Nominee's Background:
Admittedly a long-shot candidate, Sarah Sewall should be the next defense secretary.
During the Clinton administration, Sewall served as the first deputy assistant secretary of defense for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance.
Currently the executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University and a lecturer in public policy, Sewall also directs the Centers program on national security and human rights.
Sewall has worked at a variety of defense research organizations. In addition to writing the introduction to the University of Chicago edition of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual (2007), she has written widely on U.S. foreign policy, multilateralism, peace operations and military intervention. She currently focuses on civilians in war, facilitating dialogue between the military and human rights communities on the use of force.
One of the biggest challenges facing our country today is recognizing and adequately responding to the broad spectrum of threats we face in our globalized world. That includes environmental changes and disease pandemics that are contributing to global conflicts. It also includes the weaponization of space; the proliferation of nuclear weapons; and the extravagance of bloated military budgets while our schools crumble and nearly 46 million Americans go uninsured.
The mindless use of military might at the expense of meaningful diplomacy has left the United States much disliked today. America seems to have lost its moral compass and with it, the ability to lead by example once a hallmark of our nation.
With Sewalls extensive background in policy, defense and national security, she understands these challenges and would work to restore American leadership.
Nominating Speech:
Nominated by: Jody Williams via In These Times
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Progressive Criteria:
The Defense Department will:
Recognize that as the most powerful country, the US must lead in international cooperation;
Instill and preserve a high level of compliance with all treaties such as the Geneva conventions;
Remember that the USA is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Will not manage Defense as either a jobs or a corporate welfare program;
Work to restrain the international arms trade and reduce arms and nuclear proliferation;
In keeping with our desire for a world of law, will work to make sure that our armed forces get no preferential treatment such as immunity from the International Criminal Court or the land mines ban;
Strictly limit privatization and outsourcing of military duties.
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