Welcome to the more than 1000 registered attendees at this jackson virtual discussion forum. This is the fifth of these discussions. These discussions have tapped the Exceptional Leadership in knowledge that resides in the jackson network. Today is no exception. All of our panelists today are senior fellows who teach here at yale. Our moderator today, secretary john kerry graduated from yale, and like jacksons founder, john jackson is joining us today, secretary kerry, left new haven to serve in vietnam. He then served more than two decades in the u. S. Senate before becoming the 68th secretary of state under president obama. You probably know all of that, but what you might not know is that secretary kerry continues to pay it forward, helping to train the next generation of leaders here at the Jackson Institute and across yales many schools. It is my pleasure to welcome secretary kerry. At this time, perhaps you might offer perspectives on how you assess the global ramifications of covid19, and then introduce our panelists. Thanks. Sec. Kerry well, jim, thank you very, very much, and ted, thank you for organizing this event for the Jackson Institute. Its really the underwriter of what were doing today, and its a privilege for me to take part in this with a distinguished group of diplomats, many of whom ive spent many hours with and learned from. Their capacities are extraordinary. In syria foreader a long preiod of time and hung in there until they had to leave. They were telling the truth about it. We have a great group of panelists. Ill introduce everybody shortly. 50,000 deaths today in the United States of america, and we are moving up at a disturbing rate, obviously. And we hear from the experts still, dr. Fauci and dr. Redfield and others, that were not cresting, that we have a ways to go, and that this is in fact perhaps the most infectious virus that they have ever confronted. We now have 190 countries that are recording infections. The virus has impacted 190 countries. Our president didnt know there were 180 or so, but we are heading upwards. Obviously, the Economic Impact has been catastrophic. Unlike downturns in the economy or a normal set of ebb and flow recessions or booms, this was government and private sector we had to shut down to keep people from being infected at a rate where we wouldve totally and completely overwhelmed the medical capacity of our country to respond. So, we are now seeing 26 million americans who filed for unemployment since the outbreak began. And i have read estimates and talked to people, Economic Experts, who suggest we could be at 2030 unemployment by the fall, late fall. I also hear from various experts that this is going to be with us through the year at least, and probably well beyond. Well be Wearing Masks through the year. We will certainly be challenged with respect to social distancing, and more challenged with the question of reopening our economy. We will get through this. We absolutely will get through it. But the question is going to be at what level of loss of life, at what level of chaos, that we have to rebuild from, as we will, and we are going to rebuild. What saddens me, as a former secretary of state, and somebody who believes so deeply in multilateral engagement, is the lack of Global Response to this, the lack of coordinated effort. Its been quite haphazard. Individual states and countries, our own president throwing the mantle of responsibility of leadership away from the white house and to the governors, the governors pleading for additional equipment. And for the First Time Since world war ii i want you to think about this hard the First Time Since world war ii, the United States is not leading where there is, in fact, a Global Crisis demanding leadership. To a certain degree, the world itself is adrift. We see the general secretary of the u. N. Saying a comprehensive Global Response would require 10 global gdp, and this comes at a time when we are looking at a global recession. Needless to say, there will be profound impacts. I cant protect them all, i dont know if anybody on this panel can, but they will be found impacts on all of our lives. Profound impacts conceivably on the alignment of the world, the world order in structure. For a number of years now, ive been fairly focused on the increased pressures that create a new cold war between the United States and china. And there are two schools of thought, those who believe it requires a confrontation that is inevitable, and then a school of thought that i fall into, which is it is not inevitable. Clearly diplomacy we will never know the answer to that question but the United States requires good diplomacy as a matter of principle as well as our interests. All of the major issues of our time, and there are a number of them, but there are some preeminent ones. First, obviously, im not doing these in order of the challenges that present us. But the challenges of cyber, increasingly, it will change warfare in its entirety. The coronavirus, covid19, is not the only paradigm shifter here. Cyber, for years, has been building up and the challenge is now, could make modern warfare a different animal than people are used to thinking about. I guarantee you this, i dont foresee a lot of set piece wars, and most of aircraft carriers that nations have, big ships are going to disappear in a matter of seconds if you have a real war. The fact is that with the push of a button, you can shut down financiald shutdown systems, create havoc. Certainly have it at commandandcontrol above all of the things. So, a lot of things are changing right now, folks, and we just dont have the level of diplomacy, the level of International Engagement that puts those things on the table. Beyond cyber, new their weapons, the imf treaty in tatters, the start treaty threatened, the potential of conflict, accidental or otherwise, particularly with iran and tensions created by the United States of america alone pulling out of an agreement the rest of the world was trying to keep together. I mean, when have you ever seen such a measure of chaos put in place by, fundamentally, one person . And one person who is seeing the people of equilibrium and thinking, lead, general mattis, rex tillerson, this is an absolutely extraordinary moment in our history. You have of course, global poverty, which will add other problems that we have. And then we have the problem of Global Health, pandemics were here to talk about today. And that is joined to the greatest challenge of all. Some people still want to ignore and pretend its not a challenge, its the climate crisis. I spent years working on that issue as a Lieutenant Governor when i dealt with acid rain, and as a senator in 1988, and leading all the way to now with our secretary of state and when we negotiated bringing china aboard as a partner in order to try and achieve something. So, there is a complete clash here between strategy and an ideological driven process pushing us toward conflict versus a resolution of these issues. You cannot resolve any one of those issues i just put on the table, from covid to the climate, without multilateral engagement, leadership from the United States, and china and the United States actually cooperating with each other. Everything else will not happen. So weve got to get about the business of putting that strategy back together and dealing with the realities of an interconnected world where theres a real linkage between covid19 in the climate crisis. Covid19 saw our president , at first, for a month or so, call it a democratic hoax. He still, until recent days, called the planet crisis a chinese hoax. And the threat that was over the horizon, which generals and admirals and scientists and academics, its coming at us like a ton of bricks. The crisis of covid was ignored for the longest period of time, and therefore the United States is now leading in the number of deaths and the number of people infected. What does that remind you of . It reminds me of 30 years of the attitude on climate, where it is over the horizon. And youre going to deny facts and deny evidence and ignore science. So, this is the climate within which no pun intended we come together today with a group of extremely capable, extremely experienced cohorts in this endeavor. We have 150 years of diplomatic experience with us on this panel. The high points for this extraordinary group, anne patterson, is a retired career ambassador. She was the former assistant secretary of state, ambassador to egypt, columbia, el salvador, narcotics and law enforcement, and Deputy Representative of the u. N. , and i worked with her extremely closely when she was in a number of hotspots, including most recently egypt. Robert ford, a person i particularly admire, a man of courage, who stood up to the administration and retired out of principle because he didnt agree with the policy. He was ambassador to syria. Amidst the regimes of brutal repressions. Francisco paco palmieri, formerly on leave of the service, formerly the Principal Deputy assistant secretary for the western hemisphere affairs, great expertise in latin america. Harry thomas, former ambassador to zimbabwe, philippines, served philippines and bangladesh, retired. Served also as special assistant to secretary rice when she was in the state department. David most recently served as acting ambassador to beijing, and served in other assignments served in six other Foreign Service assignments in greater china, as well as senior posts worldwide, one of our top experts. Susan morton recently retired from the state department after three decades, focused on diplomacy in southeast asia. And served as acting secretary for east asian and Pacific Affairs and led the east asia policymaking. So, let me begin, give each of you a shot to tackle this. I spoke to the profound applications of this pandemic on health, economy, security all around the world. And id like to know what each of you see as the most Significant Impact of this crisis in the regions that you served, and what you think we might be doing differently. I know youve got to try and compress that into threeminute three minutes so everybody gets a shot, but lets begin with anne patterson. Thank you, mr. Secretary. I think the first impact will be the secondary and tertiary impacts of oil prices. And let me first say i dont think we know whats going on in saudi arabia or was going on in whats going on in iran. We need to get our embassies back and open. So, what are the implications . Well, first in saudi arabia, we know that the saudis have reserves for a couple years, but we also know that the breaking point on their budget is Something Like 80 a barrel, so they will be in trouble at some point. We know that some of the other gulf countries are debt ridden. We know this is worrisome with the guestworker situation, then when they start to send these people home. And historically, the largest number of guestworkers, 10 million in saudi arabia alone, come from pakistan and egypt, which are two troubled countries. So, when these people get out of work and go home, theres not going to be anything for them. And third is there assistance. The gulf countries will not be able to provide assistance to jordan or the palestinians or gaza, or any over there any of the other places they filled in. The one that would worry me most apart from the millions of people in jordan and lebanon is has camp in syria, which 60,000 isis dependents. Is the issue there is they basically live in a space american size of an parking spot, so theyve already got a compromised immune systems. What will happen to these displaced refugee camps . In yemen, the coronavirus is about to arrive in yemen, too, and its Health System is totally destroyed. Sec. Kerry let me interrupt. Do you know what is happening with corona in the camps, particularly the big in jordan . One we dont know yet. And i think one of the worries is the International Community is not engaged in these camps because theyve all been distracted by their domestic issues. And then theres issues like algeria, which has concerned people for years, but now its dependent on oil and gas revenue. Robert ford knows better than most what will happen in situations like that. Its not entirely negative, but i think youll see at the least increased poverty and health problems, and i would predict political instability. Sec. Kerry ill come back there, but let me narrow my questions so we can get more in. And then i will come back with individual questions to others. Do you want to fill in for your region, syria and etc . I will talk a little bit about it and i think anne is right to highlight a big at risk population, which are internally displaced people and refugees. That includes countries such as syria, but also countries like yemen, iraq, lebanon, jordan. So far, the administrations response has been to provide bits of money to lebanon and to jordan to help with refugee communities in those countries. But its small money, were talking about 5 million in the case of lebanon and about 8 million in the case of jordan. And about 26 million to iraq. So, the administration is doing a little, but these are small amounts of money. Just to give the audience a sense of perspective, i just mentioned about 40 million in total for coronavirus help to lebanon, jordan, and iraq. We are spending, this year, just on u. S. Military operations in syria, not iraq, only syria, were spending over 1 billion. Thats with a b. So, the focus, i think, on policy, to deal with Climate Change and Pandemic Public Health is going to take a real reorientation of american policy and frankly, american thinking about the region. One of the things that will happen, as anne mentioned, oil prices and economic decline reverberates through the region, a lot of states are going to actually be more challenged in terms of stability. And the response is not an American Military response to help states provide Better Services to their populations. Ill stop there. Sec. Kerry do both of you, just very quickly, do both of you or either of you believe American Leadership has been further put at issue as a consequence of what china and others are saying at this point in time . And also, what they are experiencing in terms of our disengagement . Robert, you want to go first . Well, ill just say i think American Leadership has been diminishing in the middle east and north africa for more than 10 years. I think it started 20 years ago almost with the problems out of the iraq war. So thats absolutely continued. And what interesting is that while russia has intervened militarily in places like syria and more military engagement with the egyptian military, russia cant really do much to help countries address Public Health problems like a pandemic. Or Even Economic problems, oil shock. But china is upping its game, gradually. Not saying china will replace the United States in the middle east tomorrow or the next day, but i think over the longer even thinking 3, 4, 5 or 10 years, the chinese will be more present in parts of the middle east. We will have to think about how to work with them, and in some cases, how to respond when we cant work with them. Sec. Kerry thank you. Anne, he want to help with that . Yeah, i think thats true. The rise of china in the middle east has been as dramatic as it has been in other areas of the world, but its there. People say in the gulf that the chinese are everywhere now in an economic sense. The signal we sent by pulling back many Embassy Staff in the middle east, and im well aware of the Public Health issues, leaves countries to believe we are essentially not with them, and thats a secondary effect because they start to look to other players. Sec. Kerry i just commented to everybody i was at the conference which takes place in the United Arab Emirates a year and a half ago, and the russian delegation got up and made this profound and introductory statement about how literally foreignpolicy experts from around the world, that the United States was over as a leader. I mean, they stood up at this conference and said theres a new narrative. China and russia are now leading the world. The United States is now a country in decline, and this will be a century of the far east Asian Countries and russia, and not the United States. So they have been pushing this narrative actively. Let me ask david rank, and assistant secretary thorton, given this push by china to change the narrative, and their efforts very overtly by providing some of the needed materials, critical supplies, and actually publicly touting the effectiveness of their system and its ability to be able to respond to these kinds of crises versus democracies, how effective do you think thats been, and whats the impact on our prospects Going Forward . Yeah, ill go first. Thank you very much, everyone, for comments, and to be here today. Its wonderful to see everyone. It feels like old times, and it makes me happy going into the weekend. I think for the chinese, they have been pushing to try to take advantage of the pandemic, which is kind of an unusual situation where they were the first to suffer from the pandemic. They were taken aback by the kind of lack of humanitarian outpouring from the rest of the world about their plight. But now theyve managed to get they say, and now theyre bringing their economy back in gear and turning to providing equipment and goods and Technical Assistance to other countries. And this would a lot of people are talking about, is china going to come out of this pandemic in a strengthened position . And i think we can always count on the chinese to shoot themselves in the foot. They could probably have made some gains out of this pandemic, but the way in which theyre going about doing it is quite clumsy. I dont think its as effective as some people are worrying it could be. I have heard singaporeans make the point you made, secretary kerry, about two systems in competition, and in this case, the technocratic system, singapore and china have done a good job, but it doesnt explain korea and taiwan also doing a good job. So, the answer hasnt played itself out yet, and many people are looking at back and not convinced. The chinese propensity to tell people they have to write a thank you note before they can get any medical equipment is certainly backfiring around the world. So, i think their soft power efforts coming out of this are not wearing well, and theres a lot of things about the mistakes they made early on that theyll have to answer for. That said, they are opportunistic. Theyre very good at seeing where the u. S. Has left the field open. If you look at whats happening with the who, were defunding the who and china announced 50 million more dollars to the who. Theyre opportunistic but not great at translating into gains. Sec. Kerry the heavy handedness and efforts not sitting well, i would second. Theyre bringing their own workers into many of these places and that creates enormous resentment. Plus, their programs has taken over a number of courts, bankruptcies, and people see this as a chinese encouragement program. So, who knows . But i do think that we are significantly enough absent ever since we pulled out of tpp. Would you say thats been, the retreating of the United States, has itself changed the dynamics with other countries in the way theyre approaching china . Yes, absolutely. I think on the part of our allies, who i think have been treated kind of shabbily, and in the middle of this horrible negotiations with the south koreans to jack up their costsharing agreement in the middle of this crisis, they are very worried about what they feel is the u. S. Departure from the region. There are other countries and other leaders who were singing the same tune you heard from the russians when you were out in the gulf, that the u. S. Is in decline, disrepair. Even if they do not like that prospect, they are ready to have a plan b and balance the u. S. And china, thinking they cannot really count on us. So its a pretty troubling trend. Sec. Kerry richard, whats your take on the same questions . Well, my take is im mad at her because she stole all my points. [laughter] on one level, we have ceded the field, so china has opportunistically been happy to step in at a lowcost. Without us to hold them to a higher standard, china has been able to really take advantage of americas absence. Sec. Kerry different point, then, youre sensitive that theres a push taking place by many to absolutely defined china. I mean, china may ultimately be more of an opponent i dont want to use the word enemy but competitor, there are different definitions. Do you think this is helping, that covid, the whole covid reaction in china, and trumps very clear political strategy to make china take the blame . Hes now focused all energy. Whatad steve bannon, know they are thinking. But theyre really focused on china, china, china. Where will that lead us . Is that dangerous . Yes, i think its dangerous. We dont know where china is headed, and there are a number of possible futures. Were presupposing that we end up closer to that. I look at covid, in a lot of ways, as an accelerant for things that were in the works, and accelerants for American Companies that were thinking about supply chains will now think about them even more, not just because of the trade war, but well think about them even more carefully. Are we too reliant on other countries . It will accelerate worrying trends in china. Because you hear beijing talk about part of our success was our ability to monitor who theyre coming in contact with, where theyre going, and i think it will push in china of where xi jinping was going, as well. If youre a tech company, its an accelerant in a good way from a more traditional economy to a more open one. Thats pushing china in the direction they want them to go. I would say thats accelerating the real economic problems they have overhanging debt, and overdependence on the old state. Sec. Kerry but we did have, president obama put a team in President Trump pulled those people out. Isnt it obvious china can be secretive and complicated, therefore difficult to deal with sometimes, but we would be far better off with people on the ground and with a coordination process than with silence and obfuscation becoming the order of the day . Yes, it is really unfortunate that the trajectory, the timing of the last four years is the time we wound down the cdc cooperative programs, pull people out of the cdc offices in beijing where they were cold located. It is hard to do monday morning quarterbacking, but if we had 45 people in their from cdc working in the building with the chinese cdc, we certainly would have known more about what is going on than what we knew in the end. We do not know where china is going, but they are not going away. We will need to engage them one way or another. They will be a fact of life for the rest of our professional careers, and in the lives of the students in the audience as well. Sec. Kerry before the pandemic hit, nowhere more than in venezuela, and pushing colombia with refugees, so, give us your take, but is there an overall latin american dynamic or shift that might take face as a result of this, and where do you see the dangers and harm and who benefits . I think your comments about leadership at the beginning are appropriate in the western hemisphere context. These countries in latin america and the caribbean look to the u. S. For leadership. As democracies, they often follow our example. One of the things we were thinking about, when we had outbreaks earlier this decade, u. S. Diplomacy with the cdc, working with multilateral organizations like the organization of american states, we were able to have effective policy coordination, and Health Care Resources and expertise. What we are seeing now in latin america is a dual challenge of responding to this pandemic, and dealing also with what will be a serious economic fallout for the region. We benefit in this hemisphere because we do not have those kinds of problems. We have transnational problems like migration, like Transnational Criminal Organizations operating with impunity. These governments are going to be challenged to respond to the crisis while also trying to maintain and promote some kind of economic recovery coming out of this. Last year we saw a lot of political instability, a lot of protests of poverty and inequality. I think the situation in the region will be exacerbated by this pandemic, and governments i do not think we will face great instability, but governments will be held accountable and have to respond. The good news is for mostly democratic countries, people have a channel to engage. Sec. Kerry give us a sense of the order of fragility, what do you worry about most . You look at what is happening right now in mexico and brazil with the response to the pandemic, where both countrys leaders were slow to organize and marshall a response. But you also have chile, peru and ecuador in the top 25 countries and total cases. I think the challenge will be stabilizing the response to the pandemic, and then dealing with the economic fallout, engaging in political stability. I think you will continue seeing populations moving around the hemisphere, not just coming to the United States. You mentioned Climate Change, this hemisphere is one of the most afflicted by climate events, which drives a large number of migrants. We will have that problem as well on the horizon for these governments too. Sec. Kerry and what can we do with these refugees piled up on the border in colombia, and the possibility of social distancing . What if anything can the United States, can we and should we be doing to try to impact our own hemisphere, our neighbors . The venezuela problem looms large across the hemisphere because of the number sec. Kerry with maduro as corrupt as he is, is there something specifically notwithstanding republicandemocratic administrations that the United States can offer that would make a difference . Working in this regional context with other nations, keeping pressure on the maduro government to seek legitimacy through viable real elections is one potential exit for the venezuelans from the crisis they are in. But it is going to require sustained engagement and leadership, both diplomatic and in multilateral form. Sec. Kerry thank you, very helpful. We will come back. Ambassador thomas, not unusual for africa to be trailing in a certain respect. There is less travel, less movement, less opportunity for it to take hold. On the other hand they have been spared the worst of the pandemic, but africa, we all know, lacks a Strong Health care response capacity in so many places. And the consequences could be devastating if in fact the virus takes hold there. Can you speak to both of those . I know we have seen the impact of American Leadership, and the impact on the Health Crisis in the region. With president obama, i will never forget sitting in the situation room in the white house being briefed in september that we would lose a Million People in west africa and elsewhere between then and christmas of that year. President obama acknowledged we we did not know what we did not know, and sent 3500 troops over there and built a health care capacity. 11,000 people passed away. We built the capacity, there was no indication we would do that now. Buildghter trying to health care capacity, and treading if it takes hold. Dreading if it takes hold. Can you speak to where you see the virus going in terms of africa, and the challenge of africa, and what in fact u. S. Policy ought to be, if we could be more helpful preparing or avoiding. Thank you, mr. Secretary. It is great to see so many former colleagues and friends. Sec. Kerry we have a government right here, guys. [laughter] we are ready. As you said, it comes down to leadership. Secretary pompeo announced 225 million to the world, 50 million, wholly inadequate went to africa and to the world health organization. Where you are correct is the things we can do that we have done. We have been successful in africa fighting ebola with a government approach were we used the military and cdc. People were told could not social distance, could not contact trace, could not take prescription pills, can do that on a regular basis. Using the cdc to covid19 is something we need to do on a greater basis. The other challenge we have, we have seen great leadership by the president of south africa. He has learned from experience from aids, and he has been awesome. Others are weak governors, and corruption reigns. That said, we have neglected who. China put a lot of Civil Servants into who and other u. N. Organizations. It is time for us to think about giving some of our young upandcoming people jobs in these organizations, funding them properly, monitoring them properly. And at the same time we need to work with what the african countries are now, as well a southeast Asian Countries, they are waiting for assistance. By the time your daughter gets the funds, it will be too late. These things are going to explode, and we live in a world where we have many africans who study at yale and other places, and they will go home and bring this back. We are not immune. There are so many things we could do with the government approach, using our unique capabilities of our military and cdc. I could not in conclusion, we got lazy, we got fat, and we did not engage in we need to we need toge and really engage because although governments are saying they understand why we have downgraded our embassies, they are really saying, you are leading us. We need to get back. Sec. Kerry i regret to say my daughter has to go out and raise funds, but did have the participation of the peace corps, 100 doctors a year. I regret further because her last name is kerry, the Current Administration terminated that relationship. There is no rationale for doing that. We are not in the business right now of leading and engaging with other countries the way we used to. The state Department Budget is the same as it was i was there, and when hillary was there. She got the last plus up when president obama came in. Our budget was 52 billion or so, and that is for everything we do. That is for embassies, Foreign Service officers, security, travel, you name it. Russia chinas one belt, one road is a 1 trillion program in 70 countries all the way to europe. China has built railroads that go to europe, that take goods from china to europe by rail. Other people see a different world than our nation. You all as diplomats have been privy to that. Anybody feel free, if you have an observation, listeners would be happy to have everybody dig in here. I would like to ask dave, how do you see chinese strategy overall . Is china that behemoth, because of one party status, and is hellbent to be there. They want to survive, that is the first order, and to do that they have to feed the mighty beast of their economy. To do that, they have to be all over the place with contracts for longterm commodities and so forth. With commandandcontrol capacity, they call shots in ways we have been incapable of doing because we cannot pass a budget in the United States congress. Is that what is guiding china . Do they have a Larger Mission . A bigger strategy . Is the militarization component a greater concern to us . There are a lot of things china is doing that should be of concern to us. Part of what i see in china with the belt Road Initiative is a natural consequence of china getting richer, and their system follows their interests. As they are developing in africa and the middle east, so is their presence. I am not surprised or alarmed, i do not think it is a 100 year marathon to supplant the United States. It is a country of 1. 3 billion people with the gdp i am not surprised their interests are increasingly global. Sec. Kerry given the challenges we face trying to get china to help us rein in north korea, and the tibet situation, how would you play china at this point . Anybody get in on this, weigh in any time. I am going to sound the it sound like a man from another millennium. We have to be we will not win or can be well if we try to be better chinese. In other words, more authoritarian, more state involvement in the economy, directing our economies. We will do it by being better americans, emphasizing our strength, openness, democracy, 70 year history of creating International Organizations and partnerships and leading them. That is what i think the answer to the challenge from china. I think the answer by cutting ourselves off or pulling away from leadership, we are not going to be competitive, it will push us in a bad direction. One of my favorite people to work with in the state department, we had a meeting with our undersecretary, but ran apple in china. She had come from a briefing about chinese developments in artificial intelligence, and the chinese have gotten good and a areas, lot of technology but she made the point we are not going to get anywhere by trying to trip up china, by trying to focus all of our attention on undermining what china is doing and trying to reverse it, put butter on the stairs when they come down, you know . We need to make sure we are running faster because that is the only way we are going to stay ahead, and thats what the american spirit is all about. We dont try to keep other people down. We try to do better ourselves. I think thats what dave is getting at. I also dont agree with the National Security strategy, emphasis on major power, geostrategic competition. Our future challenges are going to be transnational challenges. That is what this disease is, that is what Economic Development is, that is these technologies. How are we going to find in a fork for people to do around the world when we have all this technology . Climate change obviously is a transnational challenge. These things know no borders and our emphasis now is miss placed now is misplaced on this Great Power Competition throwback to the last century and we havent made up our minds and adjusted our positioning enough to see the real future and see the real reality before us. It is very concerning, i think. What should we be doing to jack up american diplomacy and our role specifically in response to covid19 . What is your ideal of our america ought to be right now in trying to help deal with this pandemic . Mr. Secretary, first we need to get our people back out there and we need to have sufficient staff out there and we have people that know these health issues. They are just not on the scene, so to get accurate information. Sec. Kerry so get out there without waiting for curbs . Their life is risky. We cant deter American Leadership anymore and these countries need our help. The second is to coordinate to the diplomats agree with that . Does every other diplomat agree with that . Get them out there, absolutely. You have had contact with people. Fundamentally developing countries, you have to have people who know people and can get information. That is our first roll right now, accurate information. The second is organizing an International Response and i have never seen an International Response to a hurricane, an earthquake, displaced people that wasnt fundamentally led by the u. S. Embassy. That doesnt mean there are not great people in International Organizations or other embassies, but unless the American Embassy is in there pushing that process, it is not successful, so thats the key role embassies set. Finally, the coordinated u. S. Response. I remember we had an emergency in colombia. Someone told me there were 32 out centers in the u. S. Government and they are all jumbled and want to help. You need people on the ground who can coordinate the u. S. Response, as u. S. Military, cdc, intelligence, whatever the situation requires, but my point, mr. Secretary, is we have confidence in these countries. When they see the u. S. Cut and run, they think the Worlds Largest superpower isnt there, much less for us. Maybe i should cut and run soto. The psychological impact of u. S. Presence is hugely important, maybe more important than these other issues. Thats a very important statement. We could talk about that at some length, but let me follow under it by asking on our diplomats weather in the context of covid19 and its response or these other components i have mentioned in the course of our discussion, is the postworld war ii socalled liberal order at risk . I dont see anybody jumping to that. I think you look at the last major pandemic, the spanish flu of 1918. Four empires collapsed. I dont think we can take for granted that the recovery, when the world recovers from this pandemic that we will be back to the world that we knew before 2020. That doesnt mean we are doomed, but history can move in sudden shifts, and i talked about an accelerant before and i worry if we dont handle it correctly, when we come back out of this, we will be in a very different world. Handle correctly, i want to come back to that. What about the world order . Youve just asked the question my undergrads have looked at the day before yesterday, and i would just point out to colleagues on the panel and to people in the audience, there is a really interesting article by richard haas, who used to work at the state departments policy Planning Office and is now the president of the council of foreign relations. His article is in Foreign Affairs magazine last week and he made an interesting argument, which was basically the liberal world order is already having big problems before the pandemic, and the pandemic may not change everything, but it may accelerate several dynamics, several trends that are already underway. One of them is greater nationalism. Countries responding to the virus not in a collective manner as the European Union or as part of the United Nations system. Responses are largely on the national level, including that of the United States. Another trend he pointed out was that there will be new threats to globalism and reductions in global trade, so i think, mr. Secretary whatever comes out at the end of this pandemic or when it subsides substantially, the world is going to look different, but it may not look entirely different from how it looked, say, in january or february of 2020, but i think the world and in another few years is going to look even more different. Thank you. Anne . Same issue, same question. I dont think it has yes, of course, it is going to look different but i dont think we should say the implication of the question to me is always analogous time is up and i dont think that is true. I dont think the russians are desperate for us to be back there, even though they are complaining about us endlessly. No, i dont think it is over. I think it is mainly up to us and our allies whether we can sustain it in the light of this Global Crisis, and i dont think there is any reason to think we cant if we get our act together. If we get our act together. I would agree, sir. I really think this will be an opportunity for us to rethink how we are doing things. Nato, the u. N. , who. All of these organizations that have benefited the United States. We need to explain to the American People how that is done, but at the same time, lets think about how we are going to lead into the next 50 years. Artificial intelligence, as susan pointed out, the chinese are leading investment than the leading investors in the United States at that. Tpp was a great thing to show we want to hegemony not only in the military but economic influence. Why not use this imminent collapse to help african and Southeast Asian economies retold their economies retool their economies. In turkey, his time may be up soon. We are so focused on china this, china that. We need to be better at what we are as americans and leading and helping others. The United States is wellpositioned with our friends and our allies because we have shared political values and i dont think they are going to walk away from a world order just because of this pandemic. They are going to look to the United States for engagement and leadership, and how we respond once we solve the pandemic, because there are going to be deep problems. Economic problems, problems of poverty and inequality, and if american values, the generosity of the american spirit, the equity of our political system is what will hold this hemisphere together and i think ultimately is the thing that will attract people across the globe to maintain the liberal world order. You got a little next, there, but basically, david, im going to turn it over to him because we have questions from our audience, but i end this session by saying underneath what everyone of you has just said, my sense is the only way we are going to deal with these major issues i have put on the table here today is if the United States leads and i dont say that with chauvinism. There is just a reality of the role we have played since world war ii and the imperative of the richest country on the planet we are still richer than china. We are bigger by, not by double, but a bigger gdp. We have a terrific economy, obviously. Some of it focused on the wrong things, so i think we are staring at one of the greatest opportunities we have ever had and november 3 of this year is a moment for us to start taking that and the country because we have an opportunity to put people back to work and create structures with the focus and kind of work that is really going to create a virtuous Economic Cycle for us and other people, and i think the world is going to be in enough disorder at the end of this that we are going to have to challenge ourselves to see whether we are going to be prepared to play that role with the same vigor and the same vision that a generation before us did at the end of the war when they created this fundamental structure. I dont think it will all be the same, nor should it be necessarily. We have to be flexible and adapt and pretty nimble in how we move. I used to say, i know youve heard it 100 times, when i was i used to say, i know youve heard it 100 times, when i was first nominated and went before the senate, i said in todays world, Foreign Policy is Economic Policy and Economic Policy is Foreign Policy. We really have to look at the demands of climate, particularly in the new Energy Economy as the framework around which we organize ourselves and doing that, we will facilitate our response to the covid19s and other challenges and pandemics that may be coming at us. I was told the other day the covid virus has proven to be the most infectious virus they have ever encountered. That is sobering, and it is going to demand our discipline and our efforts over these next months, for sure. Ted, do you want to take off with the questions we still have . Ted sure, and thanks so much, mr. Secretary and all the panelists. We had a lot of questions coming into the feed and we will try to get to as many of them as we can in broad categories. We definitely have a lot of questions centered around what should be the goals of the state department in particular, both in washington and overseas for those ambassadors here who run a country team. How does state interact with the health and Economic Experts within its own country team . How should it be interacting in outwardly with its counterparts . How would you articulate a top three immediate priorities in this crisis . And we have so many folks here who could do this, but maybe i will start with ambassador patterson because she talked about getting the diplomats out of the embassy. We do have a few questions about that. Weve always had usaid people, cdc people. In egypt, we had a Naval Laboratory that had been there since world war ii. Theres always been a Strong Health component of american diplomacy. We have the Global Health initiative, but smaller programs too. Our job was to coordinate this and there wasnt a post i was in either as ambassador or in any other role that didnt have a strong relationship with the Health Ministry. This is pretty much standard procedure for u. S. Embassies, and now it seems like something that has happened in outer space. It has always been a huge component and weve made huge progress, particularly on Child Mortality in the last 20 years. The embassy leads this, but weve always done this sort of thing and very well, frankly. Ambassador, just to bring you in here, harry, director general of the whole Foreign Service at the state department, executive secretary, as well. What is the coordination mechanism look like or should look like across embassies in a crisis of this sort . Thank you, ted. First of all, you have to come up with a plan and the plan cannot be to run and hide. Coordinate with the u. N. And other Donor Agencies for how you are going to get ppe. Right now, we have states, cities competing against each other in the United States. The United States competing against our allies for this, so what is the plan for getting ppp out . What is that for protecting not only the americans, but our Foreign Service nationals . The backbone of our embassies . And get the world to buy into before,n, and as i said we have done this before. We did it with ebola and sars and pepfar. This can be done. It requires leadership, coordination, and funding, and the people who were against bailouts, they are not against bailouts right now, so we have to show them that helping the rest of the world will keep us safe as well as help our economy. Ted robert, did you have your hand up, as well . Yeah, i did. Maybe i am scarred by my 25 years working in arab police states, but i dont really trust the numbers that are coming out of countries like egypt or algeria or even iraq about how many cases they actually have and what the situation is, and i certainly dont believe there are only 45 coronavirus cases in syria right now, as the government says. One function of the embassy is to get an estimate, that involves outreach, the kind of thing anne was talking about, engaging people on the ground at the Health Ministry or universities to get a sense of what the government says is close to the truth or not. I dont want to call it an intelligence function, but an information function. The second things embassies have to do is figure out and explain to washington what are the priority problems and priority needs of the country where the embassy is located . Who are our partners with whom we could engage in those countries, and also give a sense to washington of what are the other resources, whether that be other bilateral donors or multilateral donors or private sector or whatever it is it is going to be hard for washington to get that. It is labor intensive. Embassies are much better at doing that. Sort of pull all of that together as a sort of here is what is needed and here is why it is needed and here are the gaps. I think you send that back to likengton and people assistant secretaries, they get the job of figuring out what are the actual priorities in terms of American National interests. Is the priority cameroon or is the priority algeria . That is not a decision that an embassy in cameroon or in algeria can make. That has to come out of washington. Can i jump in with one other thing what harry said made me think of, which what worries me about the departure of a lot of senior people from the Foreign Service is you need people who have been through it before, not been through it coronavirus epidemic, but been through a crisis and can sit down and realize, i dont have any idea what is going on here, but i have an idea of what you do when Something Like this happens. You take a deep breath, you find out people you can count on, you find out what is going on and you set up lines of communication. How the nuts and bolts of you deal with the crisis and how you get from day one to day 30 before it gets into the system. From assistant secretary perspective, and susan, you may want to chime in on this as well, i think one of the critical elements that our Embassy Country Teams bring to those of us who are back in washington, is an ability to see beyond where the soccer ball is right now in front of us and where it is going to be and that kind of embassy reporting both from the state department and other elements, helps us get our heads up and looking down the field for where we need to be 6, 12 months, two years from now and that is what i think from a washington perspective, why our embassies are such critical outlets. I admire the dexterity of taking a hockey phrase and making it about soccer. Im impressed. Ambassador thorton, do you want to comment on this . Just also, the assistant secretary perspective . We have gotten a lot of questions about what broader Regional Cooperation could look like if there is not going to be a u. S. Led or u. N. Led effort . Are there regional efforts that are greater than at least one or two countries that can be brought to bear . How would you do that from your perspective . I think what dave said about having been through a crisis before is really relevant. The question is what should the state department be doing in Something Like this. The state department and secretary kerry can speak to this eloquently, but in the situation room back in january, we would have called an International Summit meeting, probably, as we did in 2008, 2009s financial crisis. This is a multiple level crisis with health and economics both involved. It is disconcerting to see the g7, g20 and the Un Security Council all failed to come up with statements and coordinated efforts. It is very hard to see our regional organization, a Global Crisis like this being able to take the leadership. It is really the u. S. That has to do it. Itis the u. S. That has done in the past and you can see in the absence of u. S. Leadership how the International Response effort is stumbling. Thank you so much for that. Sadly, we are running to the end of our time here and i just wanted to give you, secretary kerry, an opportunity for any reflections or reactions to any of that and maybe then we will hand it back to Jim Levinsohn to close up. Thanks very much. I will just be very quick. I had the privilege of teaching at the Jackson Institute, soon to be school of global affairs. Over the course of that, we talk a lot about what is diplomacy and the tools of diplomacy. The tools of diplomacy have changed dramatically in a world of social media, globalization, and so forth. Above all, a nation has to define its interest and its values simultaneously. All of Foreign Policy is kind of a constant balance between choosing whether the values are more preeminent than the interests or whatever. Right now, ive never seen a higher need for interests being served or values by the u. S. Getting back into the job of being the leader of the free world. I say to everybody and i have said it many times as secretary, i never said it with an ounce of chauvinism or arrogance, but with humility. It is a responsibility. It is the burden of being more developed, having great technology, having really constructed this postworld war ii order and the role we played in the 20th century. There isnt one diplomat sitting here who didnt know the structure of the order of things was going to be different. Why, because china did what we wanted it to do. Developed. You can run the list of changes that have taken place because they reflect what we wanted to have happen. Nations who have grown their economies of gotten bigger and want to play a role in the world. We cannot be a country that now pretends it is the same thing it was when we were the only economy standing after world war ii. Others need to be brought to the table and i found we were able to do more when we recognized and if we were to approach the covid19 challenge with that same sense of bringing people to the table, looking for answers, letting other people play a larger role and giving credit to other people. Ronald reagan was the one who said you can get a lot done when you are willing to give other people credit. The way i think we make America First is by behaving like a country that is actually drawing people to us, not pushing them away. And i admire each and every one of the diplomats you have heard from today because they were just artists, practitioners of what they did on behalf of our country and made the world a better place and the sooner we get back to doing that, the better. Ted thank you. Over to you, jim. Think d like to thank secretary kerry. Thank you so very much for leading this, for all that you do at jackson and at yale and for our country. All of the ambassadors who have two joined us, thank you so very much. Ted, thank you for running yet another wonderful virtual discussion. To our attendees, thanks for joining us. I hope you might join us next week. We have general mattis. To all, stay well. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Take care. Cspan has roundtheclock coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. It is all available on demand at cspan. Org coronavirus. Watch white house briefings, updates from governors and state officials, track the spread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps, watch ondemand any time, unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. Washington journal primetime. A special evening addition in the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. Our guest are dr. David weiner, director of the vaccine and and you know therapy immunotherapy response. The president and ceo of the National Grocers association on how the nations Food Retailers are coping with the huge surge in demand and increasingly strict social distancing regulations. Join the conversation tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Next, we are from lawmakers and activists on how to administer safe and Fair Elections during the coronavirus pandemic. This town hall was hosted by the declaration for american democracy. I wanted to first of all thank you for what you are doing in putting everyone together like this. This is the hardest time i think