Big Personalities Join Obama Foreign-Policy Team
President-elect Says He Will Set Agenda
The interplay between the outsized personalities on President-elect Barack Obama’s national-security team and his ability to set the agenda looks likely to be a key undercurrent of his entry onto the global stage.
Obama’s First Test?
Developments in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India pose new challenges for the still forming Obama foreign-policy team. The Karzai government has unilaterally moved to wind down its conflict with the Taliban, new leaders in Islamabad are sending mixed signals and the assault in Mumbai could inflame India-Pakistan tensions. The new president could face hard choices.
5 Foreign-Policy Posts to Watch
President-elect Barack Obama’s top appointments shouldn’t be ignored, but here are crucial sub-cabinet jobs critical to the success of his foreign-policy agenda.
Gitmo Prisoners Pose Thorny Problem for Obama
Closing Guantanamo and ending the military commissions is the easy part. It’s what to do with the people imprisoned there that’s already presenting a political problem for the president-elect and his new administration.
Recasting the War on Terrorism
Liberal groups see a successful counterterrorism strategy doing more than ending torture, closing Guantanamo Bay, restricting CIA interrogation practices and curbing domestic spying. It must restore America’s moral stature in the world, and one way to do that is help resolve Arab-Israeli conflicts. The new administration seems receptive to the need for change.
Welcome Back Lieberman
The Connecticut independent’s support for the Iraq war and his tireless campaigning for McCain made a lot of enemies in his former party. But when Democrats are close to a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, bygones will be bygones.
A $50-Billion Warship Mystery
While costly, the ship was the linchpin in the sea service’s advanced strategy to patrol and fight in the most dangerous shallow sea lanes, known as littorals. Think Iraq’s national waters, where the country’s two oil terminals are located. But the Navy suddenly killed the weapon program. The explanation has pleased no one — especially Congress.
Faith and the Uniform
Two atheistic groups and a lawsuit call on Washington to end its sanction of religion in the military. Critics decry this as an attack on a venerable tradition. But the blend of martial and spiritual in the armed forces is largely the residue of the fight again communism in the late 1940s and 1950s. What will the Obama administration do?
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