In new book, Bond embraces ‘smart power’
Missouri Sen. Kit Bond doesn’t often seem to be on message with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when it comes to foreign policy. But in his new book on Southeast Asia, the outgoing lawmaker is touting the "smart power" approach. "I believe the best defense we have against future attacks is to build strong friendships ...
Missouri Sen. Kit Bond doesn't often seem to be on message with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when it comes to foreign policy. But in his new book on Southeast Asia, the outgoing lawmaker is touting the "smart power" approach.
Missouri Sen. Kit Bond doesn’t often seem to be on message with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when it comes to foreign policy. But in his new book on Southeast Asia, the outgoing lawmaker is touting the "smart power" approach.
"I believe the best defense we have against future attacks is to build strong friendships with the moderate people and governments of the region," Bond said at a private reception held late last week to unveil the volume, entitled The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam, "We can do this — in part — by exercising Smart Power. Smart Power is using a combination of military power, and economic, diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives. Smart Power recognizes that before a person can choose his politics, he must have enough to eat, and a safe community in which to live."
Bond wrote the book, which has been in the works for five years, with unlikely coauthor Lewis Simons, a 1986 Pulitzer Prize winner. He and Bond "are about as far apart on the political spectrum as you can get," Bond said.
The fact that Bond gave credit to Simons for his contribution shows that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Clinton on everything.
Also attending the soirée were such bigwigs as Director of National Intelligence Adm. Dennis Blair, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican Richard Lugar, R-IN, U.S. Institute of Peace President Richard Solomon, Australian Amb. Dennis Richardson, and Singapore’s Amb. Chan Heng Chee.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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