Bierman Tells Conference Participants International Development is Integral to Domestic Security
On Friday, November 12, 2004, hundreds of students and faculty at Virginia State University in Richmond, VA gathered to hear an expert panel composed of American international policymakers, foreign dignitaries and business leaders discussed terrorism and threat assessment. Distinguished participants included Armenian Ambassador Arman Kirakossian, former U.S.Ambassador to Moldova Pamela Smith, United States Industry Coalition, Inc. Board Chairman John Gallagher, Director of the William R. Nelson Institute for Public Affairs, James Madison University Dr. Stephen Bowers and Brock D. Bierman, USAID Bureau for Europe and Eurasia Chief of Staff.
Bierman spoke about USAID's history and the work his bureau has been engaged in to promote stability through democracy throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He advised that American taxpayer dollars earmarked for foreign assistance--amounting to less than one-half of 1% of the federal budget--is a prudent investment.
"If you want to save money and lives in the long term, it is better to invest early in helping failed and failing states learn how to govern in a way that makes citizens participatory stakeholders, rather than to spend later on waging war and reconstruction," he argued.
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VSU President Eddie N. Moore, Jr. (right) greets
guest speaker Brock D. Bierman (left) |
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