Public diplomacy-related items in Hillary Clinton's foreign policy speech at the Council on Foreign Relations

Clinton image from

Please note that Ms. Clinton, according a transcript available at this writing, did not mention public diplomacy directly (as a term/activity). She did, however, mention "smart power." On smart power, see John Brown, "Smart Power In, Public Diplomacy Out?" (2009).

[W]e need an immediate intelligence surge in the region, including technical assets, Arabic speakers with deep expertise in the Middle East. ...

Now, the second element of our strategy looks beyond the immediate battlefield of Iraq and Syria, to disrupt and dismantle global terrorist infrastructure on the ground and online. ...

Through partnerships with local law enforcement and civil society, especially with Muslim community leaders, we have to work to tip the balance away from extremism in these hotspots. ...

There’s no doubt we have to do a better job contesting online space, including websites and chat rooms where jihadists communicate with followers. We must deny them virtual territory just as we deny them actual territory.

At the State Department, I built up a unit of communication specialists fluent in Urdu, Arabic, Somali and other languages to battle with extremists online [see].

We need more of that, including from the private sector. Social media companies can also do their part by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts, so they’re not used to plan, provoke or celebrate violence.

Online or off-line, the bottom line is that we are in a contest of ideas against an ideology of hate, and we have to win. Let’s be clear, though, Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people, and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. The obsession in some quarters with a clash of civilization, or repeating the specific words radical Islamic terrorism isn’t just a distraction, it gives these criminals, these murderers more standing than they deserve. It actually plays into their hands by alienating partners we need by our side. ...

We have to join with our partners to do the patient’s steady work of empowering moderates and marginalizing extremists; supporting democratic institutions and the rule of law. ...

When I became secretary of State, I was surprised to find that nearly a decade after 9/11, there was still no dedicated international vehicle to regularly convene key countries to deal with terrorist threats.

So, we created the Global Counterterrorism Forum [see], which now brings together nearly 30 countries, many from the Muslim world. It should be a clearing house for directing assistance to countries that need it, for mobilizing common action against threats. ...

[D]oing battle in cyberspace ... is vital to the war against ISIS, but it also lays the foundation for defusing and defeating the next threat and the one after that. ...

To impose the toughest sanctions in history on Iran, to stop a dictator from slaughtering his people in Libya, to support a fledgling democracy in Afghanistan, we have to use every pillar of American power — military and diplomacy, development and economic and cultural influence, technology and maybe most importantly our values. That is smart power.

Replies to Q and A:

Now that ISIS has made clear that I think in part because they have been pushed hard by the airstrikes, by the Kurds, they’re now expanding their reach so that they can keep their propaganda going.

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[Regarding Libya:] You know, going back to Libya, you know, the Europeans were the ones who wanted American support, and we did not agree to do so until we had a very clear idea what they were willing to do.