June 20, 2011
News from The Fund for Peace

Contact (FfP): J.J. Messner
Office: +1.202.223.7940 Ext. 206

Contact (BENS): Laura Keehner Rigas
Office: +1.202.481.1119

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and the Fund for Peace today hosted the Failed States Index 2011 Launch Event at the National Press Club. Admiral Mike Mullen, USN, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered keynote remarks on the challenges that fragile and failed states pose for the international community. Today’s keynote remarks and ensuing debate continues a discussion started at the May 2011 BENS Policy Forum about a more holistic approach to a national security strategy.

“Admiral Mike Mullen has taken great steps to bring the private industry sector viewpoint into the debate in creating a new framework for national security,” said General Montgomery C. Meigs, President and CEO of Business Executives for National Security. “We thank him for participating in our unique and unprecedented event this morning and believe the private sector is a key stakeholder in a secure and stable global economy. Business must fully participate for us all to succeed.”

“Business executives must be brought into the debate on globalization and failed states,” said BENS member Rear Admiral Gerard Mauer, USN, (Ret.), a Vice-President at Sabre Systems. “I think BENS is the right organization to bring together the government, private sector and non-profits to discuss these important issues – that is why I am a member.”

Selected quotes from Admiral Mullen’s remarks, as delivered:

“One… phenomena that I see in Washington here, is the increased both requirement and ability to put public-private ventures together to make a difference. And it takes creative, demanding leaders to be able to do this because we are -- back to the name of Monty’s organization [Business Executives for National Security] -- we are still the Pentagon and we are still bureaucratic and we still like to do things certain ways and we are not easy to work with. I understand that, but work with others we must. We know that in the world that we are living in…it’s just going to accelerate. And then where do we put our emphasis? Right now, our emphasis is far too much on the kinetic side because of the threat… It goes back to the Yemen piece (Al-Qaeda). This is a very dangerous organization. And yet, we would like to get ahead of it.”

“I was at a meeting many, many months ago with the President and we were talking about military aspects of Yemen and he looked at me and others and said ‘Where are the non-military investments? How are we going to make a difference there?’ Which really is the long-term solution. Not just in Yemen, but in failing states and the balance between that and the impact it has on us…making sure that we take care of our own house. And we have to do that.”

“You will, I hope today, debate and discuss the importance of every single entity that exists on this globe, whether it’s public or private, whether its non-governmental... I think it is imperative that we all figure out how we are going to address these challenges together because these challenges will come at us…at a speed that is accelerating.”

“We also have various organizations, private and public, who have not worked with each other [and] oftentimes meet each other in the middle of a fight. That’s not a great time to say ‘hello’…I have argued for years [that] we need to understand each other in advance.”

“I have tried to focus…on the economic engines that are going to create [the expected] standard of living. They are here; they are in China; they are in India; they are in Brazil; they are in the Middle East; they are in Europe. So how do we make these economic engines work together so that the haves and the have-nots are not as far apart?”

“I have believed for years that we have moved beyond…a single entity or a single country being able to control an outcome and that is the United States. We cannot control outcomes anymore. We are not living in a world where that can be the case.”

Why should business executives care about failed states?

• Because the private sector is a key stakeholder in a secure and stable global economy. The instability created by failing states threatens the normal function of the international marketplace.
• Private sector initiatives and investment can combat state fragility, promote stability and prevent conflict.
• New “whole of government” approaches are needed that include private sector initiatives to prevent the rise of fragile or failed states. These approaches can obviate the need later to react to the instability and conflict that often occur – a much more daunting, and expensive, proposition.
• In this shifting landscape and complex security environment, government needs to understand what business brings to the table. The private sector brings both the expertise, knowledge, and the economic incentive, required positively to affect change, especially in local markets.

Founded in 1982, BENS is a nationwide, non-partisan organization which supports the U.S. government by applying pro bono, best business practice solutions to its most intractable national security challenges. For more information, please visit: www.bens.org.

The Fund for Peace, which was founded in 1957, is an independent, nonpartisan, non-profit research and educational organization that works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security. They recently released the seventh edition of its annual Failed States Index (FSI), highlighting global political, economic and social pressures experienced by states.