mitt romney plan

7/31/2019 Mitt Romney Plan

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Nat ional Defense

American military power is vital to the preservation of our own security and peace around the world.Twice in the 20th century, the United States was compelled to come to the rescue of Europe when itwas engulfed in war. And it was American military power that enabled the United States after World WarII to stand in opposition to brutal and aggressive Communist dictatorship. It was American fortitude andpower that turned around the Soviet missiles on their way to Cuba. It was American resolve and powerthat helped to liberate the captive nations of Eastern Europe and precipitate the collapse of the USSR. Itis America today that patrols the global commons and keeps them safe for trade and commerce. It isAmerica today that is working to extinguish terrorism around the world. A weak America, an America in

decline, an America that retreats from its responsibilities, would usher in an era of uncertainty anddanger, first for the United States but also for all those everywhere who believe in the cause of freedom.

OBAMA'S FAILUREPresident Obama came into office with a military in serious need of modernization. However, instead ofrebuilding our strength, President Obama has put us on course toward a hollow force. PresidentObama has repeatedly sought to slash funds for our fighting men and women, and over the next tenyears nearly $1 trillion will be cut from the core defense budget. This budget cutting enterprise isproceeding while American troops are in combat in Afghanistan, returning from their mission in Iraq, andfighting the remnants of al Qaeda worldwide.

The Obama administrations cuts have left us with a military inventory largely composed of weaponsdesigned forty to fifty years ago. The average age of our tanker aircraft is 47 years, of strategic bombers34 years. While the weapons in our arsenal remain formidable, they are well along on the path toobsolescence. Along with the aging process, there has been a precipitous decline in sheer numbers.The U.S. Navy has only 284 ships today, the lowest level since 1916. Given current trends, the numberwill decline, and the additional contemplated cuts will cause it to decline even further. Our navalplanners indicate we need 328 ships to fulfill the Navys role of global presence and power projection indefense of American security. Our Air Force, which had 82 fighter squadrons at the end of the ColdWar, has been reduced to 39 today. President Obama has cut funding for national missile defense.

The Obama administration is seeking to reap a peace dividend when we are not at peace and whenthe dangers to our security are mounting. This flies directly in the face of conclusions from the bipartisanPerry-Hadley Commission set up by Congress in 2010. Even before Congress had adopted its latestround of cuts and even before President Obama had proposed yet deeper cuts, the Commissionwarned that: [t]he aging of the inventories and equipment used by the services, the decline in the sizeof the Navy, escalating personnel entitlements, overhead and procurement costs, and the growingstress on the force means that a train wreck is coming in the areas of personnel, acquisition, and forcestructure. There is a price to strength, but a greater price to weakness, because weakness temptsaggression.

An additional factor must be considered. The men and women of Americas military are among thefinest who have ever served any nation at any time. They are all volunteers; they have all chosen todedicate their careers in the service of their country. Many have spent more time in Iraq andAfghanistan over the last ten years than they have spent at home. Thousands of them went overseas


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and will never come home. They have willingly chosen this path of sacrifice. It is unconscionable thatthese men and women must fly in airplanes that are old and unreliable, must sail in ships that havecracked hulls, or must ride in vehicles that are urgently in need of replacement all because theirgovernment has had neither the vision to plan for their needs or the simple common sense to manageits own budget.

MITT'S PLANAs Commander-in-Chief, Mitt Romney will keep faith with the men and women who defend us just as hewill ensure that our military capabilities are matched to the interests we need to protect. He will put ourNavy on the path to increase its shipbuilding rate from nine per year to approximately fifteen per year.He will also modernize and replace the aging inventories of the Air Force, Army, and Marines, andselectively strengthen our force structure. And he will fully commit to a robust, multi-layered nationalballistic-missile defense system to deter and defend against nuclear attacks on our homeland and ourallies.

This will not be a cost-free process. We cannot rebuild our military strength without paying for it. Mitt willbegin by reversing Obama-era defense cuts and return to the budget baseline established by SecretaryRobert Gates in 2010, with the goal of setting core defense spending meaning funds devoted to thefundamental military components of personnel, operations and maintenance, procurement, andresearch and development at a floor of 4 percent of GDP.

Mitt will also find efficiencies throughout the Department of Defense budget that can be reinvested intothe force. The Departments bureauc racy is bloated to the point of dysfunction and is ripe for beingpared. In the years since 2000, the Pentagons civilian staff grew by 20 percent while our active dutyfighting force grew by only 3.4 percent. That imbalance needs to be rectified. During World War II theUnited States built 1,000 ships per year with 1,000 people employed in the Bureau of Ships, as thepurchasing department of the Department of the Navy was then called. By the 1980s, we were buildingseventeen ships per year, with 4,000 people in purchasing. Today, when we are building only nine shipsa year, the Pentagon manages the shipbuilding process with some 25,000 people. That kind of excessmust be brought to an end along with the byzantine rules and wasteful practices that riddle the militaryprocurement process.

With proper management, we can do far better in controlling costs and getting more for our taxpayerdollars. The measures Mitt Romney will take include establishing clear lines of authority andaccountability for each weapons system so they remain on time and on budget. He will institute shorterdesign and delivery cycles for weapons systems to eliminate the current practice of relying on yet-to-be-developed technologies, which creates delays and cost overruns. This will foster more realistic planning,get equipment into the field at a faster pace, and save the cost of having to keep older weaponssystems in circulation. He will institute greater competition at all levels of the procurement process. Andhe will work with Congress to pass budgets on time something the Obama administration hashabitually failed to do to allow the Department of Defense and defense contractors to properly planmulti-year projects without delay and disruption. These and other reforms will ensure a functioningprocurement system that redirects savings into the defense of our nation.

The burden of defense spending is substantial but in any honest accounting, the benefits need to betallied along with the costs. Those benefits include, first and foremost, prevention of war. By patrollingthe commons, our forces have also contributed to the maintenance of a worldwide system of free tradethat has brought us enormous financial dividends, far more than we have spent on maintaining amilitary. And our strength has protected the development of democracy around the world, enhancing

stability and providing new allies and partners in the cause of peace and freedom. The cost of


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preparedness may sometimes be high, but the cost of unpreparedness is almost always higher not just in tax dollars but in human life and in the survival of liberty and representative government.


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Is rae l

Israel is the United States closest ally in the Middle East and a beacon of democracy and freedom inthe region. The tumult in the Middle East has heightened Israels security problems. Indeed, this is anespecially dangerous moment for the Jewish state. It has deteriorating relationships with Turkey andEgypt. It faces longstanding dangers from Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, a violent and highlyunstable Syria, and a nuclear- aspiring Iran whose leadership is openly calling for Israels annihilation.

OBAMA'S FAILUREPresident Obama and his administration have badly misunderstood the dynamics of the region. Insteadof fostering stability and security, they have diminished U.S. authority and painted both Israel andourselves into a corner. President Obama for too long has been in the grip of several illusions. One isthat the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is the central problem in the region. This has been disprovedrepeatedly by events, most recently and most dramatically by the eruption of the Arab Spring. But itnonetheless led the administration to believe that distancing the United States from Israel was a smartmove that would earn us credits in the Arab world and somehow bring peace closer. The record provesotherwise. The key to negotiating a lasting peace is an Israel that knows it will be secure.

The administrations errors extend in other directions as well. President Obama has repeatedly andunilaterally created new preconditions for restarting peace talks. The result has been to encouragePalestinians simply to hold out and wait for Washington to deliver more Israeli concessions on a silverplatter. Why, after all, should the Palestinians even negotiate with Israel if the White House is pressuringIsrael without extracting any price from the Palestinians in return?

MITT'S PLANTo ensure Israels security, Mitt Romney will work closely with Israel to maintain i ts strategic m ilitaryedge. The United States will work intensively with Turkey and Egypt to shore up the now frayingrelationships with Israel that have underpinned peace in the Middle East for decades. The United States

must forcefully resist the emergence of anti-Israel policies in Turkey and Egypt, and work to make clearthat their interests are not served by isolating Israel.

With regard to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, Mitts policy will differ sharply from President Obamas. Aspresident, Mitt will reject any measure that would frustrate direct negotiations between Israel and thePalestinians. He will make clear to the Palestinians that the unilateral attempt to decide issues that aredesignated for final negotiations by the Oslo Accords is unacceptable. The United States will reduceassistance to the Palestinians if they continue to pursue United Nations recognition or form a unitygovernment that includes Hamas, a terrorist group dedicated to Israels destruction. The United Statesneeds a president who will not be a fair-weather friend of Israel. The United States must work as acountry to resist the worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel. We must fight against that campaign inevery forum and label it the anti- Semitic poison that it is. Israels existence as a Jewish state is not upfor debate.


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Middle Eas t

The Greater Middle East is experiencing the most dramatic change since the collapse of the OttomanEmpire. The protests that have broken out across the Arab world bespeak a generational yearning for abetter life and for human dignity, and present an opportunity for profoundly positive change. History mayshow that the individual who moved the Arab world from autocracy to the path of freedom was not ahead of state, but a humble Tunisian street vendor.

But the ongoing revolution is doubled edged. The region is riven by tensions, and Iran and Islamistextremists are seeking to influence events and expand their control. The future of democratic institutions

in the region and the security of the United States and its allies hangs in the balance. Mitt Romneybelieves that the United States cannot be neutral about the outcome.

To protect our enduring national interests and to promote our ideals, a Romney administration willpursue a strategy of supporting groups and governments across the Middle East to advance the valuesof representative government, economic opportunity, and human rights, and opposing any extension ofIranian or jihadist influence. The Romney administration will strive to ensure that the Arab Spring is notfollowed by an Arab Winter.

Immediate Post-Revolutionary States: Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia

Nations in the Middle East in transition to new governmental structures face serious pitfalls on the roadto more representative forms of government. Already, destabilizing jihadist forces and Iranian-backedelements, often better funded and organized than their democratic counterparts, are seeking to exploitthe upheaval to make political inroads. A Romney administration will support those individuals andgroups that are seeking to instill lasting democratic values and build sturdy democratic institutions thatwill sustain open societies in countries that have been closed for too long. Mitt will make availabletechnical assistance to governments and transitional bodies to promote democracy, good governance,and sound financial management. He will convene a summit that brings together world leaders, donororganizations, and young leaders of groups that espouse the principles of representative government,religious pluralism, economic opportunity, womens and minority rights, and freedom of expression andconscience in the Arab world. And in his first 100 days, Mitt will engage Congress and relevant

executive branch agencies and begin organizing all diplomatic and assistance efforts in the greaterMiddle East under one regional director. Unlike recent special envoys or regional czars, this officialwill possess unified budgetary and directive authority, and therefore real ability to create results. Oneofficial with responsibility and accountability will be able to set regional priorities, craft a unified regionalstrategic plan, and properly direct our soft power toward ensuring the Arab Spring realizes its promise.

Syria

The United States must recognize Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad for what he is: an unscrupulousdictator, a killer, and a proxy for Iran. For far too long, the Obama administration held out hope that itcould negotiate with Assad to stop his violent crackdown on pro-democracy protestors. It even labeledhim a reformer while he was turning heavy weapons on his own people. Mitt Romney holds noillusions about Assads character or about Irans interest in maintaining a client regime in Damascus.


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Mitt Romney believes the United States should pursue a strategy of isolating and pressuring the Assadregime to increase the likelihood of a peaceful transition to a legitimate government. We shouldredouble our push for the U.N. Security Council to live up to its responsibilities and impose sanctionsthat cut off funding sources that serve to maintain the regimes grip on power. We should work withSaudi Arabia and Turkey to call on Syrias military to protect civilians rather than attack them. This effort

would aim to drive a wedge between Assad and his military, minimize violence, and increase thepossibility that the ruling minority Alawites will be able to reconcile with the majority Sunni population ina post-Assad Syria. And we should make clear that the United States and our allies will support theSyrian opposition when the time comes for them to forge a post-Assad government.

Iraq

U.S. military and diplomatic personnel have made stunning gains in Iraq, pulling the war effort thereback from the precipice of defeat. The 2007 surge of troops successfully provided security to thepopulation and granted space and time for the Iraqis, our diplomatic corps, and our coalition partners toestablish institutions of governance. This placed the goal of a democratic Iraq allied with the United

States within reach. The Obama administration, however, has made decisions that threaten to snatchdefeat from the jaws of victory. President Obama's astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition inIraq and his decision to pull out all U.S. troops by the end of 2011 have unnecessarily put at risk thevictories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. Theunavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheerineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. Reports indicate that our commanders in the fieldrecommended a 14,000 to 18,000-strong residual force as the minimum necessary to carry out ourtransition mission. In light of these developments, it is impossible to forecast what conditions in Iraq willconfront the next American president in January 2013. Mitt Romney will enter office seeking to use thebroad array of our foreign-policy tools diplomatic, economic, and military to establish a lastingrelationship with Iraq and guarantee that Baghdad remains a solid partner in a volatile and strategically

vital region.


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Afghanis tan & Pakis tan

Enjoying the sanctuary of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, al Qaeda set in motion the conspiracythat killed so many Americans on September 11, 2001. We learned many bitter lessons that day,including that we are not safe from enemies who plot freely against us from the other side of the world.That is why so many of our best and bravest young men and women are risking their lives inAfghanistan. Our mission in Afghanistan is to eliminate al Qaeda from the region and degrade theTaliban and other insurgent groups to the point where they are not existential threats to the Afghangovernment and do not destabilize Pakistan, with its stock of nuclear weapons. Our objective is toensure that Afghanistan will never again become a launching pad for terror and to send a message to

any other nation that would harbor terrorists with designs on the American homeland.

OBAMA'S FAILUREMuch of the mission has been accomplished through the courage and dedication of our troops. Thekilling of Osama bin Laden was a landmark in the struggle for which President Obama deserves credit.Much more, however, remains to be done. Unfortunately, President Obama has repeatedly frustratedand imperiled the American mission through a series of unwise decisions. After a protracted deliberationprocess, President Obama in December 2009 announced he would support a surge that w ould entailintroducing an additional 30,000 troops into Afghanistan. But in the very same speech announcing thesurge, he put forward a timetable for withdrawal. The mixed message left our Afghan allies in doubt

about our resolve and encouraged the Taliban to believe that they could wait us out. This past June,President Obama disregarded the counsel of his top military commanders, including General DavidPetraeus, and announced a full withdrawal of those 30,000 surge troops by September 2012. That datefalls short of the commanders reported recommendation that the troops remain through the end of 2012and the Afghan fighting season to solidify our gains. That date also happens to be just weeks before aU.S. presidential election. There is no military rationale for it. It raises questions about whether thetiming is politically inspired. Whatever the motivation behind the decision, it means that our military willbe compelled to begin moving troops and equipment out of Afghanistan in the middle of the fightingseason, taking away forces and resources it needs to combat the enemy.

MITT'S PLANMitt Romney will never make national-security decisions based upon electoral politics. Upon takingoffice, he will review our transition to the Afghan military by holding discussions with our commanders inthe field. He will order a full interagency assessment of our military and assistance presence inAfghanistan to determine the level required to secure our gains and to train Afghan forces to the pointwhere they can protect the sovereignty of Afghanistan from the tyranny of the Taliban. Withdrawal ofU.S. forces from Afghanistan under a Romney administration will be based on conditions on the groundas assessed by our military commanders.

Ensure Buy-In from Afghan and Pakistani Governments

To defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan, the United States will need the cooperation of both the Afghan

and Pakistani governments. It is in the interests of all three nations to see that Afghanistan and theAfghanistan-Pakistan border region are rid of the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Mitt Romney will


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work with both the Afghan government and Pakistan to ensure that those nations are fully contributing tosuccess in Afghanistan. But we will only persuade Afghanistan and Pakistan to be resolute if they areconvinced that the United States will itself be resolute. Only an America that appears fully committed tosuccess will eliminate the incentives for them to hedge their bets by aligning with opposing forces.

The United States must be clear in what we require of both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai should understand that our commitment must be met with reciprocal efforts to crack downon corruption in his government, respect free and fair elections as required by the Afghan constitution,and coordinate with the United States on fighting the narcotics trade that fuels the insurgency. Pakistanshould understand that any connection between insurgent forces and Pakistans security andintelligence forces must be severed. The United States enjoys significant leverage over both of thesenations. We should not be shy about using it.


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I ran

Mitt Romney believes that it is unacceptable for Iran to possess a nuclear weapon. Should Iran achieveits nuclear objective, the entire geostrategic landscape of the Middle East would tilt in favor of theayatollahs. A nuclear Iran will pose an existential threat to Israel, whose security is a vital U.S. nationalinterest. As Irans ballistic missile capacity improves , it will endanger Europe and eventually thecontinental United States. It will provoke an arms race in which the Arab nations themselves forgeahead with nuclear programs of their own. The result will be a nightmarish cascade of nuclear tensionsin the wo rld's most volatile region. Irans sponsorship of international terrorism would take on a new andterrifying dimension.

As president, Mitt Romneys strategy will be to end Irans pursuit of a nuclear weapon, eliminate thethreat of Iranian nuclear terrorism against the United States and our allies, and prevent nuclearproliferation across the Middle East.

A Credible Military Option

U.S. policy toward Iran must begin with an understanding on Irans part that a military option to deal withtheir nuclear program remains on the table. This message should not only be delivered through words,but through actions. The United States should restore the regular presence of aircraft carrier task forcesin both the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf region simul taneously. The United States

should repair relations with Israel, increase military coordination and assistance, and enhanceintelligence sharing to ensure that our allied capabilities are robust and ready to deal with Iran. TheUnited States should also increase military coordination with our Arab allies in the region and conductmore naval exercises as a demonstration of strength and resolve. Only if Iran understands that theUnited States is utterly determined when we say that their nuclear-weapons program is unacceptable isthere a possibility that they will give up their nuclear aspirations peacefully.

Implement a Fifth Round of Tougher Sanctions

Sanctions are not ends in themselves. They are intended to persuade Iran to change course andabandon its nuclear program. President Obama deserves credit for pushing for a fourth round ofinternational sanctions on Iran early in his term, just as before him President Bush deserved credit forthe three previous rounds. But time has shown that existing sanctions have not led the ayatollahs toabandon their nuclear aspirations. We therefore need to ratchet up our pressure on Iran with a fifthround of sanctions targeted at the financial resources that underpin the Iranian regime and itsRevolutionary Guard Corps, focusing on restrictions on the Central Bank of Iran, as well as otherfinancial institutions. We should place sanctions on all business activities of the Islamic RevolutionaryGuard Corps, which include much of Irans petroleum industry. To stanch the flow of the petroleumcommerce that supports the Iranian regime, we should pursue sanctions on firms that transport suchproducts to and from Iran.

Ideally, these sanctions would be implemented through the U.N. Security Council, but persuadingRussia and China to go along might prove impossible. In the absence of a U.N. imprimatur, the UnitedStates should be ready to take action in conjunction with as many willing governments as possible. Andif necessary, we should be prepared to act on our own. To that end, Mitt Romney will step up


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enforcement of existing U.S. laws that bar commerce with Iran, such as the exportation of refinedpetroleum products to Iran.

Mitt will also push for greater diplomatic isolation of Iran. The United States should make it plain that it isa disgrace to provide Irans Holocaust -denying president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the trappings and

respect offered to responsible heads of state. He should not be invited to foreign capitals or feted byforeign leaders. Quite the opposite. Given his calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, Ahmadinejadshould be indicted for incitement to genocide under Article III of the Convention on the Prevention andPunishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Support the Iranian Opposition

In 2009, President Obama refrained from supporting the nascent Green Movement as it was facing aviolent crackdown by the Iranian regime. As protestors demonstrating against a stolen election wereshot down in the streets, President Obama stated he did not want to meddle in Iran ian affairs, fearingthat his unconditional outreach to the Iranian regime would be endangered if he did so. This was adisgraceful abdication of American moral authority.

Mitt Romney would make plain that the United States supports the emergence of a democraticalternative to the current repressive and reckless regime in Tehran. He would work to improve the flowof information to the Iranian population about its own governments repressive activities. He wouldrecognize the strong national interest we have in the success of the Arab Spring in Syria and theremoval of the Bashar al- Assad regime, Irans closest ally. And Mitt will not stand silent while the Iranianregime ruthlessly terrorizes its own people.

Commit to the On-Time Completion of a Fully Capable Missile Defense System

The United States and our European and Middle Eastern allies have a vital interest in establishing afully operational and effective missile defense system in Eastern Europe to create a protective umbrellaagainst Iranian nuclear weapons. Under pressure from Russia, President Obama early in his termscrapped President Bushs plan to deploy ground -based interceptors in Poland and a radar system inthe Czech Republic. He instead favored a plan that featured a longer development timeline based upontechnologies that have not yet been developed. He has since partially reversed course to reassure ourallies who were alarmed by his abrupt about-face and subsequently clarified that his new program willalso feature interceptors in Poland along with interceptors in Romania and a radar system in Turkey, allto be built in stages through 2020. As president, Mitt Romney is willing to commit to deploying missiledefenses in Europe along that timeline, but he will do so with the following two qualifications.

First, Mitt would reserve the option of reverting to President Bush's original plan of deploying proven

interceptor technology in Poland if it becomes clear that Iran is making faster progress on developinglong range missiles than the Obama plan assumes or if the new technologies on which the plan reliesfail to materialize in a timely fashion. If Iran is going to deploy intercontinental missiles sooner than2020, the United States should retain the option of defending against them.

Second, Mitt would make clear that while he is willing to cooperate with Russia on missile defense inways that will enhance the overall effectiveness of the missile-defense system, he will not compromisethe capability of the system or yield operational control of it. Russia must abandon any backdoorscheme to constrain our missile defenses. The United States should never give Russia a veto over oursecurity and that of our allies.


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Russ ia

In a 1939 radio broadcast Winston Churchill famously called Russia a riddl e, wrapped in a mystery,inside an enigma. The line is quoted often. But most leave out the rest of Churchills statement, wherehe offered a key to understanding Russia, and that key is Russian national interest. What is Russiasnational interest today? At the risk of oversimplification, we can say that Vladimir Putin, who just starteda third term as Russian president in 2012, aims above all else to preserve his power, stoking Russiannationalist passions to maintain popular support, and using wealth garnered from energy and armssales to stave off economic calamity. With the Kremlins leverage over the energy supplies of Centraland Western Europe, its stockpile of nuclear weapons, its recent history of aggressive military action,

and the power it wields in multilateral institutions like the United Nations, Russia is a destabilizing forceon the world stage. It needs to be tempered.

OBAMA'S FAILUREPresident Obama famously sought to reset U.S. relations with Russia. The ambiguity of that termcannot mask that the Obama administration has failed to move Russia toward a more beneficial workingrelationship with the United States and our allies. President Obama began his reset policy bywithdrawing, without reciprocal concessions, from President Bushs p lan to place a missile-defensesystem in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move Russia strongly desired. He continued the same wegive, Russia gets policy by signing the New START treaty in 2010. While the agreement compels the

U.S. to reduce our nuclear launcher and warhead limits, the levels it sets for Russia are above what theRussians possessed at the time the agreement was reached. In other words, New START gave Russiaroom to expand its arsenal while requiring the United States to reduce our own. In any event, even if weput aside the demerits of the treaty, it was a squandered opportunity to extract concessions from theRussians that would have advanced our interests. Thus, President Obama failed to press for meaningfulreductions not only in Russia s strategic nuclear arsenal, but also in its extensive tactical nuclear force.And he failed to elicit Russian help in dealing with North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions.

MITT'S PLANUpon taking office, Mitt Romney will reset the reset. He will implement a strategy that will seek todiscourage aggressive or expansionist behavior on the part of Russia and encourage democraticpolitical and economic reform.

Review New START

Mitt Romney will review the implementation of the New START treaty and other decisions by the Obamaadministration regarding America's nuclear posture and arms-control policies to determine whether theyserve the best interests and national security of the United States.

Decrease Europes Energy Reliance on Russia

Mitt Romney will pursue policies that work to decrease the reliance of European nations on Russian

sources of energy. He will explore increasing technical assistance to the Eastern European nationscurrently developing the Turkey-to-Austria Nabucco natural gas pipeline, which will supply Europe with a


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cheaper source of energy and options apart from Russian oil and gas. A Romney administration willalso work with the private sector to spur access to untapped shale energy resources in Western Europe.

Build Stronger Relationships with Central Asia

A Romney administration will build stronger relationships with the states of Central Asia by enhancingdiplomatic ties, increasing military training and assistance, and negotiating trade pacts and educationalexchanges.

Support Civil Society

A Russian government that respects the civil and political rights of its people and that is trulyrepresentative of their wishes will be a more productive participant in an international system based onliberal trade and political values. Deepening authoritarianism and centralized control of the economyserves only to impede Russias economic development and turn the country into a more menacingpresence on the world stage. A Romney administration will be forthright in confronting the Russiangovernment over its authoritarian practices. Mitt Romney will support measures to increase the flow ofinformation into Russia that highlights the virtues of free elections, free speech, economic opportunity,and a government free of corruption. A useful additional step would be to bring more leaders of Russiancivil society organizations to the United States on exchanges programs, which would raise their profileand empower them with ideas that can be shared with their fellow Russians upon their return.


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China & Eas t Asia

In 2010, after 30 years of dramatic growth, China surpassed Japan to become the worlds secondlargest economy after ours. Chinas size in land and in population, its rapid economic growth, and itssharply increasing military expenditures are dramatically changing the strategic map of the world. Whilethe potential for conflict with an authoritarian China could rise as its power grows, the United Statesmust pursue policies designed to encourage Beijing to embark on a course that makes conflict lesslikely. China must be discouraged from attempting to intimidate or dominate neighboring states. If thepresent Chinese regime is permitted to establish itself as the preponderant power in the Western Pacificit could close off large parts of the region to cooperative relations with the United States and the West

and dim hope that economic opportunity and democratic freedom will continue to flourish across EastAsia. Mitt Romney will implement a strategy that makes the path of regional hegemony for China farmore costly than the alternative path of becoming a responsible partner in the international system.

Maintain Robust Military Capabilities in the Pacific

In the face of Chinas accelerated military build -up, the United States and our allies must maintainappropriate military capabilities to discourage any aggressive or coercive behavior by China against itsneighbors. Maintaining a strong military presence in the Pacific is not an invitation to conflict. Quite thecontrary; it is a guarantor of a region where trade routes are open and East Asias community of nationsremains secure and prosperous.

Toward that end, the United States should maintain and expand its naval presence in the WesternPacific. We should be assisting partners that require help to enhance their defensive capabilities. TheDepartment of Defense should reconsider recent decisions not to sell top-of-the-line equipment to ourclosest Asian allies. We should be coordinating with Taiwan to determine its military needs andsupplying them with adequate aircraft and other military platforms. We should be assisting Pacificnations to enhance maritime domain awareness, i.e., the ability to employ radar and other detectionnetworks to monitor aggressive behavior in disputed waters. This would minimize the chance of surpriseconfrontations and prevent military miscalculations that can escalate into larger conflicts.

Deepen Cooperation Among Regional Partners

We need to continue to strengthen alliances and relations with strategic partners like India and buildstronger ties to influential countries like Indonesia. Our aim should be to work with all these countriesbilaterally but also to encourage them to work with one another as they have begun to do. Our objectiveis not to build an anti-China coalition. Rather it is to strengthen cooperation among countries with whichwe share a concern about Chinas growing power and increasing assertiveness and with whom we alsoshare an interest in maintaining freedom of navigation and ensuring that disputes over resources areresolved by peaceful means. It is yet another way of closing off Chinas option of expanding its influencethrough coercion.

As detailed in his book, Believe in America, Mitt Romney will also pursue deeper economic cooperationamong like-minded nations around the world that are genuinely committed to the principles of openmarkets through the formation of a Reagan Economic Zone. The benefits of this zone which willcodify principles of free trade will be a powerful magnet that draws in an expanding circle of nations


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seeking greater access to other markets. Although China is unlikely to accede to the Reagan EconomicZone given its current approach to trade, offering Beijing the possibility of participation will give Chinasignificant incentives to end its abusive commercial practices. But with or without China as a member,the Reagan Economic Zone will establish a system of trade that could knit together the entire region,discouraging imbalanced bilateral trade relations between C hina and its neighbors, limiting Chinas

ability to coerce other countries, and ultimately encouraging China to participate in free trade on fairterms.

Defend Human Rights

Any serious U.S. policy toward China must confront the fact that Chinas regime con tinues to deny itspeople basic political freedoms and human rights. A nation that represses its own people cannot be atrusted partner in an international system based on economic and political freedom. While it is obviousthat any lasting democratic reform in China cannot be imposed from the outside, it is equally obviousthat the Chinese people currently do not yet enjoy the requisite civil and political rights to turn internaldissent into effective reform. The United States has an important role to play in encouraging the

evolution of China toward a more politically open and democratic order.

If the United States fails to support dissidents out of fear of offending the Chinese government, we willmerely embolden Chinas leaders. We certainly should not have relegated the future of freedom tosecond or third place, as Secretary of State Clinton did in 2009 when she publicly declared that theObama administration would not let U.S. concerns about Chinas human rights record interfere withcooperation on the global economic crisis [and] the global climate change crisis. A Romneyadministration will vigorously support and engage civil society groups within China that are promotingdemocratic reform, anti- corruption efforts, religious freedom, and womens an d minority rights. It will lookto provide these groups and the Chinese people with greater access to information and communicationthrough a stronger Internet freedom initiative. Mitt Romney will seek to engage China, but will alwaysstand up for those fighting for the freedoms we enjoy.

Disarm North Korea

North Koreas nuclear weapons program is a serious menace to world peace. A nuclear weaponscapability in the hands of an unpredictable dictatorship with unknown leadership and an unclear chain ofcommand poses a direct threat to U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere in East Asia,threatens our close allies South Korea and Japan, destabilizes the entire Pacific region, and could leadto the illicit transfer of a nuclear device to another rogue nation or a terrorist group. As president, MittRomney will commit to eliminating North Koreas nuclear weapons and i ts nuclear -weaponsinfrastructure. A key mistake in U.S. policy toward North Korea has been to grant it a series of carrots inreturn for only illusory cooperation. Each step the world has taken toward North Korea has been metwith further provocations and expansion of its nuclear program. Over the years, North Korea has foundthat its pursuit of a nuclear weapon reaps it material and diplomatic rewards, taking away any incentivefor it to end its program.

Mitt Romney will reverse that dynamic. The United States will make it unequivocally clear to Pyongyangthat continued advancement of its nuclear program and any aggression will be punished instead ofrewarded. Mitt will work with allies to institute harsher sanctions on North Korea, such as cracking downon financial institutions that service the North Korean regime and sanctioning companies that conductcommercial shipping in and out of North Korea. He will also step up enforcement of the ProliferationSecurity Initiative to constrain North Korean illicit exports by increasing the frequency of inspections ofNorth Korean ships and discouraging foreign ports from permitting entry to North Korean ships. Suchmeasures would significantly block the trade revenue that props up the North Korean regime and shutoff routes by which the regime supplies its nuclear program.


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China holds significant political and economic leverage over North Korea. It is not using that leverage,however, to achieve the goal of ending North Koreas nuclear program. China fears a destabilized NorthKorea and the implications of its possible collapse for the region along its border. Mitt will work topersuade China to commit to North Koreas disarmament. He will reassure China it will not be alone indealing with the humanitarian and security issues that will arise should North Korea disintegrate. This

will involve detailed planning for such an eventuality to ensure that we are ready to deal with thenumerous issues that will arise if and when the North Korean regime collapses under the weight of itsown economic and political contradictions. Mitt will also pursue robust military and counter-proliferationcooperation with our allies and others in the Pacific region. As the United States invigorates ourrelationships with South Korea, Japan, and others, and increases our collective military presence andcooperation, it should demonstrate to the Chinese that they should join the coordinated effort or be leftbehind as a regional counter-proliferation partner.


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Afr ica

OVERVIEWAfrican countries hold great promise despite the many years of conflict, poverty, and misrule thatfollowed their emergence as independent states. With abundant natural resources, an increasinglyeducated and dynamic population striving for a better life, and governments embracing political andeconomic reforms, Africa is now home to some of the worlds fastest growing economies.

While Africa currently represents less than two percent of global economic activity, that will change.

Global demand for Africas natural resources will grow. Demographics indicate that by 2050, Africaspopulation will double to two billion and one in four workers on the planet will be African. These trends,when coupled with robust economic growth, point to the emergence of stronger economic actors on theworld stage and greater partnership opportunities for the United States. While Africa is changing, globalcompetitors like China are taking advantage of these changes and are rapidly outmaneuvering theUnited States by making strategic inroads throughout the continent and gaining an economic andpolitical advantage over the United States.

At the same time, a number of challenges in Africa still remain unresolved. Extremism and piracyemanate from Somalia. Brutal or inept regimes in places like Sudan, Zimbabwe, and the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo are causing misery for their people. Islamist terrorists in Nigeria and the Saharathreaten vast regions, and some have forged troubling alliances with drug smugglers, human traffickers,and other transnational criminal networks.

OBAMA'S FAILUREAfter holding great expectations for the Obama administration, our African partners have been deeplydisappointed. President Obama has failed to exercise American leadership to mobilize the internationalcommunity to address pressing issues, seize rising opportunities, and strengthen liberty and prosperitythroughout Africa. While the initiative begun by the previous administration to help South Sudan achieveits independence was completed during President Obamas term, the President has failed to resolutelyconfront ongoing atrocities by the dictatorship in Khartoum. And it has failed to strengthen a oncepromising alliance with South Sudan, allowing other actors like China to begin supplanting U.S.influence and advance a value- free development model to their own economic and strategic benefit.Somalia remains mired in anarchy with al-Qaeda linked terrorists controlling a significant portion of thecountry. Mass rapes and human rights abuses continue in Congo.

MITT'S PLANBolster Economic Ties And The Rule Of Law

The United States must regard Africa not as a problem to be contained, but as an opportunity to beembraced by us and our partners on the continent. Recognizing that Africas road to stabili ty andprosperity lies through a robust private sector economy, increased trade, and good governance, a

Romney administration will encourage and assist African nations to adopt policies that create business-friendly environments and combat governmental corruption. Such policies will lift those nations and their


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people, boost economic ties to the United States, and provide greater certainty to U.S. and internationalinvestors. Greater market access across the continent for U.S. businesses will bolster job creation inAfrica as well as in the United States.

Lead On Issues Of Security And Human Rights

Mitt Romney will also provide the leadership required to help resolve Africas long -running conflicts,pressure the remaining despots who abuse their own people, and weaken terrorist groups that threatenU.S. interests and those of our partners. He will pursue strong cooperative military and diplomaticrelationships to ensure security interests on the continent and in the seafaring trade routes off itsshores. These relationships will help strengthen the capacity of African nations and regionalorganizations to foster stability, engage in peacekeeping, and confront terror.

Mitt Romney will lead on the issue of Sudans ongoing atrocities. He recognizes that far too manySudanese for far too long far have been the victims of war crimes and other atrocities committed by thegovernment in Khartoum and its proxies. Continuing a history of violence and genocide, Khartoum hascommitted a range of atrocities in border regions since the independence of the Republic of SouthSudan. It has incited and armed rebel groups with the apparent objective of undermining the newco untry. It has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in oil, which is Sudans chief source of income. Inboth Darfur and in the border areas, Khartoum has too often been an impediment to the flow ofhumanitarian assistance. Governor Romney is committed to protecting innocents from war crimes andother atrocities, ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches those desperately in need, holding accountablethose leaders who perpetrate atrocities, and achieving a sustainable peace for all who live in Sudan andthe Republic of South Sudan.


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Lat in Amer ica

Decades of remarkable progress in Latin America toward security, democracy, and increased economicties with America are currently under threat. Venezuela and Cuba are leading a virulently anti-AmericanBolivarianmovement across Latin America that seeks to undermine institutions of democraticgovernance and economic opportunity. The Bolivarian movement threatens U.S. allies such asColombia, has interfered with regional cooperation on key issues such as illicit drugs andcounterterrorism, has provided safe haven for drug traffickers, has encouraged regional terroristorganizations, and has even invited Iran and foreign terrorist organizations like Hezbollah into theregion. The region is also witnessing an epidemic of violent criminal gangs and drug cartels, which have

wrought death and mayhem across much of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

OBAMA'S FAILUREPresident Obama has done little to reverse these disturbing trends and has to some degreeexacerbated them. He has neglected our democratic allies in the region while reaching out to thosenations that are working against our interests and values. He has squandered valuable time in which toadvance free-market principles throughout the region by waiting for three years to present free tradeagreements with our allies Colombia and Panama to Congress for ratification. He has relaxed sanctionson Cuba while demanding no reforms in return that would offer the Cuban people their long-deniedfreedom. He has allowed the march of authoritarianism to go unchecked. In some cases, he has

actually encouraged it, as when he publicly backed former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya aHugo Chavez ally despite Zelayas unconstitutional attempt to extend his term as pres ident indefiance of the Honduran supreme court and legislature.

MITT'S PLANMitt Romney will chart a different course. Under a Romney administration, the United States will pursuean active role in Latin America by supporting democratic allies and market-based economicrelationships, containing destabilizing internal forces such as criminal gangs and terrorists, andopposing destabilizing outside influences such as Iran.

In his first 100 days in office, Mitt will launch a vigorous public diplomacy and trade promotion effort inthe region the Campaign for Economic Opportunity in Latin America (CEOLA) to extol the virtuesof democracy and free trade and build on the benefits conferred by the free trade agreements reachedwith Panama and Colombia, as well as those already in force with Chile, Mexico, Peru, and themembers of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Through old and new media and throughnumerous public events conducted in conjunction with our regional partners, CEOLA will draw a starkcontrast between free enterprise and the ills of the authoritarian socialist model offered by Cuba andVenezuela. The campaign will also seek to involve both the U.S. and Latin American private sectors inefforts to expand trade throughout the region with initiatives that not only help American companies dobusiness in Latin America, but also help Latin American companies invest and create jobs in theAmerican market. The goal of CEOLA will be to set the stage for eventual membership in the ReaganEconomic Zone for nations throughout Latin America and the creation of strong and mutually beneficialeconomic ties between the region and the United States.


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Mitt will build on separate existing anti-drug and counterterrorism initiatives to form a unifiedHemispheric Joint Task Force on Crime and Terrorism. The aim of this group will be to coordinateintelligence and enforcement among all regional allies. Coordinated strategies are required to combatregional terrorist groups and criminal networks that operate across borders. And a regional effort isrequired as well to sever all financial, logistical, and material connections between regional groups and

foreign terrorist entities like Hezbollah that are operating in the region.

Mexico and the United States must take immediate action on the problem of violent drug cartelsoperating across our shared border, which has already inflicted great costs to both our countries inhuman life, drug addiction, and social decay. The United States and Mexico currently cooperate throughthe Merida Initiative, a program run by the U.S. Department of State to improve Mexicos lawenforcement capabilities. However, in light of the severity of the cartel problem and the sheer firepowerand sophistication of the criminal networks we are facing, the United States and Mexico should explorethe need for enhanced military-to-military training cooperation and intelligence sharing similar topractices that were successful in combating cartels and narco-terrorist networks in Colombia. Mitt willuse the full powers of the presidency to complete an impermeable border fence protecting our southern

frontier from infiltration by illegal migrants, trans-national criminal networks, and terrorists.


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Keeping Fai th WithAmeri ca 's Veterans

OVERVIEWOne of the most sacred responsibilities of Commander-in- Chief is to honor Americas obligations to our veterans. President Obama has had nearly four years to fix endemic problems with the Department ofVeterans Affairs (VA). Unfortunately, mismanagement on the part of the Obama Administration has ledto serious shortcomings in veterans care. In addition to the Presidents massive defense cuts whichcould force 200,000 troops out of uniform and onto an overburdened VA the backlog of disabilityclaims has doubled, veteran unemployment is at unacceptable levels, there are critical problems with GIBill payouts, and the wait time to see a mental health care provider can be up to two months long. In hislast budget, the President asked military members and veterans to take $12 billion more in out-of-pocketTRICARE payments while he exploded spending elsewhere in the budget.

Mitt Romney believes we must do better. To ensure the VA lives up to i ts noble motto, to care for himwho shall have borne the battle, Mitt will ins titute reforms to the VA aimed at unclogging bureaucraticinefficiencies and mismanagement. He will hold VA leaders accountable for poor performance. Hiseconomic reforms could create up to 12 million new jobs, ensuring veterans have the dignity of a job.

And he will reverse President Obamas massive defense cuts, that could cripple our Armed Forces,overwhelm the VA, and have a dire impact on our economy and our national security.

To date, Governor Romney has received the endorsement of nearly 30 American Legion and Veteransof Foreign Wars National Commanders, an overwhelming show of support from the highest ranks of

Americas veterans community.

Key Elements of Mitts Plan

Every veteran is the greatest of his generation. Institute positive reforms that honor our end of thebargain with Americas returning warriors.

Unclog the Department of Veterans Affairs. Focus on providing top quality care, rather than

growing an inefficient bureaucracy. Hold administrators accountable for poor performance anddirect resources to programs that directly benefit veterans.

Expand the reach of the VA health system to better service the 41 percent of veterans that live inrural areas. Speed the availability of Internet-based consultations, tele-homecare, and tele-monitoring.

Institute a reliable electronic health record, from boot camp to retirement, thus reducing thedisability claim backlog.

Grant all veterans using the GI Bill in-state tuition, regardless of their state of residency. Ensure that veterans receive credit for their military training when seeking trade credentials at the

state and national levels, allowing veterans to bypass expensive and time-consuming statecredentialing requirements for training theyve already received.

Stop and reverse President Obamas mas sive defense cuts, which could force up to 200,000troops out of uniform and onto the Department of Veterans Affairs.


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Allow distressed veterans seeking mental health care to access the militarys TRICARE network of providers at the VAs expense. This would double the number of mental health care providersovernight and reduce wait times.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mitts Plan

Does Governor Romney want to privatize the Department of Veterans Affairs? Absolutely not. President Obama proposed privatization of the VA in 2009; Mitt Romney strongly rejectsthis approach. He will instead focus his efforts on making the VA work better for veterans, cleaning upan entrenched bureaucracy, rewarding positive results and holding failed leaders accountable. Ourreturning warriors deserve no less than top quality care, provided in a timely and efficient manner. Itstime for real leadership that is committed to tackling the VAs endemic problems.

Is it true the Paul Ryan budget cut Veterans Benefits? The Washington Post falsely reported that the Ryan budget cut Veterans benefits, and it immediatelyissued a correction. Not only did Pauls plan meet the White Houses request for veterans spending, itactually increased it over a ten year period. Both Mitt and Paul believe that it is unconscionable that

President Obama would propose cutting the military while growing the rest of the federal government. Ina Romney-Ryan Administration, our troops and our veterans will come first.

Does Sequestration impact Vet erans? Unfortunately, the devastating, across-the- board cuts in sequestration will impact whats known asadministrative accounts in the Department of Veterans Affairs, though veterans are directly protected.Those cuts could harm veterans ability to efficiently interact with the VA. President Obamas massivedefense cuts are already forcing 100,000 troops out of service and onto an overloaded VA.Sequestration could double that number, forcing another 100,000 returning warriors from the front linesto the unemployment lines. Both Mitt and Paul strongly oppose the Presidents reckless cuts to our military budget, and will reverse those cuts as soon as they take office.

mitt romney plan

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