Albright, Madeleine K.

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Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America\u27s Reputation and Leadership

University of Florida Levin College of Law

Florida Journal of International Law Volume 20 Issue 1 Article 1 April 2008 Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership Madeleine K. Albright Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/fjil Recommended Citation Albright, Madeleine K. (2008) "Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership," Florida Journal of International Law: Vol. 20: Iss. 1, Article 1. Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/fjil/vol20/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UF Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Florida Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of UF Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact kaleita@law.ufl.edu. SPEECHESREMARKS BASED ON NEW BOOK MEMO TO THEPRESIDENT ELECT: HOW WE CAN RESTORE AMERICA'SREPUTATION AND LEADERSHIPMadeleine K Albright*DEAN ROBERT JERRY:My name is Bob Jerry and I am the Dean of the Levin College of Law. Iwant to thank Dean Emeritus Jon Mills at the Center for GovernmentalResponsibility and our friends at the Graham Center for Public Service formaking possible the visit of our distinguished guest.You have all had a chance to see an electronic copy of the resume of ourguest. Suffice it to say that we are in the presence of one of the greatestpublic servants of any generation of Americans, a truly great American,and the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. Please welcome to theCollege the Honorable Madeleine Albright. (Applause).'* The following is a transcript of a speech delivered by Former Sec. of State Albright atthe University of Florida Levin College of Law on March 26, 2008. In 1997, Dr. Albright wasappointed the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright servedas the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of the President'sCabinet. She is the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in thePractice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs boththe National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Pew Global Attitudes Projectand serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Dr. Albright co-chairs the UNDP'sCommission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, serves on the Board of Directors of the Councilon Foreign Relations, the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute and the Board of Directors ofthe Center for a New American Security. Dr. Albright earned a B.A. with Honors from WellesleyCollege, and Master's and Doctorate degrees from Columbia University's Department of PublicLaw and Government, as well as a Certificate from its Russian Institute.I. Italicized words in parentheses indicate the live audience's response to Sec. Albright'sspeech.1Albright: Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We CanPublished by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 2008FLORIDA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAWSEC. ALBRIGHT'S REMARKS:I. INTRODUCTIONI am very happy to be here at this law school, on this glorious morning. Iam known in my household as the mother of all lawyers. (Light Laughter).I have two daughters who are lawyers, and they are married to two otherlawyers. (Light Laughter). So, we do not have a lot of agreement in ourhousehold. (Laughter).What I thought I would do this morning is talk toyou about how I see what is going on in the world and then take yourquestions.I just wrote a book titled Memo to the President Elect. The book is a littlebit of a contrivance because it is written for the president elect to read onelection night, but it is out now. It is written for the American people, andinterested foreigners, to outline what I think are the major national securityissues that the next president will have to confront. It is written for thecandidates of either party or either gender.I thought the book up while attending President Gerald Ford's funeral atthe Washington National Cathedral. All of the former presidents werethere, and President Bush was there too. The occasion made me thinkabout the power of the American Presidency-its opportunities, itschallenges, and the consequences of a president exceeding his powers.There are real questions about how the U.S. Constitutional Systemworks-its checks and balances-so I went back and did research on howvarious presidents had approached the job. I get a big kick out of one thingI found: President Harding, not one of our best, (Laughter) said: "I wishthere were a book that would tell me what to do." It is a little late for him(Laughter), but here it is.II. THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL & FOIBLES OFWASHINGTON LIFEIn the first part of the book, I explain the National Security CouncilSystem and why it is that the Secretaries of State and Defenseautomatically dislike each other (Laughter) until they unite in their dislikeof the National Security Advisor. (Laughter). In the first part of the book,I also talk a little about the foibles of Washington life. I write that it is[Vol. 202Florida Journal of International Law, Vol. 20, Iss. 1 [2008], Art. 1https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/fjil/vol20/iss1/1REMARKS BASED ON NE W" BOOK MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT ELECTimportant for a president o get exercise-not all the time but sometimes.I learned, for instance, that John Quincy Adams exercised by swimmingnude in the Potomac. There was once a journalist who wanted to interviewPresident Adams, so she went down and sat down on his clothes until shefinally succeeded in interviewing him neck deep in water. (Laughter).III. THE "HoRRoRs OF THE WORLD"The second part of the book is about what I call the "horrors of the world."I think this is going to be one of the hardest presidencies we have seen ina very long time. There are big umbrella issues that the next president mustaddress.A. Fighting Terrorism Without Creating More TerroristsThe first issue is how to fight terrorism without creating more terrorists.The current administration talks about the "War on Terrorism." I think itis a mistake to call the fight against terrorism a war. It is not a warbecause, unlike a war, this fight has no beginning or end. And, calling ita war glorifies murderers by labeling them as warriors. The people whoattacked us on 9/11 were murderers; to give them mythical status aswarriors enlarges their importance. Also, it is a mistake to link all thevarious terrorist groups together and make it appear as though al-Qaedaand Osama Bin Laden control everything.B. Need to Reform the Current Nuclear Nonproliferation SystemThe second issue has to do with the fact that the nuclear nonproliferationsystem is broken. I do not know whether physicists knew how easy it wasto move from peaceful to weaponized uses of nuclear power whenPresident Eisenhower made his "Atoms for Peace" speech in 1953. But,there clearly is a loophole in the current system and the Iranians seem tobe taking advantage of it.Moreover, the current system was the product of a bargain among theoriginal five nuclear powers. Its goal was for the five nuclear powers tosystematically disarm and prevent non-nuclear powers from joining theclub. Those five nuclear powers have not disarmed; in fact, the UnitedStates has gone about testing a new generation of nuclear weapons-thebunker busters. And clearly, there are new nuclear powers in the form ofIndia, Pakistan, North Korea, and perhaps soon, Iran.3Albright: Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We CanPublished by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 2008FLORIDA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAWC. Restoring Democracy's Good NameThe third issue is about how to restore the good name of democracy. Ibelieve in democracy. It's very important for people to be able to makedecisions about their own lives. I believe people are better off if they areliving under governments of their own choosing-even in Florida whereyou are able to participate occasionally. (Laughter).However, what has happened is that democracy has gotten a bad name.President Bush said that it would be important to have democracy in theMiddle East. I fully agree with President Bush's statement, but you cannotimpose democracy. Imposing democracy is an oxymoron. Iraq wassupposed to be the example for democracy in the Middle East, but thebottom line is that there are not many leaders out there who look at Iraqand say, "I want my country to look like that."D. Dealing with Global Warming, Globalization, & the Rich-Poor DivideThe next president will need to deal with the whole set of issues related toglobal warming and climate change and energy security. We also have todeal with the negative aspects of globalization. I have a consulting firmwith my business partner, Carol Browner, who is actually an alumna ofyour school. People come to our office and ask us how to stopglobalization. Well, you cannot stop globalization, but there has to be away to mitigate the negative aspects of globalization.There is a growing gap between the rich and the poor that must beaddressed. I have been involved in a new project that has an interestinglegal component. Some of you may have heard of a Peruvian economistnamed Hernando de Soto. Dr. de Soto has a theory that if the poor havetitle to their land, they will become active members of their countries'economies. The poor are not stupid; in fact, the poor are quiteentrepreneurial. They should be part of the economic system.Dr. de Soto asked me to co-chair a commission on the legal empowermentof the poor.' I accepted. The commission will be releasing a report in aboutthree months. In the report, we will say that there are about four billion2. Specifically, Sec. Albright co-chairs, with Dr. de Soto, the U.N. DevelopmentProgramme's Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor.[Vol. 204Florida Journal of International Law, Vol. 20, Iss. 1 [2008], Art. 1https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/fjil/vol20/iss1/1REMARKS BASED ONNEWBOOK MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT ELECTpeople outside the legal framework of any country, and by legallyempowering these people by making it possible for them to have title totheir land and thus inherit land and be part of the legal system - the gapbetween the rich and the poor will narrow. I hope that when this reportcomes out there will be a blend between law school curricula anddevelopmental policies.E. The Unintended Consequences of Afghanistan & IraqThe next president will also need to deal with two hot wars and theirunintended consequences. Afghanistan, that is where the 9/11 murderersactually trained, is a place where things are not going well. We took oureye off the ball when the Bush administration made an unnecessary linkbetween al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. The Talibanare resurging. They are financing themselves with profits from their poppycrop, which they turn into opium. NATO is having problems operating asa strong alliance with a mandate to make things better in Afghanistan.The unintended consequence of Afghanistan is Pakistan. Pakistan is acountry that has every element of what gives you an internationalmigraine. (Light Laughter). Pakistan has nuclear weapons, terrorism,extremism, poverty, and corruption. Pakistan just elected a newgovernment; we will see how the new parliament and the new primeminister work with President Musharraf. The real question is how we, theUnited States, will behave toward Pakistan. I was just listening to the radiodriving in, and the new parliament and the new prime minister do not wantus to interfere. So two U.S. diplomats showed up there today. (LightLaughter). The new government is already saying that they do not need us.But the truth is that the United States needs Pakistan because it is the onlyaccess we have to Afghanistan and to dealing with these issues.Then there is the other hot war: Iraq. I have said that I am afraid that Iraqis going to go down in history as the greatest disaster in U.S. foreignpolicy. Now, that's quite a statement because it means that I think Iraq isworse than Vietnam, not in the number of Americans killed or the numberof Vietnamese or Iraqis killed, but in terms of the unintendedconsequences. The biggest unintended consequence of Iraq is Iran. I thinkthat one might say that Iran has won the war in Iraq.A lot of people talk about diplomacy and international relations as if theyare a game of chess. They are not a game of chess. Chess is a game wheretwo people sit across from each other; it is a game where opponents map5Albright: Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We CanPublished by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 2008FLORIDA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW[2out their strategy; it's a game where opponents can take time between theirmoves; it's a game where there is some sense of predictability. Instead, Ithink diplomacy and international relations are like a game of pool orbilliards where there are a bunch of balls in the middle of a table thatsomebody hits in the hope of putting a particular ball in a particularpocket. But, along the way, balls may hit other balls because of thedynamic nature of the game. I teach at Georgetown University and I havea student who claims that billiards is predictable-it is not predictable inanyway that I have seen, which may be because of the people I know whoplay the game. (Laughter).F. Unfinished Business & the Need for Greater EngagementThe need for a Middle East peace process must be addressed. PresidentBush talked about a roadmap. Unfortunately, it took him seven years totake the roadmap out of the glove compartment. (Laughter). However, thecurrent administration is working on something, and I hope the nextpresident will have the opportunity to implement a plan for peace thatcomes out of the current process.We have unfinished talks with North Korea and questions about how tohandle Iran. We have not dealt with issues in Africa. There is a lot ofdiscussion about what is going on in Darfur, but not much progress hasbeen made. People are still dying and refugees are still being displaced.Kenya, a country that people thought was relatively stable, justexperienced a massive ethnic killing. There are places in Africa wherehorrible things are happening-like Congo, which people are notparticularly focused on because they do not make headlines on CNN.We must also deal with Latin America. I know there is a lot of interesthere, in Latin America and appropriately so. We, however, have not spentmuch time on Latin America, even though it is linked with issues ofimmigration and trade. Dealing with Latin America is a bit complicatedbecause we are almost of damned if we do and damned if we don't. If wedo not pay attention to Latin America, they feel ignored. If we pay toomuch attention, then we are accused of interfering in their domestic affairs.The bottom line is that democracy in Latin America is not on the rise.When I was Secretary of State, I used to travel around with a map that was[V€ol. 206Florida Journal of International Law, Vol. 20, Iss. 1 [2008], Art. 1https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/fjil/vol20/iss1/1REMARKS BASED ON NEW BOOK MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT ELECTgiven to me by SOUTHCOM3 commanders. It showed the progression ofdemocracy in Latin America from authoritarian states to democratic states.The authoritarian states were in red and the democratic states were ingreen. Over the years, as I carried around those maps, ultimately there wasonly one small little red island.While there have been many elections in Latin America, there has alsobeen a trend back to authoritarianism, in Venezuela specifically. When Iwent to Venezuela as Secretary of State, it was run by a bunch of tired oldmen. There is no question that these men had no connection with thepeople of Venezuela, and I can understand how Hugo Chavez was elected.It may sound Marxist, but people want to vote and eat. (Light Laughter).To the extent that democracy does not deliver, a kind of populism takesroot, if that is what one calls "Chavezism," and attracts people to it.The United States needs to help make sure that reforms take place in LatinAmerica. The United States must ensure that Latin American economiesfunction. The United States must help ensure that democracy delivers.IV. CONCLUSION & PARTING WORDS ON EUROPE, RUSSIA,CHINA & INDIANeedless to say, the next president has a huge agenda. The next presidentwill have to operate in a different manner than the current president. Thenext president must realize that we have to work with other countries.The Europeans, I hope, will be more useful by not examining themselvesall the time. (Laughter). I think we need to have a different relationshipwith the Russians that is not loaded down with issues that are not essentialto us, like putting missile interceptor bases and radars in Poland and theCzech Republic before they are really operational. We need to figure outhow to deal with China and India. Every time we talk about China andIndia, we attach the adjective "rising." Clearly, China and India will play3. The U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Miami, Florida, is one ofnine unified Combatant Commands (COCOMs) in the Department of Defense. It is responsible forproviding contingency planning, operations, and security cooperation for Central and SouthAmerica, the Caribbean (except U.S. commonwealths, territories, and possessions), Cuba and theBahamas, and their territorial waters, as well as for the force protection of U.S. military resourcesat these locations. USSOUTHCOM is also responsible for ensuring the defense of the PanamaCanal and canal area.7Albright: Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We CanPublished by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 20088 FLORIDA JOURNAL OFINTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 20a bigger role on the international stage. So again, it is a huge agenda andthe next presidency will be a very difficult one.Now that I've dealt with just about everything (Laughter), I am happy totake your questions.The question and answer portion of the event has been omitted.8Florida Journal of International Law, Vol. 20, Iss. 1 [2008], Art. 1https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/fjil/vol20/iss1/1

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Remarks Based on New Book Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America\u27s Reputation and Leadership

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