terrorism. terrorist entities don't really go away just because you put a bunch of tanks on the battlefield or lunch a bunch of air strikes. any military commander will tell you it's going to take more than that. you heard general mattis back when he was on active duty just a moment ago say this very thing. if he doesn't have a state department, he has to buy more bullets. what you are really talking about in this letter is the notion, i think, that things like the state department, agencies like usaid, the agency for international development, even the peace corps. u.s. embassies around the world. their essential function to some extent is conflict prevention because diplomacy is talking about to foreign governments. diplomacy is about being there in places like afghanistan. having a presence that is n