New Poll Finds That Post-9/11 Military Officers Believe Strengthening Development...

New Poll Finds That Post-9/11 Military Officers Believe Strengthening
Development and Diplomacy Is Critical to National Security

Center Releases Survey of Military Attitudes on Global Engagement on Eve of
Conference

Featuring McCain, Obama Senior Foreign Policy Surrogates and former Sen.
Edwards

WASHINGTON, July 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Center for U.S. Global
Engagement is releasing today the results of a unique and compelling national
survey exploring the attitudes of active duty and recently retired (post-9/11)
military officers toward the United States' use of military and non-military
tools to enhance our national security. The survey, conducted by the
bipartisan polling team of Peter D. Hart Research Associates (D) and Public
Opinion Strategies (R), is being released as part of the Center's July 15th
national conference, Election '08: The Global Impact, at 9 a.m. at the
Mayflower Hotel, Senate Room, 1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.
Live streaming video of the poll release and conference program can be seen at
www.usglobalengagement.org.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080709/DC27147LOGO )

Following the 9 a.m. poll briefing for the media, conference participants will
hear from senior foreign policy representatives from both presidential
candidates - Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) for McCain and Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)
for Obama - and other prominent national security and foreign policy leaders.
The Center's conference will also feature a keynote address, "Smart Power:
America and Global Poverty," by former Sen. John Edwards, in his first foreign
policy address since withdrawing from the presidential election.

Pollsters Geoff Garin of Peter D. Hart Research Associates and Bill McInturff
of Public Opinion Strategies will provide an overview of the poll results in a
presentation and memorandum. "Today's military officers believe we face very
different security challenges than we did during the Cold War and must use
different tools and strategies to address those challenges," Garin and
McInturff write in the memorandum, with "a significant majority of officers
surveyed embrac[ing] a new paradigm in which strengthened diplomacy and
development assistance are important companions to traditional military tools
for achieving America's national security goals."

The Center's Executive Director Liz Schrayer explained why the Center
commissioned the poll. "There has been growing interest from the Defense
community to see greater investments in diplomacy and development assistance,"
Schrayer said. "Secretary Gates has called for a 'dramatic increase in
spending on the civilian instruments of national security,' and the more than
fifty retired generals and admirals on Center's National Security Advisory
Council have called on the 2008 Presidential candidates to elevate and
strengthen our non-military tools of global engagement. This poll
demonstrated that the vast majority of their colleagues in uniform see the
value - many of them from firsthand experience - in these investments."

Reacting to the poll results, General Gregory Newbold, USMC (Ret.), a member
of the Center's National Security Advisory Council who served as Director of
Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2000 to 2002, said, "These poll
results make clear that the next Commander in Chief has the strong support of
active and retired military officers to place increased emphasis on the
non-military tools of national power."

Other featured speakers at the Conference include USAID Administrator
Henrietta Fore on modernizing foreign assistance and a panel discussion with
two former White House Chiefs of Staff. Tuesday evening, the Center's sister
organization, the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, will honor Defense
Secretary Robert Gates for his leadership in support of the International
Affairs Budget.

Additional information on the conference program can be found at
www.usglobalengagement.org. Video highlights from the conference will be
posted in the days following the conference at www.cusge.blip.tv and
www.youtube.com/cusge.

The Center for U.S. Global Engagement (www.usglobalengagement.org), the
educational arm of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, unites business,
civic, military, faith-based, and political leaders around the country to
broaden understanding of America's interests in building a better, safer
world.

Impact '08: Building a Better, Safer World is the Center's national,
non-partisan initiative, chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, calling on all of the
Presidential candidates to elevate and strengthen America's investments in
global development and diplomacy.

The Center's National Security Advisory Council is a unique, non-partisan
group of over 50 prominent retired three and four-star generals and admirals
representing all five branches of the Armed Forces who have united with the
Center in support of strengthening America's national security strategy with
increased use of non-military tools. The Council is co-chaired by General
Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret.) and Admiral Leighton W. Smith, Jr., USN (Ret.).

SOURCE U.S. Global Leadership Campaign

Jeff Berkowitz of U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, +1-202-730-4163