The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014 13 Missouri, tweeted by a popular blogger in Cairo, who writes under the pseudonym “The Big Pharaoh. ” The St. Louis suburb in the heart of the United States, where the Aug. 9 police killing of an unarmed black teenager ignited long-simmering racial and eco- nomic tensions, has drawn critical media attention from around the world. “I have been to many warzones,” wrote Ansgar Graw in Die Welt . “But to get handcuffed, yelled at by police, and to see a prison from the inside, I had to come to Ferguson, Missouri, in the U.S.” The German daily’s U.S. correspondent filed the story following his arrest and three-hour detention on Aug. 18. The German press was not alone among European newspapers in spot- lighting the problems of press freedom and police tactics in Ferguson. The French Le Figaro and others also raised questions. In Britain, the Metro drew parallels to the London riots of 2011, stressing that “Ferguson is a living example of why we should be immensely grateful that those tactics (teargas and rubber bullets) were never used during the U.K. riots.” The Russian and Chinese media joined in. On Aug. 18, Chen Weihua reminded China Daily readers of Chair- man Mao’s support for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s: “It seems that even today, Mao’s words half a century ago are not totally irrelevant. The U.S. also needs to clean its own hands before pointing accusing fingers at others.” Russia Today raised the question of the treatment of journalists in Ferguson on Aug. 14: “Press Freedom? Police Tar- get Media, Arrest and Teargas Reporters at Ferguson Protests.” Even little Sri Lanka, as the LA Times noted in a survey of foreign press cover- age, couldn’t resist. Referring to an Aug. 8 U.S. security warning to Americans in connection with an increase in protests and anti-Amer- ican sentiment in Sri Lanka, the island nation’s Daily News opined: “For the U.S. to issue a travel warning for Sri Lanka does seem odd at a time when there are race riots in Missouri.” — Julian Steiner, AFSA Staff QDDR Exercise Is Underway O n June 24, the American Security Project hosted a discussion billed as “an opportunity for congressional engagement” on the 2014 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. Meant to serve as a blueprint for the State Department’s diplomatic and develop- ment efforts abroad, the first QDDR was issued in 2010 by Secretary of State Hill- ary Rodham Clinton. The second QDDR was officially launched by Secretary of State John F. Kerry on April 22. The ASP event was part of the outreach effort being made during the “discovery” phase of the exercise, expected to last through the summer. Panelists were Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom, Assistant to the Administrator of USAID Alex Thier and Special Representative for the QDDR Tom Perriello, a former Virginia con- gressman appointed to spearhead the effort by Sec. Kerry in February. Deputy Secretary Higginbottom underscored the team’s sincere desire to engage with Congress, nongovernmental organizations and thought-leaders on what she described as the key questions of the review: (1) How can State and USAID modernize to be more efficient? (2) What diplomatic and developmental successes can be built on? and (3) What are the global trends, and how can State and USAID best address them over the next two decades? Thier, of USAID’s Policy, Planning and Learning Bureau, explained that the QDDR analyzes diplomacy and development together, as mandated in the presidential decision directive on development. He also argued that State and USAID need to forge stronger rela- tionships with the private sector to carry out the main objectives of international development. Perriello, who has met with more than 25 embassies and more than 100 stake- holder groups seeking input on the review, reiterated the deputy secretary’s emphasis on partnership between USAID and State. He added that the decision to proceed with a second QDDR despite a change in State leadership was important, signifying a longer-term commitment. Perriello wants to ensure, he said, that the QDDR’s overall strategy does not simply reflect “the fact that we did things that way last year.” He looks forward to receiving recommendations at perriellot@ state.gov or QDDRideas@state.gov . Arguably, one of the central challenges for the QDDR is focus. “The QDDR cannot be everything to everyone, and it is not going to try to be,” Higginbottom told the gathering. It is largely about prioritizing “a few big issues and a few big challenges,” she added. In a recent foreignpolicy.com post, Gordon Adams makes a compelling case for zeroing in on just three: governance, security assistance, and the integration of The QDDR is an opportunity to replace the current crisis- response approach with an actual strategy.