Comments for BackLitt

Comment on Focus on the Foundations by wedding ties

wedding ties — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:24:55 +0000

A foundation is a legal categorization of nonprofit organizations that will typically either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the source of funding for its own charitable purposes.

Comment on Focus on the Foundations by garden parasol sale

garden parasol sale — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:50:29 +0000

Attention is the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things. Attention has also been referred to as the allocation of processing resources.

Comment on Focus on the Foundations by Julian Robertson

Julian Robertson — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:17:44 +0000

Hedge funds provide an ideal long-term investment solution, eliminating the need to correctly time entry and exit from markets.

Comment on Crisis Education: the Military-to-Civilian Transition by David Litt

David Litt — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:31:09 +0000

Tom, truth be told, the posting was in fact a set-up to see what kind of response I would get. As you well know, I'm never shy about giving my views, but in this case we all need to be very deliberate in blazing the trail. The way ahead involves culling past experience as well as looking at what the academic literature might tell us about best practices. So I don't have a pat answer. I do fully intend, however, to pursue this possiblity in the programs that we offer to the US government, military, private sector and NGO communities for the benefit of the nation. Thanks for your vote of confidence.

Comment on Crisis Education: the Military-to-Civilian Transition by David Litt

David Litt — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:23:23 +0000

WRT domestic agencies, I believe that many agencies (e.g., HHS, FEMA, VA) have competencies vital to successful transitions, and should be part and parcel of our strategy in both domestic and international responses. However, whether they should be part of CRC specifically is a more complex issue involving the most efficient use of our scarce resources. One key consideration suggesting a looser network is the need to maintain speed, flexibility and agility in response.

Comment on Crisis Education: the Military-to-Civilian Transition by David Litt

David Litt — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:16:44 +0000

Peter, In my view, the USG must first revise its crisis response strategy to better employ the tools we have available, and identify those that need longer term development. This would involve CSO's collaboration with its counterparts at DoD, and principal military commands, such as XVIII Airborne Corps. The interagency strategy would shape and support CRC's role as an integral part of our response capability — ideally, so that the military does not have to bear all of the burden, both "upstream" (i.e., training not relevant to core military functions) and "downstream" (i.e., operations on the ground that militaries are not designed to perform). This approach would give CRC right now the challenge of designing its capabilities in the most effective and efficient ways possible so that the CSO leadership will have persuasive ammunition to advocate its use with the interagency leadership. CRC training and sustainment requirements must be realistic, especially in today's constrained environment. More to follow…

Comment on Crisis Education: the Military-to-Civilian Transition by Peter McHugh

Peter McHugh — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:28:08 +0000

If CRC survives, what role might it play in properly initiating and executing transition from Mil to Civ activity…how might champions of that initiative influence the new CSO to make "transition" a major element of CRC training and capability? Would domestic agencies have useful competencies to support better mil/civ transitions as part of CRC?

Comment on Crisis Education: the Military-to-Civilian Transition by Tom McMurrain

Tom McMurrain — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:41:11 +0000

Your questions are vital and, yet, lead not to answers but to more questions. I hope in future posts you will give us your perspective on these issues. The work at the Center is becoming even more critical as "transition" becomes more of our national mission.

Comment on Middle East Awakenings at the Woman’s Club of Raleigh by Joanne Cunningham

Joanne Cunningham — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:18:24 +0000

Amb. Litt spoke for 90 minutes at the Raleigh Woman's Club this morning. His talk was so informative and interesting. He gave us good background information on problems in the Middle East and tied the history to the events of the Arab Spring and subsequent current issues. It really cleared up a lot of questions for us about why we are dealing with so many problems now in the Middle East. Many of the attendees have already given me good feedback on this morning's session. On behalf of members and friends of the Raleigh Woman's Club, thank you Amb. Litt for a sharing your expertise with us. Joanne Cunningham

Comment on The “Emergency Room” Approach by Clay Whybark

Clay Whybark — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:16:49 +0000

Amb. Litt –
I like a lot of your analogy between preventive medicine and development plus diplomacy. it is too bad that we don't know as much about the former as the latter. Having been involved directly or indirectly in development for some 50 years, I'm convinced we don't know how to do it (even well resourced) as well as we know how to do preventive medicine (though poorly resourced). The "Golden Book" of USAID successes (I was involved with one) testifies to how little sticks. Much of what has been done in Latin America has been undone by despotic governments and/or warring factions. The track record in Africa is even worse. Perhaps the missing element is not lack of knowledge of development techniques, but lack of knowledge of diplomacy techniques and how to couple them with development. It seems the "diplomacy and development" thrust is well-timed.