EML Strategy Policy Briefing Memo #1
To: Jake Sullivan and Tony Blinken
From: Evan M. Papp, Principle, EML Strategy
Date: 2020.11.23
Re: Policy Recommendations for Secretary of State and National Security Adviser
Summary
With recent media coverage that you will soon be announced as Secretary of State (Blinken) and National Security Adviser (Sullivan), I trust you will be receptive to heterodox ideas about policy, political economy, and strategy in these unprecedented times.
Background
The U.S. is at another revolutionary inflection point as we face challenges as great as the independence war against Britain, the civil war against Confederates, and what our forefathers faced in the last great depression and rise of global fascism.
Your decisions and loyalties will determine the future fate for all of us and our posterity. I cannot imagine the enormity of pressure you are about to bear.
The year 2026 will be the 250th year anniversary of the United States, if we can keep the republic. I hope you rise to this historical moment knowing how fatal policy choices can lead to a societal collapse as described in Shelly’s Ozymandias: Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare...What powerful but unrecorded race, Once dwelt in that annihilated place.
Policy Priorities
Goal 1: Rebuild alliances through economic coordination around atomic energy
Re-engage alliances through the Paris Accord by launching a 21st Century Atoms For Peace initiative in support of UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 Energy for All and re-establish U.S. leadership in nuclear power by promoting international cooperation and co-financing of nuclear reactors and U.S. fuel supply chains.
Utilize lending through the new U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s (DFC) recently modernized nuclear energy policy, to invest in nuclear power projects with a priority of exporting U.S. technologies. Ensure the DFC is adequately capitalized by the Treasury Department, EXIM Bank, and the Federal Reserve with additional coordination with the Department of Energy and Department of Commerce, to ensure the U.S. private sector can compete against other state sponsored competitors.
Constructively engage Iran. Rebuilding the JCPOA will require regaining the confidence of the international community that can no longer rely on the U.S. after the debacle of the past four years. Work with the IAEA to support Iran’s transparent and peaceful nuclear energy program, which is the international right of every nation. International goodwill will result from honest diplomacy but be prepared for sabotage from current allies.
Goal 2: Promote a law and order foreign policy that promotes labor rights and punishes tax evasion from transnational criminal syndicates and cartels
Work closely with the Department of Treasury’s FinCen team to crackdown on trillions of dollars of laundered money through transnational banks with the goal of criminal prosecution and seizure of funds.
Work with the World Trade Organization, the IMF, the World Bank, and the UN in coordination with the Department of Labor’s international wing, and support the right for workers to unionize everywhere.
Invest in labor and financial reporting at the U.S. Agency for Global Media to educate the world about how tax evasion costs governments between $500 billion and $600 billion a year in lost corporate tax revenue and how countries and transnational corporations violate international labor standards.
Goal 3: Develop a US 2030 Vision to counter Made In China 2025
Organize a 21st century Marshall Plan building infrastructure and public works for developing countries and create a lend-lease program exporting U.S. manufactured capital goods to promote agricultural and industrial self-sufficiency. Commandeer the Federal Reserve for long term, low interest loans and grants.
Increase U.S. immigration with the eventual goal of one billion Americans to achieve a closer parity with the Chinese population and labor force.
Work closely with USTR to ensure fair trade. Use tariffs to penalize imported goods made with exploited labor or poor environmental standards. This will protect U.S. workers and the environment. Work with the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve to identify domestic industries that will require subsidies to compete against Chinese subsidies.
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