U.S.-India Global Partnership and the U.S.-Indian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Initiative

Good morning, Mister Chairman, Congressman Lantos, and Members of the Committee. I am grateful for the opportunity to be here today to provide my views on the U.S.-India Global Partnership and, in particular, the U.S.-Indian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Initiative announced by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 2, 2006.

For the record, my name is Richard A. Falkenrath and I am presently the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Fellow in the foreign policy studies program at the Brookings Institution. I am also Managing Director of the Civitas Group LLC, a strategic advisory and investment services firm serving the homeland security market, and a security analyst for the Cable News Network (CNN). I served on the White House staff in several different capacities from January 2001 until May 2004. Prior to government service, I was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Until May 2004, I served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor on the White House staff; and, before that, as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Policy and Plans within the Office of Homeland Security. My first position in the U.S. government, however, was as Director for Proliferation Strategy on the National Security Council staff, where my responsibilities included U.S. proliferation policy toward India, Pakistan, China, and North Korea. I vividly remember accompanying Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on his visit to New Delhi and meeting with then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the first of many high-level discussions that led ultimately to the U.S.-India Global Partnership.