Clinton’s Blueprint for the State Dept.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will soon release her vision of the State Department’s future. The agency’s first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review will lay out how Clinton plans to update the department from the days of Cold War-era ideological blocs to deal with rising powers such as India and China. The review is expected to request more funding for diplomacy and to put more emphasis on conflict prevention. Building multilateral institutions is another priority. Such multilateral partnerships would help deal with transnational tensions as well as ease the burden on the U.S. when disasters strike, like the earthquake in Haiti or the floods in Pakistan. A release date for the report has yet to be set, but some changes, such as institutionalized strategic dialogues with emerging powers, are already underway.