Page 190 - Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton

LEADERSHIP SECRETS IN ACTION

resources to the State Department and elevating the role of
the diplomatic corps. Thankfully, Secretary Gates is more
concerned about having a unified, agile, and effective U.S.
strategy than in spending our precious time and energy on
petty turf wars. As he has stated, “our civilian institutions of
diplomacy and development have been chronically under-
manned and underfunded for far too long,” both relative to
military spending and to “the responsibilities and challenges
our nation has around the world.” And to that, I say, “Amen!”
President-elect Obama has emphasized that the State
Department must be fully empowered and funded to con-
front multidimensional challenges—from working with
allies to thwart terrorism, to spreading health and prosper-
ity in places of human suffering. I will speak in greater
detail about that in a moment.
We should also use the United Nations and other inter-
national institutions whenever appropriate and possible.
Both Democratic and Republican presidents have under-
stood for decades that these institutions, when they work
well, enhance our influence. And when they don’t work
well—as in the cases of Darfur and the farce of Sudan’s
election to the former UN Commission on Human Rights,
for example—we should work with like-minded friends to
make sure that these institutions reflect the values that
motivated their creation in the first place.
We will lead with diplomacy because it’s the smart
approach. But we also know that military force will some-

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