Former CIA director discusses role of foreign policy

The Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics held this semester’s final installment of “Students Talk Back: A Weekly Politics and Public Policy Forum,” on Wednesday afternoon at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. The event featured special guest and former Director of the CIA, David H. Petraeus.

Petraeus, a four-star general, served as CIA director from 2011 until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Petraeus has 37 years of experience assisting coalition forces, as he was a Commander for the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He commanded troops from 2003-2008. In 2010, he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Petraeus discussed the importance of generating discourse on the topic of foreign policy in the upcoming presidential elections, while also noting that candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties would address national security with varying levels of emphasis. The moderators encouraged Petraeus to narrow in on significant events or topics within foreign policy including cybersecurity, automated warfare and use of conventional tactics.

The event was moderated by Dan Schnur, executive director of the Unruh Institute and moderator of the event and David Moreno, assistant director of elections and recruitment of Undergraduate Student Government; Daniel Rothberg, former managing editor of the Daily Trojan; and Rachel Scott, reporter and executive producer of Annenberg TV News.

Schnur set the discussion in motion by asking Petraeus to identify the role foreign policy will and should play in the forthcoming presidential campaign.

“Almost every four years, we hear that foreign policy and national security will be a critical component in elections, with rare exceptions in 1980 and 2004,” Schnur said. “Generally, as the campaign progresses, public attention tends to shift towards domestic policy.”

Petraeus explained that foreign policy attracts greater visibility as elections progress.

“I think [foreign policy] is actually receiving greater prominence as the election cycle progresses. A part of that it as of course, is the perception that the world, at least parts of it, are in flames,” Petraeus said. “The Middle East is in crisis…you see Russia threatening Ukraine and really flouting the norms of excepted interstate behavior since the end of the cold power; you see China flexing its muscles from the east and south china sea, ramming a Vietnamese ship after moving their oil platform into Vietnamese waters and so forth.”

He also discussed the way in which Americans perceive the ongoing tensions between military forces occupying foreign grounds. He explained that over the past few years, there has been a tangible shift between whether it is possible for the U.S. to cut militant interaction overseas, specifically noting that President Obama began his presidential term in hopes of leading U.S. armed forces out of war zones.

“There are lots of crises out there and I think they are starting to appear on the view screens of Americans more than was the case even just a couple of years ago — when the sense was that we were getting out of wars rather than getting back into them,” Petraeus said.

Petraeus said that history has proven that candidates from the Republican party will emphasize national security at large during their campaign. He recollected the fact that many politicians have emphasized their opinions of former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton during her reign of “failed” foreign policy.

“Particularly on the Republican side, foreign policy will play a big role in the primary,” he said. “But, I think that the Republicans will try to make it a more prominent part of the campaign than might have otherwise been the case.”

He emphasized that though foreign policy will garner a lot of attention, voters will still rank residing economic issues higher.

“Depending on who the Republican candidate is, it [foreign policy] will be elevated…but then, everyone votes their wallet,” Petraeus said. “They vote on the fact that the middle class hasn’t seen real wages rise, that the income disparity [exists]…I think this [issue] will actually be up there as certainly [one of] the big five issues.”

Petraeus focused on a specific area where voters and politicians will concentrate on during elections.

“I think the issues…will be trying to assert that the Obama administration is responsible for the instability in the wake of saving the Arab spring countries and the other side saying that domestic populations in those countries had a little bit to do with this,” Petraeus added.

The conversation shifted to the issue of stressing certain elements of foreign policy. Rothberg questioned which foreign policy events from the past and present should be paid more attention to. Petraeus covered both bases by explaining that in the light of current national crises, all topics including cyber security, automated warfare and conventional tactics should be drawn upon. He explained that both presidential candidates in the 2016 election will place an emphasis on the U.S. as a leading global force.

“A big issue will be America’s role in the world,” Petraeus said. “Ultimately, both candidates from the two different parties will assert that the U.S. does have to lead; it can’t follow…but there will be some nuance in there where one side will undoubtedly be a bit more aggressive in what it puts forward.”

Petraeus explained that Americans remain undecided on the issue of foreign relations, given the frequent militant interaction within the last decade in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

“The American public, given the cost, the frustrations and so forth of Iraq and Afghanistan is still a bit weary about involvement overseas, but is increasingly concerned about the threats posed by the rise of the Islamic state in Iraq … by the continued activities and various Al Qaeda affiliates, particularly Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, which is now taking advantage of the state of turmoil in Yemen to break it’s comrades out of prison.”

He also addressed issues of ISIS and terrorist threats by explaining that the group poses a series of threats to global leaders.

“The problems of ISIS are not just threats…it’s a threat to the homeland and potentially a threat to various global and economic endeavors as well,” he said. “I think Iraq can move forward — but at the end of the day, it is about Iraqi politics…it is, at heart, a struggle for power and resources and that can take place within the Shia and Arab sects.”