WASHINGTON, D.C. - WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) hosted the Honorable James R. Locher III as part of the Administrator's Forum, a speaker's series designed to inform the development dialogue within the Agency. As Executive Director of the Project on National Security Reform, Mr. Locher was invited to speak on national security reform and the role of development in a "Smart Power" approach.

"Smart Power," defined by Secretary of State Clinton, means using the full range of tools at the U.S. Government's disposal - diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural - and applying the right tool or combination of tools to each situation.

"As Executive Director of the Project on National Security Reform, Jim Locher is at the forefront of defining how smart power can and should be applied across the spectrum of our government's development, diplomacy and defense capabilities," said Acting Administrator Fulgham.

Mr. Locher has a distinguished career. As a Senate Committee on Armed Services staff member, he directed a bipartisan effort resulting in the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to the post of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict in 1989, he later served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during the Bush/Clinton Presidential Transition. In 2002, Mr, Locher published the book Victory on the Potomac: The Goldwater-Nichols Act Unifies the Pentagon.

The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) is a nonprofit organization working to modernize and improve the U.S. national security system through recommendations resulting from a comprehensive study published in December 2009 as the report Forging a New Shield.

For more information about USAID please visit www.usaid.gov.
For more information about PNSR, please visit www.pnsr.org.
For more information about USAID, please visit: www.usaid.gov.