Romney calls for fresh U.S. strategy against terrorism
Earlier this week Mitt Romney spoke at a private gathering of the American Enterprise Institute. The topic of his speech was the war on terror or more accurately the war on Jihad. While the prepared remarks that were released and offered in summary in the first article below, more germane to the discussion of Mitt Romney’s national security strategy would be his advisor Cofer Black.
From what is available on Romney’s remarks and his advisor’s background it should be noted his ‘fresh’ strategy may be more closely aligned with the current Bush Administration strategy but without the cowboy antics. Again Romney will surely draw on his successful problem solving approach and experience that has served him well to this point.
The old words of wisdom that to be successful one should surround themselves with talented and successful people may be at play in the Romney strategy in general as well as for the war on terrorism. With cheap shots toward his chosen faith being the only regularly selected weapon of his opposition the evidence is clear there is little if anything to attack about Mirr Romney. That may explain the repeated use of the religion card by his frustrated competitors.
Romney calls for fresh U.S. strategy against terrorism
Friday, June 22, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney called for a fresh U.S. strategy in the war on terrorism on Thursday.“We need more than a change in direction. We need a new course altogether,” the former Massachusetts governor told the American Enterprise Institute’s World Forum in Beaver Creek, Colo. “The integration, sustainability and breadth of this war against violent jihad must now take on a new dimension. We must move from tactics to strategy.”
The speech to the conservative group was closed to the public, but Romney’s campaign released his prepared remarks.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2005
Ambassador Cofer Black Becomes Vice-Chairman at Blackwater USA
Blackwater USA proudly announces that Ambassador Cofer Black, former Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the U. S. State Department, and former Director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center has joined our team as Vice Chairman.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Erik Prince stated, “Ambassador Black brings with him 30 years of experience in combating terrorism around the globe and absolute devotion to freedom and democracy and the United States of America. We are honored to have him as part of our great team”
As the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Ambassador Black’s office, S/CT, had primary responsibility for developing, coordinating and implementing U.S. counterterrorism policy. On behalf of the Secretary of State, Ambassador Black represented the Department on the Counterterrorism Security Group. His office played a leading role on the Department of State’s counterterrorism task forces organized to coordinate responses to international terrorist incidents. Ambassador Black’s responsibilities included coordinating U.S. Government efforts to improve counterterrorism cooperation with foreign governments, including the policy and planning of the Department’s Antiterrorism Training Assistance Program.
Ambassador Black has had a distinguished 28-year career in the Directorate of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency. Prior to joining the State Department, Ambassador Black was the Director of the CIA Counterterrorism Center. In this capacity, he served as the CIA Director’s Special Assistant for Counterterrorism as well as the National Intelligence Officer for Counterterrorism.
During his CIA career, Ambassador Black served six foreign tours in field management positions. In 1995, Ambassador Black was named the Task Force Chief in the Near East and South Asia Division. From June 1998 through June 1999, he served as the Deputy Chief of the Latin America Division.
In addition to numerous exceptional performance awards and meritorious citations, Ambassador Black received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the George H. Bush Medal for Excellence and the Exceptional Collector Award for 1994. Ambassador Black was born in Stamford, Connecticut and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the University of Southern California in International Relations.
You may recall that Blackwater received a great deal of attention in the news as a private security contractor in Iraq since the war began. Not all of the reports were a positive asset for Blackwater USA. Regardless of Mr Black’s association with Blackwater USA his credentials are impressive. That is to say if you are to select someone as your advisor on counter terrorism and related issues, this is an experienced choice. The question would be has the Romney campaign taken any heat on this yet and are they prepared for it as the season continues?
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
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