People to radicalize and carry out Violent Attacks in europe. The Hearing Committee is just over 2 20. This is what it is like to be chopped liver. [ laughter ] the subcommittee will come to order. Our hearing today is on the causes and consequences of violent extremism in the role of foreign assistance. I would like to welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses, deputy secretary of state, antony blinken, bono, from u 26, former allied commander in Europe James Jones and president of the jones group international. And kelly clements, deputy United NationsCommittee Member for refugees. Ill make a short Opening Statement and let senator leahy do the same and well have a second round. Number one, this was a good day for photographers. I hope you got a good shot, there. Ive just gotten back from my 30something trip to the region. I had the pleasure of being in turkey with bono and egypt. And each person here is tasked in their own way of trying to inform the congress in making policy decisions to deal with what i think is a crisis that you either pay now or you pay later. To the American People, we cannot ignore this. The goal is for people to stay at home and not come here, not go to europe, but stay in syria. You name the country, they dont have to leave. The reality is the average refugee has been displaced from their home for 17 years. In turkey, we met people in a camp, preschoolers that were four years old. Most of them were born in the camp. I could not tell them when they would get to go home. If the war in it syria ended tomorrow, it would be a nightmare to reconcile syria, but that day, i hope, is coming and well have to deal with that problem. The idea of humanitarian assistance is absolutely necessary because some of these people are without food and water and shelter. It is in our National Security international and i think general jones will tell us to get ahead of this problem before it turns into the Jihadist Army of the future. But the humanitarian air has to be looked at in terms of reality. There is an op ed piece today by bono in the New York Times that i would recommend you read it. But it talks about the dilemma of humanitarian air in developmental assistance. When you realize that most of the kids and their parents are not going back home any time soon, what kind of skillset should they possess to make them viable human beings in the country where they are going to live for a while . And if they ever do go back to their home what, do they bring back . Every day that goes by that a kid is not educated in one of the camps and most of them are not in camps, they are in the cities of the country that theyve been displaced to. In turkey, the government of turkey has been extraordinary payment and making payments, and free health care, our friends in jordan are completely overrun. In lebanon there are more syrian children than lebanese children. To think that will not affect us is naive. To think there is no solutions well that is just yong. To think it is easy, is just crazy. So here is the deal. Im going to work with senator leahy and the members of this committee to put together an emergency relieve package and if you dont think this is a emergency, i welcome the contest, i welcome the debate. This is 1 of the federal budget and in the cost of world events it is tremendously under siege and i dont want to take money away from pet far or money away from malaria or the peace corp. Im not going to take money away from embassy security. So what do we do . We have to recognize we have an emergency on our hand and come up with a longterm strategy and it has to be worlddriven, not United Statesdriven. In the op ed piece i referenced bono suggested that now is the time to think big. I could not agree more. We know in the past that radicalized populations were turned around. Germany and japan were radicalized. The marshal plan did work. Out of that effort we have two stable democracies that are allies. The difference is the war is still going on and we dont have an occupation force. Radical islam is spreading its wings all over the mideast and throughout africa and the question for this committee, the country and the world, is how do you destroy radical islamic extremist and other radical ideologies. General jones will tell us about the limitations of military power. Mr. Blinken will tell us about the limitations of diplomacy and mr. Bono will talk about the possibilities of the private sector joining with the government to give people hope that have none now. Im pretty hawkish fella but ive learned a long time ago, about 30 trips ago, you are not going to win this war by killing terrorists. It is a small schoolhouse educating a poor young girl that, will do more damage to the radical islamic extremist than any bomb you could drop on their head. We have schoolhouses here at home in domestic repair and we have 19 trillion in debt and im sorry the world is not more convenient in terms of back here at home. I do not ignore South Carolina when i say we need to spend money over there. I tell people back home, either we invest over there, or theyre coming here. 9 11 is becoming a distant memory, but not for me. The money this country spent just on the money side after the attacks of september 11th, 2001 is north of a trillion dollars. The two wars of afghanistan and iraq is about a trillion and a half. We could argue about how we spent the money, should we have spent the money but we are where we are. Now im not here, tony, to argue with you about syrian policy im here to find a way to go forward to use what is called soft power to supplement a military strategy. And i would conclude with this. To our ngo community, you could do just as many good as any battalion of soldiers because without your assistance on the ground trying to give people hope nothing will ever change. To take the land from the enemy is one thing. To hold it is another. That is where we come in. For a fraction of what we spent in the past, if we do it widely through a worldwide effort, i think we could turn this around before it is too late. If we do nothing, i know exactly what is going to happen. Some of our friends are going to fall. And the people in these camps today are going to be our enemies. So you have two choices when it comes to these young people. Get involved in their lives now, or fight them later. I choose to get involved in their lives now. And let them do the fighting later. Because without their help, we will never win this war. So i want to thank each member of the panel that has come to share with you share with us your vision of how to move forward. To this subcommittee, i think we have a great opportunity with a modest amount of money to make a huge difference. I intend to do that. But i cannot do it without your buyin, without your support and without your advice. Times are tough at home. But when you go to when you go to the refugee camps and you visit the mideast, you know it could be worse. Senator leahy. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate the fact that youre holding this hearing. I also appreciate the four witnesses. They each bring unique perspectives on challenges. I once introduced bono at an event and said that there are millions of people who never know your name, never be able to purchase your music or go to one of your shows. All they know is their life is better because of the work youve done. And you havent stopped since that time. Youve focused the worlds attention on poverty in africa. The very tangible ways we could dramatically improve the lives of millions of people. And your children are able there to be with you because i know they share strongly in your great commitment. General jones is one of the most distinguished public serve aban know. I know him from way back when i think he was a major, long before he became fourstore, before his commandant, long before he was our head of nato. He has this long and distinguished career. But ive also heard general jones say so many times, as important as military force is, it is no substitute for diplomacy and development. And the general has been concerned about africa and where we are long before this hearing. And general, i admire you for that. And deputy high commissioner clements is no stranger to us here. Shes worked on refugee issues at the state department, the United Nations for i think over 25 years, if im correct. It seems that every time weve had you here, youve been involved. And i appreciate it. And then i could take a list of 40 issues, and secretary blinken is involved in every one of the 40, with expertise on those issues. That has been helpful not only to those of us here in the senate, but i know from president and others, it has been helpful to them. We look at the horrific crimes committed by groups like isil and boko haram. Now we can, as chairman, youve said and others have, limit the territory control of of these areas by use of force but well not defeat terrible ideas by bombs. And i think our foreign aid programs cant substitute for Government Policies and strategies in places like the middle east and north africa, which must promote stability and opportunity. They have to protect fundamental freedoms. If they dont, then they dont have a real counter to terrorist recruitment and those policies and strategies in that area are often lacking. Now, weve supported wide range of programs to address these issues and these threats, include economic and social development and so on. But spending more money is not going to do it. We have to do better. We have to know the underlying causes. So that is why i want to hear from everybody here. I have an article written general zinni and the letter to the appropriations committed signed by 14 former colleagues including friston dashel and i ask for those to be part of the record. And while i will also do this on the floor, i would ask that the op ed piece that bono wrote in todays new york time be made part of the record. Without objection. Because they talk about the development of diplomacy and how we need that to combat terrorism. So its i mention these things because you have a republican and a democrat from different political backgrounds and we have worked together on these issues for years and years. I was almost going to say way back to when i had hair but you werent born then. Well im catching up with you on the hair part. But the thing is, give us the idea of what to do and well try to do it. Thank you very much, senator leahy. General jones, when it comes to what to do, youre a military man and made a distinguished career and could you tell us why you support this economic assistance, foreign assistance in general from a Military Point of view . Mr. Chairman, thank you and members of the committee, senator leahy, thank you very much for this invitation to testify today. I commend your leadership on a matter of great importance to our interest in the future of the human enterprise. Im very honored to be here with our fellow witnesses who devoted much of their lives to the cause of Human Development, peace and stability. Secretary blinken and i go back a long way to his days in the senator Foreign Relations committee and the National Security council and i would like to publicly recognize the tremendous work hes doing over at the state department. From personal observation, there is no more passionate thoughtful and informed and effective advocate for development in security than bono. May many live peaceful lives because of tis work and the efforts of this committee. And i thank you for that and congratulate you bono. You have my full statement mr. Chairman and with your permission ill summarize briefly. During my military service, our National Security was defined by the struggle against communism and the soviet military threat. Security was expressed in the calculation of trip strength and weapons county and nuclear throwaway. Todays threats are more diverse and more complex than those we face in the bipolar world we left behind in the 20th century. They include the likes of cancerous terrorists and criminal enterprise, failing states and conflict triggering massive refugee flows, grave Natural Resource threats and the ongoing battle for hearts and minds between the forces of maternity and those of hate and intolerance. These challenges are synergistic and extreme. And yet so are the importants created by positive trends in the march of human advancement. But if our future is to be defined by our opportunities rather than the threats it demands, then i stress demands, far deeper conception and understanding of national and interNational Security, one less reliant on reaction, and far more focused on anticipation and even prevention, one that centers on disarming the root causes and major multiplies of conflict and instability and one that in the long run is much less costly than what we practice today. Viewed through that lens, what comes in a sharp focus in my view, is that the premier strategic threat to Global Security and to our own is not any single country or ideology or any single weapon. It is human need. The unsatisfied demands for life basics, including food, energy, water, dignity, and a Better Future for masses living on the edge. And as i understand it, the purpose of this it hearing is to examine the causes and consequences of violent extremism. For many extremist leaders, the attraction to islam is born from selfish power. Others find their attraction in depraved request for belonging and for multitudes the simple motivation is sus continuance, fear and co ergs, but what is clear is that bank on leveraging human want and desperation for their own purposes, they seek to exploit human misery in the pursuit of scale. A scale, that scale and with increasing access to sophisticated weaponry, violent extremism as a great a threat to global prosperity, including our own, as any state power. I have long felt that the United States and United Nations have a deep moral obligation and selfinterest to end the plague of isis, boko haram and their ilk. Defeating this threat has a military element associated with it. But defeating radicalism strategically requires a far broughter tool kit and that is where we are in our likeminded allies and collective foreign assistance play the most crucial role. U. S. Foreign assistance has produced great achievements over the last century to alleviate extreme poverty and respond to natural disasters and human emergencies. The return on investment in global influence and National Security is enormous. The key now is investing our resources more wisely to leverage the full spectrum of u. S. And allies capability to defeat violent extremism and what gives it oxygen in the most vulnerable places on earth. It seems to me we must realign our strategy to face todays threats the same day we calibrated to defeat the dark isms with organization such as the 1947 National Security act and the 1986 goldwater nickels legislation. We need Global Development and a counter Extremism Campaign that is as sophisticated and passionate and resourced as any fight we have taken on in our history and designed and resourced as if the future depends on it because it does. I would submit that such a framework must be guided by four principles. One, the battle plan must recognize that stability in the 21st century is a complex ecosystem. And integrated symphony of security, government and Good Governance rootsed in the rule of law. Our foreign engagement and assistance programs should be sin thesed to cooperate the threeco efficients in concert. And two, we must integrate the public and private sector. You could not substitute for Economic Growth and employment fueled by privatesector investment. Three, many t must recognize it must recognize that the threats of lack of education, food and energy and water and secure to stability. Lack of access to these resources is a major driver of poverty, conflict and extremism. That means everything we do, our diplomacy, practices and innovations must be promoting wise stewardship requires to sustain human well being. And four it must engage the whole interagency and the whole of society and our alliances to deliver Security Development and governance assistance that changes peoples lives. In essence, these are the pillars of a refugee and state failure prevention strategy. They are the arsenal that will cause the lasting defeat of radicalism, maintain u. S. Influence in a needy world and assure the trial um of of our principals and values. In this century as it was in the last, it will require American Leadership at its best. We can and we must and i believe we will rise to the extreme challenge as the opportunities in a young and hopeful century. With your approval, mr. Chairman, i would like to submit three documents for the committees consideration. One is an article from the Atlantic Council task ahead publication on modernizing Global Engagement. The second brief is a relevant ngo initiative on the topic and the third is a recently a recent speech i gave on water security. Please except my deepest appreciation to the committee and my fellow witnesses for devotion for the cause of Global Security development and security. It is the mission of our time and it is a cause for the ages. Thank you, sir. Thank you, general. And i will recognize senator purdue is here. He was on our last trip to thank you for coming, senator, purdue. Mr. Blinken. Mr. Chairman, as a want to be musician, i could only dream of one day opening for bono. So thank you and thank you to the Ranking Member for making that dream come true. It is not the verizon center, but ill take it. [ laughter ] and thank you, more seriously, for having all of us here today.