On July 31, 2008, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on the role of the U.S. Military in foreign relations. We have posted links to his and ranking member Senator Richard Lugar opening statements. We also included those of George Rupp of the IRC.
“I share the concern that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently raised. ‘The military,’ he said, ‘has become more involved in a range of activities that in the past were perceived to be the exclusive province of civilian agencies and organizations…This has led to concern…about what’s seen as a creeping ‘militarization’…of America’s foreign policy. This is not an entirely unreasonable sentiment.’