The Time has Come: A Prescription for the Renaissance of American Diplomacy (Report‪)‬

Editor's Note: The advent of the Obama administration, plus widespread recognition, even by military leaders, of the need to shift resources from military defense to diplomacy, offers the opportunity for much-needed strengthening and reorganization of the State Department and Foreign Service, this essay argues. The author outlines specific changes that should be made.--Ed. It is now fairly well accepted that the challenges facing the United States in this century cannot be well met and resolved through the use of military force. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, as long ago as November 26, 2007, in his Landon lecture at Kansas State University said, "But these new threats require our government to operate as a whole differently--to act with unity, agility, and creativity. And they will require considerably more resources devoted to America's non-military instruments of power." He further said, "The Department of Defense has taken on many of these burdens that might have been assumed by civilian agencies in the past ... But it is no replacement for the real thing--civilian involvement and expertise." And in the January/February 2009 issue of Foreign Affairs hehas written," ... not every outrage, not every aggression, nor every crisis can or should elicit a U.S. military response ... We should be modest about what military force and what technology can accomplish."