Neil  Levesque:   Good  morning  everyone.  Good  afternoon  everyone.  Did  someone  drop  the  winning  Powerball  ticket?  Good  afternoon  everyone.  My  name  is  Neil  Levesque  and  I'm  the  executive  director  here  at  the  New  Hampshire  Institute  Politics  and  I  wanted  to  welcome  you  here  to  Saint  Anselm  College.  As  we  get  started  with  the  introductions,  I  would  like  to  call  up  Dr.  Steven  DiSalvo,  the  new  president  of  Saint  Anselm  College.

Dr.  Steven  DiSalvo:   Thank  you  and  welcome.  Welcome  to  the  New  Hampshire  Institute  of  Politics  or  as  I  like  to  call  it,  Senator  Ayotte’s  home  away  from  home.  I  want  to  thank  you  for  joining  us.  This  afternoon,  we  look  forward  to  a  discussion  on  America's  role  in  the  world.  It  only  takes  a  simple  look  at  the  headlines,  whether  it  is  the  growing  threat  of  ISIS  in  Iraq  and  Syria,  the  outbreak  of  Ebola  in  west  Africa,  or  the  continued  unrest  in  the  Ukraine  to  understand  the  need  for  America  to  maintain  a  strong  role  in  the  world.  

  In  New  Hampshire,  the  USGLC  has  assembled  a  distinguished  group  of  bipartisan  leaders,  both  Democrat  and  Republican  who  believe  that  America  must  be  a  global  leader.  Not  only  because  it's  the  right  thing  to  do,  but  also  because  it  is  the  smart  thing  to  do.  

  I  am  proud  to  stand  with  the  GLC  and  its  effort  to  advance  strong  and  effective  international  programs.  I  know  that  our  special  guest  today,  senator  Kelly  Ayotte  and  Governor  Tom  Ridge  join  us  in  this  pursuit.  Senator  Ayotte,  the  bipartisan  New  Hampshire  leaders  gathered  here  today  and  thank  you  for  your  dedication  to  these  issues  and  we  look  forward  to  this  conversation.  

  This  afternoon,  we  have  the  unique  opportunity  to  hear  from  two  experts  on  how  America's  small  investment  in  our  development  and  diplomatic  programs  help  to  build  a  strong  economy,  fight  terrorism,  support  allies,  and  create  stability  around  the  world.  Now  to  introduce  you  a  little  more  to  the  USGLC  and  its  work  around  the  country,  please  help  me  welcome  the  USGLC  president  and  CEO,  Liz  Schrayer.  

Liz  Schrayer:   Thank  you  and  it  is  an  honor  to  be  back  here  to  partner  with  you  Steve  and  Neil  and  the  Institute  of  Politics.  I  think  we've  been  here  about  a  half  a  dozen  times  over  the  year  and  I  am  thrilled.  There  were  a  lot  of  reasons  why  I  want  to  come  to  thank  you,  but  particularly  to  thank  you  for  a  recent  friend  of  mine.  The  friend  that  I  wanted  to  thank  you  for  is  a  woman  on  the  screen  named  Veronica.  

  Veronica  is  a  woman  that  I  met  from  a  very  rural  part  of  Tanzania.  Have  any  of  you  been  to  Tanzania?  A  few  of  you  in  the  audience.  I  got  there  flying  a  very  small  plane  which  I  don't  like  to  do  and  I  got  there  for  [men  03:31]  in  a  little  bitty  car  up  a  bumpy  road  and  then  walking  to  this  very  rural  farm.  As  I  got  there,  there  was  a  group  of  women  that  greeted  me  in  this  song  that  I  didn't  

understand  and  one  woman,  Veronica  jumped  out  in  front  of  me  and  said,  "I  want  to  be  on  the  internet."  

  I  did  what  all  great  westerners  do,  I  grabbed  my  iPhone  and  I  hit  play  and  she  wanted  to  tell  me  her  tale.  She  told  me  the  reason  she  wanted  to  be  on  the  internet  is  because  she  wanted  me  to  thank  America.  She  told  me  the  tale  of  how  she  had  been  part  of  the  USAID  (the  Agency  for  International  Development)  program  called  Feed  the  Future,  that  she  had  been  given  what  her  husband  called  these  magic  beans.  They  were  seeds  to  try  to  fight  against  some  drought  to  be  able  to  bring  greater  crop.  

  Her  husband  didn't  believe  the  magic  beans  would  do  anything  so  she  said,  "Okay.  We  will  divide  our  little  plot  of  land."  They  divided  it  down  the  middle,  she  tells  me  and  his  side  of  the  small  plot  of  land  floundered  and  her  side  flourished.  She  told  me  how  she  learned  how  to  grow  her  plat  of  land  and  then  how  to  bring  her  crops  to  market.  

  I  asked  her  what  she  did  with  her  crops  and  she  told  me  she  now  has  a  used  truck.  She  told  me  how  she  now  is  able  to  educate  all  11  of  her  grandchildren  and  she  told  me  how  she  is  now  training  15  other  women  in  her  village  about  the  same  tools  that  she  learned  from  America.  She  wanted  to  be  on  the  internet  so  she  could  ask  me  to  thank  America,  not  for  giving  her  a  handout  but  for  giving  her  a  hand-­‐up.  

  I  brought  that  back  with  me  and  as  I  was  coming  here  for  my  many  visits  to  this  fabulous  state,  I  thought  what  I  want  to  share  with  you  just  in  this  brief  opening  comments  is  how  lucky  we  are  to  not  just  be  able  to  thank  the  story  of  Veronica,  but  to  invest  in  a  program  like  Feed  the  Future  that  is  leveraging  seven  billion  dollars  of  private  funds  from  this  small  little  investment  in  USAID,that  is  helping  having  raised  seven  million  farmers  out  of  extreme  poverty.  

  I  got  lucky  enough  to  come  to  a  state  that  totally  gets  it  because  you  in  New  Hampshire  understand  when  you  have  ...  just  with  Steve,  you  are  saying  and  Neil  is  saying  earlier  tonight,  Dick,  you  are  saying  it  in  just  this  afternoon  is  that  95%  of  the  world's  consumers  live  outside  of  this  country.  You  in  New  Hampshire  are  exporting  25%  of  your  jobs  come  from  exports  and  as  country,  a  continent  like  Africa,  seven  of  the  ten  fastest  growing  economies  are  in  that  continent  or  on  that  continent.  

  I  certainly  know  that  our  two  fabulous  guest  speakers  totally  get  it.  My  friend  Tom  Ridge,  when  he  was  homeland  security,  our  first  homeland  security  secretary,  understood  and  told  all  of  us  and  taught  all  of  us  about  how  the  safety  of  our  country  is  all  about  being  engaged  in  the  world.  Investing  the  little  1%  called  the  International  Affairs  Budget  makes  a  difference  to  us.  How  lucky  you  

are  to  have  a  senator  like  Kelly  Ayotte  who  understands  this  very  issue.  Luckily,  the  two  of  them  are  not  alone.    

  I  am  very  lucky  to  represent  an  organization  called  the  US  Global  Leadership  Coalition  who  we  were  called  by  the  Washington  Post  many  years  ago,  "The  Strange  Bedfellow  Coalition."  Washington  is  not  known  for  a  place  in  this  country  that  brings  people  from  different  diverse  backgrounds  to  gather  and  yet  we  do  and  we're  really  proud  of  it.  

  Now  a  lot  of  you  are  familiar  with  us  but  some  of  you  are  new  to  us.  We  have  a  coalition  of  over  400  businesses,  NGO's  and  faith-­‐based  organizations  that  come  together  everything  from  CARE  to  Caterpillar,  from  Raytheon  to  Red  Cross,  from  World  Vision  to  Walmart,  and  many  others.  

  We  have  an  advisory  council  that  Tom  Ridge  we’re  lucky  enough  to  [have  as]  part  of  it.  It's  bipartisan,  it  is  lead  by  General  Collin  Powell,  it  includes  every  former  living  secretary  of  state  from  Henry  Kissinger  to  Hillary  Clinton  and  all  those  in  between  and  they  are  what  I  call  a  "Who's  who  of  foreign  policy  and  national  security."  

  We  have  a  growing  military  voice  that  lends  its  voice  to  the  engagement  and  the  importance  of  non-­‐military  tools,  this  idea  of  development  and  diplomacy  alongside  defense  that  needs  to  keep  us  safe,  a  150  retired  three  and  four  star  military  leaders  that  have  joined  our  cause.  Some  of  you  were  here  a  few  years  ago  when  we  sat  in  this  room  with  general  Tony  Zinni  who  chairs  that  very  effort.    

  There  are  over  30,000  veterans  for  smart  power  that  have  formed  and  joined  along  with  us.  I  don't  think  anything  speaks  more  clearly  to  why  they  joined  us  than  my  friend,  general  Jim  Mattis  who  at  the  time  was  commander  for  CENTCOM  and  he  was  testifying  in  front  of  the  Armed  Services  Committee  and  one  of  the  senators  asked  him,  "General,  there  are  efforts  to  cut  the  international  affairs  budget,  the  foreign  aid  budget.  What  do  you  think  of  that?"    

  He  turned  to  the  senators  on  the  Armed  Services  Committee  and  he  said,  "If  you  cut  the  State  Department  budget,  you  will  need  to  give  me  more  ammunition."  That's  what  these  military  leaders  tell  me  over  and  over  again.  They  tell  me  that  we  need  to  be  ready  to  react  but  we  have  to  have  the  strength  to  make  sure  that  we  can  prevent.  

  I  know  that  I  travel  around  the  country  but  it  is  the  strength  of  the  people  in  this  room  that  really  make  the  difference.  I  thank  our  partners,  many  of  whom  are  in  this  room  and  if  you  look  at  the  back  of  the  program,  you  can  see  the  different  organizations  that  have  made  this  possible,  the  New  Hampshire  Institute  of  Politics  of  course,  the  New  England  Council,  the  Business  Industry  and  

Association  of  New  Hampshire,  the  New  Hampshire  Veterans  of  Foreign  Wars  the  Hampshire  World  Affairs  Council.  

  I  thank  all  of  you,  as  well  as  the  long  list  of  fabulous  individuals  who  make  up  the  USGLC's  New  Hampshire  Advisory  Committee  members.  It  is  you,  the  voices  of  this  state  that  really  are  the  backbone  of  what  makes  us  strong.  

  I  happened  to  know  that  you  have  a  pretty  important  voice  in  this  country,  you  seem  to  get  a  lot  of  people  who  come  here  every  four  years,  they  seem  to  come  here  a  little  more  often  in  just  a  couple  meets  before  that  primary  that's  important.  I'm  going  to  end  by  asking  you  this,  our  conversation  today  is  about  what  America's  role  in  the  world  is  all  about  and  why  it  matters  to  New  Hampshire.  

  I  believe  it  is  more  important  than  ever,  not  only  because  it's  the  right  thing  to  do  because  when  I  met  Veronica,  I  knew  it  but  it's  the  smart  thing  to  do  for  economy  and  our  security.  I  ask  you  to  use  your  voice  loud  and  clear,  reject  those  who  believe  that  we  should  be  isolationists,  tell  them  that  you  and  New  Hampshire  reject  that  and  that  you  want  our  politicians,  whatever  they're  running  for,  particularly  president,  to  embrace  the  idea  just  like  your  senators  and  your  congressmen  do  that  we  have  to  be  engaged  in  the  world  and  this  little  1%  is  one  of  the  tools  that  really  count.  

  I  thank  you.  I  thank  you  for  being  here  today,  but  I  thank  you  more  for  raising  your  voice  and  to  doing  what  our  mission  is  all  about  and  that  is  just  written  right  here,  to  build  a  better,  safer  ...  and  I  will  add,  more  prosperous  world.  That  is  really  what  we  work  at  day  in  and  day  out  and  I  know  that's  what  Tom  Ridge  and  senator  Kelly  Ayotte  are  all  about.  

  To  introduce  our  fabulous  guest  speakers,  I  want  to  introduce  two  of  our  great  leaders  from  this  state,  please  welcome  Katrina  Lantos  Swett  from  the  Lantos  Foundation  and  Rich  Ashooh  from  BAERuch  Systems  to  welcome  our  guest.  Thank  you.  

Katrina  Swett:   Good  afternoon.  Before  I  begin  my  very  brief  remarks,  I  would  first  like  to  express  on  behalf  of  every  single  person  in  this  room,  our  incredible  gratitude  to  the  veterans  of  this  country  for  the  extraordinary  sacrifices  that  they  have  made  that  make  it  possible  for  us  to  build  a  better  safer  world.  I'd  like  to  ask  any  veteran  here  with  us  today  to  please  stand  so  we  can  acknowledge  you.  

  Thank  you  so  much.  I'd  also  like  to  suggest  that  everybody  here  take  a  deep  breath  because  we  are  actually  in  a  somewhat  rarefied  atmosphere.  In  a  time  and  in  a  day  when  discussion  of  vital  public  policy  issues  has  become  so  

unbelievably  toxic,  and  so  unbelievably  partisan  that  you  really  are  almost  afraid  to  take  a  deep  breath.  

  We  find  ourselves  gathered  here  today,  Republicans  and  Democrats,  people  from  every  walk  of  life  in  just  a  sort  of  discussion  that  this  country  and  this  world  so  desperately  need.  I  want  to  pay  tribute  to  Liz  Schrayer  and  to  the  US  Coalition  for  Global  Leadership  for  having  created  something  quite  extraordinary,  becoming  rarer  and  rarer  in  our  world  but  more  desperately  needed.  It  is  bracing,  it  is  invigorating,  and  it  feels  very  good  to  be  able  to  stand  here  and  sit  here  together  as  friends  who  care  passionately  about  this  country  and  our  future  to  discuss  the  ways  in  which  we  leverage  our  nation's  power  for  good  in  the  world.  

  I'm  here  sort  of  representing  the  human  rights  and  humanitarian  side  of  that  equation.  I'm  the  president  of  the  Lantos  Foundation  for  Human  Rights  and  Justice  and  I  also  serve  as  chair  of  the  US  Commission  on  International  Religious  Freedom.  I  have  always  believe  I  come  by  it  honestly  as  the  daughter  of  my  late  father,  congressman  Tom  Lantos  who  was  a  co-­‐founder  of  the  Congressional  Human  Rights  Caucus,  but  I  have  a  passionate  belief  that  America's  leadership  in  the  world  is  enhanced  and  strengthened  when  we  lead  from  our  strengths.  

  Now  our  strengths  are  manifold  and  many.  We  have  extraordinary  economic  strength  and  military  power  but  above  all,  it  is  our  values  that  distinguish  us  from  our  enemies,  as  well  as  those  who  are  merely  are  adversaries.  When  we  lead  from  our  strength,  from  that  which  sets  us  apart,  we  are  making  a  very  smart  play  on  the  world  stage  for  winning  hearts  and  minds  and  ultimately  winning  the  conflicts  that  are  out  there.  

  Development,  our  diplomatic  budget,  the  things  that  USGLC  is  working  to  protect  and  expand  in  our  government  are  really  putting  meat  and  muscle  on  the  bones  of  those  values.  It  is  really  hard  to  overstate  or  to  overestimate  the  importance  of  your  mission  and  what  we  are  about.  I  think  today  is  very  much  symbolize  the  sense  of  bipartisanship  and  joining  together  in  a  common  purpose  that  is  greater  than  us  all  by  my  friend  and  colleague  up  here  to  whom  I'm  going  to  turn  over  the  mic.  

  Rich  is  a  businessman  and  a  very  successful  one.  I'm  a  human  rights  activist,  I'm  a  Democrat  and  he's  a  Republican,  we're  both  former  congressional  candidates  as  well  but  we  come  together  joined  in  this  great  cause.  I  would  now  like  to  turn  the  podium  over  to  you  Rich  to  introduce  our  outstanding  guest  today.  

Rich  Ashooh:   Thanks,  [inaudible  17:12].  Thank  you  and  hello  everyone.  She  also  failed  to  mention  that  we're  in  this  unique  fraternity/sorority  people  who  had  just  too  many  kids.  

Katrina  Swett:   Between  the  two  of  us,  we  have  12.  

Rich  Ashooh:   Yes.  Something  like  that.    Development  aid  means  a  lot  to  us.  All  right.  You  heard  I'm  from  ...  My  name  is  Rich  Ashooh,  I'm  a  proud  member  of  the  Advisory  Committee  here  in  New  Hampshire  and  also  with  BAE  Systems  which  is  a  small  to  moderate  manufacturer  here  in  New  Hampshire  but  also  does  a  lot  in  both  national  security  and  in  the  transportation  spheres.  I  think  this  is  supposed  to  be  a  one,  two  punch,  the  soft  side  and  the  hard  side  and  then  when  our  panel  comes  up,  the  smart  side.  There  is  only  one  punch  and  we  all  comprise  it  here  today.  

  The  fact  of  the  matter  is  commerce  has  always  been  an  enabler,  a  result  of,  and  a  cause  of  peace  and  one  cannot  have  one  avail  with  the  other.  It's  crucial  because  the  founding  fathers,  they  figured  this  out  a  long  time  ago  that  as  soon  as  hostilities  and  the  commerce  needs  to  begin  and  quite  frankly,  significant  amount  of  overlap  between  the  two  is  what  makes  it  all  possible.  

  The  reason  why  I  invoke  the  founders  is  that  I  found  a  document  from  1721  and  it  was  a  report  to  the  king  about  the  economy  of  New  Hampshire  and  how  powerful  it  was  then  as  an  exporter.  Fast  forward  300  years  and  really  hasn't  changed,  we  are  still  an  important  exporter.  88%  of  the  exports  that  come  out  of  New  Hampshire  are  from  small  to  medium  businesses,  four  billion  annually  is  exported.  

  We  are  still  doing  our  share.  Now  we  did  our  share  back  then  [from  within  19:03]  just  the  economy,  we  did  it  for  freedom  because  individual  freedom  and  economic  freedom  go  together.  

  That  is  essentially  the  mission  of  the  USGLC.  To  explain  that  further,  we  have  a  video  that  we'd  like  you  to  view.    

[Video  40:30-­‐42:15]  

Rich  Ashooh:   I  know  what  you're  thinking,  smart  and  adorable.  It  is  a  time  honored  rule  of  public  speaking  to  never  follow  smart  and  adorable  kids  on  stage,  but  we  have  a  panel  that  comes  close.  I'm  looking  forward  to  introducing  them  to  you.  I'm  very  proud  to  share  the  stage  with  Katrina  right  now  but  I'm  also  very  proud  to  welcome  our  panelist  today.    

  They  hand  you  these  documents  and  it  says  "Senator  Kelly  Ayotte,  Senator  Kelly  Ayotte,  Senator  Kelly  Ayotte."  It's  really  hard  to  do  that  because  she's  Kelly  to  so  many  of  us.  Yet,  that  friend  and  she's  a  friend  to  many  in  this  room  quickly  upon  her  election  in  2010  to  the  US  Senate  distinguished  herself  in  areas  of  legal  justice  and  areas  of  security  and  areas  of  global  engagement  and  we're  very  

proud  of  the  senator  she's  become  and  we're  happy  they're  here  to  spend  some  time  with  us.    

  I'd  also  like  to  say  that  she's  not  content  to  just  read  about  things.  It  did  not  take  her  long  to  go  visit  the  places  that  are  at  the  crux  of  many  of  the  discussions  we're  having  here  today.  Senator,  welcome,  we're  looking  forward  to  hearing  from  you.    

  I'd  also  like  to  point  out  that  he's  back  again.  Governor  Ridge  is  back  again.  He  was  in  the  room,  I  didn't  get  to  say  hi  to  him  the  last  time,  but  when  he  was  here  before,  it  was  hard  to  top  your  performance  here  last  time,  Governor.  This  is  the  customary  time  where  you  read  the  bio,  but  the  bio  is  there.    

  What  I  instead  like  to  do  is  take  a  fairly  precious  moment  at  the  podium  to  simply  thank  you  for  the  leadership  you  showed  this  country  in  the  wake  of  9/11.  It  was  very  meaningful  to  all  of  us.  We  were  looking  for  that  leadership  and  you  delivered  and  we  greatly  appreciate  it  on  behalf  of  New  Hampshire  and  the  country.    

  Our  panel  is  going  to  be  moderated  by  Tiffany  Eddy  and  I'm  here  to  say  that  I  miss  having  dinner  with  Tiffany.  Before  you're  scandalized  by  that,  I  know  a  lot  of  you  miss  having  dinner  with  her  too  because  a  lot  of  us  did  that  and  I'll  tell  you  my  wife  is  having  dinner  with  her  and  my  kids  because  what  we  did  when  she  was  the  Emmy  award  winning  host  of  the  WMUR    News  in  the  evening.  

  Now,  she's  broken  out  of  a  chrysalis  of  a  TV  tube  and  is  sharing  her  abilities  in  so  many  other  ways  that  allow  her  to  have  lunch  with  us  instead  and  as  the  president  of  Focus  First  Communications  and  she  is  going  to  be  our  moderator  for  the  day.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  would  you  please  join  me  in  welcoming  our  panel.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   [45:20]  Thank  you  sir.  Thank  you.  Thank  you  Rich.  All  right  everyone,  can  you  hear  me?  Thank  you  very  much  for  being  here  this  afternoon.  It's  wonderful  to  see  you  all  and  we  are  so  honored  to  have  such  distinguished  guests  with  us,  Senator  Ayotte  and  Governor  Ridge.    

  A  couple  housekeeping  notes.  Before  we  get  started,  we're  going  to  have  our  discussion  on  America's  role  in  global  affairs,  but  about  halfway  through  we're  going  to  start  taking  questions  from  the  audience.  If  you  have  a  question  about  halfway  through,  raise  your  hand  or  stand  up,  maybe  do  your  best  “Dancing  with  the  Stars”  cha-­‐cha  and  somebody  from  USGLC  will  come  over.    

Sen.  Ayotte:   I'd  like  to  see.  

Tiffany  Eddy:   Yeah,  we'd  like  to  see  the  cha-­‐chas.  Actually,  we  have  cards  and  will  be  judging  

them  a  little  later  on.  We'd  like  to  get  started  with  the  discussion  and  I  would  like  to  begin  with  Senator  Ayotte.  You  have  been  one  of  the  strongest  supports  in  congress  for  US  leadership  and  from  ISIS  to  Ebola  to  the  Ukraine,  I  certainly  think  we  can  all  agree  that  there  are  many  challenges  out  there.    

  Many  in  the  audience  are  aware  that  there's  certainly  a  role  for  the  military,  and  that  can  be  a  valuable  tool,  but  what  other  tools  are  there  available  beyond  the  military?  Why  do  you  think  diplomacy  and  development  are  so  vital?    

Sen.  Ayotte:   [46:40]  First  of  all,  I'm  really  honored  to  be  here.  Thank  you  for  moderating  Tiffany  and  certainly  with  Governor  Ridge.  I  want  to  thank  [Liz  Schrayer  and  the  coalition  here.  This  is  incredibly  important.  When  I  look  around  this  room  and  I  see  the  people  who  are  engaged  in  the  US  Global  Leadership  Coalition,  I  see  a  lot  of  movers  and  shakers  in  this  state,  so  I'm  glad  that  you  were  all  here  today  because  this  is  a  very  important  discussion.    

  It  really  starts  with  who  we  are  as  a  country  and  what  is  America's  role  in  the  world.  Very  importantly,  I  think  we  need  to  acknowledge  who  we  are  and  the  significance  of  American  engagement  around  the  world.  Not  only  do  we  have  in  our  toolbox  rightly  so  the  greatest  military  on  earth  and  I  want  to  thank  everyone  in  this  room,  many  of  you  who  I've  gotten  a  chance  to  know  personally  for  your  service.  

  If  you  ask  our  military  leaders  what  is  one  of  the  most  important  tools  that  they  have  that  helps  them  with  what  they  do  to  avoid  conflict,  they  will  tell  you  that  it's  our  engagement,  our  diplomatic  engagement,  our  economic  engagement.    

  Why  does  it  matter?  It  matters  in  terms  of,  number  one,  our  security  because  if  we  are  able  to  engage  diplomatically  and  establish  relationships  with  countries  around  the  world,  friendships  and  also  friendships  when  we  have  to  confront  neutral  enemies  of  people  that  will  work  with  us,  then  we're  able  to  avoid  conflict  and  we  are  less  likely  to  have  to  send  our  great  military  and  to  use  force.    

  It  matters,  number  one,  with  security.  Second,  has  been  talked  about  today,  is  our  economic  strength.  The  economic  strength  of  America  does  require  us  to  engage  in  global  trade.  It  requires  us  to  be  able  to  engage  and  be  part  of  new  markets  and  if  there  isn't  security  we  can't  do  that.  Frankly,  we  can  enjoy  the  freedoms  that  we  have  here.    

  Finally,  who  are  we?  What  do  we  stand  for?  As  a  democracy,  human  rights,  our  bill  of  rights,  what  are  the  basic  values  that  define  America?  Those  basic  values  matter  in  terms  of  not  just  how  we  treat  our  own  citizens  but  also  as  a  leader  in  the  world  how  were  you  engaging  on  human  rights  issues  around  the  world.    

  If  it's  a  case  like  for  example  where  we  had  Meriam  Ibrahim  with  connections  

here  who's  now  living  in  New  Hampshire  who  is  imprisoned  because  she  cannot,  she  won't  renounce  her  religion  and  is  actually  forced  to  have  her  baby  in  prison.  Why  does  it  matter  to  us?  It  matters  to  us  because  if  we  don't  uphold  our  values  around  the  world  and  act  as  a  leader  around  the  world,  frankly  the  world  is  less  safe,  there's  less  freedom,  there's  less  economic  development  and  so  it's  not  just  our  hard  power.    

  What  we're  here  today  is  to  talk  about  our  tools  and  that  requires  ...  I  think  they  work  hand  in  hand  by  the  way.  If  we  aren't  prepared  to  support  our  military  and  our  hard  power,  then  when  we  engage  diplomatically,  we  don't  have  the  strength  of  having  countries  that  are  willing  to  understand  that  we’re  serious  about  things  we  say,  that  when  we  say  something  we  mean  it.  That  when  we  do  engage  with  you  that  we'll  engage  with  you  economically,  that  we'll  partner  with  you  and  help  you  or  we  need  to  help  you  with  all  the  tools  that  are  in  our  toolbox.    

  [50:28]  It  all  comes  together  and  what  mainly  the  biggest  fan  of  this  as  thinking  about  us  engaging  around  the  world  and  our  soft  power  was  really  what  I  heard  from  our  military  leaders,  because  they  themselves  will  say,  "This  is  one  of  the  most  important  things  that  we  can  do  to  work  hand  in  hand  with  the  military  to  avoid  conflict  around  the  world  and  to  keep  this  country  safe."  

  In  New  Hampshire,  we  have  the  opportunity  for  a  unique  role  I  think  in  the  presidential  primary  of  asking  people,  "What  do  you  believe  America's  role  is  in  the  world?  How  do  you  define  our  values  and  how  does  that  relate  to  how  we're  going  to  engage  around  the  world  and  what  we're  going  to  do  and  what  type  of  leadership  will  you  bring?"  

  Not  just  in  terms  of  supporting  our  military  which  is  absolutely  foremost,  but  also  in  terms  of  how  you  think  you  will  bring  the  strength  of  diplomacy  and  the  strength  of  building  friendships  and  allies  that  trust  the  relationships  in  the  United  States  of  America.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   Thank  you  Senator  Ayotte.  Obviously,  you're  very  passionate  about  the  subject.  It  speaks  to  the  fact  that  this  is  who  we  are  as  Americans  and  as  Granite  Staters,  but  also  economically  it  makes  sense  in  that  when  you  think  about  the  fact  that  10  out  of  our  15  top  trading  partners  right  now  are  countries  that  at  one  point  we  offered  development  or  security  assistance  too.    

  It  seems  like  it's  an  obvious  thing  that  we  should  be  doing,  but  why  is  it  so  hard  to  convince  people  that  it's  important  when  you  think  about  the  fact  that  foreign  aid  and  the  US  budget  is  just  1%  of  our  budget?  Why  is  it  difficult  to  get  people  on  board  and  politicians  on  board  to  support  this  cause?    

Gov.  Ridge:   [52:10]  First  of  all,  I  want  to  put  an  exclamation  point  on  my  gratitude  and  

thanks  to  the  senator  and  to  each  and  every  one  of  you.  That  is  phenomenal.  That  little  video  with  those  young  people,  it  reminded  me  of  a  statesman  attributed  to  Native  Americans.  It  says,  "You  don't  inherit  the  earth  from  your  ancestors,  you  borrow  it  from  your  kids."  Think  about  that  one,  it's  a  good  one.    

  The  responsibility  today,  our  generation  to  make  sure  that  those  kids  living  at  least  as  good,  if  not  a  better  world  and  I  might  say  I'm  not  sure  we're  doing  a  very  good  job  right  now.  Part  of  that  ...  One  of  your  wonderful  questions  is  this  is  an  issue  that  is  very  easy  to  demagogue.  Foreign  aid  is  an  issue  very  easy  to  demagogue.    

  Probably  next  to  executive  compensation  is  something  that  politicians  like  to  beat  up  on  the  most.  We  have  all  these  challenges  and  problems  in  the  United  States,  how  dare  we  or  why  should  we  and  blah-­‐blah-­‐blah.  At  the  end  of  the  day,  we  should  be  supporting  it  because  it's  in  our  economic,  military,  national  security,  and  strategic  interest  to  do  so.    

  It's  a  strategic  play  and  it's  all  right  for  America  to  act  in  its  own  best  interest  but  it's  best  when  we  act  in  our  interest  when  it's  consistent  with  our  brand.  What  is  our  brand?  Our  brand  is  a  value  system  that  the  senator  related  to  and  you  know  full  well.  It's  about  that  compassionate  side  of  the  United  States.  It's  about  that  preemptive  effort  that  we  undertake  in  many,  many  ways  to  help  others.    

  It's  that  notion  of  rising  tide  lifts  all  boats.  Absolutely.  Seven  out  of  the  ten  of  the  leading  markets  or  in  emerging  markets  are  in  Africa.  Do  we  have  a  strategic  interest  in  that  part  of  the  world?  Yes  we  do,  but  would  it  advance  our  interest  to  tie  ourselves  economically  and  from  a  humanitarian  point  of  view  and  a  public  health  point  of  view  to  that  part  of  the  world,  yes  it  will.    

  We  can  advance  mutual  interests  because  America  in  the  21st  Century  in  my  opinion  and  you're  going  to  have  a  lot  to  say  about  the  leadership  with  this  country  in  about  two  years.  I  do  hope  you  ask  these  presidential  candidates,  "Should  America  be  more  engaged  or  less  engaged  in  the  21st  Century  around  the  world?"    

  Anybody  that  says  that  we  should  be  less  engaged,  I'd  have  to  pause  and  think  about  it.  As  the  world  shrinks  because  of  technology,  transportation,  its  finance,  etc,  etc,  I  would  suggest  that  we  need  to  be  more  engaged  not  less.  You  got  some  political  isolationist  and  you  got  some  economic  isolationist.    

  In  the  21st  Century,  we  cannot  afford  to  be  an  isolationist.  I  think  the  challenge  we  have  is  convincing  policy  makers  that  1%  of  the  budget  directed  toward  preemptive  action,  not  reactive  action,  building  healthcare  systems,  building  

roads,  building  schools  is  in  our  best  economic  interest,  it  advances  our  brand  and  at  the  end  of  the  day,  it  probably  has  ...    

  And  that's  why  the  military  is  so  supportive  of  the  global  leadership.  They’d  much  rather  send  aid  than  soldiers.  Maybe  just  an  antidote,  think  what  Petraeus  and  McChrystal  will  able  to  do  and  this  is  just  a  bit  of  history,  but  what  ...  Anbar  Province  right  now  is  a  mess.  We're  not  going  to  get  in  to  that.  

   That's  not  the  purpose  of  this  discussion,  but  he  was  able  to  consolidate  a  lot  of  support  from  the  various  tribes  and  the  Sunnis  there  because  even  though  our  military  is  not  into  nation  building,  they  did  bring  in  some  corps  of  engineers  and  they  dug  wells,  they  built  some  roads,  they  put  up  some  schools  and  all  of  a  sudden,  these  tribal  chiefs  and  these  elders  had  an  infrastructure  that  was  theirs  and  they  were  willing  to  fight  to  protect  it.  

  Did  we  advance  the  humanitarian  interest  and  the  human  interest  by  helping  them?  Yes.  Did  we  support  our  military  by  doing  it?  Yes.  Did  we  advance  more  importantly  our  brand?  We  stamp  USA  when  we  show  up  for  the  tsunami  in  Thailand  and  we  responded  in  Fukushima  Daiichi  and  we  responded  quickly  to  Haiti.  That's  after  the  crisis.    

  This  1%  gives  us  an  opportunity  to  be  a  little  bit  ahead  of  the  crisis  in  advancing  our  economic  interest,  our  strategic  interest  and  I  couldn't  agree  with  the  senator  more  and  frankly  I'm  grateful  that  she's  one  of  the  few  senators  in  that  body  that  is  paying  attention  to  the  world  through  America's  engagement  in  the  rest  of  the  world  and  doesn't  shy  away  from  this  tough  issue.  We  advance  the  brand,  we  advance  our  national  security  and  economic  interest  and  that's  a  trifecta  I'd  bet  on  every  day.    

Sen.  Ayotte:   I  would  also  add.  Governor  Ridge  said  this  so  well,  but  the  reality  is  if  the  answer  is  that  you're  for  less  engagement,  I  think  as  we  look  at  the  challenges  we  face  around  the  world  right  now,  less  engagement  means  more  conflict.  That's  something  we  have  to  think  about.    

  As  much  as  we  would  like  to  ...  There's  a  natural  feeling  I  think  people  say  to  pull  back  on  yourselves.  We  understand  that  natural  feeling,  but  if  you  look  at  the  challenges  we  face,  if  you  look  at  even  what  someone  like  Governor  Ridge,  who  had  to  deal  with  the  attack  on  our  country,  the  lack  of  engagement  is  one  where  it  eventually  comes  back  here  and  we  can  either  engage  with  it  and  try  to  prevent  things  that  happening  and  build  relationships  that  strengthen  us  not  only  in  terms  of  security  but  also  in  terms  of  our  economy  or  we  can  sit  here  and  wait  for  things  to  react  to  us.    

  And  so  I  would  argue  that  the  answer  to  that  would  be,  we  don't  want  that  to  

happen.  We  want  to  ensure  that  there's  less  conflict.    

Gov.  Ridge:   I  have  one  more  observation.    

Sen.  Ayotte:   Sure.    

Gov.  Ridge:   You  don't  charge,  so.  

Sen.  Ayotte:   I'll  defer  to  you  on  this  one.    

Gov.  Ridge:   The  other  quick  anecdote  that  I'd  like  to  bring  up  and  it  may  seem  like  ancient  history  but  I  served  with  an  individual  by  the  name  of  Charlie  Wilson  and  I  don't  know  if  you  ever  saw  the  movie  Charlie  Wilson's  War,  but  remember  we  spent  quite  a  bit  of  money  supporting  then  the  Mujahideen  in  order  to  get  Russia.    

  That  was  in  the  middle  of  the  Cold  War  we  moved  it  out,  but  there's  a  scene  at  the  end  of  the  movie  that  I  think  is  very  telling  and  really  right  on  point.  At  the  end,  he  goes  back  into  the  intelligence  committee  and  asked  for  several  million  dollars  to  build  roads  and  schools  and  wells.  One  of  the  members  of  the  intelligence  committee  says,  "Who  do  you  think  you  are,  the  congressman  from  Kabul?"    

  He  didn't  get  it.  I'm  not  saying  that  you  rewrite  history  in  that  region,  but  there  was  a  vacuum  there.  Who  filled  the  vacuum,  the  Taliban.  If  you  think  what  would  have  happened  if  America  would  have  been  a  lot  more  aggressive  to  begin  developing  and  taking  that  approach  that  Petraeus  took  in  Anbar  Province  and  elsewhere  -­‐  help  build  an  infrastructure  that  is  good  for  them,  reflects  our  values  and  gives  them  something  worth  fighting  for.    

  Really,  the  first  notion  of  freedom  and  independence  that  you  have  is  when  you  suddenly  start  building  this  little  infrastructure  that's  yours,  so  at  the  end  of  the  day,  I  think  that  is  one  of  the  most  ...  In  that  movie,  that's  the  most  powerful  scene.  Preemptive  Aid.  

  Think  about  Lebanon.  We  finally  got  split  the  parties  apart  in  Lebanon.  What  happened  when  we  didn't  go  in  and  helped  the  Lebanese  government?  They  elected  a  democracy,  we  gave  them  a  few  million  dollars,  we  weren't  paying  too  much  attention  to  them,  Hezbollah  moved  in.  You  can't  say  and  I  can't  tell  you  that,  but  for  that  aid,  it  might  have  been  different  in  the  Middle  East  or  it  might  be  different  in  Afghanistan,  but  I  sure  wish  we  could  have  given  it  a  try.    

Gov.  Ridge:   Because  nature  abhors  a  vacuum,  so  does  politics.  If  we’re  in  there  preemptively  with  aid  advancing  the  human  cause,  raising  the  human  condition,  helping  them  

take  care  of  their  families…there’s  a  vested  emotional  commitment  you  get  because  America  does  that,  we’re  really  good  after  the  disaster.  One  of  the  things  this  1  percent  does  is  it  gives  us  an  opportunity  and  before  potentially  a  geopolitical  disaster  or  geopolitical  problem  emerges.  I  never  forget  that  scene  in  Charlie  Wilson’s  War,  I  did  know  him,  he  was  quite  the  character  but  that  scene  was  I  think  very  pressing  in  terms  of  what  might  have  happened  had  we  been  willing  to  follow  his  lead.    

Sen.  Ayotte:     We  win  the  war  but  not  always  the  peace.    

Gov.  Ridge:     Amen.    

Sen.  Ayotte:   I  think  also  as  we  look  at  places  that  we’re  engaged  in  it’s  how  we  leave  places  too.  It’s  not  …  Going  there  is  obviously  important  and  when  we  go  there  we  need  to  make  those  decisions  very  carefully  when  we’re  involved  in  conflict  and  very  thoughtfully  but  how  we  leave  matters  very  much  too  because  otherwise  you  find  yourself  back  in  a  pattern  where  you’re  dealing  with  unleft  situations  that  as  the  governor  has  rightly  said  you  have  a  vacuum  that  gets  filled  in  a  way  that  doesn’t  meet  our  interests  and  creates  further  conflict.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   I  think  also  it’s  important  to  remember  that  what  happens  across  the  world  can  have  an  impact  right  here  on  New  Hampshire  and  Senator  you’ve  been  spectacular  going  out  and  supporting  small  businesses  here  in  New  Hampshire.  I  believe  there’s  about  285,000  people  right  now  who  work  for  a  small  business  in  New  Hampshire  so  it’s  a  huge  part  of  our  economy.  There’s  a  wonderful  success  story,  it’s  a  Concord  based  company,  Boyle  Energy,  which  I  think  you  visited,  you’re  familiar  with  but  10  years  ago  their  exports  accounted  for  about  5  percent  of  their  sales  and  today  it’s  nearly  90  percent  of  their  sales.    

They  were  able  to  work  with  the  Export-­‐Import  Bank  to  arrange  a  partnership.  Just  want  to  discuss,  and  also  today  a  wonderful  success  story,  they’ve  gone  from  5  employees  to  50  employees  with  plans  to  still  grow  and  that’s  just  one  company  here  in  New  Hampshire.  Can  we  discuss  just  what  these  partnerships  can  mean  and  how  do  we  help  facilitate  them?    

Sen.  Ayotte:   Absolutely,  well  first  of  all  as  you  look  at  the  economy  in  New  Hampshire  exports  are  just  tremendously  important  to  our  economy  and  they  are  great  opportunities  for  our  business,  we’ve  seen  great  growth  in  the  export  area.  New  Hampshire  is  not  unique  on  that  but  we’ve  really  seen  some  significant  growth  here.  If  you  look  at  a  company  like  Boyle  Energy  there  has  been  a  financing  vehicle  that  we’ve  had  available  the  Export-­‐Import  Bank  that  this  issue,  it’s  been  extended  -­‐  the  bank’s  authorization  until  June  -­‐  and  this  is  something  we  have  to  take  up  again  in  the  Congress.    

If  you  look  at  the  impact  of  that  bank  number  1,  so  why  do  we  have  it?  I  think  there’s  been  an  argument  made  that  we  shouldn’t  …  that  this  is  not  the  proper  role  of  government,  that  we  shouldn’t  have  it.  Well,  we  need  to  understand  that  we’re  competing  around  the  world  with  countries  that  have  much  greater  and  larger  export  and  import  financing  entities  than  our  Export-­‐Import  Bank.  We  can  decide  to  tie  our  companies’  hands  when  it  comes  to  exports  behind,  one  hand  behind  the  back  and  compete  against  these  countries  in  that  way.    

As  I  looked  at  this  and  analyzed  the  Export-­‐Import  Bank  it’s  returned  over  $3  billion  to  the  treasury,  I  just  wish  that  for  every  federal  agency  that  I  could  have  the  analysis  of  does  it  return  the  money  to  the  treasury?  Because  then  it  would  be  a  lot  easier  as  we  look  at  the  fiscal  challenges  facing  our  country.  In  New  Hampshire  the  impact  of  this  in  extending  it  which  I  look  forward  to  supporting  is  important  because  since  2007  $356  million  of  financing  has  been  through  the  Export-­‐Import  Bank  in  New  Hampshire  with  34  different  companies.  One  of  them  is  Boyle  Energy  which  has  seen  tremendous  growth  in  the  number  of  employees.    

This  is  a  common  sense  measure  where  if  no  other  country  had  this  type  of  financing  vehicle  that  might  be  one  thing  but  we  will  put  ourselves  at  a  competitive  disadvantage  if  we  don’t  extend  this.  Also,  if  you  look  at  the  default  rate  for  the  Export-­‐Import  Bank,  it’s  actually  lower  than  commercial  entities.  Here  we  have  an  entity  that  returns  money  to  the  tax  payers,  has  a  lower  default  rate,  helps  create  jobs  here  in  New  Hampshire  and  so  this  is  something  that  just  makes  sense  where  we  should  be  looking  at.  This  gives  our  companies  an  opportunity  to  get  financing  that  they  can’t  always  get  through  the  commercial  sector  and  that’s  why  it’s  important.    

The  other  thing  I’d  like  to  talk  about  as  we  think  about  opportunities  in  New  Hampshire  and  throughout  the  country  is  also  our  engagement  on  trade.  That  is  negotiating  trade  agreements  that  are  important  for  our  country  to  reduce  tariffs  of  some  of  the  countries  that  we  are  paying  tariffs  on.  Right  now  there’s  negotiations  ongoing  with  Europe,  there’s  negotiations  ongoing  with  Asia  and  I  firmly  believe  that  the  president  needs  trade  promotion  authority  to  be  able  to  continue  to  negotiate  these  types  of  agreements  so  that  we  when  we’re  engaging  with  trade  with  another  country  our  companies  aren’t  disadvantaged  by  the  tariffs  that  they  pay  so  that  we  have  free  and  open  trade  that  benefits  our  companies  and  they  could  expand  their  opportunities.    

That’s  another  thing  I  think  that  we  need  to  do  more  of  and  I  wish  the  president  would  ask  for  trade  promotion  authority  because  his  predecessors  have  and  it’s  important  to  engage  us  internationally.  Those  are  2  things  that  I  think  impact  this  but  without  security  and  without  just  engagement  on  the  diplomatic  level  you  can’t  ask  our  companies  to  go  and  engage  in  these  exports.  All  of  these  relates  in  terms  of  security,  in  terms  of  diplomatic  engagement  because  our  companies  

that  want  to  sell  to  customers  outside  of  New  Hampshire  have  to  be  able  to  know  that  they’re  in  an  environment  where  they  can  securely  do  business.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   I  think  one  more  just  a  point  supporting  what  you  just  said  is  preparing  for  this  some  of  the  stats  that  I  was  learning  about  is  US  AID  for  every  dollar  that’s  invested  $75  come  back  in  trade,  so  trade  is  really  critical  to  our  economy.  Governor  Tom,  as  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  you  led  many  trade  delegations  overseas,  how  were  you  able  to  convince  people  that  they  were  important  and  what  did  you  learn  from  them?    

Gov.  Ridge:   Well  thank  you  very  much.  Yes  we  did,  we  built  out  an  infrastructure  with  our  state  from  2  to  about  8  regional  offices.  You  wouldn’t  be  surprised  to  learn  that  we  put  the  people  that  we  hired  on  performance  based  contracts  so  if  you’re  going  to  be  working  for  Pennsylvania  we  want  to  see  results.  But  we  didn’t  take  the  iconic  companies  with  me,  we  took  the  companies  that  the  senator  is  talking  about,  we  took  the  small  and  medium  sized  companies  with  us.  We  told  them  forget  trying  to  make  a  sale,  develop  a  relationship  so  that  you  got  an  ongoing  partner,  you’ve  got  something  to  offer  them,  they’ve  got  something  to  offer  you.    

Again  it’s  consistent  with  my  theory  that  it  was  good  for  business  and  in  the  long  run  it  was  good  for  Pennsylvania  and  it  was  good  for  America.  We  really  focused  on  small  business  but  the  senator  raises  a  very  important  issue  as  well  and  that’s  Export-­‐Import  Bank,  the  overseas  private  investment  corporation,  these  are  entities  that  we’ve  come  under  the  gun  and  scrutiny  of  those  who  say  well  it’s  not  exactly  the  marketplace  and  I’m  a  free  market  person  and  blah,  blah.  Folks  it  is  very,  very  competitive  to  build  relationships  around  the  world  if  you’re  a  nation  state.    

The  Chinese  right  now  are  the  best,  they  go  in  with  aid,  they  go  in  with  loans  and  I’m  not  saying  we’re  going  to  quite  replicate  their  model  because  often  times  the  loans  and  aids  are  directed  towards  just  hiring  their  companies  and  they  bring  in  labor  but  the  fact  of  the  matter  is  I  think  it  was  the  McKinsey  Global  Institute  said  that  by  2030  there’ll  be  over  $50  trillion  worth,  I  said  that  right,  $50  trillion  worth  of  infrastructure  projects  around  the  world.  What  the  infrastructure  projects  are,  the  roads  and  their  bridges  and  their  schools  and  their  water  systems,  purification  systems,  distribution  systems.    

Is  it  in  our  interest  to  support  our  companies  large  and  small  to  compete?  Yes,  but  the  competitive  field  is  …  Frankly  it’s  tilted  against  us,  because  for  policy  reasons  and  political  reasons,  we  don’t  see  the  value  added  to  organizations  like  Ex-­‐Im  and  OPEC  and  they’re  moderately  funded.  Now  the  first  thing  that  the  Global  Leadership  group  is  trying  to  say  is  “don’t  cut  us  anymore,”  but  the  fact  of  the  matter  is  [that]  we  fall  woefully  short  in  terms  of  access  to  capital  to  compete  in  a  very  aggressive  international  marketplace  for  these  kinds  of  

opportunities  which  win  themselves  to  jobs  here,  quality  overseas  and  we  advance  the  brand.    

Now  if  you  take  a  look  at  the  experience  of  some  of  our  competitors  even  though  they’ve  had  a  better  loan  portfolio  and  they  just  do  things  a  little  differently  than  …  it  still  comes  down  to  quality.  Some  of  our  biggest  competitors  have  been  kicked  out  of  countries  because  the  quality  isn’t  as  good  and  frankly  some  of  the  social  and  humanitarian  repercussions  and  consequences  of  their  presence  in  a  particular  country  hasn’t  been  well  received  by  that  country.  At  the  end  of  the  day  it  takes  a  lot  of  courage  in  this  day  and  age  to  support  Ex-­‐Im  and  OPEC  and  I  congratulate  you,  enator,  for  doing  that.    

The  other  area  where  I  think  we  fall  woefully  short  is  the  State  Department  in  terms  of  counsular  offices.  The  one  thing  I  found  out  as  governor  when  we  went  to  these  trade  missions  and  we  did  several,  always  very  successful,  we  had  people  who  …  We  had  arrangements  for  people  to  get  in  and  do  meaningful  work,  it  was  not  a  pleasure  trip,  they  varied  but  at  every  embassy  they  could  always  use  a  few  more  economic  affairs  officer.  Everyone  there’s  intelligence  to  be  gathered  at  the  local  level,  to  be  shared  back  with  the  private  sector,  to  be  shared  with  a  small  business  community  of  New  Hampshire.    

At  the  end  of  the  day  when  you  think  about  maintaining  1  percent  of  this  math  budget  in  order  to  advance  our  cause,  our  economic  cause,  our  national  security  cause  and  advance  our  brand  it’s  a  small  price  to  pay  and  it’s  again  in  the  21st  century  we  need  to  be  more  engaged  in  the  world,  not  less  engaged.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   What’s  interesting  about  the  budget  is  many  Americans  believe  that  our  foreign  aid  is  about  20,  25  percent  of  the  federal  budget  and  Pew  Research  Group  they  just  had  a  poll  that  found  that  number  is  actually  higher,  that  most  Americans  or  many  Americans  believe  that  it’s  a  third  of  our  budget.  Why  is  there  such  a  misperception  out  there  -­‐  how  do  we  fix  that?    

Sen.  Ayotte:   Well  first  of  all  when  I  have  town  halls  in  New  Hampshire  this  is  a  question  I  get  actually  quite  often.  One  of  the  things  that  I  try  to  do  is  just  do  a  pie  chart  of  where  do  our  federal  dollars  get  spent.  There  is  a  misperception  that  the  foreign  aid  budget  is  so  much  larger  than  1  percent  and  I  think  it’s  just  informing  people  and  there’s  no  question  in  my  mind  that  there’s  always  ways  we  can  do  better  with  our  foreign  aid.  I  mean  I’ve  had  several  pieces  of  legislation  that  I  think  can  …  that  our  State  Department  can  use,  that  our  military  and  others  can  use  to  have  better  contract  with  the  right  people  and  make  sure  that  our  dollars  are  going  …  are  being  used  very  wisely.    

That  said  there  is  a  misperception  out  there  and  I  think  it’s  just  informing  people  and  everyone  in  this  room  not  just  on  the  issue  of  foreign  aid  but  to  engage  the  

public  on  where  we  are  spending  our  money  and  where  are  our  fiscal  challenges  as  we  think  about  trying  to  address  $17  trillion  in  debt,  where  are  the  main  drivers  of  our  debt?  I  can  assure  you  it’s  not  foreign  aid,  we  could  cut  that  tomorrow  altogether  and  we  would  still  be  in  a  huge,  huge  financial  situation.    

I  think  that  that’s  just  a  matter  of  leadership  and  what  I  would  very  much  like  to  see,  I  don’t  know  if  I’ll  ever  see  it  but  I’d  love  to  see  a  president  actually  go  on  and  explain  to  the  American  people  where  are  we  spending  our  money  and  here’s  where  our  biggest  challenges  are  because  I  think  your  average  American  isn’t  exposed  to  it.  I’ll  be  lucky  the  number  of  people  that  show  up  in  a  town  hall  but  we  need  to  get  that  word  out  more  because  we’re  not  going  to  get  people  engaged,  we’re  not  here  to  talk  “fix  the  debt”  today  but  if  we  were  to  talk  “fix  the  debt”  we’re  not  going  to  get  people  engaged  on  that  issue  either  until  they  know  what  are  the  biggest  drivers  of  the  debt  as  we  look  at  it  and  the  challenges  we  face.    

Gov.  Ridge:   It’s  so  easy  to  demagogue  the  issue.  It  is  so  easy  to  demagogue  foreign  aid  but  the  ROI,  the  return  on  investment  of  foreign  aid,  I  mean  the  senator  just  pointed  out  how  much  did  the  Ex-­‐Im  Bank  return  to  the  treasury?    

Sen.  Ayotte:     $3.4  billion.    

Gov.  Ridge:   And  the  number  of  jobs  that  are  created  because  of  that,  et  cetera,  et  cetera,  et  cetera.  I  think  one  of  the  challenges  is  that  some  people,  people  such  as  yourselves  interested  citizens  and  administrators  have  to  hold  those  who  spew  out  this  demagogic  rhetoric  relative  to  foreign  aid  have  to  hold  them  accountable  because  it’s  just  not  accurate.  The  end  of  the  day  I  would  say  to  them,  “Would  you  rather  send  a  few  dollars  in  foreign  aid  or  do  you  want  your  son  and  your  best  friend’s  son  going  someplace  else  with  an  M16  or  an  AR15?”    

It’s  not  that  you’re  going  to  avoid  wars  in  the  future  or  avoid  the  need  for  military  action  in  parts  of  the  world  but  we  are  at  our  best  in  my  judgment,  America  is  at  its  best  when  it’s  promoting,  as  senator  said  at  the  onset,  promoting  our  value  system,  promoting  our  brand.  Whether  we  like  it  or  not  ladies  and  gentlemen  there  is  an  expectation  that  we  do  things  globally  consistent  with  our  brand  and  we  ought  to  be  proud  of  that  because  we  are  held  to  a  threshold  and  a  standard  that’s  higher  than  any  other  country  in  the  world.    

When  we  go  out  and  do  those  kinds  of  things  around  foreign  aid,  working  with  NGOs,  improving  public  health  systems,  digging  wells,  providing  support  it  is  consistent  with  our  brand  and  it’s  just  …  It  is  who  we  are  as  a  country  and  there’s  a  certain  expectation  and  we  should  be  proud  that  we’re  expected  to  do  that  because  we  don’t  do  it  because  we  get,  there’s  an  advantage  to  us  but  at  the  end  of  the  day  ladies  and  gentlemen  there’s  enormous  goodwill.  In  a  world  as  

chaotic  as  it  is  today  goodwill  is  very  important,  directed  towards  us,  our  soldiers,  our  diplomats  and  our  citizens.    

Sen.  Ayotte:   So  well  said  and  there  is  no  substitute  for  American  leadership  and  who  we  are  as  a  country.  We  are  in  my  view  the  greatest  country  on  earth  and  if  that’s  the  case  then  we  need  to  act  like  that,  we  can’t  pretend  we’re  someone  else  because  we  aren’t.  When  we  do,  there’s  vacuums  created  around  the  world  that  make  all  of  us  less  safe  and  provide  less  opportunity  for  our  citizens.    

Gov.  Ridge:   Katrina  your  dad  talked  about  on  the  floor,  I  was  proud  to  sit  with  your  dad  when  I  was  a  young  congressman  but  there’s  certain  congressmen  who  talk  about  everything  on  the  floor  and  they  get  tuned  out  but  when  your  dad  used  to  take  the  floor  and  talk  about  justice  and  humanitarian  and  America’s  value  system  and  why  we  got  to  be  engaged  you  hear  a  pin  drop  because  you  know  for  …  You  just  hear  a  pin  drop  and  that  projects  what  I  think  ours  and  these,  forget  about  politics,  we  are  one  country,  one  nation  under  God,  we  have  a  value  system  and  this  is  a  unique  way  for  us  in  a  bipartisan  way  to  promote  it.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   I  think  we  feel  good  when  we’re  doing  that  too,  we  know  that  it’s  the  right  thing  to  do.  I  guess  my  next  question  would  be  for  both  of  you  but  how  do  civic  and  faith  based  organizations  get  involved  and  work  with  the  government  to  help  overseas,  to  make  a  difference?    

Gov.  Ridge:   Well  I  personally  believe  that  there  had  been  some  …  When  people  try  to  demagogue  foreign  aid  they’ll  talk  about  abuses  of  certain  expenditures,  what  they  don’t  talk  about  is  that  when  you  channel  those  dollars  toward  a  specific  objective  through  an  NGO  or  a  faith  based  organization  you  don’t  have  to  worry  about  that.  I  mean  we  give  money  directly  to  a  country,  yeah  it’s  wide  open,  that’s  open  territory  for  maleficence,  misfeasance  and  just  bad  conduct  from  time  to  time.  We  know  that,  but  normally  I  think  if  you  take  a  look  at  the  history  of  aid  flowing  through  faith  based  organizations  and  NGOs  you’ll  find  that  it  is  well  directed,  overseen  and  the  outcomes  and  that’s  what  we’re  interested  in,  outcomes  are  laudable  and  praiseworthy.    

Sen.  Ayotte:   I  would  also  say  the  fact  that  you  see  in  a  number  of  private  corporations  and  companies  that  are  supporting  this  effort  there’s  such  an  important  role  for  that  public  private  partnership.  That  using  that  1  percent  to  leverage  what  the  business  community  is  doing  and  engaging  and  the  philanthropic  charitable  community  whether  it’s  the  ONE  Campaign,  whether  it’s  the  Gates  Foundation,  the  number  of  foundations  that  are  investing  and  frankly  putting  forward  best  practices  for,  as  the  governor  said,  making  sure  if  you’re  putting  funds  in  a  situation  where  it’s  an  NGO  where  they’re  accountable  for  the  funds,  where  there  have  to  be  metrics,  where  results  matter  as  opposed  to  sometimes  having  

engage  with  countries  where  you  have  less  reliable  partnership  and  less  accountability.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   All  right,  well  thank  you  both.  We’re  at  that  part  now  where  we  get  to  go  to  the  audience  and  ask  the  audience  to  help  with  questions.  If  anyone  has  a  question,  thank  you  sir,  please  raise  your  hand  and  we’ll  have  a  microphone  go  over.  If  you  wouldn’t  mind  just  saying  your  name  and  where  you’re  from  and  then  who  your  question  is  directed  towards.    

Jack:   Jack  Gilchrist,  I  run  a  small  manufacturing  company  in  Hudson,  New  Hampshire  and  most  of  my  exports  are  done  to  the  state  of  Massachusetts  but  …    

Tiffany  Eddy:     It’s  like  its  own  country  sometimes.    

Jack:   Still  like  another  country,  but  as  leaders,  I  think,  we  may  all  agree  that  leaders  demand  loyalty  and  earn  respect.  The  people  that  we  lead  also  demand  an  equal  amount  of  loyalty  in  return.  It  seems  like  we've  had  an  erosion  in  loyalty  or  stained  the  cause  to  those  places  around  the  world  that  we  have  tried  to  market  our  brand  to,  but  I  don't  think  that  we're  necessarily  that  loyal  to  our  own  brand,  maybe  because  of  politics,  whatever.  Do  you  have  any  thoughts  on  that  or  solutions  to  that?  

Sen.  Ayotte:   Well,  Jack,  I  have  to  say  that  like  any  relationship,  you  have  to  be  able  to  rely  on  your  allies,  your  friends,  and  you  have  to  know  that  if  you  say  something  that  you're  going  to  follow  through  on  it.  That  means  whether  it's  leadership  at  the  presidential  level,  leadership  in  terms  of  congress  and  relationships  that  we've  had,  so  whether  it's  long-­‐term  friendships  like  Israel  as  reliable  partners  in  the  Middle  East,  as  we  look  around  the  world  at  the  challenges  we  face,  that,  to  me,  is  incredibly  important  and  one  of  the  things  that  troubles  me  about  where  we  are  right  now  is  if  you  do  any  level  of  traveling,  you  will  hear  a  similar  story  from  many  of  our  allies  that  they  feel  that  there's  ambivalence  from  our  country.  They  feel  that  they  don't  know  whether  they  can  count  on  us.  So  it's  very  hard  if  that's  where  the  relationship  is  when  you  have  to  build  a  coalition,  for  example,  to  fight  a  terrorist  group  like  ISIS  to  bring  everyone  together.  

  So  I'm  really  worried  about  that  right  now.  I  think  we  need  stronger  leadership.  I  do  think  that  there  is  a  perception  out  there  among  our  allies  and  friends  that  we  haven't  been  able  to  be  counted  on,  and  we  have  to  end  that  perception  because  otherwise  we're  not  going  to  bring  people  together  to  do  the  things  that  need  to  be  done  nor  to  have  those  relationships  that  matter  in  terms  of  our  economic  strength  and  our  security.    

Tiffany  Eddy:     Any  other  questions?  Don't  be  shy.  Okay,  you  sir.  We'll  get  a  microphone  to  you,  

I  think,  in  just  a  second.  You're  sort  of  trapped  in  over  there  in  your  own  peninsula.  

Mark:   [1:22:27]  Thank  you.  Mark  Sikiss  from  Kittery.  We  spoke  about  a  lot  of  the  trouble  areas  that  we  have  in  the  world  that  have  been  created  by  the  vacuum  of  us  withdrawing  from  the  world  in  so  many  ways.  At  the  same  time,  if  we  were  meeting  a  year  ago  and  you  pulled  the  audience  to  see  what  our  biggest  foreign  concern  was,  the  answer  probably  would've  been  Iran,  and  it's  been  swept  from  the  news  by  all  these  other  things  that  are  going  on,  and  we  are,  in  fact,  through  our  efforts  to  seize  their  economy  and  stop  them  from  interacting  with  the  world,  we  are  isolating  them  or  endeavoring  to  do  so  from  the  world.  As  we  come  up  on,  in  about  a  month,  our  hopefully  successful  treaty  conclusion  with  them,  it  seems  to  me  that  we've  gone  to  the  leadership  of  Iran  through  the  successful  sanctions  by  hurting  the  people.  So  we've  really  done  the  opposite  of  everything  you've  been  talking  about  what  we  should  be  trying  to  do  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  So  my  question  is  what  can  we  do  now  in  going  forward  to  try  to  reverse  the  damage  that  we've  done,  albeit  in  a  good  cause,  but  nevertheless  to  the  very  people  we  ought  to  be  reaching  out  to?  

Gov.  Ridge:   I'm  going  to  defer  to  the  senator,  because  she  probably  has  more  timely  and  more  inside  information  about  Iran.  I'm  going  to  respectfully  disagree  with  the  notion  that  our  policy  toward  Iran  has  been  counterproductive.  Iran  is  a  terrorist  theocracy.  The  tentacles  of  Iran  reach  into  Assad,  reach  into  Hezbollah,  reach  in  the  Palestinians'  Islamic  Jihad,  reach  into  Hamas  and  has  more  control  in  Baghdad  after  we  spent  a  trillion  dollars  and  lost  four  thousand  men  and  women.  The  Mullas  had  Maleki  like  a  puppet,  and  our  State  Department’s  kind  of  ignored  it.  So  I  think,  again,  it's  Tom  Ridge's  opinion,  that  when  President  Bush  said  that  they  were  the  axis  of  evil  and  included  Iran,  I  think  he  was  even  more  pressing  it  than  even  he  thought.  I  will  agree  with  you  from  time  to  time,  [that]  Sometimes  sanctions  do  end  up  hurting  those  you're  least  inclined  to  hurt,  but  I  think  given  the  repercussions  of  a  nuclear  Iran,  which  is  the  number  one  terrorist  state  in  the  world  and  is  the  number  one  terrorist  bank  in  the  world,  I  think  we  had  to  ...  We  understand  it's  probably  causing  some  difficulty  within  the  economy  and  maybe  impacting  some  of  the  individual  citizens,  but  Persia,  Iran,  is  a  great  culture.  They're  wonderful  people.  They're  sophisticated  traders,  and  yet  you  never  get  any  report  of  what's  going  on  in  Iran  with  regard  to  the  assassination,  the  murders,  the  imprisonment  of  political  prisoners  because  there  is  no  free  press  in  Iran.  Rouhani  will  grant  some  interviews  to  the  Western  Press  and  all  this,  and  you've  got  the  Washington  Post  and  the  New  York  Times  saying  that  he's  a  moderate,  but  they  don't  tell  you  about  the  people  they  hang  with  cranes.  They  don't  tell  about  the  people  they  imprison.  

  So  I  understand  your  point  of  view  and  conceptually  I  am  appreciative  of  it  and  

have  some  empathy.  You  don't  want  to  impose  sanctions  when  it  ends  up  hurting  the  men  and  women  and  the  families  there,  but  in  this  instance,  I  frankly  don't  think  we've  been  tough  enough.  They've  created  a  problem  for  us  in  Iraq,  and  I'm  not  sure  from  which  we  can  recover.  That's  my  view.  

Sen.  Ayotte:   Well,  I  very  much  agree  with  what  Governor  Ridge  has  said,  first  of  all.  As  you  look  at  the  situation  with  Iran,  what  I'm  worried  about  is  as  we're  thinking  about  addressing  ISIS,  as  we  think  about  the  challenges  that  Vladimir  Putin  presents  to  us,  that  this  agreement  with  Iran  that  is  being  negotiated,  I'm  worried  that  it  won't  be  one  that  actually  will  hold  up  in  terms  of  ensuring  that  we  end  their  march  towards  nuclear  weapons.  Why  does  this  matter?  Because,  as  the  governor  has  said,  this  is  the  largest  state  sponsor  of  terrorism  in  the  world.  We  cannot  afford  to  have  Iran  have  a  nuclear  weapon.  We're  the  great  Satan.  They  would  like  to  wipe  Israel  off  the  face  of  the  Earth,  but  they've  also  been  very  engaged,  even  in  terrorist  activities  on  our  own  soil.  So  this  is  important  that  we  do  whatever  we  can  to  stop,  and  we  always  have  to  be  cognizant  of  when  we're  imposing  sanctions  what  the  impact  is  on  the  people.  That  said,  the  economic  sanctions  that  we  put  in  place,  which  I  agree,  frankly  I  think  we  need  to  be  tougher  on  Iran  right  now,  is  what  brought  them  to  the  negotiation  table.  They  would  have  never  come  to  the  negotiation  table  had  we  not  imposed  those  sanctions  working  with  our  international  partners  to  even  discuss  ending  their  nuclear  program.  So  I  think  that  we  have  to  look  at  all  the  tools  in  our  toolbox.  Economic  sanctions  are  preferable  to  having  to  use  military  hardware  to  end,  for  example,  a  nuclear  weapons  program  that  threatens  us  and  the  world.  So  that's  why  it  was  important  that  we  do  it.  

  Where  I  think  we  could  have  stood  more  with  the  people  of  Iran  is  during  the  Green  Revolution  when  they  took  to  the  streets  in  Iran  and  they  were  fighting  and  talking  about  the  things  that  the  Governor  referenced  in  terms  of  their  oppression  in  Iran  and  their  inability  to  have  a  voice  in  their  government,  the  values  that  we  stand  for,  going  to  those  values,  human  rights  in  Iran.  We  should  have  been  a  much  louder  voice  then,  from  the  highest  levels  of  our  government.  

Gov.  Ridge:   The  senator's  point  ...  Remember  there  was  an  Arab  Spring?  There  was  a  Persian  Spring,  but  you  never  knew  about  it.  There  could  have  been  a  Persian  spring.  It's  a  wonderful  country.  The  people  are  phenomenal.  I  think  if  you  did  a  survey  there,  you'd  find  the  majority  of  people  would  love  to  be  more  connected  with  the  United  States,  but  it's  pretty  difficult  for  them  to  express  their  point  of  view  when  the  Mulla's  are  controlling  everything.  

Sen.  Ayotte:   Yeah.  They're  being  oppressed.  

Gov.  Ridge:   They're  a  very  oppressed  society.  

Sen.  Ayotte:   The  suppression  of  women  too.  We  have  another  question  over  here.  Sir?  

Robert:   Hi.  My  name  is  Robert  Sedgley  with  the  Dartmouth  Graduate  Veterans  Association.  My  question  is  based  on  the  concept  of  development  and  its  role  in  preventing  these  upstarts  in  these  groups.  Currently  we're  seeing  ISIS.  Three  months  ago  we're  talking  Boko  Haram  with  the  school  girls  that  were  taken  captive  before  we  could  bring  it  back  to  Al  Qaeda  and  Taliban.  What  role  is  this  development  process  playing  to  prevent  another  group  later  on?  We  can  battle  ISIS  now.  We  can  take  whatever  military  action.  The  military  goes  in  and  handles  the  situation.  At  what  point  does  development  takeover  and  prevent  the  military  ever  having  to  go  in  there?  

Gov.  Ridge:   Well,  I'm  not  sure  ...  It's  a  wonderful  question  and  I  don't  think  we  ought  to  view  development  assistance  and  foreign  aid  as  the  only  answer  to  the  complicated  problem  that  you  raise  with  your  question,  but  I  think  it  has  a  critical  role.  We  look  back  after  2001,  and  I  was  very  much  a  part  of  that,  we  called  it  a  war  on  terror,  but  terrorism  is  a  tactic.  You  don't  wage  war  against  a  tactic.  Your  enemy  uses  the  tactic  against  you.  It's  really  a  war  against  the  belief  system,  and  in  that  belief  system  there  is  nothing  to  advance  the  human  condition  and  the  interest  of  any  Muslim,  anybody  that  practices  the  faith.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  terrorists  have  killed  more  of  their  kind  than  not,  more  of  those  who  embrace  Islam  and  Muslim.    

  So  where  development  assistance  comes  in,  I  think,  is,  again,  consistent  with  the  brand  and  what  we  try  to  promote  as  Americans  about  reaching  out  and  trying  to  address  the  human  needs  that  I  think  are  harbored  in  the  heart,  in  the  soul,  in  the  mind  of  everyone  regardless  of  where  they  live,  unless  they've  been  tainted  by  this  toxic  embrace  of  the  ideology.  What  is  that?  I've  got  a  family.  I  don't  want  them  to  be  sick;  I  want  them  to  be  healthy.  I've  got  a  family.  I  don't  want  them  to  be  hungry;  I  want  them  to  be  fed.  I  have  a  family.  I  don't  want  them  to  be  illiterate;  I'd  like  them  to  be  educated.  Those  who  embrace  that  ideology  aren't  interested  in  any  of  those  things.  So  it  is  not  exactly  the  answer.  There's  other  things  we  have  to  do,  and  it  may  be  we  have  to  throw  in  special  forces  and  you'd  have  to  be  a  lot  stronger  diplomatically  and  a  lot  of  other  things,  but  at  the  end  of  the  day  what  is  our  development  assistance  doing  in  contrast  to  this  toxic  ideology  and  these  Islamic  radicals  that  are  thrown  at  it.  It's  not  about  improving  their  lives  or  their  human  condition.  So  it  has  a  role.  I  like  my  family  to  have  a  shelter.  I'd  like  them  to  be  well  fed.  I'd  love  for  them  to  be  healthy.  I'd  love  for  them  to  be  educated.  You  may  dispute  this,  but  I  have  a  tough  time  believing  anybody,  regardless  of  where  they  live  and  no  matter  how  impoverished  they  are,  they  don't  think  that  for  themselves  and  their  family  and  their  community,  and  to  that  extent,  that's  why  development  assistance  plays  such  an  important  role  in  terms  of  our  foreign  policy.    

Tiffany  Eddy:   All  right.  We  have  a  few  more  questions.  We  have  hands  waving.  Okay,  we've  got  

a  vigorous  one  back  there.  

Gov.  Ridge:   One.  

Susan:   One.  Hi.  My  name  is  Susan  Pillsbury  and  I'm  with  the  One  Campaign  and  I  wanted  to  ask  you  how  your  feelings  about  the  Energize  Africa  Act  of  2014  ...  I'd  like  you  to  speak  about  that,  Senator  Ayotte,  if  you  would.  The  House  passed  an  equivalent  bill,  a  similar  bill,  and  I'm  wondering  with  all  these  wonderful  things  that  are  being  said,  how  you  feel  about  it,  one.  Two  would  be,  if  you'd  be  willing  to  become  a  cosponsor.  

Tiffany  Eddy:   Thank  you.  No  pressure.  

Gov.  Ridge:   Hey.  No  pressure.  

Sen.  Ayotte:   I'm  going  to  have  to  look  at  it  more  closely,  but  I'm  very  supportive  of  what  the  One  Campaign  is  doing  and  I'll  follow  up  with  you.  I  like  to  read  through  things  and  I  haven't  read  that  yet,  so  I  will.  The  other  issue  that  I  will  say  is  I  think  you're  a  great  example  of  how  there  are  these  public-­‐private  partnerships  there.  Also  if  you  look  at  some  of  the  efforts  that  we've  done  in  Africa  under  President  Bush  and  also  PEPFAR  and  some  of  the  things  we've  done  to  address  AIDS  and  now  with  our  role  ...  If  you  look  at  Africa  as  some  place  with  the  challenges  we're  facing  with  Ebola,  but  also  this  is  an  area  where  if  we  don't  engage,  we  see  the  issue  of  a  public  health  crisis,  but  we  also  know  that  the  rise  of  terrorist  groups  in  Africa,  as  the  Governor  referenced,  and  the  student  rightly  asked  about  over  there,  but  also  the  economic  opportunities  in  Africa  because  the  Chinese  are  all  in  Africa.  They're  very,  very  engaged.  So  I  will  take  a  very  careful  look  at  that  legislation  and  I  will  get  back  to  you  directly.  But  I'm  a  firm  believer  that  we  can't  afford  not  to  be  engaged  in  Africa  given  what  we're  seeing  in  terms  of  security,  health  challenges  right  now,  but  also  economic  opportunities  there  that  are  critical  for  this  country.  

Gov.  Ridge:   I  didn't  quite  hear  your  question,  but  this  may  be  a  one-­‐off  butyou  alluded  to  a  public-­‐private  partnership.  I  am  privileged  to  serve  on  the  board  of  Hershey's  Chocolate.  Hope  you  all  like  chocolate.  They're  big  in  Africa  in  two  countries,  [they]  deal  with  the  issue  of  child  farm  labor  ...  There  are  a  lot  of  issues  there.  They  take  it  upon,  and  here's  where  I  think  corporate  ...  When  an  American  company  embraces  its  corporate  responsibility  and  acts  in  that  country,  not  only  to  further  its  interests  but  to  help  the  people  in  the  communities  with  whom  they're  dealing  build  an  infrastructure  to  make  them  a  better  place  to  live  and  work  and  raise  their  families.  They've  done  that.  Just  a  modest  program,  modest.  Where  we  went  out  and  they  distributed  cell  phones  to  some  of  these  rural  farmers  so  they  can  contact  each  other,  they  can  share  information.  We're  part  

of  a  process  where  we  can  talk  about  how  you  can  do  more  with  the  land  you  have,  the  kind  of  fertilizers  you  need,  with  the  price  ...  So  it's  just  a  modest  example,  but  that's  one  of  the  reasons  where  you  want  to  have  Americans,  and  they  did  this  without  any  foreign  aid  of  any  kind.  You  want  American  companies  ...  Frankly,  I  can  make  an  argument  that  an  American  company  acting  consistent  with  the  American  brand  and  embracing  its  social  responsibility  to  the  people  in  the  region,  of  course  you  can  make  a  product,  but  embracing  that  social  responsibility  can  have  as  much  impact  as  anything  that  anybody  else  could  do.  That's  why  that  public-­‐private  partnership,  particularly  around  development  assistance  is  very,  very  important.  

Tiffany  Eddy:   It's  the  right  thing  to  do.  In  developing  countries,  their  economies  are  growing  three  times  faster  than  countries  that  are  already  developed,  so  it's  important  to  remember  beyond  humanitarian,  it's  also  good  for  the  economy  as  well,  if  I  may  interject.  Yes?  You,  sir,  in  the  back.  

Tom:   Tom  Blonski,  Catholic  Charities.  In  regards  to  the  burgeoning  Ebola  outbreak,  what  would  you  do  working  with  African  countries  to  develop  a  stronger  health  infrastructure,  certainly  if  you  were  governor  back  at  Homeland  Security?  

Gov.  Ridge:   Well,  that's  an  interesting  question.  Obviously  these  are  countries  that  don't  have  a  public  health  system.  The  infrastructure  is  rather  poor.  I  do  think  it's  important  that  we  send  people  over  to  help  build  some  facilities  and  some  clinics.  The  debate  is  rather  engaged  right  now  as  to  whether  or  not  we  close  the  borders.  I  think  it's  a  pretty  terrible  thing  to  do.  It  may  symbolically  mean  a  lot.  Whether  or  not  it  helps  you  contain  the  spread  of  this  remains  to  be  seen.  I  think  the  answer  is  really  for  the  broader  global  community,  particularly  the  healthcare  community  led  by,  probably  CDC,  which  is  probably  the  best  in  the  world,  to  answer  the  pleas  of  some  of  these  country  leaders  and  get  as  much  staffing,  as  much  equipment  over  there  to  try  to  contain  it.  There  is  a  strategy  around  containment  that  has  worked,  but  right  now  it  doesn't  appear  to  be  very  successfully  implemented  by  those  countries.    

  So  I  think  the  best  thing,  and  again  would  not  necessarily  be  in  Homeland  Security's  purview,  would  be  we  bring  in  the  White  House  and  the  CDC  and  Health  and  Human  Services.  I  think  there  is  a  protocol  that  they  are  beginning  to  establish.  It's  not  completely  implemented  yet.  I  think  that's  the  most  important,  the  best  thing  we  could  do,  in  addition  to  using  some  diplomatic  efforts  and  getting  some  of  the  other  African  countries  in  the  region  to  participate  in  responding  to  the  healthcare  crisis  by  sending  in  some  of  their  own  healthcare  workers.  I  mean,  there's  a  role  for  us,  but  there's  also  a  broader  role  for  us  to  lead  the  international  health  community,  the  World  Health  Organization.  Right  now  it  looks  like  we're  doing  most  of  the  heavy  lifting  and  I  think  it's  part  of  our  

diplomatic  effort,  which  is  the  smart  power  to  get  more  of  the  African  countries  involved  in  there  as  well.  Much  more  to  say  to  that  ...  

Sen.  Ayotte:   I  think  that,  also,  the  United  Nations,  they  were  a  little  late  to  this  game  to  in  getting  them  more  engaged.  They  have  an  important  role  there  in  terms  of  public  health  issues,  and  that  means  that  we're  doing  what  we  can  to  provide  that  support  there  so  that  we  can  contain  and  have  proper  practices  so  that  this  doesn't  spread  any  further.  Another  example  of  why  we  couldn't  ignore  it,  it's  one  thing  to  say,  "Boy,  it'd  be  nice  if  we  could  leave  that,"  but  if  we  were  not  to  engage  right  now  over  there,  then  this  thing  could  spread  further  because  best  practices  aren't  in  place.  You've  got  a  situation  where  it  becomes  much  more  dangerous.  Then  also  saying,  partners.  This  is  an  issue  for  the  world.  Europe,  everyone,  needs  to  be  helping  on  this  and  really  working  with  us  and  with  the  partners  that  Governor  Ridge  referenced,  the  other  African  countries,  to  contain  it,  and  we're  researching  a  cure.  That's  an  example.  There  were  some  in  Congress  before  I  served  there  that  had  the  foresight  to  actually  designate  some  resources  to  start  looking  for  a  cure  for  this,  and  we  don't  have  one  yet,  but  had  their  not  been  some  foresight  there  on  a  bipartisan  basis,  we  wouldn't  have  even  been  started  in  that  process.  

Gov.  Ridge:   If  I  might,  just  one  other  comment.  A  wonderful  question.  Just  assume  for  a  moment  that  before  the  Ebola  virus,  you  had,  the  senator  had  to  vote  on  an  appropriation,  some  of  which  was  to  send  money  to  these  three  or  four  countries  in  Africa,  generally  to  build  up  their  public  health  system.  "Ah!  What  are  you  doing  trying  to  help  them  build  up  their  public  health  system?  We  got  a  problem  in  the  United  States."  It  been  a  fact  we  got  the  best  medical  relief  system  in  the  world.  And  be-­‐  Now  people  would  say,  "That's  probably  not  a  bad  idea,"  because  it  is  a  global  ...  The  global  connectivity.  That's  why  you  have  to  be  more  engaged  in  the  world,  not  less  engaged.

Tiffany  Eddy:   Good  example.  Well  put.  We're  almost  out  of  time,  unfortunately,  so  I  just  want  to  give  our  two  panelists  the  opportunity  to  just  sum  up  why  we're  all  here  together  and  where  we  go  moving  forward.  Senator  Ayotte?  

Sen.  Ayotte:   Well,  I  think  why  we're  here  together  is  that  this  all  very  much  matters.  It  matters,  America's  role  in  the  world  matters  in  terms  of  our  security  here,  our  economic  strength,  and  whether  we  stand  up  for  our  values,  whether  it's  someone  like  Miran  Ibrahim  and  standing  up  for  her  and  her  fight  for  religious  freedom.  Whether  it's  many  other  examples  that  we  have  around  the  world  where  people  are  imprisoned  for  what  they  believe  in,  which  is  antithetical  to  our  values.  But  most  of  all,  thinking  about  without  American-­‐  Strong  American  engaged  leadership,  then  we  see  the  unraveling  around  the  world.  We  see  that  the  vacuums  are  created  where  we  then  have  to  send  our  military  places  where  we  wouldn't  want  to  send  them.    

  And  so  we  want  to  take  the  pro-­‐active  steps  upfront,  whether  it's  engagement  

through  our  foreign  aid  budget,  it's  working  together  to  leverage  that  with  the  private  partners  and  the  foundations  that  are  working  on  that  so  that  hopefully  we,  through  our  strength,  as  Ronald  Reagan  said,  "Peace  through  strength."  That  strength  is  our  military,  but  that  strength  is  also  what  is  America's  voice  in  the  world,  and  that's  part  of  our  strength,  too.  

  And  so  that's  why  I  think  we're  all  here  today,  and  this  is  why  it  matters  to  us,  and  making  sure  that  America  remains  safe  and  strong,  and  that,  if  we  want  to  all    hide  in  our  closets,  unfortunately,  the  terrorists  will  still  be  out  there.  The  people  who  want  to  undermine  our  values  will  still  be  out  there,  and  we  just  can't  do  that.  And  so  I'm  so  glad  to  see  so  many  leaders  in  this  room  who  are  here  to  be  part  of  this  today.  I'm  very,  very  honored  to  be  here  with  Governor  Ridge,  who's  just  a  tremendous  leader,  not  only  as  a  governor,  but  as  our  Secretary  of  Homeland  Security.    

I  want  to  thank  Tiffany  for  being  an  excellent  moderator,  and  thank  the  college,  Saint  A’s.  Thank  you  President  DiSalvo  for  your  leadership  and  for  the  college  hosting  so  many  important  discussions  like  this  to  really  bring  people  together  to  talk  about  this  important  issue  that  often  is  just  too  reflected  in  sound  bites,  rather  than  a  more  in-­‐depth  discussion,  like  we've  had  today.  Thank  you.  

Gov.  Ridge:   America  has  never  sent  out-­‐  Simon  Perez  said  this,  "America  is  great,  not  for  what  it  takes,  but  for  what  it  gives."  It's  a  great  thought,  and  what  we  have  given  or  provided  to  the  broader  global  community  for  a  long,  long  time  has  been  leadership.  And  that  leadership,  to  affect  challenges  associated  with  a  broader  global  community  has  pretty  much  been  defaulted  to  us,  probably  since  World  War  I.  I  think,  as  Americans,  we  should  take  some  pride  with  that  notion  that  there's  an  expectation  that  our  allies  and  our  friends  and  our  enemies  and  those  that  oppose  us  want  to  know  what  America  is  doing.  They  want  to  know  where  you  stand.  They  want  to  know  if  you're  as  good  as  your  word.  

  And  for  that  reason,  when  you  think  of  the  three  prongs  of  how  you  affect  events  around  the  world,  and  you  do  so  because  it's  the  right  thing  to  do,  but  you  also  do  so  because  it's  America's  interest  that  it  be  done  that  way.  

  Ronald  Reagan,  Margaret  Thatcher  said  Ronald  Reagan  won  the  Cold  War  without  firing  a  shot.  It's  called  "Peace  through  strength."  Makes  a  lot  of  sense  now.  Even  more,  perhaps,  than  it  did  before.  If  you  say  something,  if  you  draw  a  line  in  the  sand  you  have  to  back  it  up,  or  else  you  start  losing  your  credibility.  

  Diplomacy  is  ...  Remember  our  diplomats  used  to  be  the  admiral  or  the  captain  of  the  boat  when  it  had  gotten  into  the  port.  It's  not  anymore.  We  have  a  State  Department,  we've  got  Embassies,  we’ve  got  staff.  We  need  to  bolster  them  up,  

and  I  think,  frankly,  we  could  probably  use  a  little  bit  more  effective  diplomacy  out  there.  I'm  not  casting  aspersions  or  negative  comments  to  anybody,  but  we  have  to  understand  that  diplomacy  is  very  much  one  of  the  tools  of  the  trade.  But  the  diplomats  can  only  be  as  good  as  the-­‐  You  have  to  have  a  strong  military  behind  you,  and  right  now  there's  some  questions  as  to  whether  or  not  those  two  are  balanced.  And  that  third  leg  of  stool,  that's  the  foreign  aid.  That's  the  Developmental  Assistance,  and  you  think  of  that,  you  think  in  terms  of  who  we  are  in  advancing  our  brand,  but  again,  once  again  that's  in  our  interest.  

  One  of  the  beautiful  things  about  the  global  leadership,  and  one  I'm  proud  to  serve  as  a  co-­‐chairman  with  Madeleine  Albright,  a  great,  great  American,  great  patriot,  and  great  Secretary  of  State,  is  that  they  really-­‐  we  see  the  value  of  all  three,  but  more  importantly  we  see  the  connectedness,  because  at  the  end  of  the  day,  if  they're  executed  correctly-­‐  from  the  foreign  aid  and  the  developmental  assistance,  aggressive,  focused,  effective  diplomacy,  and  peace  through  strengths-­‐  you  can  influence  events  in  a  very  positive  way.  Not  always,  but  in  a  very  positive  way  in  the  rest  of  the  world,  a  rising  tide  does  lift  all  boats,  and  peace  does  generate  the  kind  of  thinking  that  we'd  like  to  think.  You  know,  democracies  don't  normally  declare  war  on  democracies.  

  So  at  the  end  of  the  day,  the  fact  that  I'm  associated  and  the  Senator's  associated,  and  thank  you  very  much  for  moderation  with  the  Global  Leadership  Summit,  I'm  very  proud  of  it,  because  it's  that  three-­‐legged  stool.  We  need  all  of  them  to  work  in  harmony  with  one  another,  and  both  right  now  seem  to  be  challenged,  and  we  got  presidential  candidates  coming  through  over  the  next  couple  of  months,  the  next  couple  of  years,  and  they're  probably  going  to  start  November  5th.  You're  going  to  be  invited  to  a  lot  of  these.  

Tiffany  Eddy:   (laughs)  They've  already  started  (laughs).  

Gov.  Ridge:   Just  make  sure  that  they  understand  that  you  need  all  three  of  them  in  order  for  America  to  effective,  and  surround  the  rest  of  the  world.  Not  because  it's  ...  Not  only  because  it's  the  right  thing  to  do,  it's  in  our  interest  to  do  it.  Thank  you  very  much.  

Karl  Beckstein:   My  name  is  Karl  Beckstein.  I'm  the  US  GLC's  New  Hampshire  Outreach  Manager,  and  first  off,  I  would  like  to  thank  our  speakers  today,  in  particular  Senator  Ayotte  for  being  such  a  strong  champion  and  leader  for  keeping  America  strong,  safe,  and  a  leader  in  the  world.  We  truly  appreciate  you  being  with  us  here  today,  and  we  really  appreciate  your  support  and  look  forward  to  working  with  you  more  in  the  future.  

  Governor  Ridge,  we  appreciate  you  being  here  as  well,  and  thank  you,  Tiffany,  for  being  with  us.  Also  like  to  thank  President  DiSalvo,  Rich  Ashoo,  Katrina  

Lantos-­‐Swett,  Ambassador  Richard  Swett,  and  Neil  Levesque    for  speaking  our  event  today.  Also  like  to  thank  our  great  partners  for  today's  event,  the  New  Hampshire  VFW,  the  New  Hampshire  Institute  of  Politics,  the  Business  and  Industry  Association  of  New  Hampshire,  the  New  England  World  Affairs  council,  and  the  New  England  Council  for  being  great  partners  and  friends  to  us  today  at  our  event.  Also  would  like  to  specially  thank  two  individuals  who  made  this  event  truly  great.  Paul  Shivolge,  thank  you  for  all  of  your  help,  and  David  Tsui,  thank  you  for  your  help  and  support,  as  well.  

  Our  president  Liz  Schrayer  has  a  saying  that  the  difference  between  a  good  meeting  and  a  great  meeting  is  not  what  happens  during  the  meeting,  but  what  comes  after.  So  I  invite  you  all  to  help  us  make  this  a  great  meeting  by  joining  us  and  supporting  American  global  leadership  and  development  and  diplomacy  alongside  defense.  We're  not  asking  for  any  of  your  money.  We're  asking  for  your  partnership  and  your  support  in  this  key  and  critical  issue.  In  the  next  coming  days,  you'll  be  getting  an  email  from  me  with  highlights  from  today's  event,  and  we  urge  you  to  share  that  and  the  discussion  we  have  had  today  with  your  friends,  family,  coworkers,  and  colleagues.  

  For  all  the  veterans  we  have  in  the  room  today,  I  know  we  have  many  veterans  here,  we  urge  you  to  join  our  Veterans  for  Smart  Power  Coalition,  which  is  made  up  of  over  30  thousand  veterans  from  all  across  the  country,  all  united  in  support  of  smart  power  and  strong  development  and  diplomacy  alongside  defense.    

  We  ask  you  to  join  us  at  our  next  events  as  well.  We  look  forward  to  working  with  you  here  in  New  Hampshire,  and  on  behalf  of  the  US  Global  Leadership  Coalition,  thank  you  for  joining  us  today.