and public spirit of the American people.

Foreign Assistance
•	•	Double our annual investments in foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012.
•	o	Target new U.S. assistance to help the world’s weakest states to build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth.  Also help weak states fight terrorism, halt the spread of deadly weapons, and build the health care infrastructure needed to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS as well as detect and contain outbreaks of avian influenza. 
•	o	Ensure that these new resources are invested wisely with strong accountability measures.
•	o	Focus on bottom-up development by concentrating on micro-finance, vocational training and community development programs.
•	•	Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015.
•	•	Ask our allies to contribute more support for diplomatic efforts, multilateral peacekeeping and efforts to rebuild societies ravaged by conflict.
•	•	Work to ensure that increases in U.S. assistance are matched by our partners in the G-8 so that developed countries truly live up to their stated commitments.
•	•	Microfinance
•	o	Provide initial capital for a Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Fund.
•	♣	Administered through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, an independent U.S. government agency, the government will provide capital matched by a larger portion from the private sector.
•	♣	The SME Fund will be designed to provide seed capital and technical assistance to catalyze the establishment of job-creating small and medium enterprises, and to build the capacity of entrepreneurs to translate their ideas into viable businesses, including through the creation of regional “SME Universities” supported by America’s business schools.
•	•	IMF & World Bank
•	o	Lead an effort in the G-8 to achieve a new consensus on the missions of the IMF and the World Bank.
•	o	Secure necessary changes in how both institutions are governed to reflect the increasing influence of middle-income countries.
•	•	Add Value to Agriculture Initiative (AVTA)
•	o	Spur research and innovation aimed at bringing about a Green Revolution for Africa, by partnering with land grant institutions, private philanthropies and business to support agricultural processing through increased investment in research and development for improved seeds, irrigation methods, and affordable and safe fertilizers.
•	o	Make critical investments in providing the package of tools needed to allow poor farmers to succeed in the agricultural market, including by providing training in regulation and quality control standards and by increasing finance and financing instruments for rural enterprises as well as access to markets.
•	•	Debt Relief
•	o	Live up to the promise to fully fund debt cancellation for Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).
•	o	Prevent a future in which poor countries face pressing debt burdens again.  Press for reforms at the World Bank to ensure that poor countries receive grants rather than loans, and that countries have the resources they need to respond to the external shocks that threaten to derail economic progress.
•	o	Lead a multilateral effort to address the issue of “odious debt” by investigating ways in which “loan sanctions” might be employed to create disincentives for private creditors to lend money to repressive, authoritarian regimes.

Fight Corruption
•	•	Call for reform, transparency, and accountability.
•	•	Spearhead an international initiative to root out corruption.
•	•	Add corruption to the annual human rights reports prepared by the State Department.
•	•	Lead by example by making our own contracting decisions merit-based and transparent.
•	•	When U.S. taxpayer money is involved, make sure that money is not wasted or illicitly spent.

Global Health
•	•	Infrastructure
•	o	Establish effective global health infrastructure by 2020.
•	o	Take the lead at the G-8, working with and leveraging the engagement of the private sector and private philanthropy, to launch Health Infrastructure 2020 – a global effort to work with developing countries to invest in the full range of infrastructure needed to improve and protect both American and global health.  A key part of this initiative will be an effort to address the health care brain drain from the world’s poorest countries by training new professionals who commit to sustained service in their home countries and by providing incentives for professionals already trained to stay in their home countries.
•	•	Combat HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria
•	o	HIV/AIDS
•	♣	Prevention
•	•	There is a moral and spiritual component to prevention.  Ministries and churches can help address that.
•	•	If condoms and potentially microbicides can prevent millions of deaths, they should be made more widely available.
•	•	Remove the stigma associated with AIDS testing.
•	♣	Treatment
•	•	Work with drug companies to reduce the costs of generic anti-retroviral drugs.
•	•	Work with developing nations to help them build the health infrastructure that's necessary to get sick people treated - more money for hospitals and medical equipment, and more training for nurses and doctors.
•	•	Renew emphasis on nutrition.
•	♣	Reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
•	•	Rewrite the bill to allow best practices — not ideology — to drive funding.
•	•	Commit $50 billion over 5 years to strengthen the existing program and expand it to new regions of the world, including Southeast Asia, India, and parts of Europe.
•	o	Take steps to combat the spread of tuberculosis and malaria, the incidence of which rose between 2000 and 2004 in six Latin American countries: Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
•	o	Increase U.S. contributions to the Global Fund to ensure that global efforts to fight endemic disease continue to move ahead through multilateral institutions as well.

Education
•	•	Spearhead an initiative to eliminate the global education deficit buy 2015.
•	•	Devote at least $2 billion of the $50 billion in foreign assistance to a Global Education Fund to eliminate the global education deficit, fill the financing gap for primary education, and offer an alternative to extremist schools.
•	•	Lead efforts to leverage American commitments through the World Bank’s Fast Track Initiative to ensure that funding shortfall is no longer the main impediment to progress on basic education.

Remittances
•	•	Work with international organizations, particularly the Inter-American Development Bank, to leverage the financial resources immigrants send to native countries.
•	•	Work to foster a new spirit of partnership and cooperation to maximize the impact of those remittances on social and economic development across the hemisphere.

Global Climate Change
•	•	Call on the Global Energy Forum to launch the Global Energy and Environment (GEE) Initiative to bring developing countries into the global effort to develop alternative sources of energy and prepare for the ravages of a changing climate.
•	o	GEE will help build the capacity of the developing world to participate profitably in the global carbon market, promote the transfer of viable and affordable technologies, and ensure that a substantial portion of increased research and development funds is allocated to technology adaptation appropriate to the poorest countries.
•	•	Incorporate climate change and energy development goals into all tools of U.S. economic engagement, including assistance programs, trade agreements, and debt relief initiatives. 
•	•	Help developing countries prepare for climate change by spurring the development of an open-source, real time mapping system to forecast the impacts of climate change country-by-country.
•	•	Create an Emerging Market Energy Fund, using USG funding to leverage the investment and venture capital needed to expand the developing world’s renewable energy portfolio.

B.  Promote Democracy

Support Existing Democracies
•	•	Join with our democratic partners around the world to meet common security challenges and uphold our shared values whenever they are threatened by autocratic practices, coups, human rights abuses, or genocide.

Promote Democracy
•	•	U.S. leadership in supporting the growth of accountable and democratic governments around the world cannot become a casualty of the Iraq War.
•	•	Ensure that democracy is more than just holding elections.   It also requires a society that is supported by a strong legislature, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, a vibrant civil society, a free press, and an honest police force.
•	•	Focus on achieving concrete outcomes that will advance democracy. 
•	o	Work for the release of jailed scholars, activists, and opposition party leaders (such as Ayman Nour in Egypt).
•	o	Stand with struggling democrats as they denounce elections that are not free or fair and fight those who seek to undermine the democratic process, so that flawed elections can no longer be used to legitimize rule in places like Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Russia, Zimbabwe, and Colombia.
•	o	Confront the perpetrators of genocide, such as the Government of Sudan in Darfur, rather than standing by, content with idle half-measures.
•	•	Increase funding for struggling democrats abroad
•	o	Channel most support for democratic activists living under the most repressive regimes through independent institutions, committed to supporting democrats but free from perceptions of questionable or ulterior motives.
•	o	Significantly increase funding for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and other nongovernmental organizations to support these civic activists.

Rapid Response Fund for Societies in Transition
•	•	Introduce a new Rapid Response Fund – a seed fund that will provide a shot of adrenaline to young democracies and post-conflict societies, through foreign aid, debt relief, technical assistance and investment packages that show the people of newly hopeful countries that democracy and peace deliver, and the United States stands by them.
•	•	Work with international institutions and NGOs to ensure that not simply money but expertise is available to transitional societies.
•	•	Work with our allies to build a roster of available and deployable policemen, customs experts, engineers, agricultural economists, negotiators, education specialists so that nascent governments and international institutions can draw upon foreign expertise as needed.

7.  Threat-Specific Policies

A.  Terrorism

Military and Law Enforcement Operations
See the Defense, Homeland Security, and Region/State-Specific Sections.

Shared Security Partnership Program
•	•	Establish a Shared Security Partnership Program to forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to take down terrorist networks.
•	•	Program will include information sharing, as well as funding for training, operations, border security, anti-corruption programs, technology, and the targeting of terrorist financing.
•	•	Invest $5 billion over three years to improve counter-terrorism cooperation between U.S. and foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Anti-Terror Public Diplomacy
•	•	Launch a coordinated, multi-agency program of public diplomacy.
•	•	Open “America Houses” in cities across the Arab world.
•	o	Modeled on the successful program the United States launched following World War II.
•	o	Would offer state-of-the-art English-language training programs, discussions, and a wide selection of current periodicals, newspapers, and literature.
•	o	Offer free Internet access.
•	o	Offer moderated programs that promote direct exchange with Americans.
•	•	Launch a new “America’s Voice Corps” to rapidly recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages (Arabic, Bahasa, Farsi, Urdu, and Turkish) with public diplomacy skills, who can ensure our voice is heard in the mass media and in our efforts on the ground.
•	•	Offer an alternative to madrasas through the Global Education Fund
•	•	Speak directly to Muslim audiences
•	o	Personally lead diplomacy efforts.
•	o	Give a speech at a major Islamic forum in the first 100 days of his administration.
•	o	Make clear that we are not at war with Islam, will stand with those who are willing to stand up for their future, and that we need their effort to defeat the prophets of hate and violence.

B.  Nuclear Threats

Structure Government for a Comprehensive Strategy
•	•	Nuclear Risk Reduction Work at Defense, State, and Energy — Organize the departments and staff that are responsible for these broad policy areas to ensure effective implementation of a comprehensive strategy for nuclear security.
•	•	National Security Council — Appoint a deputy security advisor to be in charge of coordinating all U.S. programs aimed at reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism and weapons proliferation.  The deputy will work closely with the President, the national security adviser, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and senior officials of the relevant cabinet departments.  The deputy will have budgetary oversight over all programs related to nuclear security.

Prevent Nuclear Terrorism and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons Capability
•	•	Secure nuclear materials
•	o	Lead a global effort to secure all nuclear weapons and material at vulnerable sites within four years.
•	o	Work with Russia to make sure that nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons materials in Russia and around the world are fully secured.
•	o	Work with other countries to develop and implement a comprehensive set of standards to protect nuclear materials from attacks and theft.
•	o	Increase funding by $1 billion a year to ensure that within four years, the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons are removed from all the world’s most vulnerable sites and effective, lasting security measures are instituted for all remaining sites.
•	•	Combat the spread of materials
•	o	Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)
•	♣	Institutionalize the PSI, a global initiative aimed at stopping shipments of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide.
•	♣	Expand the responsibilities of its members, not only in stopping illicit nuclear shipments, but also in eradicating nuclear black market networks.
•	♣	A stronger PSI will produce greater international intelligence and police cooperation, maintain tougher export controls and criminal penalties for violations in countries around the world, and apply the tools developed to combat terrorist financing to shut down proliferators’ financial networks.
•	o	Increase the pace at which nuclear security detectors are placed at key border crossings.
•	o	Strengthen policing and interdiction efforts.
•	o	Fully implement the Lugar-Obama legislation to help our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world.
•	•	International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
•	o	Strengthen the IAEA — ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job.
•	o	Double the IAEA budget in the next four years (increasing the U.S. annual share to about $225 million).
•	o	Press countries to adopt the “Additional Protocol,” -- which grants the IAEA the right to conduct more intrusive inspections, including at undeclared facilities.
•	o	Call for establishing IAEA verification procedures that go beyond the Additional Protocol to strengthen the agency’s ability to detect clandestine facilities and activities.
•	•	Nuclear Fuel Infrastructure
•	o	Work with other interested governments to establish a new international nuclear energy architecture — including an international nuclear fuel bank, international nuclear fuel cycle centers, and reliable fuel supply assurances — to meet growing demands for nuclear power without contributing to the proliferation of nuclear materials and fuel production facilities.
•	o	The Nuclear Threat Initiative has offered $50 million in funding to create a nuclear fuel bank provided it is matched 2-1 by government contributions. Obama would get the fuel bank started with a $50 million investment by the United States and urge other nations to contribute to it, starting with Russia.
•	•	Highly-Enriched Uranium
•	o	Phase out highly enriched uranium from the civil sector.  The U.S. will lead the effort to:
•	♣	Remove HEU from vulnerable research reactor sites around the world;
•	♣	Assist in the conversion to low-enriched fuel;
•	♣	Give unneeded facilities incentives to shut down;
•	♣	Enhance physical protection measures pending HEU removal;
•	♣	Blend down recovered civil HEU for use as power reactor fuel.
•	o	Negotiate a verifiable global ban on the production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.
•	•	Build state capacity to prevent theft, diversion, or spread of nuclear materials
•	o	Give new impetus to the use of UN Security Council Resolution 1540, which mandates that all nations implement effective domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
•	o	Work to lay out the essential steps to put strong systems in place.
•	o	Mobilize international financial support to help states take those steps.
•	o	Convene a summit in 2009 (and regularly thereafter) of leaders of Permanent Members of the UN Security Council and other key countries to agree on implementing many of the above measures on a global basis.
•	•	Prevent the spread of nuclear weapons capabilities
•	o	Work to gain agreement on effective global standards for nuclear safety and security.
•	o	Seek agreement among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group not to transfer nuclear technology to NPT countries that have not adopted the Additional Protocol.
•	o	Stop the spread of nuclear weapons technology and ensure that countries cannot build – or come to the brink of building — a weapons program under the auspices of developing peaceful nuclear power.
•	•	Control Fissile Materials
•	o	Lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes.
•	o	Propose a new multilateral initiative to control already-produced fissile materials, under which nations will:
•	♣	Provide regular declarations of their fissile material holdings
•	♣	Secure their materials to the highest international standards of physical protection
•	♣	Declare increasing amounts of material as excess to defense needs
•	♣	Transform such excess materials to forms no longer useable in nuclear weapons as soon as practicable

Reduce Existing Nuclear Arsenals
•	•	Pursue a nuclear-free world.  Make the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide a central element of U.S. nuclear policy.
•	•	Show the world that America believes in its existing commitment under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to work to ultimately eliminate all nuclear weapons.
•	•	Supports steps proposed by George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, William Perry, and Sam Nunn.
•	•	No unilateral disarmament.  As long as states retain nuclear weapons, the U.S. will maintain a nuclear deterrent that is strong, safe, secure, and reliable.
•	•	Seek deep cuts with Russia and other nuclear powers to reduce global stockpiles dramatically by the end of his presidency.
•	•	Gain agreement not to build new weapons.  Will not authorize the development of new nuclear weapons.
•	o	Reliable Replacement Warhead — “Before we consider developing new nuclear weapons we need to consider what the role of these weapons should be in our national security policy.  As I said in my speech before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, I believe the United States should lead the international effort to deemphasize the role of nuclear weapons around the world.  I also believe that our policy towards the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) affects this leadership position.   We can maintain a strong nuclear deterrent to protect our security without rushing to produce a new generation of warheads.  I do not support a premature decision to produce the RRW.”
•	•	Work to secure Russia’s agreement to extend essential monitoring and verification provisions of the START I Treaty before it expires in December 2009.
•	•	Initiate a high-level dialogue among all the declared nuclear weapons states on how to make their nuclear capabilities more transparent, create greater confidence, and move toward meaningful reductions and the eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons.
•	•	Work with Russia to deemphasize the role of nuclear weapons.
•	•	Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
•	o	Secure the ratification of the CTBT and its entry into force at the earliest practical date.
•	o	Continue to test the remaining components inside our nuclear weapons to ensure that they will remain safe and effective. 
•	o	While awaiting ratification, pay full contribution to CTBTO.
•	o	Launch a diplomatic effort to bring on board other states whose ratifications are required for the treaty to enter into force.
•	•	Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)
•	o	Work with allies to and other nations to achieve a successful outcome in the 2010 NPT Review Conference that strengthens the NPT.
•	o	Strengthen the Nonproliferation Treaty so any violation automatically triggers sanctions.
•	•	Seek a global ban on the development, production and deployment of missiles with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles.

Warning and Decision Time
•	•	Work with Russia to end — in a mutual and verifiable manner — Cold War policies that keep nuclear weapons ready to launch on a moment’s notice. 
•	•	Immediately stand down all nuclear forces to be reduced under the Moscow Treaty and urge Russia to do the same.

Nuclear Defense
•	•	Continue efforts to defend against the mass destruction of American citizens and our allies.
•	•	Seek a nuclear missile defense and demand that those efforts use resources wisely to build systems that would actually be effective.  Missile defense requires far more rigorous testing to ensure that it is cost-effective and, most importantly, will work.
•	•	Ensure that we are investing in sound defenses not merely against missiles, but also against the more likely scenarios of attack, via ‘loose nukes’ and terrorists delivering weapons of mass destruction to the United States.
•	•	Deploy missile defense systems in a way that reinforces, rather than undercuts, our alliances, involving partnership and burdensharing with organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

C.  Biological Threats

Prevent and deter attacks
•	•	Strengthen U.S. intelligence collection overseas to identify and interdict would-be bioterrorists before they strike.
•	•	Expand the U.S. government’s bioforensics program for tracking the source of any biological weapon so that the U.S. will be able to rapidly identify any adversary who uses a biological weapon and respond surely and swiftly.
•	•	Help states meet their obligations under UN Security Council resolution 1540 and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to prevent terrorists and other states from developing and acquiring biological weapons.
•	•	Work with the international community to make any use of disease as a weapon declared a crime against humanity.

Mitigate the Consequences of Bioterror Attacks
•	•	Increase R&D to improve our sensor technologies to detect attacks at the earliest possible stage.
•	•	Ensure that decision-makers have the information and communication tools they need to manage disease outbreaks by linking health care providers, hospitals, and public health agencies.
•	•	Invest $10 billion per year over the next 5 years in electronic health information systems will not only improve routine health care, but in a biological crisis or other catastrophe, give health officials the crucial information they need to deploy resources and save lives.
•	•	Improve our ability to cope with infectious diseases by improving the surge capacity and robustness of our health care system.  For example, help hospitals form collaborative networks to deal with sudden surges in patients.
•	•	Ensure that the U.S. has adequate supplies of medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tests and can get these vital products into the hands of those who need them.
•	•	Ensure that the federal government does all it can to get people the information and resources they need to help protect themselves and their families in bioterror attacks and other disasters.

Develop New Medicines, Vaccines, and Production Capabilities
•	•	Support and promote further advances in the life sciences and associated technologies.
•	•	Build on America’s unparalleled talent and advantage in science, technology, and engineering, and the powerful insights into biological systems that are emerging, to create new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests and to manufacture these vital products much more quickly and efficiently than is now possible.
•	•	Stress the need for broad-gauged vaccines and drugs and for more agile and responsive drug development and production systems.

Diminish Impact of Major Infectious Disease Epidemics — 
•	•	Continue to lead international efforts to develop new diagnostics, vaccines, and medicines that will be available and affordable in all parts of the world.
•	•	Create a permanent framework that would increase international disease surveillance, response capacity and public education and coordination, especially in Southeast Asia.

Avian Flu
•	•	Provide more funding to purchase vaccines and antivirals and improve our ability to spot and isolate a pandemic as soon as it begins.
•	•	Publish the final HHS Pandemic Flu Preparedness Plan.
•	•	Form a senior-level task-force to devise an international strategy to deal with the avian flu and coordinate policy among our government agencies.
•	•	Order enough doses of flu treatment to cover the recommended 25 percent of the population.

D.  Cyber Threats

Prioritize Cyber Security
•	•	Establish the position of National Cyber Advisor who will report directly to the president and will be responsible for coordinating federal agency efforts and development of national cyber policy.
•	•	Lead an effort, working with private industry, the research community and our citizens, to build a trustworthy and accountable cyber infrastructure that is resilient, protects America’s competitive advantage, and advances our national and homeland security.
•	•	Declare the cyber infrastructure a strategic asset, vital to national security and the global economy, and develop and deploy systems to protect it.
•	•	Invest in math and science education that is vital to protecting our national security and our competitiveness.

Improve National Cyber Defense
•	•	Harden our nation’s cyber infrastructure — Work with industry and academia to develop and deploy a new generation of secure hardware and software for our nation’s critical cyber infrastructure (including for the defense and intelligence) communities.
•	•	Develop a comprehensive cyber security and response strategy that ensures that we have the ability to identify our attackers and a plan for how to respond that will be measured but effective.

Protect America’s Economic and Personal Security
•	•	Protect the IT infrastructure that keeps America’s economy safe — Work with the private sector to establish tough new standards for cyber security and physical resilience for the systems for critical infrastructure (including electricity, water, and sewage, to oil and gas, air traffic control, voting systems, and finance).
•	•	Prevent corporate cyber-espionage — Work with industry to develop the systems necessary to protect our nation’s trade secrets and our research and development.
•	•	Partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems.
•	o	Develop tight standards for securing America’s personal information.
•	o	Back legislation to require a company that may have disclosed a resident’s personal information without authorization to inform the victim of the disclosure.

Crackdown on Cyber Crime
•	•	Shut down the mechanisms used to transmit criminal profits by shutting down untraceable Internet payment schemes.
•	•	Initiate a grant and training program to provide federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies the tools they need to detect and prosecute cyber crime.

E.  Space Threats

Space Security
•	•	Restore U.S. leadership on space issues by seeking a code of conduct for space-faring nations, including a worldwide ban on weapons to interfere with satellites and a ban on testing anti-satellite weapons.  Initiating and stating a willingness to participate in a regime protecting access to space will help the United States return to a position of leadership in promoting global stability.
•	•	Thoroughly assess possible threats to U.S. space assets and the best options, military and diplomatic, for countering them. This will include establishing contingency plans to ensure that U.S. forces can maintain or duplicate access to information from space assets and accelerating programs to harden U.S. satellites against attack.
•	•	Weapons in space are a bad idea.
•	•	A treaty that increases space security is a good idea but is likely to take a long time to negotiate.

Part II — Region or State Specific Policies

1.  Iraq
	
Ending the War
•	•	On his first day as President, Barack Obama would give the military a new mission — ending the Iraq war.  Barack Obama will make getting out of Iraq his first priority as president.
•	•	Be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in.

Troop Redeployment
•	•	Removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months.
•	•	Under the Obama plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel.
•	•	Move troops from secure areas first and volatile areas later.
•	•	In carrying out that strategy, we will inevitably need to make tactical adjustments.
•	o	Barack Obama will consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected.
•	•	During redeployment, put the Iraqi security forces in the lead, intensify and focus our efforts to train those forces, and expand the number of our personnel - especially special forces - who are deployed with Iraqi units as advisers.
•	o	Iraqi police and military units must be properly funded and inclusive.
•	•	Troops should be redeployed to the United States; to Afghanistan; and to other points in the region.
•	•	Iraq's democratically-elected Prime Minister has embraced this time frame. Now it's time to succeed in Iraq by turning Iraq over to its sovereign government.

Benchmarks / Suspending Redeployment
•	•	Set 13 benchmarks for Iraqi security, political accommodation, and economic progress.
•	•	If these are met, Congress could pause the phased redeployment for a limited period.
•	•	The purpose is to encourage Iraqis to make the tough political compromises necessary to end the civil war and avert a worst-case scenario.

Encourage Political Accommodation
•	•	Apply pressure on the Iraqi government to work toward real political accommodation.
•	o	Move towards more condition-based aid packages where economic assistance is contingent upon the ability of Iraqis to make measurable progress on reducing sectarian violence and forging a lasting political settlement.
•	•	As our forces redeploy, engage representatives from all levels of Iraqi society—in and out of government—to forge compromises on oil revenue sharing, the equitable provision of services, federalism, the status of disputed territories, new elections, aid to displaced Iraqis, and the reform of Iraqi security forces.
•	o	Encourage the Iraqi government to adopt policies that give regional and local groups a sufficient stake in the center so they are deterred from attempting to overthrow the central government or completely break away.
•	•	Ensure local communities can protect themselves without threatening other groups.
•	•	Fight for greater transparency in local security efforts to reduce anxieties among all sects that America intends to support one sect over another.
•	•	Crack down on the use of American foreign assistance to sectarian ends or by sectarian actors.
•	•	Call for a new constitutional convention with the United Nations that includes all segments of Iraq’s population and that would not adjourn until Iraq’s leaders reached a new accord on reconciliation and contentious questions such as federalism, oil revenue sharing, and de-Ba'athification are resolved.
•	•	America should not impose a tri-partite division of Iraq.  The Iraqis may choose that, but it must be their choice.
•	•	We should only train Iraqi Security Forces if Iraq's leaders reconcile their differences.

Diplomacy
•	•	Launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region.
•	o	This effort will include all of Iraq’s neighbors, including Iran and Syria, and the UN.
•	o	This compact will aim to secure Iraq’s borders; keep neighboring countries from meddling inside Iraq; isolate al Qaeda; support reconciliation among Iraq’s sectarian groups; and provide financial support for Iraq’s reconstruction and development.
•	o	Support regional sources of stability.  Work to develop a long-term strategy of regional cooperation.
•	•	Work with Kurdish leaders to come to an accommodation with Turkish leaders who see the Kurdish ascendance as a threat.
•	•	Press Sunni Arab states like Saudi Arabia to use their influence to encourage Iraqi Sunnis to reconcile.
•	•	Press Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia to stem the flow of foreign fighters, arms, and financial resources into Iraq, but encourage their financial support of reconstruction efforts.  Be a tough negotiator with Syria and Iran, sending a clear message that they need to stop meddling in Iraq’s affairs.

Humanitarian Aide
•	•	Form an international working group to address this crisis.
•	•	Secure greater regional contributions to humanitarian relief, refugee care and integration, and economic assistance. Build on the United Nations' new willingness to expand its mission in Iraq, encouraging the European Union, the Arab League, and other regional groupings to expand their relief and assistance efforts.
•	o	Also involve organizations like the World Bank.
•	•	America has both a moral obligation and a responsibility for security that demands we confront Iraq’s humanitarian crisis—more than five million Iraqis are refugees or are displaced inside their own country.
•	o	Expedite the Department of Homeland Security's review of Iraqi asylum applicants. 
•	♣	Fill at least the 7,000 slots we pledged to Iraqi refugees and be open to accepting even more Iraqis at risk — especially Iraqis who are at risk for aiding America.
•	o	Appeal to the Coalition's original partners to expand their refugee quotas.
•	o	Enlist the aid of Arab governments, especially American allies such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
•	o	Provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraq's refugees and internally displaced people and to the neighboring countries that house them.
•	o	Work with Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt to dramatically increase access to social services for refugees. 
•	•	Ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary.
•	•	Work with Iraqi authorities and the international community to hold the perpetrators of potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide accountable.
•	o	If necessary, work with the United Nations to establish an independent war crimes commission or a special investigator who can gather testimonies of survivors and investigate war crimes.
•	•	Supply armed escorts to civilians who voluntarily choose to move from religiously heterogeneous areas to communities where they feel they will be more secure.
•	•	Reserve the right to intervene militarily, with our international partners, to suppress potential genocidal violence within Iraq.
•	•	Insist that Iraq invests its $79 billion surplus on rebuilding its own country.

Permanent Bases
•	•	Barack Obama will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.

Status of Forces Agreement
•	•	Any Status of Forces Agreement, or any strategic framework agreement, should be negotiated in the context of a broader commitment by the U.S. to begin withdrawing its troops and forswearing permanent bases.
•	•	Any security accord must be subject to Congressional approval.
•	•	Any agreement must include immunity for U.S. troops and Defense Department personnel from Iraqi jurisdiction.

2.  Afghanistan and Pakistan

U.S. Military
•	•	Deploy at least 2 additional brigades (7,000 personnel) of rested, trained American troops to Afghanistan to reinforce our counter–terrorism operations and support NATO’s efforts to fight the Taliban.
•	o	Need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission in Afghanistan.
•	•	Finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Make the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban the top priority that it should be.

NATO Forces
•	•	Seek greater contributions from NATO allies.
•	•	Eliminate national restrictions on NATO forces — The NATO force is short-staffed and some countries contributing forces are imposing restrictions on where their troops can operate, tying the hands of commanders on the ground.  Obama will work with European allies to end these burdensome restrictions and strengthen NATO as a fighting force.

Afghan Forces
•	•	Strengthen the training and equipping of the Afghan army and police.
•	•	Increase Afghan participation in U.S. and NATO missions.

Non-Military Aid to Afghanistan
•	•	Increase non-military aid to Afghanistan by $1 billion a year to a total of $3 billion a year.
•	•	Fund reconstruction, police and army training, embassy operations, and local projects including efforts to impact the lives of ordinary Afghans and to give farmers alternatives to growing opium poppies.
•	•	Make sure investments are made - not just in Kabul - but out in Afghanistan's provinces.
•	•	Tie aid to better performance by the Afghan national government, including anti-corruption initiatives and efforts to extend the rule of law across the country.
•	•	Focus on training Afghan security forces and supporting an Afghan judiciary, with more resources and incentives for American officers who perform these missions.
•	•	Call for better coordination under a strong international coordinator.

Aid to Pakistan
•	•	Condition U.S. military aid to Pakistan on their making progress to close down the training camps, evict foreign fighters, and prevent the Taliban from using Pakistan as a base to strike inside of Afghanistan.
•	•	Triple non-military aid to the Pakistani people and sustain if for a decade, while ensuring that the military assistance we do provide is used to take the fight to the Taliban and al Qaeda in the tribal regions of Pakistan.
•	o	Increase our support for the Pakistani people to counter extremists - for secular education, economic development, and democratic institutions.

Musharraf
•	•	We cannot base our entire Pakistan policy on President Musharraf.
•	•	President Musharraf made the right decision to step down as President of Pakistan.

Go After al Qaeda
•	•	Need a stronger and sustained partnership between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO to secure the border, to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents.
•	•	If Pakistan is willing to go after high-level terrorist targets like Osama bin Laden, give Pakistan all of the support it needs.
•	•	If the U.S. has actionable intelligence about the whereabouts of al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan – and the Pakistanis cannot or will not act against terrorists known to be behind attacks on American civilians – then use highly targeted force to do so.
•	•	Will not use nuclear weapons to go after terrorist targets in Pakistan.

3.  Iran

Nuclear Weapons Program
•	•	Prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons
•	•	Will not take any options off the table.
•	•	Use tough, direct diplomacy — backed by real incentives and real pressures — to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
•	o	Carefully prepare — open up lines of communication, build an agenda, coordinate closely with our allies, and evaluate the potential for progress.
•	o	Will not sit down with Iran just for the sake of talking.  But willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of our choosing – if, and only if – it can advance the interests of the United States.
•	•	Assemble an international coalition that will exert a collective will on Iran so that it is in their own interest to verifiably abandon their nuclear weapons efforts.
•	o	Work with Europe, Japan and the Gulf states to find every avenue outside the UN to isolate the Iranian regime – from cutting off loan guarantees and expanding financial sanctions, to banning the export of refined petroleum to Iran, to boycotting firms associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, whose Quds force has rightly been labeled a terrorist organization.
•	o	Iran should face strong and increasing sanctions if it refuses to verifiably abandon their illicit nuclear programs.
•	o	If Iran verifiably abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, we should consider economic incentives like membership in the World Trade Organization and political incentives like full diplomatic relations.
•	•	Strengthen the Nonproliferation Treaty so any violation automatically triggers sanctions.
•	•	Build on recent actions by the U.N. Security Council to restrict the supply of nuclear technology and freeze the assets of Iranian leaders.
•	•	Permit states to divest pension funds of stocks in companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector, denying Iran a critical source of hard currency to advance its illicit nuclear program.
•	•	Support the Durbin-Smith Senate Bill, the Iran Counter Proliferation Act, which calls for sanctions on Iran and other countries for assisting Iran in developing a nuclear program.

Revolutionary Guard
•	•	Tighten sanctions on the Iranian regime -- particularly on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which supports terrorism.

4.  Russia

Overall
•	•	Russia is neither our enemy nor close ally right now.
•	•	Don’t shy away from pushing for more democracy, transparency, and accountability in that country.
•	•	Engagement with President Medvedev and his government must not lead us to turn a blind eye to democratic erosion inside Russia.

Nuclear Nonproliferation
•	•	See nuclear threats section.

Georgia
•	•	Strongly support the people of Georgia and the Americans delivering humanitarian aid.
•	•	There is no possible justification for Russia's actions.  Condemn Russian aggression and demand that Russia abide by the cease-fire.
•	•	Call for active international engagement to resolve the disputes over South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
•	o	There should be a United Nations mediator to address this crisis, and the United States should fully support this effort.  Also convene other international forums to condemn this aggression, to call for an immediate halt to the violence, and to review multilateral and bilateral arrangements with Russia
•	•	Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected, and that Georgia should be integrated into transatlantic institutions, including NATO.
•	o	Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states must be rejected.
•	♣	Call for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to condemn Russia's decision in coordination with our European allies. Lead within the UN and other international forums to cast a clear and unrelenting light on the decision, and to further isolate Russia internationally because of its actions. The OSCE must also send a serious monitoring group to Georgia.
•	o	Russian peacekeeping troops should be replaced by a genuine international peacekeeping force, Georgia should refrain from using force in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and a political settlement must be reached that addresses the status of these disputed regions.
•	•	U.S. and its allies must stand firm in support of Georgia’s economic and political stability and opposing Russia’s efforts to undermine Georgia's democratically-elected government.
•	o	Support the EU's decisions to send civilian monitors to Georgia as part of the necessary international monitoring mechanism provided for in the cease-fire agreement, and to sponsor an international conference to assist reconstruction in Georgia.
•	•	Russia’s actions will have consequences.  They will imperil the Civil Nuclear Agreement, and Russia's standing in the international community - including the NATO-Russia Council, and Russia's desire to participate in organizations like the WTO and the OECD.
•	o	Support the EU's decision to postpone talks on a new EU-Russia partnership until Russia fully honors its commitments.
•	o	If Russia's government continues to violate the norms and practices of the international community, the United States and our allies must review all aspects of relations with Russia.
•	•	Help Georgia rebuild what has been destroyed — call for an additional $1 billion in reconstruction assistance for the people of Georgia.
•	•	The six-point peace plan of August 12 must be implemented in its entirety.
•	•	Together with European and other partners, we must stand united in support of a Europe in which all states can freely determine their foreign policies and alliances and in which the rule of law is respected.
•	•	Bush Administration should call for a US-EU-Georgia summit in September that focuses on strategies for preserving Georgia's territorial integrity and advancing its economic recovery.

5.  North Korea

Nuclear Weapons Program
•	•	Eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons program
•	•	Will not take any options off the table.
•	•	Use tough, direct diplomacy — backed by real incentives and real pressures — to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
•	•	Assemble an international coalition that will exert a collective will on North Korea so that it is in their own interest to verifiably abandon their nuclear weapons efforts.
•	o	North Korea should face strong and increasing sanctions if it refuses to verifiably abandon their illicit nuclear programs.
•	•	Strengthen the Nonproliferation Treaty so any violation automatically triggers sanctions.
•	•	Provide the leadership essential to ensure the full implementation of the recent agreement with North Korea.
•	•	North Korean Declaration
•	o	Confirm the full extent of North Korea's past plutonium production and its uranium enrichment activities, and get answers to disturbing questions about its proliferation activities with other countries, including Syria.
•	o	Only lift sanctions based on North Korean performance. If the North Koreans do not meet their obligations, we should move quickly to re-impose sanctions that have been waived, and consider new restrictions going forward.
•	o	Continue to pursue the kind of direct and aggressive diplomacy with North Korea that can yield results. The objective must be clear: the complete and verifiable elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, which only expanded while we refused to talk. As we move forward, we must not cede our leverage in these negotiations unless it is clear that North Korea is living up to its obligations.
•	o	Barack Obama would work from the very beginning of his term in office to secure the American people and our interests in this vital region.
•	•	Proliferation of Nuclear Technology to Syria
•	o	Until we are able to confirm that North Korea is no longer in the nuclear proliferation business, the United States should not lift sanctions on Pyongyang.

6.  Israel

Ensure a strong U.S.-Israel partnership
•	•	First and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America’s strongest ally in the Middle East.
•	o	“[A]s President I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security.”
•	•	Support foreign assistance to Israel, including the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel.  Advocate for increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met.
•	•	Ensure that Israel can defend itself from any threat – from Gaza to Tehran.
•	o	Sustain the unique U.S.-Israel defense relationship by fully funding military assistance and continuing cooperative work on missile defense programs, such as the Arrow.
•	o	Implement a Memorandum of Understanding that provides $30 billion in assistance to Israel over the next decade – investments to Israel's security that will not be tied to any other nation.
•	o	Approve the foreign aid request for 2009.
•	o	Export military equipment to our ally Israel under the same guidelines as NATO.
•	•	Barack Obama cosponsored the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act.  This bill would establish a grant program to support joint U.S.-Israeli research and development efforts in the areas of alternative and renewable energy sources – a key step toward energy independence, which is very much in the national security interests of the U.S. and Israel.
•	•	Mean what we say when we speak the words: “never again.”

Hamas
•	•	Never recognize Hamas unless it renounces its fundamental mission to eliminate Israel.
•	•	Isolate Hamas until it recognizes Israel’s right to exist, abandons violence, and abides by previous agreements made between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
•	o	Cosponsored the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 — outlaws direct assistance to any entity of the Palestinian Authority controlled by Hamas until it meets the conditions of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations to renounce violence, recognize Israel, and agree to abide by all agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian Politics
•	•	Stand by Palestinians who are committed to cracking down on terror and carrying the burden of peacemaking.
•	•	Obama signed a letter urging President Bush to make it clear to Palestinian leaders that terrorist groups must either disarm or be barred from the political process.
•	•	Opposed holding elections in 2006 with Hamas on the ballot.
•	•	Since the elections, Obama has stated that Israelis must have a true Palestinian partner for peace.  He has sought to encourage Palestinian moderates who seek peace and to isolate Hamas and other extremists who are committed to Israel’s destruction.

Hezbollah
•	•	Obama signed a letter to the European Union pressing the EU to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
•	•	Call for the end of Syrian and Iranian support of Hezbollah via arms shipments and funding.
•	•	Urged the enforcement of UN Resolution 1701, which demands the cessation of arms shipments to Hezbollah, a resolution that Syria and Iran continue to disregard.
•	•	Long before the July 2006 conflict, Barack Obama worked to limit Hezbollah’s influence in the region, signing a letter urging President Bush to place al-Manar, the official television station of Hezbollah, on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity list and to aggressively target organizations that aid in its broadcast.

Israel’s Right to Self-Defense
•	•	Support Israel’s right to self-defense. 
•	•	Stand up for Israel's right to defend itself in the United Nations and around the world.

Iraq
•	•	Do not allow the Iranians and Syrians to use Iraq as another Afghanistan or a staging area from which to attack Israel or other countries.

Two State Solution
•	•	Israel's security is sacrosanct.  It is non-negotiable.
•	•	The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper – but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders.
•	•	Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.
•	•	Work towards a two-state solution, with both states living side by side in peace and security.
•	o	Won't wait until the waning days of his presidency.  Sen. Obama will take an active role, and make a personal commitment to do all he can to advance the cause of peace from the start of his Administration.
•	o	Be a strong and consistent partner in this process – not to force concessions, but to help committed partners avoid stalemate and the kind of vacuums that are filled by violence.
•	•	Israel can also advance the cause of peace by taking appropriate steps – consistent with its security (as it agreed to with the Bush Administration at Annapolis):
•	o	Ease the freedom of movement for Palestinians
•	o	Improve economic conditions in the West Bank
•	o	Refrain from building new settlements

Help Palestinian Families Get the Aid they Need without Supporting Terrorism
•	•	Support U.S. efforts to provide aid directly to the Palestinian people by bypassing any Hamas-led government that refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist.
 Israel’s Right to Exist
•	•	The establishment of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle, and decades of patient work. 

Neighboring States
•	•	Strongly urge Arab governments to take steps to normalize relations with Israel, and to fulfill their responsibility to pressure extremists and provide real support for President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad.
•	•	Persuade other nations such as Saudi Arabia to recognize common interests with Israel in dealing with Iran.
•	•	Egypt must cut off the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.
•	•	Syria
•	o	The United States has a responsibility to support Israel's efforts to renew peace talks with the Syrians.
•	o	Never force Israel to the negotiating table, but neither should we ever block negotiations when Israel's leaders decide that they may serve Israeli interests.
•	o	As President, Barack Obama would do whatever he could to help Israel succeed in these negotiations.
•	♣	Success will require the full enforcement of Security Council Resolution 1701 in Lebanon and a stop to Syria's support for terror.

7.  Mexico
•	•	Cross-Border Security Partnerships
•	o	Support the efforts of our border states to foster cooperation and constructive engagement with the region.
•	♣	E.g. — Arizona, for instance, has entered into agreements with its neighboring Mexican state, Sonora, to cooperate on fighting border violence and drug trafficking.  These agreements have led to the training of Sonora detectives to investigate wire transfers used to pay smugglers in their state; improved radio communication; and better tracking of fugitive and stolen vehicles.  The Arizona-Sonora partnership – based on information-sharing, technical assistance and training – provides an excellent model for regional cooperation on security issues.
•	o	Work to integrate these efforts into the region’s coordinated security pact.
•	•	Mexican Drug Cartels
•	o	We have a shared responsibility with Mexico and other nations in the region to battle both the supply and demand ends of the illegal drug trade.
•	o	Continue the fight to rid our communities of meth and offer support to help addicts heal and reduce the demand for the drug.
•	o	Work to cut off drug lab supplies by restricting global imports of precursor chemicals.
•	o	Take on the Mexican drug cartels in partnership with Mexico and other nations in the region.

8.  Latin America and the Caribbean

Overview
•	•	Open a new chapter of cooperation and partnership with our neighbors to promote democracy, opportunity and security across the hemisphere.
•	•	Work together to address our common challenges, including economic development, global warming, energy independence, and the battle against drug trafficking and terror.
•	•	Restore the U.S.’s traditional leadership in the Americas – on democracy, trade and development, energy and immigration.
•	•	Pursue a program of aggressive, principled and sustained diplomacy in the Americas with a focus on advancing freedom as FDR described it: 
•	o	Political freedom — to increase democracy and the rule of law across the Americas.
•	o	Freedom from want — to combat poverty, hunger, health problems, and global warming.
•	o	Freedom from fear — to address common threats like drug trafficking, transnational gangs and terrorism.

Diplomacy
•	•	Special Envoy for the Americas
•	o	Reinstate the position, which has been vacant since June 2004.
•	o	Special envoy would have a direct line to the president and would serve as a focal point for policy making in the White House as well as be available to Latin American and Caribbean leaders.
•	•	Employ American Immigrants in Public Diplomacy
•	o	Recruit and train fluent speakers of local languages with public diplomacy skills, who can ensure our voice is heard in the mass media — people who came to America to seek a better life are our best ambassadors to their native nations.
•	o	Work to harness these ties in other ways to promote better understanding and mutual respect among the people of the Americas.
•	•	More consulates in neglected regions of the Americas.

Political Freedom
•	•	Work to consolidate democracy throughout the hemisphere by partnering with our Latin American and Caribbean neighbors to uphold our shared values whenever they are threatened by autocratic practices, coups and human rights abuses.
•	•	Promote civil society
•	o	Strengthen the pillars of a just society in Latin America and the Caribbean, through insistent calls for reform and critical investments in the growth of transparent and accountable institutions that provide the opportunity and dignity that people so desperately seek.
•	o	Help build strong legislatures, responsible political parties, free presses, religious freedom, rule of law, and vibrant civil societies.
•	o	Help ease the fears of communities in the developing world by strengthening judiciaries and building honest and professional police forces in order to ensure that legal systems enforce peoples’ rights and stabilize societies.
•	•	Sustain the Inter-American Democratic Charter that upholds the right of the people of the Americas to democracy and gives their governments an obligation to promote and defend it.

Freedom from Fear
•	•	Focus our efforts on targeting every source of fear in the Americas — paramilitaries and terrorists, drug gangs and corrupt police.
•	•	Regional Partnership on Crime and Security
•	o	Do more to lead a new regional security initiative (like the U.S.– Central American Integration System).
•	o	Direct the Attorney General and Homeland Security Secretary to meet with their Latin American and Caribbean counterparts in the first year of the administration to produce a regional strategy to combat drug trafficking, domestic and transnational gang activity, and organized crime.  A hemispheric pact on security, crime and drugs will permit the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean to advance serious and measurable drug demand reduction goals, while fostering cooperation on intelligence and investigating criminal activity. 
•	♣	Partnership will work toward a coordinated security pact with quantifiable benchmarks, including drug seizures, kingpin apprehension, independent corruption investigations, and reduction in drug-related violent crimes.
•	♣	DOJ and DHS will work with their counterparts to strengthen the police force and judiciary in many Latin American and Caribbean countries.
•	♣	The Obama administration will provide resources and technical assistance to help these nations implement the types of community policing, community prosecution, and gang and gun-violence prevention programs that the U.S. has seen work here at home.  Will ask every country to provide resources as well.
•	♣	The U.S. will also help these nations develop data-driven and technology-supported policing systems.
•	o	Work to strengthen civilian law enforcement and judicial institutions in the region by promoting anti-corruption safeguards and police reform.
•	♣	DOJ and DHS can help Latin American countries develop internal affairs units, citizen complaint boards and other control systems within their civilian law enforcement institutions.
•	•	Northbound and Southbound Strategy — Work with the DOJ and DHS to create a comprehensive strategy on regional crime that addresses the U.S. contribution to the problem.
•	o	“Southbound” strategy will target the trafficking of guns, money and stolen vehicles that go virtually unchecked from the U.S. south into Mexico and beyond.
•	o	“Northbound” strategy aims at drug and human traffickers, as well as illegal immigration.
•	o	Ensure an adequate number of U.S. federal agents to police trafficking on our borders.
•	o	Crack down on the demand for drugs in our own communities, and restore funding for drug task forces and the COPS program.

Freedom from Want
•	•	Substantially increase aid to the Americas.
•	o	Target support to bottom-up growth through micro financing, vocational training, and small enterprise development.
•	•	Look for ways to grow our economies and deepen integration beyond trade deals.
•	o	Renewable Energy
•	♣	Expand production of renewable energy across Latin America and the Caribbean in a way that at the same time promotes self-sufficiency and creates more markets for American green energy manufacturers and biofuels producers.
•	♣	Establish an Energy Partnership for the Americas
•	•	Increase research and development in clean coal technology, the next generation of sustainable biofuels and in wind, solar and nuclear energy.
•	•	Look for ways for nations to coordinate to transport green energy across national borders.
•	•	Help Latin American and Caribbean nations become more energy independent and promote sustainable growth for the region.
•	•	Create additional markets for American biofuels and American-made green energy technology.
•	♣	Enlist the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and other international organizations to support these efforts.
•	♣	Transfer American technology to the developing world to fight climate change.
•	•	Create a Technology Transfer program within the Department of Energy dedicated to exporting climate-friendly technologies.
•	•	Include the green buildings, clean coal and advanced automobile technology that will help Latin American and Caribbean countries combat climate change.
•	•	Allow U.S. emitters subject to the cap-and-trade mandates to offset some of their emissions by investing in low carbon energy projects in the developing world.
•	•	Ensure that emissions in both the U.S. and the developing world are reduced.
•	♣	Permit international offsets under the carbon cap to promote the transfer of low carbon energy to developing countries.
•	♣	Ensure that U.S. foreign assistance is wisely invested in projects designed to help developing countries adapt to a changing climate.
•	♣	Ensure that these projects enhance natural resources like land, wildlife, and rain forests.
•	♣	Assess the opportunities and risks of nuclear power in the hemisphere by sitting down with Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
•	♣	Call on the American people to join this effort through an Energy Corps of engineers and scientists who will go abroad to help develop clean energy solutions.

Deforestation and Carbon Sequestration
•	•	Offer incentives to maintain Latin American forests and manage them sustainably.

A.  Venezuela

•	•	Engage Venezuela.

B.  Cuba

•	•	Policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: Libertad. And the road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's political prisoners, the rights of free speech, a free press and freedom of assembly; and it must lead to elections that are free and fair.
•	o	Never, ever, compromise the cause of liberty.
•	o	Never, ever, rule out a course of action that could advance the cause of liberty.
•	•	Turn the page and begin to write a new chapter in U.S.-Cuba policy to help advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba.  Keep U.S. national interests, and not partisan or electoral interests, at the forefront.  Strive to empower the Cuban people and aim to position the United States to help foster a stable and peaceful transition in Cuba to avoid potential disasters that could result in mass migration, internal violence or the perpetuation of the Cuban dictatorship.  A democratic opening in Cuba is, and should be, the foremost objective of our policy.
•	•	Help the Cuban people become less dependent on the Castro regime in fundamental ways.
•	•	Grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island.
•	•	Aggressive and Principled Diplomacy
•	o	Pursue direct diplomacy, without preconditions, but with careful preparation.  Set a clear agenda.  Be willing to lead that diplomacy at a time and place of our choosing, but only when we have an opportunity to advance the interests of the United States, and to advance the cause of freedom for the Cuban people.
•	o	Take steps to liberalize relations with Cuba now while holding back important incentives such as relaxation of the trade embargo and greater foreign aid so that we can encourage change in a post-Fidel government.
•	•	Embargo
•	o	Maintain the embargo because it provides us with leverage.
•	o	If a post-Fidel government takes significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, the United States is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades.

C. Haiti

•	•	Provide food assistance in the short term to prevent hunger and stave off additional political instability.
•	•	Improve Haiti’s economic prospects over the long-term by providing more technical assistance and job training.
•	•	Continue to press Haiti’s leaders to finally bridge the political divides that have torn that country asunder.
•	•	Always be clear and consistent in supporting freedom and democracy.
•	•	The U.S. and the entire international community have a responsibility to continue helping Haiti along a path to a better future.

D. Columbia

•	•	Promote security and combat drugs
•	o	Continue efforts to support Colombia in a way that also advances our interests and is true to our values.
•	o	Support the creation and reinforcement of robust civilian institutions in Colombia that contribute to lasting peace and to ending the decades-long reign of terror perpetrated against the Colombian people by illegal armed groups of every stripe.
•	o	Support continuing the Andean Counterdrug Program to combat narco-trafficking in Colombia.  Enhance the program and broaden the involvement of Colombians, while reducing its reliance on American contractors.
•	o	Last March, Colombian security forces targeted a senior Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), leader, and Ecuador and Venezuela moved troops and tanks to their borders with Colombia, bringing hostilities to a boiling point.  But this must not be used as a pretense to ratchet up tensions or to threaten the stability of the region.
•	o	Support Colombia’s right to strike terrorists who seek safe-haven across its borders, to defend itself against FARC.
•	o	Address any support for the FARC that comes from members of neighboring governments because this behavior must be exposed to international condemnation, regional isolation, and if necessary strong sanctions.
•	o	Work with the government to end the reign of terror from right wing paramilitaries.
•	•	Columbia Free Trade Deal — While the Colombia Free Trade Agreement has some labor and environmental standards, these protections are undermined by persistent violence and impunity in Colombia.  Labor protections remain useless in an environment where union leaders are routinely assassinated.  Barack Obama will work with Colombia to bring the perpetrators to justice and protect labor activists.
•	•	Make clear our support for labor rights, human rights, rule of law, and Columbia’s democratic institutions.

9.  East and South Asia

Overall
•	•	Strengthen our partnerships with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the world's largest democracy - India - to create a stable and prosperous Asia.
•	•	Build on our strong bilateral relations and informal arrangements like the Six Party talks to forge a more effective regional framework in Asia that will promote stability, prosperity and help us confront common transnational threats such as tracking down terrorists and responding to global health problems like avian flu and goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad-hoc arrangements like the six-party talks.

A.  China

•	•	Engage China on common interests like climate change, even as we continue to encourage their shift to a more open and market-based society.
•	•	Maintain American Competitiveness
•	o	Work to build and expand areas where we can cooperate with China.
•	o	Get our own fiscal house in order to reduce the sway China has over us by virtue of the American debt it holds.
•	o	Vigorously defend U.S. trade interests with China by ensuring we operate on a level playing field.
•	o	Press China to live up to its commitments in trade agreements, to meet its international responsibilities, and to promote human rights and legal and political reform in China itself.
•	o	Strictly enforce our trade laws against unfair Chinese practices.
•	o	Refuse access to our market for unsafe Chinese products – like toys painted with lead pain.
•	o	Insist that Beijing crack down on intellectual property theft.
•	o	Demand that China move to a market-based currency.
•	•	Tibet
•	o	Speak out for the human rights and religious freedom of the people of Tibet.
•	o	If Tibetans are to live in harmony with the rest of China's people, their religion and culture must be respected and protected. Tibet should enjoy genuine and meaningful autonomy. The Dalai Lama should be invited to visit China, as part of a process leading to his return.
•	o	Condemn the use of violence to put down peaceful protests, and call on the Chinese government to respect the basic human rights of the people of Tibet, and to account for the whereabouts of detained Buddhist monks.
•	•	Taiwan
•	o	The PRC should reduce the military threat to Taiwan by drawing back the missiles it has deployed in southeast China and by other security confidence-building measures.
•	o	On issues such as Taiwan's observer status in the World Health Organization, where the health of all Chinese people is at stake, China should allow Taiwan greater international space.
•	o	Reopen blocked channels of communication with Taiwan officials.
•	o	Continue to provide the arms necessary for Taiwan to deter possible aggression.  
•	o	Encourage both Taipei and Beijing to build commercial, cultural, and other ties, laying the groundwork for a closer relationship and ultimately movement toward resolution of their differences.
•	o	Maintain our "one China" policy, our adherence to the three U.S.-PRC Joint Communiques concerning Taiwan, and observance of the Taiwan Relations Act, which lays out the legal basis for our relationship.
•	o	Barack Obama will do all that he can to support Taiwan's democracy in the years ahead.

B.  Burma
•	•	Support the Bush Administration's plan to deploy a disaster assistance response team to Burma to assess the needs of Burma’s people, and urge the Burmese government to allow our team access so that we can move quickly and expeditiously in coordination with others in the international community to get help to those who most need it.
•	•	Although the regime in Burma is one whose repressive rule deserves our condemnation, humanitarian assistance should not be used as a political tool against those in need.

10.  Middle East

A.  Lebanon
•	•	Support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy.

11.  Africa

General
•	•	The U.S. and other nations have an obligation and self-interest in being full partners with Kenya and with Africa.
•	•	Work with the African Union to enhance its ability to keep the peace.

A.  Sudan (including Darfur)
•	•	Continue to demand that China bring pressure to bear on Khartoum to stop the genocide in Darfur.
•	•	Opposed to the Bush Administration negotiating a normalization of relations with the Government of Sudan that would include removing it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This would reportedly be in exchange for Khartoum's agreement to allow Thai and Nepalese troops to participate in the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur.
•	o	No country should be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism for any reason other than the existence of verifiable proof that the government in question does not support terrorist organizations.
•	o	Bush Administration should be holding the Government of Sudan accountable for its past promises to let UN peacekeepers operate within its borders – Khartoum's record of inaction and obstruction when it comes to the deployment of the AU-UN force must not be rewarded.
•	o	Bush Administration should be holding Sudan accountable for failing to implement significant aspects of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), imperiling the prospects for scheduled multiparty elections in 2009.
•	o	Push Khartoum to fully account for the murder of John Granville, the American citizen and USAID official gunned down on New Year's Eve.

B.  Zimbabwe
•	•	The Government of Zimbabwe is illegitimate and lacks any credibility.
•	•	Support the United Nations Security Council statement condemning the violence sweeping Zimbabwe, and underscoring that the Zimbabwean government's campaign of repression and brutality has made it impossible for the June 27 elections to be free and fair.
•	•	The result of the abrogated March 2008 elections that represents the genuine will of the Zimbabwean people.
•	•	The South African government and the ANC must recognize the need – and must call for – the kind of diplomatic action that is necessary to pressure the Zimbabwean government to stop its repressive behavior.
•	•	Work with regional leaders and others to press for postponed elections conducted under a strong international monitoring presence and, to the extent possible, meaningful civil protection measures. If fresh elections prove impossible, regional leaders backed by the international community should pursue an enforceable, negotiated political transition in Zimbabwe that would end repressive rule and enable genuine democracy to take root.
•	•	U.S. should tighten our existing sanctions, just as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the UN should implement a carefully crafted regime of targeted sanctions against Zimbabwean officials who continue to thwart democracy and undermine the rule of law.
•	•	There should be an international arms embargo on Zimbabwe to deny the government tools that it could use to target its own people. China appropriately called back a shipment of arms to Zimbabwe, and the U.S. and others should continue to press the Chinese government to play a constructive role.
•	•	Support efforts to hold the perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable for their actions.
•	•	Work with the SADC, international donors, and Zimbabweans to marshal the resources necessary to help Zimbabwe recover from years of disastrous and repressive governance once it has a government that is prepared to undertake critical reforms. It is time for the democratic aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe to be realized, and for the world to help a long-suffering country get back on its feet and become part of a more democratic and prosperous Southern Africa.

C. Kenya
•	•	Welcome the February power-sharing agreement between President Kibaki and Raila Odinga.
•	•	All members of the new coalition must make an enduring commitment to democracy, cooperation and national unity.
•	•	Reforms must be implemented with a sense of urgency in order to restore peace and the confidence of the Kenyan people in their government and hard-won democracy.
•	•	The United States, and the international community, must remain fully engaged and provide generous support to ensure swift and full implementation of this agreement.

12.  Europe & Central Asia

Overall
•	•	Every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday.
•	•	Support a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad.
•	•	America and Europe should renew our common commitment to face down the threats of the 21st century just as we did the challenges of the 20th.

A.  Serbia
•	•	Support a Serbian government that devotes its energies to the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union.
•	•	Work with European partners to ensure that all actors in the region relegate inflammatory rhetoric and provocative actions to the past.
•	•	Work with all international and local actors in Kosovo to realize the full array of protections for Serbs there, including enhanced competencies for Serb municipalities, unfettered and undisturbed access and operation of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the right of return and restoration of property for all refugees and displaced persons.
•	•	Look for a vibrant partner in Belgrade with which we can together cultivate our relationship.
•	•	Serbia ultimately belongs in the European Union. The EU and Serbia should rapidly deepen their ties, a move that would help demonstrate to the Serb people that they are indeed genuinely part of the West.

B.  Kosovo
•	•	Kosovo's independence is a unique situation resulting from the irreparable rupture Slobodan Milosevic's actions caused; it is in no way a precedent for anyone else in the region or around the world.
•	•	Kosovo’s independence comes with responsibilities — Barack Obama hopes that Kosovo's government and people act with urgency to ensure that Kosovo becomes a positive example of democratic governance and the rule of law.
•	•	All the people of Kosovo, be they of Albanian, Serb or other origin, must be able to live in a free, tolerant and prosperous society where minority rights and religious sites are fully protected, and the people of Kosovo have a stake in one another's success.

C.  Ukraine
•	•	Welcome the desire by Ukraine to seek closer ties with NATO.

D.  Armenia
•	•	Strongly support a U.S.-Armenian relationship that advances our common security and strengthens Armenian democracy.
•	o	Maintain assistance to Armenia.
•	o	Promote Armenian security by seeking an end to the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades, and by working for a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America's founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination.
•	o	Foster Armenia's growth and development through expanded trade and targeted aid, and by strengthening the commercial, political, military, developmental, and cultural relationships between the U.S. and Armenian governments.
•	•	Share a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide.  Barack Obama has stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey's acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide.  The Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence. The facts are undeniable.
•	•	Support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.

D.  Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland
•	•	Devolution of justice should occur very soon.
•	•	The essential work of reconciliation must continue so that Northern Ireland's people can live together as neighbors instead of being segregated by 'peace walls'.

Sources Reviewed

Fact Sheets & Questionnaire Responses

OFA, Fact Sheet: 21st Century Threats (July 16, 2008).
OFA, Fact Sheet: Anniversary (Oct. 2, 2007); 
OFA, Fact Sheet: Counterterrorism.
OFA, Fact Sheet: Defense (May 23, 2008).
OFA, Fact Sheet: Homeland Security (downloaded Aug. 26, 2008).
OFA, Fact Sheet: Israel (Apr. 21, 2008).
OFA, Fact Sheet: Latin America and the Caribbean (June 6, 2008).
OFA, Fact Sheet: Non-proliferation (Oct. 16, 2007).
OFA, Fact Sheet: Strengthening Our Common Security by Investing in Our Common Humanity.
OFA, Fact Sheet: The American Moment (Apr. 23, 2007).
OFA, Fact Sheet: The World Beyond Iraq (Mar. 19, 2008).
OFA, Fact Sheet: Turning the Page in Iraq (Sept. 12, 2007).
OFA, Response to Council for a Livable World Questionnaire (July 7, 2007).

Speeches

Barack Obama, “My Plan for Iraq,” NY Times (July 14, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: VFW National Convention (Aug. 19, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: The American Promise (Democratic Convention Acceptance Speech) (Aug. 28, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: A World that Stands as One (July 24, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: A New Strategy for a New World (July 15, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: AIPAC Policy Conference (June 4, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Renewing U.S. Leadership in the Americas (May 23, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Summit on Confronting New Threats (July 16, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: The Past Versus the Future (Jan. 30, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: The World Beyond Iraq (Mar. 19, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Town Hall Meeting with Veterans and Families (Apr. 15, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Take Back America Conference (June 14, 2006).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Forging a New Future for America (May 20, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: The Cost of War (Mar. 20, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: March 4th Primary Night (Mar. 4, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Keeping America’s Promise (Feb. 13, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Potomac Primary Night (Feb. 12, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Super Tuesday (Mar. 5, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Response to the State of the Union (Jan. 28, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: South Carolina Victory Speech (Jan. 26, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: The Great Need of the Hour (Jan. 20, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: New Hampshire Primary (Jan. 8,. 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Iowa Caucus Night (Jan. 3, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Our Moment Is Now (Dec. 27, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: A Challenge for Our Times (Nov. 2, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: National Council of La Raza (July 22, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: League of United Latin Citizens (July 8, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Take Back America 2007 (June 19, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Endorsement by US Admirals and Generals (Mar. 12, 2008).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Foreign Policy Forum (Dec. 18, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner (Nov. 10, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Lessons from Iraq (Oct. 12, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: A New Beginning (Oct. 2, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Turning the Page in Iraq (Sep. 12, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: The War We Need to Win (Aug. 1, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Chicago Council on Global Affairs (Apr. 23, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: AIPAC Policy Forum (Mar. 2, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Announcement for President (Feb. 10, 2007).
Barack Obama, Remarks: World AIDS Day (Dec. 1, 2006).
Barack Obama, Remarks: A Way Forward in Iraq (Nov. 20, 2006).
Barack Obama, Remarks: An Honest Government, A Hopeful Future (Aug. 28, 2006).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Moving Forward in Iraq (Nov. 22, 2005)
Barack Obama, Remarks: Nonproliferation and Russia: The Challenges Ahead (Nov. 1, 2005)
Barack Obama, Remarks: Avian Flue (Oct. 18, 2005).
Barack Obama, Remarks: Foreign Appropriations Bill and the Avian Flu (July 19, 2005).
Barack Obama, Remarks: American Legion Conference (July 15, 2005).
Barack Obama, Remarks: America’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy (May 26, 2005).
Barack Obama, Remarks: American Legion Legislative Rally (Mar. 1, 2005).
Barack Obama, Remarks: A Sacred Trust (Aug. 21, 2007).

Statements
Barack Obama, Statement Welcoming Support for His Call for $1 billion in Assistance to Georgia (Sept. 3, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on EU Emergency Summit Meeting (Sept. 1, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Resignation of Prime Minister Fukuda (Sept. 1, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Russia's Decision to Recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Independent States (Aug. 26, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Russian Failure to Implement Ceasefire Agreement Terms (Aug. 23, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Reports that the U.S. and Iraq Have Reached a Tentative Agreement on Troop Withdrawal from Iraq (Aug. 22, 2008). 
Barack Obama, Statement on President Musharraf's announcement that he will resign from office immediately (Aug. 18, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement in response to President Bush's announcement (Aug 13, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Crisis in Georgia (Aug. 12, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Conflict in Georgia (Aug 11, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Russia's escalation of violence against Georgia (Aug. 9, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Joey Cheek and the Genocide in Darfur (Aug. 8, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Grave Situation in Georgia (Aug. 8, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Today's Hamdan Verdict (Aug. 6, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Tensions in the Caucasus Region Between Georgia and Russia (July 23, 2008).
OFA, Statement from Obama Campaign's Dr. Susan Rice in Response to PM Maliki's Support for Senator Obama's Iraq Plan (July 19, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Prisoner Exchange today between Israel and Hezbollah (July 16, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Death of Bronislaw Geremek (July 14, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Formation of Serbian Government (July 8, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw (June 30, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the North Korean Declaration (June 26, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the crisis in Zimbabwe (June 25, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Reports that US Soldiers are Being Recruited for Dangerous Drug Tests (June 17, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Today's Supreme Court Decision (June 12, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Army Suicide Report (May 29, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the rocket attacks on Ashkelon (May 14, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Israel's 60th Independence Day (May 7, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Tragedy in Burma (May 6, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement: Five Years After 'Mission Accomplished' (May 1, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the crisis in Zimbabwe (Apr. 26, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on North Korea's proliferation of nuclear technology to Syria (Apr. 25, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty (Apr. 21, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on negotiations with the Government of Sudan (Apr. 18, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on President Bush's Stay the Course Iraq Strategy (Apr. 10, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on 10-year Anniversary of the Belfast Agreement (Apr. 9, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on 4,000 American Deaths in Iraq (Mar. 24, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement Congratulating Taiwanese President-Elect Ma Ying-Jeou (Mar. 22, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement Commemorating the Persian New Year (XXX, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement Commemorating Purim (Mar. 20, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the situation in Tibet (Marc. 14, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Additional Sanctions on Iran (Mar. 4, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Recent Events near Colombia's Borders (Mar 3., 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Obama Statement on Russian Presidential Election (Mar. 3, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on agreement in Kenya (Feb. 29, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on the Importance of US-Armenia Relations (Jan. 19, 2008).
Barack Obama, Statement on Independence of Kosovo (Feb. 17, 2008).

Other
OFA, http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/ (visited Sep. 1, 2008).