Special Briefing Skipper: Hillary Clinton headed to Haiti
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of Friday’s briefing by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: Clinton will travel to Haiti with USAID administrator Rajiv Shah Saturday to meet with President Preval, other members of the Haitian government, and leaders of ...
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of Friday’s briefing by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
- Clinton will travel to Haiti with USAID administrator Rajiv Shah Saturday to meet with President Preval, other members of the Haitian government, and leaders of the U.S. government team on the ground
- "We will also be conveying very directly and personally to the Haitian people our long-term, unwavering support, solidarity and sympathies, to reinforce President Obama’s message yesterday that they are not facing this crisis alone," she said.
- Clinton will be taking in some supplies and people to leave there and returning with some people who want to be evacuated, she said.
- She has spoken with a number of foreign ministers and all have pledged to help. There will probably be an international donors conference, organized by the UN, but "We have to get through this first initial period," she said.
- Clinton expressed appreciation that Cuba decided to open up its airspace to allow relief flights to cross their territory.
- As part of her effort not to use up relief assets, she won’t be leaving the airport area. The Haitains signed a memorandum of understanding granting the U.S. control of the airport area for the time being.
- State has raised over $10 million from over $1 million separate donors through its SMS texting Haiti relief campaign. "Please keep texting "HAITI," H-A-I-T-I to 90999, where $10 will be charged to your cellphone," she said.
- Americans can search for information on family and friends in Haiti by using the new people finder at www.state.gov/haitiquake.
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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