Thursday, Dec. 7, the Global Research Institute at the College of William and Mary hosted a panel discussion with former U.S. Secretary of Defense and College Chancellor Robert M. Gates ’65, L.H.D. ’98, AidData Director of Policy Analysis Samantha Custer and retired Army General Joseph Votel, who served as the commander of the United States Central Command.
The panel, which Custer moderated, met in the Commonwealth Auditorium in the Sadler Center and took questions from the audience. It took place prior to the second annual two-day Gates Forum, where policymakers and national leaders discuss foreign aid and the exercise of power with GRI students.
“The idea behind the Gates Forums is clear: to produce original research that can be used by policymakers to inform bipartisan solutions to national security problems,” George and Mary Hylton Professor of International Relations and Government and GRI Director Michael Tierney said. “Last December, we partnered with William and Mary’s Chancellor, Robert M. Gates, to tackle the issue of strategic communication in U.S. foreign policy.”
During the discussion, in which the panelists took questions from the audience, Gates and Votel addressed many subjects regarding international security and diplomacy. College President Katherine Rowe started the event by acknowledging the difficulties of the current global environment.
“It’s appropriate, I think, to begin by acknowledging the very difficult time that we’re in, witnessing worldwide conflict and conflict in our country,” Rowe said. “It’s a particularly difficult time to be a college student, I think. I’m really proud of the way ours are coming together across divisions. It takes a lot of maturity to do that.”
As Rowe introduced Custer, student protestors organized by the College’s Dissenters chapter walked up to the front of the stage with black tape covering their mouths, blocking the panelists. Protesters held a flag of the State of Palestine and signs accusing Gates of being complicit in the violence between Palestine and Israel.
Rowe asked the protestors to leave the premises, to which they complied.
“It’s time for me to ask our students who are being respectfully quiet to move on,” Rowe said. “This event is about a past peace, and I know that everybody at William and Mary cares about that. I ask all of you whose behavior is obstructing and disrupting this meeting to stop immediately and let the conversation continue, consistent with policies and values in this university. Okay, you’ve been asked respectfully to let this meeting proceed, but your conduct has continued. I’m hereby officially directing you to please leave the premises immediately.”
The panel continued after the students left the room.
Custer asked Gates about the importance of foreign aid.
“I think the key is, first of all, to understand that foreign assistance has probably been one of the most unpopular government programs for the last 60 years,” Gates said. “It was during the Cold War and has continued to be. First of all, a lot of Americans have a totally mistaken view of how much we actually spend on foreign assistance. Some people think it’s 10, 15, 20% of the budget. In fact, it’s about 1% of the federal budget. Proportionately, we spend less on foreign assistance than a whole range of other countries, from Portugal to the Netherlands to Japan and others.”
Gates emphasized that foreign aid has the potential to make other countries American allies.
“But there’s very little altruism in the American government,” Gates said. “I think it’s a hard reality that our national interests are advanced by providing development assistance and humanitarian assistance to other countries. We make a big mistake, in my view, in this country by keeping secret how much we do for others and how often we do it for people who are our adversaries.”
He pointed to examples such as North Korea and Iran.
“When I was writing my book, ‘Exercise of Power,’ I was stunned to learn that during the North Korean famine in 1999, the United States provided three times more food assistance to North Korea than any other country in the world, including China,” Gates said. “In 2005, we provided humanitarian assistance to Iran after a terrible earthquake.”
Custer then asked Votel to grade the state of American foreign aid programs.
“C minus, which for me would be a really great grade,” Votel said. “This is an area that gets a lot of scrutiny, that gets a lot of criticism because it looks — we don’t do a great job of explaining to the American people what we’re doing with this money and why it makes a difference. I think the communication aspect of this is extraordinarily important, and we don’t do a great job of explaining why that is. But when you travel overseas, we do begin to see the benefits of the investments that we make in these countries.”
The panelists continued to discuss many issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the role of the United States in the conflict in Palestine.
“I would say that the prerequisite for peace in the Middle East is courageous leaders,” Gates said.
Gates also gave his opinion on the current Israeli Prime Minister.
“So one of the obstacles now, and now I’m going to tiptoe through the minefield, one of the obstacles, frankly, to further progress, to trying to resolve all of this is that, and I’ll just say it right here: I’ve never been a fan of Bibi Netanyahu,” Gates said. “I first met him in 1989 when he was deputy foreign minister of Israel, and I was deputy national security advisor. I didn’t like him then, and I see no reason to change my mind, and I dealt with him a lot when I was secretary of defense, and with him leading a far-right coalition government in Israel, and very aggressive designs on the West Bank and frankly, does not accept the notion of a solution.”
Votel also pointed out the importance of providing humanitarian aid and coordinating those efforts.
“I think it’s to their benefit to be viewed as not only a military force that is going after Hamas but also a military force that is trying to work with the humanitarian aid, being to the best of their ability in what is acknowledged a very, very difficult situation,” Votel said.
Custer continued to ask other questions submitted by the audience. One of them pertained to Gates’ political ambitions.
“Chancellor Gates, have you ever thought of running for president?” Custer asked.
“I’ve been married 56 years, there would be no 57. No, never, never, never,” Gates said.
Owen Dyer ’26, who attended the panel, said he was interested in the issue of foreign aid and liked the discussion.
“I think it was very fascinating,” Dyer said. “I think I agree with pretty much the majority of it, to Gates’ points, especially with pretty important ones promoting which ways the U.S. can engage, especially within health, within education, and also in governance and ability to to engage the Global South in a way that isn’t only military.”
Dyer touched on Rowe’s handling of the student protest during the event.
“I think the way that President Rowe dealt with it was really, really in good faith of democracy and different democratic values,” Dyer said. “So, I think just dealing with those types of issues by allowing people to speak and give their opinions, but also allowing them to also leave and protest peacefully, is especially important in a democratic space like this.”