The Secretary of State is an official of the Federal Government that heads up the U.S. Department of State. The Secretary of State is appointed by the President, and is the highest ranking appointed executive branch official. A Secretary of State’s main concerns deal with foreign policy, and the position is considered to be the United States successor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs job. The Secretary of State as well as the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Treasury, and Attorney General are thought of as the four most important cabinet members. As the highest ranking member of the cabinet, the Secretary of State is the third-highest official of the executive branch of the Federal Government, after the President and Vice President. Six Secretaries of State have gone on to be elected President. The Secretary of State, with the counsel of the Senate, is the President’s main foreign affairs representative. The Secretary of State carries out foreign policies through the Foreign Service and the State Department of the United States. The duties of the Secretary of State in relation to foreign policy hasn’t changed that much since the late 1800s, but they have become much more complex and complicated as international countries evolved and multiplied. The secretary of State has many duties within the inner circle of the President, as The Secretary of State acts as the President 's first adviser on current issues within United States foreign policy. It’s also their job to
The election of 2000 took place during a time that was mostly peaceful, unemployment rates were historically low, but however, there were a record number of terrorist threats (Muhlhausen). Despite all of these headlining topics presidential candidate Al Gore and Vice President Joe Lieberman were far more concerned about global climate change (“Al”). Gore was, and still, is very passionate about this topic (“Al”, 9). He has challenged the two biggest polluters in the world, China and The United States to, “Make the boldest move in climate change.” Figure 5
Article 1: This article tells about President Obama vetoing Keystone Jobs Bill on grounds that approval of the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would damage the U.S. effort to curb greenhouse gases. The article frames Obama as an environmental hero, quoting the president in saying, “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change… And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. And that’s the biggest risk we face — not acting.” The authors also cite Secretary of State John Kerry in saying “The United States cannot ask other nations to make tough choices to address climate change if we are unwilling to make them ourselves.” The
In January of 2013, then United States Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Leon Panetta under the auspicious of the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lifted the ban excluding women from combat-related jobs. The policy, part of the Women Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, barred women from combat-related occupations within the U.S. military for more than 60 years. Opinions varied with liberal-minded individuals and feminist praising the administration 's progressivist ideas concerning gender inequalities between men and women; other 's lauded the move as nothing more than a social experiment that could potentially weaken the military 's warfighting capabilities. Two years later, incumbent SecDef Ashton Carter expanded the rule set by
In this speech he touches on the topic of climate change in which he supported that we needed to change our way of living to save the world. “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms” he created ways to stop ice from melting in
Indeed, if we are to combat global warming, of course we need to stop the rampant use of fossil fuels. In its place, the grand vision and hope is to transition our economy from relying on fossil fuels to using renewable energy sources. (This becomes an additionally pressing issue for those who are concerned with the U.S.’s “soft power” as China vies to become the world leader in clean energy.)
That same year, Obama reached a climate agreement in which China and the U.S. agreed to significantly reduce carbon emissions. That accord helped launch the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015, at which almost every country in the world agreed to control its emissions and create a plan to diminish them.
On the same note, the energy revolution spoken of above brings forth another advance in the ongoing global climate situation. The nature of the Kyoto Protocol calls for nations to increase research and eventually semi-convert their energy usage to accommodate for cleaner energy. Products such as solar power, wind power, biomass, geothermal power, and hydropower are now widely being studying to create processes that use less coal, oil, and natural gas in production. Altogether the results have
Middle East is strategically important region where mostly world half of oil reserves are located. Three countries: Saudi Arabia, Iran and United Arab Emirates accounted for 57% of total Middle East liquids fuels production. (Liquid fuels production in Middle Eastern and North African countries n.d.) Although due to increased domestic production of petroleum and natural gas, the United States is reducing its dependence on foreign oil with imported liquid fuels, but still oil means a lot to the US as oil prices is determined internationally by what is available for all global consumers. Therefore, to safeguard the security of Oil supply in the Middle East and ensure stable access to affordable oil is in the vital interest of the America. (Mexican crude oil shipments to Europe and Asia are rising as U.S. imports fall
During the time before September 11th occurred, many people believed that our government was looking for a reason to go to war in the middle east, specifically with Iraq. We believed that the “people of Iraq are an oppressed people, and the world has a duty to help these people” (Kelly). However, after going through the Vietnam war, our citizens did not want to enter into another war and send more soldiers away from home. We were currently having our best years financially in our country and were involved in zero wars. But, looking for ways to have better finances always comes into play when making any decision, within the government or citizens. The oil reserves in the middle east were very “important to the world's economy” (Kelly). By
In order to understand why the U.S. should remain a consumer of Middle Eastern oil it is first necessary to agree that overlap exists between the four elements of national power: Diplomatic, Informational, Military and Economic. For starters, there is an important difference between “energy security” and “energy independence.” Energy security is a condition in which the net supply of energy resources is reliably delivered at a fair market price in order to meet a country’s domestic energy demands. As the end of the Second World War drew near President Roosevelt struck a bargain with King Abdul Aziz that the U.S. would support the house of al Saud in exchange for reliable access to the Kingdom’s oil resources. The roots of the Central Intelligence Agency’s 1953 coup d’état of Mohammad Mossadegh are firmly entwined in
crew were seized on May 12, 1975, off the coast of Cambodia by Khmer Rouge forces
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is the principle U.S. Government agency responsible for the construction, design, and maintenance of U.S. nuclear weapons. The Department of Energy, which was established in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter as a response to an energy
This articles starts off by first talking about a speech given by the President. In his speech he talks about how climate change "constitutes a serious threat to the global security, and an immediate
Applying the strategies will not only benefit the society, but also benefit the Chinese government. This is another incentive that government makes this plan. The first benefit is obvious, promotion of new energy is an action that shows the government cares about people and listens to people’s voice, this creates a good image of the government. The other incentive for the government is adopting this new energy strategy which could potentially increase their voice internationally. The UN is holding a conference regarding climate change in Paris from November 30th to December 11th with hopes to come up with a binding agreement to control carbon emission and aims to constrain the global average temperature change below 2 Celsius degree. One of the factors impeding countries to come out with an agreement is the weak binding power. The free rider would exist if the agreement doesn’t have binding power. Because of free rider effects, countries tend to choose not abate. China published the plan before the conference, now an abatement goal is more likely to be achieved, knowing this, countries are more likely to choose abatement and come to an agreement. As the promoter of this agreement, China shapes their image as a responsible and influential country.