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Secretary Seeks to Define Approach
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
BY CHIP SOMODEVILLA — GETTY IMAGES
Endeavour takes off from Cape Canaveral after weeks of delays.
SPACE SHUTTLE
Endeavour Launched On Sixth Attempt
After more than a month’s delay, the space shuttle Endeavour and seven astronauts thundered into orbit Wednesday on a flight to the international space station. Success came on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the liftoff of man’s first moon landing. Endeavour blasted off a little af- ter 6 p.m. from its seaside pad — the same one used to launch Apol- lo 11 on July 16, 1969. The shuttle was hit at least two or three times by pieces of foam in- sulation that came off the external fuel tank during liftoff, said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s space op- erations chief. Mission Control told the astronauts that the dam- age looked to be less extensive than what had occurred on the last shuttle mission.
— Associated Press
DEFENSE SPENDING
Investigators Raid Fla. Firm’s Offices
Federal investigators raided Wednesday the offices of a Florida defense firm that has supplied tens of millions of dollars in life support and emergency equipment to the military and the U.S. space shuttle program.
Conax Florida, located in St. Pe- tersburg, won its most sizable De-
The Obama administration is at- tempting to build a “multi-partner world” in which governments and private groups work collectively on common global problems and in which the United States does not shun dialogue with its adversaries, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday.
fense Department contract last year for $34 million for life support equipment.
Conax received two defense ear- marks last year, worth $6.4 mil- lion, to provide restraint equip- ment. Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R- Fla.) steered the earmark to the firm, which is based in his district. Conax also received a $3.4 mil- lion earmark, in 2005, for life-vest inflators for the Navy; budget rec- ords did not identify which mem- ber of Congress sponsored the project.
An official with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service said the agency executed a search war- rant for corporate records as part of an ongoing investigation but de- clined to elaborate. Also involved in the search were the Naval Crim- inal Investigative Service, Immi- gration and Customs Enforce- ment, and the offices of inspectors general with the Air Force, NASA and the Defense Department.
— Carol D. Leonnig
»Calif.’s Chu Wins Special Elec- tion in House: Democrat Judy
Chu won a special election in Cali- fornia late Tuesday, claiming the U.S. House seat vacated by Rep. Hilda L. Solis, who resigned to be- come President Obama’s labor sec- retary. Chu defeated her cousin by marriage, Republican Betty Chu. She will be sworn in Thursday, giv- ing Democrats a 256 to 178 edge over Republicans in the House.
— From News Services
“Our approach to foreign policy must reflect the world as it is, not as it used to be,” Clinton said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. “It does not make sense to adapt a 19th-century concert of powers or a 20th-century balance-of- power strategy. We cannot go back to Cold War containment or to uni- lateralism. . . . We will lead by in- ducing greater cooperation among a greater number of actors and reduc- ing competition, tilting the balance away from a multi-polar world and toward a multi-partner world.” Clinton’s half-hour speech, billed by the State Department as a “major foreign policy address,” was intend- ed to provide the intellectual frame- work for the administration’s nas- cent foreign policy. President Oba- ma has sketched out key themes in a series of high-profile speeches over- seas, and Clinton has tackled indi- vidual issues such as policy toward China or India, but this was her first substantive attempt to define her ap- proach to the world since her confir- mation hearings. Moreover, as with any new ad- ministration, the president has dom- inated the headlines and set the overall course for foreign policy. The high-profile speech, coming around the administration’s six-month mark, also reflected nervousness among Clinton’s staff that she has faded from public attention since she broke her elbow last month. She was forced to cancel two overseas trips but will depart today on a week-long journey to India and Thailand.
Clinton reached little new ground on various policies, such as Iran and
» National Security
For the latest on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and on developments at the Pentagon, go to washingtonpost.com/nationalsecurity.
Clinton: U.S. Urges ‘Multi-Partner World’
S
Thursday, July 16, 2009 A3
BY BRENDAN HOFFMAN — BLOOMBERG
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton intended to provide the intellectual framework for U.S. foreign policy.
the Middle East peace process, but instead devoted substantial atten- tion to explaining how she is going to take various goals set by the presi- dent, such as eliminating nuclear weapons and combating climate change, and seek to deliver results by reaching out beyond govern- ments to private groups and individ- uals. In many ways, the speech was a rebuttal to calls from some foreign policy experts that the United States lead a group of great powers to man- age the world.
“No nation can meet the world’s challenges alone. The issues are too complex. Too many players are com- peting for influence: from rising powers to corporations to criminal cartels; from NGOs [nongovern- mental groups] to al-Qaeda; from state-controlled media to individu- als using Twitter,” Clinton said. “Most nations worry about the same global threats, from nonprolifera- tion to fighting disease to counter- terrorism, but also face very real ob- stacles for reasons of history, geog- raphy, ideology and inertia.” Clinton said that “these two facts demand a different global architec- ture — one in which states have clear incentives to cooperate and live up to their responsibilities, as well as strong disincentives to sit on the sidelines or sow discord and di- vision.”
Clinton, whose schedule overseas
is often chockablock with town hall meetings and other outreach to ordi- nary citizens, said the administra- tion “will reach out beyond govern- ments, because we believe partner- ships with people play a critical role in our 21st-century statecraft.” She also pledged her “personal commitment” to building closer ties with what she described as “major and emerging global powers”: Chi- na, India, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, In- donesia and South Africa.
Clinton’s language stood in con- trast to the oft-quoted remark of the last secretary of state in President Bill Clinton’s administration, Mad- eleine Albright, who dubbed the United States “the indispensable na- tion,” and also the unilateral ten- dencies of the first administration of President George W. Bush. But Hil- lary Clinton’s speech also built on themes advanced by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2006 and 2008, when she called for “transformational diplomacy.” “Transformational diplomacy is rooted in partnership, not in pater- nalism,” Rice said at Georgetown University in 2006. “In doing things with people, not for them, we seek to use America’s diplomatic power to help foreign citizens better their own lives and to build their own na- tions and to transform their own fu- tures.”
But Clinton also offered a forceful
defense of the administration’s out- reach to Iran and Syria, two coun- tries that Rice largely shunned as secretary. “We cannot be afraid or unwilling to engage. Yet some suggest that this is a sign of naiveté or acquies- cence to these countries’ repression of their own people. I believe that is wrong,” Clinton said. “Negotiations can provide insight into regimes’ calculations and the possibility — even if it seems remote — that a re- gime will eventually alter its behav- ior in exchange for the benefits of ac- ceptance into the international com- munity.”
Clinton reaffirmed the adminis- tration’s interest in engaging Iran in the wake of the disputed election re- sults and despite being “appalled” by the government’s crackdown on dis- sent. “Neither the president nor I have any illusions that dialogue with the Islamic republic will guarantee success of any kind, and the pros- pects have certainly shifted in the weeks following the election,” Clin- ton said. But she said it is important to talk directly with Iran to frame the possibilities of cooperation — or isolation over its nuclear program. Clinton also warned Tehran that an offer of talks would not remain long on the table. “The time for ac- tion is now,” she said. “The opportu- nity will not remain open indefi- nitely.”
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