So... the bottom line here is that we're not going to hear anything from the State Dept. Just from various people who called in and maybe some reactions from Brian Fonseca... In other words zero useful value. I'll post again if that changes.
Reverend Adam Phillips, Interfaith: There is value in faith-based organizations. How do we work with US religious organizations to continue to work with USAID and get budgets back to the levels of the Trump 1 administration.
Dr. Gunn, VP at Medtronic... finally getting someone off mute... foreign assistance something something foreign policy interests.... not sure what the question was...
Question from Beth Roberts at the Landesa Center for Womens Land Rights: How do we not lose America's soft power to other countries.... but they can't get her off mute....
Brian Fonseca will be the moderator. "True transformation requires disruption." These are not incremental changes but a fundamental transformation. "Let's be disruptive but deliberate... to drive real progress."
Approximately: "We need to do this with transparency. That has never been done before. Billions and billions of dollars have circulated within Washington. Now there will transparency as never before and the forgotten taxpayer will be forgotten no more."
Pete is listing projects that sound bad. Circumcisions. Independent journalists who create radical ideas. Transgender shows that encourage migration in Central America. Something about Johns Hopkins. "There are investments that can be made that have value... We need to articulate that value back to America..."
Brian Fonseca is Director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and an adjunct professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University’s (FIU) Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. He is the founding Executive Director of Cybersecurity@FIU, FIU's university-wide interdisciplinary emerging preeminent program. Brian also serves as a Cybersecurity Policy Fellow and International Security Fellow at the D.C.-based think tank New America. His analysis has been featured in local, national, and international media and he serves as the on-air political analyst for South Florida’s WSVN-Fox News. Brian has testified before the U.S. Congress in 2019 and 2021. His recent publications include two edited volumes titled Culture and National Security in the Americas (Lexington Books, 2017) with Eduardo A. Gamarra and Democracy and Security in Latin America (Routledge, 2021) with Orlando Perez and Gabriel Marcella, and he is co-author of The New US Security Agenda: Trends and Emerging Threats (Palgrave, 2017) with Jonathan Rosen. Brian's technical expertise and publications focus largely on U.S. and Latin American governance, national security, and foreign policies, with particular focus on Venezuela, China, Russia, and cyberspace. Brian joined FIU after serving as the Senior Research Manager for Socio-Cultural Analysis at United States Southern Command’s Joint Intelligence Operations Center South (JIOC-S). Brian holds degrees in International Business and International Relations from Florida International University in Miami, Florida, and attended Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, and National Defense University in Washington D.C. From 1997 to 2004, he served in the United States Marine Corps and facilitated the training of foreign military forces in both hostile theaters and during peacetime operations.
Oh wait! AMAZING STATEMENT FROM KOURTNEY POMPI ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND GOVERNANCE! (No response from State.)
So... the bottom line here is that we're not going to hear anything from the State Dept. Just from various people who called in and maybe some reactions from Brian Fonseca... In other words zero useful value. I'll post again if that changes.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/20/g-s1-49896/trump-far-right-extremist-media
And is that Lara Logan who used to be a journalist calling into this to accuse people of crimes?
Reverend Adam Phillips, Interfaith: There is value in faith-based organizations. How do we work with US religious organizations to continue to work with USAID and get budgets back to the levels of the Trump 1 administration.
Questions about the value of farm aid to address insecurity and how that relates to US security... but no responses.
Dr. Gunn, VP at Medtronic... finally getting someone off mute... foreign assistance something something foreign policy interests.... not sure what the question was...
Joyce Harris.... can't get her off mute either.... How will US provide support to humanitarian programs in developing countries....
Moving to a question from a Nuclear Regulatory Agency: How will State support projects that enable strategic energy exports?
Question from Beth Roberts at the Landesa Center for Womens Land Rights: How do we not lose America's soft power to other countries.... but they can't get her off mute....
Brian Fonseca will be the moderator. "True transformation requires disruption." These are not incremental changes but a fundamental transformation. "Let's be disruptive but deliberate... to drive real progress."
Approximately: "We need to do this with transparency. That has never been done before. Billions and billions of dollars have circulated within Washington. Now there will transparency as never before and the forgotten taxpayer will be forgotten no more."
Pete is listing projects that sound bad. Circumcisions. Independent journalists who create radical ideas. Transgender shows that encourage migration in Central America. Something about Johns Hopkins. "There are investments that can be made that have value... We need to articulate that value back to America..."
Pete Marocco speaking now...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/pete-marocco-usaid-jan-6-1235256698/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/14/marco-rubio-usaid-pete-marocco/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/01/peter-marocco-trump-usaid
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/22/usaid-dissent-memo-trump-420153
Brian Fonseca is Director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and an adjunct professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University’s (FIU) Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. He is the founding Executive Director of Cybersecurity@FIU, FIU's university-wide interdisciplinary emerging preeminent program. Brian also serves as a Cybersecurity Policy Fellow and International Security Fellow at the D.C.-based think tank New America. His analysis has been featured in local, national, and international media and he serves as the on-air political analyst for South Florida’s WSVN-Fox News. Brian has testified before the U.S. Congress in 2019 and 2021. His recent publications include two edited volumes titled Culture and National Security in the Americas (Lexington Books, 2017) with Eduardo A. Gamarra and Democracy and Security in Latin America (Routledge, 2021) with Orlando Perez and Gabriel Marcella, and he is co-author of The New US Security Agenda: Trends and Emerging Threats (Palgrave, 2017) with Jonathan Rosen. Brian's technical expertise and publications focus largely on U.S. and Latin American governance, national security, and foreign policies, with particular focus on Venezuela, China, Russia, and cyberspace. Brian joined FIU after serving as the Senior Research Manager for Socio-Cultural Analysis at United States Southern Command’s Joint Intelligence Operations Center South (JIOC-S). Brian holds degrees in International Business and International Relations from Florida International University in Miami, Florida, and attended Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, and National Defense University in Washington D.C. From 1997 to 2004, he served in the United States Marine Corps and facilitated the training of foreign military forces in both hostile theaters and during peacetime operations.
On screen now: Brian Fonseca. https://sipa.fiu.edu/people/staff/profiles/jack-gordon-institute/brian.fonseca.html