Defense expert lauds Obama’s foreign policy

Derek Chollet, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, told Duke students he thought President Barack Obama’s diplomacy will stand the test of time Tuesday evening.

In an event titled “Obama’s Grand Strategy: Midway Through the Fourth Quarter” sponsored by the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy at the Sanford School of Public Policy, Chollet touched upon a variety of topics relating to the nation’s current position in international affairs. He is currently serving as a counselor and senior advisor for security and defense policy at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington.

“Obama personally felt that he had a quite difficult inheritance,” Chollet said. “He is determined to leave his successor with a better inheritance.”

Asked to assess the president’s success in foreign affairs going into the administration’s final months, Chollet noted that in football terms, “the score would be 28 to 21 with Obama winning.” In particular, he pointed to Obama’s relationship-building in Asia as an area in which the United States has excelled.

“The ‘pivot’ [Obama’s East Asia policy]—that investment in resources, that military posture in Asia—is extremely important for the U.S. in the long term,” Chollet said. “His decisions there will be extremely important for presidents down the road.”

But Chollet also noted that Obama’s policy has not fared as well in other regions during his tenure. The U.S. continues to grapple with enemies in the Arab world, such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. And Israel, traditionally a staunch ally, has taken exception with the recent nuclear deal involving the U.S. and Iran.

“No one can look at the Middle East and be too pleased where things are,” Chollet said.

He noted, however, that there remain reasons to be confident.

“ISIS has not shown much interest in attacking Americans,” Chollet said. “There is an infrastructure [for international cooperation] that has been enhanced and improved upon in this administration.”

During his talk, Chollet fielded several questions about the evolving role of social media and its place in the policy-making sphere.

He pointed to the media coverage of the Arab Spring in Libya as an example of the rapid technological changes presented by social media, citing his experience with Twitter as a means of reporting breaking news. Chollet noted that Twitter allowed him to learn of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s fall even before the White House did.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was a proponent of increasing the role of social media as a tool for foreign policy, Chollet noted, adding that there is still a long way to go.

“We could be better. We were getting outpaced on social media by ISIS....and we haven’t shown particular effectiveness,” he said. “There’s no doubt [social media] has an impact on the way we conduct foreign policy, and there’s a way we can use it...but whether it’s changing the fundamental nature of international policy, I’m not sure.”

Chollet was joined by Peter Feaver, professor of political science and public policy, who moderated the discussion. Feaver said he came away from the event appreciating what Chollet had to offer.

“It’s rare to get somebody with the breadth of experience in the executive branch,” explained Feaver, who was formerly a special advisor on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council. “It thus gives him the ability to speak across so many issues and to see how they all intersect.”

Senior Jay Sullivan, a columnist for The Chronicle, said he enjoyed Chollet’s insights behind the scenes at the White House.

“He gave us a lot of insight into the intermediate steps of the broader things we’re now seeing the outcome of,” Sullivan said.