Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 07/2009

An Analysis of Global Health Engagement by the U.S. Department of Defense

Eugene V. Bonventre, Kathleen H. Hicks, Stacy M. Okutani

April 2009

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Abstract

Despite a broadening consensus that global health care efforts have an impact on national and global security, the U.S. national security community’s efforts to address global health are weak and uncoordinated. The 2006 National Security Strategy states that “development reinforces diplomacy and defense, reducing long-term threats to our national security by helping to build stable, prosperous, and peaceful societies.” While the U.S. government struggles to find the right balance among the “three Ds” of defense, diplomacy, and development, the U.S. military has increased its involvement in global health where it perceives the diplomacy and development to be underresourced—or to achieve its own specific objectives.