by Catherine Austin Fitts
When I served in the first Bush Administration, I had something called my “sugar packet goals.” Those were three goals that I had written on the back of a sugar packet that were entirely confidential. Not even my closest aides and deputies knew them. Indeed, they were part of a long list of goals that had been approved by the Secretary and were integrated into the White House budgets. Yet, given the politics above, around and below, it served me over time to focus on what was most important; keep it short and simple and be discreet about it.
If we sat on the National Security Council today, what would be our “sugar packet goals?” What are the most important issues facing the members – the President, Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affair and their chief advisors, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence?
This Thursday evening on The Solari Report I will be speaking with Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Adjunct Harriman Professor of Government at William & Mary College.
Colonel Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff from 2002-05, Associate Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff and member of that staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political-military and legislative affairs from 2001-02.
Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served for 31 years in the U.S. Army. During that time, he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (1987 to 1989), Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93), and Director and Deputy Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia (1993-97).
Colonel Wilkerson volunteered and served as an Army helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, attended Airborne and Ranger Schools before receiving his undergraduate degree in English Literature and graduate degrees in international relations and national security. He also served in the US Navy’s Pacific Command in South Korea, Japan and Hawaii.
I am going to ask Colonel Wilkerson to take you inside the Washington machinery and help you look at things from the point of view of someone managing the federal resources and commitments globally, how that relates to a variety of corporate and private investment interests and the implications for the financial and commodities markets as well as the outlook for the US dollar.
This will be an important one, so we expect to go beyond an hour.
I will start with Money & Markets. There will be no Ask Catherine, instead we will focus on questions for Colonel Wilkerson. This week’s Money and Markets charts will be posted at the blog.
In Let’s Go to the Movies, I will review the documentary No End in Sight, Charles Ferguson’s documentary about the US occupation of Iraq, in which Colonel Wilkerson is interviewed extensively.
Listen live on Thursday evening by phone, Skype or online, or listen at your convenience by downloading the MP3 after it posted on Friday. If you would like to learn more about The Solari Report and subscribe, click here.
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