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Foreign Policy Update

United Arab Emirates

The State Department announced this week the initiation of “The Strategic Dialogue,” which was developed to enhance bilateral ties and solidify the strategic partnership between the US and the UAE. The launch of the inaugural Strategic Dialogue demonstrates “Emirati and American resolve to advance efforts to promote regional stability and cooperation as partners in peace,” according to Department officials. It will cover a number of key areas, from political coordination and defense cooperation to economic and cultural exchange, with the broad aim of advancing mutual policy interests, solving regional issues, promoting tolerance, and countering extremism.

Myanmar

The United States announced nearly $200 million in additional humanitarian assistance provided in Fiscal Year 2020 for Rohingya refugees, host communities in Bangladesh and other countries in the region, and internally displaced Rohingya and other crisis-affected communities in Mayanmar, including those who fled ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State. The United States remains the most generous financial donor to the Rohingya crisis response to date.

China and Russia Cyber Challenges

“The emergence of a new era of great power competition has raised the stakes in the cyber arena,” according to Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Ashley Ford. Adding to the problems we already faced from cyber criminality, Ford said the US now also must address a “new layer of geopolitical threat from the revisionist powers of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia.” These are states that Ford pointed out as using cyber tools to steal technology to build up their military capabilities, to prepare for devastating attacks upon our critical infrastructure in the event of crisis or conflict, to carry out disruptive cyber attacks aimed at destabilizing our allies and partners, and to influence and manipulate our electoral processes.  

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Last year Secretary of State Pompeo  notified Congress of the Department’s intention to spend $20.8 million to create a new Bureau for Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET).  Although the Department has staff working on cyber issues it still is waiting for Congress to approve the plan it submitted in May 2019.

Earlier this week the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced criminal charges against six officers of the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s (GRU) Military Unit 74455, once again  highlighting Russia’s continuing disruptive, destructive, and destabilizing activities in cyberspace. The DOJ and FBI joint statement said: “this Russian military intelligence unit unleashed some of the most destructive malware the world has seen… and [has] caused billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.” 

Human Trafficking

On Monday Secretary Pompeo led the third meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which includes 20 agencies across the federal government.

This year’s Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons was presented to A21 North Carolina for its work to reduce vulnerability and provide essential aftercare services to survivors, and to the Navajo Nation for its leadership in preventing and combating human trafficking in Native communities. Covid-19 restrictions means that groups involved in stopping human trafficking have been restricted in their activities in 2020, making it harder to help. In the coming months, a new Department initiative in human trafficking will provide up to $3.5 million in foreign assistance funds to support organizations operating in rapidly changing environments and facing the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19.

“The State Department’s largest anti-trafficking program – the Program to End Modern Slavery – is a step closer to helping us understand the magnitude of human trafficking” according to a statement from Secretary Pompeo. He added that the Department will continue to “strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party’s egregious practice of forced labor, among other human rights abuses, as part of its campaign of repression against Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Xinjiang, and throughout China… This horrific crime cannot continue to threaten the safety of communities and individuals, and we will push forward in defeating it.”