the review and the qddr. this is about an hour. >> good morning. >> good morning, everyone, and welcome to the secretary of state's town hall meeting. just one brief technical reminder. this session is being broadcast not only on the state department's internal closed circuit system, b-net, but also is being broadcast by a number of networks. so please always be diplomatic in your questions and in your performance. and with that, briefly, it gives me great personal and professional pleasure to

introduce the secretary of state, the honorable hillary rodham clinton. madam secretary. [ applause ] >> well, thank you very much, pat. i am delighted to be with all of you again this morning. the way down the hall i saw the overflow crowd. so i want to greet them. they're clustered around some of the tv screens out there. it's wonderful to have this opportunity so soon in the new year to speak with you face-to-face, to have a chance to bring you up to date and also answer questions. it is also an opportunity to understand the full seating capacity of the dean atchison auditorium, and i'm afraid test the fire marshall's patience. many more people than even the very large crowd gathered here and out in the hall have contributed to the work that we

are doing together. there is so much to talk about. i wish i could be here for days, and we could bring in shifts of people. but there is much work to be done of which you are essential partners. i do want to think carrie o'conner and molly moran for their great work running the sounding board. [ applause ] and they're giving everyone here in the state department a chance to ask questions. i'm also looking forward to going over to usaid. i see the deputy secretary. i know he is out of town, but we're going to get a date very soon, because it is appropriate for us to have this chance to kind of catch up and look forward. and it is also so fitting that we would be meeting here in an auditorium named for secretary of state dean atchison, who

cautioned us, and i quote, always remember that the future comes one day at a time. and despite the daunting challenges and the extraordinary opportunities that we confront, it is that one day at a time, one step in front of the next that really gets us where we're heading. in that spirit, i want to update you on the quadrennial diplomacy and development review which we launched in this room just over a year ago. our goals remain the same, to strengthen state and usaid as we continue to strive to work better, faster, and smarter in the 21st century. during his state of the union address this week, president obama spoke about the essential role that america still plays in spreading peace and prosperity around the world. well, that was music to my ears, and i hope also to yours. the state department and usaid are critical to maintaining and extending american leadership,

and we will be in the future called upon to do more in more places more frequently and most likely with fewer resources. the goals of the qddr, therefore, are even more imperative in times of tight budget constraints. we must show, it's up to us to show the american people and their representatives in congress that every dollar given to the state department and usaid is a wise and effective investment in advancing the values, the interests, and the security of the united states of america. now over -- yes, i agree with that. [ applause ] over the past year, i have been so gratified to see how individual bureaus, missions, and posts have applied the underlying principles of the

qddr. i'm seeing more interagency cooperation, people breaking down work silos, tapping institutional capacity wherever it exists. and we're also making great progress on the four main lines of activity that we identified in the qddr process. adapting our diplomacy to new threats and opportunities, transforming our development to deliver results, strengthening our capacity to prevent and respond to conflict and crisis, and working smarter by improving our approaches to planning, procurement, and personnel. and let me just briefly share

with you some of the progress we've made in each of these areas. first, adapting our diplomacy for the 21st century. we are empowering our chiefs of mission, our ambassadors as interagency ceos, and making sure to include their perspective whenever a division touches their country and their responsibilities within it. ambassadors now regularly participate in high-level interagency policy-making discussions with washington via videoconference. and they help formally evaluate employees from other agencies as part of our whole of government approach. we also created a home for all of our experts on one of the defining challenges of our time, energy. for too long energy was the second, third, or fourth priority for several different offices. now the new bureau of energy

resources is our single point of contact on all energy issues. enr is already working in close coordination with the department of energy to keep energy markets stable as we implement sanctions on iran, and to lead our global strategy with the u.n. to achieve sustainable energy for all. sand enr taps skill sets from across the government from treasury, commerce, interior, among others, to run the energy governance and capacity initiative, which is helping countries use their own energy resources transparently to actually benefit their own citizens. [ applause ] we also reconceived the role of the undersecretary for global affairs now known as the undersecretary for civilian security, democracy, and human

rights. we wanted to focus on those areas. civilian security and the other essential elements of building safe, fair, and just societies. we erased the organizational distinctions between what was once viewed as hard power and soft power, you know, the kind of security concerns with the hard edge in order to look more comprehensively and in depth at an integrated and ultimately more effective approach. now counterterrorism and police training programs work alongside those that defend human rights, promote opportunities for young people, combat trafficking in persons. in other words, we are bringing a 360-degree approach to people protection that addresses both the root causes of insecurity and its immediate threats. working closely with regional

bureaus, the new j family works to make sure a government's first obligation is to its own people. that government institutions, including courts, police forces, and others that affect everyday life are rooted in the rule of law and respect for human rights. that refugees are protected from persecution, that the voice of you think people is heard and respected, and individuals are protected from the excesses of government. in the democratic republic of congo, for example, a country emerging from decades of conflict, the j family is working closely with the africa bureau to create the environment

for more stability and security. working to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, break the link between conflict minerals and violence, support democratic institutions that can promote lasting peace and achieve accountability for the atrocities that have been committed against innocents. we have also elevated the counterterrorism office to a full bureau that will help us build an international counterterrorism network that is as nimble and adaptive as our adversaries. the cb bureau is undermining attempts to find new recruits and shrinking the space available to al qaeda and its affiliates by increasing the capacity of our partners to combat terrorism on their own. now we also launched a new center to deal with countering

violent extremism within the state department. and i attended the inaugural meeting just yesterday and saw the interagency in full splendor as i sat between danny benjamin and ann stock and ambassador richard lebaron and across from representatives from dod, cia, dni, you name it. because it makes no sense for us to be trying to combat violent extremism, have expertise in the cia, expertise in dod, expertise across our government that is siloed in ways we don't even know what each other is doing. so we're trying to break down those bureaucratic barriers. we've also launched -- [ applause ] -- as an american initiative, along with our partners around the world, the global counterterrorism forum to strengthen counterterrorism-led efforts and further bridge the

divide between security and development. and in addition we've taken many other steps, one in particular establishing a coordinator for cyberissues that is going to be increasingly important to us. in order to respond quickly to 21st century threats. second, along with the great leadership of dr. raj shah, we are transforming our approach to development. we have made a long-term commitment to rebuilding usaid as the world's premier development agency. under the usaid forward reform agenda, we have strengthened aid's capacity to elevate development as a pillar of civilian power. we've built up the policy, planning, and learning bureau. and i especially liked that initiative because we need to be constantly a learning organism. what can we do bern? what can we learn from others? it is now a thought leader on development. adopting an outstanding system for monitoring and evaluating our work around the world, reinvigorating our investments in science technology and innovation, and stepping up our

focus on democracy, human rights, and governance. we're also consolidating our administrative services when it makes sense from a business and operations perspective. you know, it no longer makes sense in a world of constrained resources in countries to have separate warehouses for state department and aid. we need efficiencies. we need economies of scale. and we're working through all of that. pat kennedy and his great m team is really helping. and as promised, we launched a foreign assistance dashboard at www.foreignassistance.gov. that lets anyone in the world with an internet connection to see where we are investing and how much. and i will be discussing this in greater details at the usaid town hall. [ applause ] it's also nice to be able to refer our own inquiries that still people think we spend, you know, 20% of the u.s. gest's

budget on development to tell them to go to the foreignassistance.gov and get a little evidence-based reality going here. third, because we recognize that it's more important than ever to address the problems of fragile states, we are strengthening our capacity to prevent and respond to crisis. we rolled out our new conflict and stabilization operations bureau, and in the past year, cso has deployed more than 175 civilian response core members to hot spots in more than 30 countries around the world.

they come from nine different agencies and bureaus, including usaid, which has expanded its own work in this area. they're working everywhere from afghanistan to south sudan to team more, often in some of the most remote and least governed places on earth. they can be found camped alongside special forces, sleeping under mosquito nets and campsites hacked out of the jungle by machete, eating mres, hitching rides in the become of pickups to meet with local leaders. not the common image of a diplomat. but they're among the hundreds of state and aid employees practicing a trade craft that now lives at the intersection of diplomacy, development, and security.

and finally -- [ applause ] -- we are doing everything we can to work smarter by improving our approaches to planning, procurement and personnel. for example we have overhauled the way state and usaid go about setting goals and developing long-term plans. for the first time, strategic planning and resource planning are separate and sequential processes. now as obvious as it may seem to all of us here today, we now set our goals before we determine funding rather than doing everything all at once. and we're simplifying those processes to relieve unnecessary burdens. you know, in the press of the budget and the incredible pressure that comes on everyone every year, and especially last year and this year, it seemed to make sense in the past that we just tried to do everything at once. how much could we get, what could we do it for. what we have found in our engagement with omb and in our engagement with the hill, that if we have done our planning first and we have the rationales behind what we are asking for, we will be more successful.

we will make the case to both the omb budgeteers and the budget committees on the hill. it helps us focus on our highest priorities. and we're also investing in our most important asset, namely you and all of your colleagues. well set up new training through fsi to better prepare our staff for the demands of 21st century diplomacy. we have created multiple new courses designed to emphasize priorities identified in the qddr, including training and development assistance, multilateral diplomacy, and social media best practices. we want to make sure that every person at state and usaid has the skills and resources necessary to do your job. we also want to tap all the talent and expertise of our civil service. [ applause ]

last year we developed a department-wide survey of civil servants. and by popular demand launched a pilot program for civil servants to deploy overseas. posts will obviously benefit from having skilled civil servants fill out their team. and the participants will gain greater experience about life at posts and a new set of responsibilities. if the program proves successful, we will look to expand it to more people and more posts. now these are just a handful of the steps we have taken in the past year. there are many, many more stories of the qddr in action. we've been tracking them on the website, qddr.state.gov. i encourage each of you to go there to check on the progress we have made, to share your ideas about how we make this first ever qddr real in your

office. and as we look ahead to the coming year, we need to keep up this momentum. now i know it isn't easy. there is just a lot to do every single day. it's hard to be, you know, inventing a new airplane when you're up in the air. but we are really together demonstrating how it's done. large bureaucracies like large organizations anywhere can often resist change. because it's new, it disrupts the orderly flow of the routines that have been already established. and it might be tempting to just sit and wait in the hope that a change will pass you by. but instead, so many of you have embraced the qddr and the ideas behind it. and i want to thank each and every one of you who have been

involved in the process. if you're still working to implement the guidance, i encourage you to keep pushing forward. now many of the projects we have already started will need follow-up actions in coming months. so we will be defining the next set of projects to take on. and i really invite all of you. we really welcome your ideas about how to bring these changes into reality, because implementing the qddr should not be an extra task on top of your real day job. should it be part of that job. and it should provide transformative thinking and tools to help you work better. and aside from the big institutional changes we're making, i want the qddr to do something else, encourage all

employees at every level to really think hard and to kind of dream big about what more we can do on behalf of our country. for more than half a century, the world has benefitted from exceptional american leadership. and an international system that was designed and implemented by talented and dedicated employees here at state and usaid. the sources of america's power are enduring and durable. our values, our global vision, our productivity, our ingenuity, our incredible demographic diversity. but none of these advantages is a birthright. every generation of americans has to reestablish their legitimacy and credibility, and has to reimagine how america will be going forward. so let's nurture those values. let's keep making the tough choices, and let's make sure we are part of securing american leadership well into this century. now i will be happy to take your questions. there are two microphones already set up in the audience. we've received a lot of interesting questions through the sounding board.

we're not going to have time to answer all of them, so i'll take a few online questions submitted from overseas posts today. i understand that we will take a few from the sounding board moderator, who has merged a few of the questions apparently so i could respond more directly to all of you. and i promise that all the thoughtful questions that you took the time to ask, which i don't get to right now will be answered either on the sounding board or the qddr site. so with that, pat, we should [ applause ] >> madam secretary, thank you so much for being here. my name is kathleen cory and i work at sfi. many of us are very involved in working on qddr-related projects, and we're very excited about the document and want it to stay. so my question is what is the department doing to institutionalize the qddr so that regardless of who is secretary of state or regardless

of which administration is in power, that the qddr will remain a cornerstone of u.s. foreign policy? thank you. >> first of all, thank you for your work at sfi and your work on implementing the qddr. we are hoping that it will prove itself so that no matter who comes next, not only in my position, but in all of the positions of leadership throughout state and aid will see it as the tool that it is. the defense department has been doing this for years, and it has really advantaged them. that's how i first thought of it. because i served on the armed services committee in the senate and every four years the defense department would come up with this really slick well manufactured brochure filled with pages and power points, you know how they are so good at that. and, you know, it just was daunting to see, because it just laid out here is what we want and here is how we're going to get it. and we had nothing like that

from state or aid. in fact, if you ask jack lew who has gone from d here to omb, now will become chief of staff for president obama, he said it was always so easy because state would come in with their priorities with their priorities, aid would come in different priorities. you could set one against the other so the end result was we got less than we should have gotten. so i don't like that as an operating principle. so we decided to launch the first qddr. we are expecting it to be legislated, because i think the congress are authorizing committees and appropriate rating subcommittees, found it really useful. you know, they used to come into meetings and all the dod appropriators would have their stacks of stuff from dod, and our guys would have little piece of paper with somebody called me and told me i needed to do this.

you know, we think on the merits should be continued and if it's legislated, it will be continued. so that's how we see it. yes. >> a question from the field or from the sounding board? >> thank you, madam secretary. the first question from the sounding board comes from michelle nichols in kabul. she wants to know what will the footprint of the department be in afghanistan as we progress through transition. >> well, that's a very good question. and just about ten days or so ago, i called our team in afghanistan, had a conference call with many, many of the really extraordinary people serving there, not just from state and aid, but from our whole government. and we are going through that process now to evaluate as the transition continues in afghanistan and the military footprint draws down and transitioning areas are transferred to afghan lead. our civilian mission will have to shift its focus from stabilization and support to the military to long-term

development and building afghan capacity. we have over 450 civilians right now embedded in nearly 80 locations with the military, primarily u.s., but also nato isaf forces. we will be gradually consolidating, our present thinking is, into four enduring state-led locations. and our staffing will be drawn down as the military draws down. we will have to be really thoughtful about how we reconfigure our mission in kabul and around the country. that process is just beginning, so michelle, i would welcome your insight and input as well as those of others serving with you. ambassador ryan crocker runs a great mission in kabul.

so he and his team is very much focused on this. but it is a work in progress because we don't know all the details about exactly how the transition to afghan-led security will occur. but we're starting that work right now. >> madam secretary, i'm on the board of executive women at state. fewer women are applying for senior positions in the department, and women at every level are having difficulty with maternity, child care and elder care issues, and some are resigning. workplace flexibility options are inconsistent from office to office. how can executive women at state and other concerned affinity groups work with you to help address these problems before you leave?

thank you. [ applause ] >> well, this is a matter of great concern to me because obviously balancing family and work responsibilities is challenging and the challenge falls disproportionately on women in the workplace. and it's no longer just a question of one's children, it's also one's aging relatives who are often part of the care-giving responsibilities that are assumed. and i really want to do more on this year. you know, i think we've got a variety of policies in place that are trying to make the department a more family-friendly work environment. i know some of you have raised

on the sounding board and through your chains here the question about more telework. pat and i have talked about this. we have to determine which positions are eligible and which aren't. you know, a lot of the classified and confidential work can't be outsourced so to speak to telework. so we are looking at that. we will continue to look at it. and we will try to support as much expansion of it as is possible. but i don't want to overpromise because there are inherent challenges. we also have a policy that provides for alternative work schedules. we support job sharing when it has been worked out with the