By: Leslie Shedd, CARLY for America National Press Secretary
November 22, 2015
“Well first I’ve done business and charity and policy work around the world for decades. I mean I have been in the Middle East and in Europe and in China and I’ve met world leaders, more world leaders probably than anyone else running with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton. I have also chaired the advisory board at the CIA, advised the CIA, the NSA, two Secretaries of Defense, the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security. I’ve held the highest clearances available to a civilian. I know most of our military generals and I know what a tragedy it is that some of our greatest military minds, whether it’s Stan McChrystal or Jack Keane or Mike Flynn or General Petraeus, basically were shoved aside and their advice has been ignored much to the peril of this nation.”
– Carly Fiorina
Most people know that Carly’s impressive business career has given her some serious real world executive experience. But her time at HP and the work she did afterwards at the CIA, Opportunity International, and Good360 has also given Carly some serious foreign policy experience.
HP’s Global Presence
FACT: Under Carly’s leadership, HP grew from operating in 120 countries in 1999 when Carly came on board to 170 countries in 2005 when Carly left.
FACT: The General Assembly of the United Nations was made up of 191 Member States in 2005, which would mean HP was operating in 89% of the world.
Economist Thomas Friedman in 2004: “HP today has well over 150,000 employees in at least 170 countries. It is not only the largest consumer technology company in the world; it is the largest IT company in Europe, the largest IT company in Russia, the largest IT company in the Middle East, and the largest IT company in South Africa.”
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden: “I would offer you the view that the chief executive officer from Hewlett-Packard has plenty of opportunity to immerse herself in the broader questions of diplomacy, global commerce and global issues. In fact, one might make the argument that that’s as good a preparation as any.”
FACT: Because of her experience steering the successful Compaq merger, Carly was sought out as an adviser to the Bush Administration and then-Secretary Tom Ridge on how best to create the Homeland Security Department.
FACT: Carly served as the Chairman of the Consumer Working Group of a global CEO organization called the Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce (GBDe). The GBDe was established in 1999 to help develop global policy for e-commerce.
FACT: In this role, Carly worked vigorously to provide protection for American e-commerce consumers, especially personal privacy protections.
Carly’s Work with the CIA
FACT: After leaving HP, then-CIA Director Michael Hayden asked Carly to serve as the Chairman of the External Advisory Board at the CIA. In that role, Carly worked closely with top Bush Administration officials and national security experts to bring more transparency and accountability to the intelligence agency.
CNN: “In 2007, then-CIA Director Michael Hayden was wrestling with a pressing question, one that would rattle the secretive organization long after his tenure: How, he wondered, could the U.S. spy agency continue to fulfill its mission in a society that increasingly demanded more transparency and public accountability? To help find an answer, Hayden turned to Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, whom he had selected to chair the CIA’s External Advisory Board. She responded with a warning that the agency would have to adapt to confront rapidly-changing public expectations. ‘She contributed a great deal,’ Hayden recalled, noting that the meetings were classified. ‘It confirmed for me what I thought was a coming crisis. It helped me with my judgment.’”
National Review: “…during the Bush presidency, Fiorina walked the corridors of the CIA and other high offices of government, assembling recommendations for national-security policy and developing a close working relationship with some of the most powerful officials in the administration.”
Carly’s Leadership in the Global Nonprofit World
FACT: Carly served as the Global Chairman of Opportunity International, one of the largest nonprofit micro-finance lenders in the world. Through loans as little as $150, Opportunity International has distributed over $9 billion through 30 million loans.
FACT: Carly served as the Chairman of Good360, a global nonprofit that has distributed more than $8 billion in donated goods to more than 40,000 nonprofits.
So it’s no wonder that Carly is one of the only people in this campaign to outline a specific plan for how she would deal with ISIS – almost six months ago.
Carly Fiorina in May 2015: “I would do very specific things. First, instead of having a Camp David conference to talk our Arab allies into a bad deal with Iran, I would have had a Camp David conference to talk with our Arab allies about how we can support them to fight ISIS. Let me give you very specific examples. The Kurds have been asking us to arm them for three years, we still have not. The Jordanians have been asking us to provide them with bombs and materiel. We know King Abdullah of Jordan, I’ve known him for many years. He took the appropriate leadership steps when a Jordanian pilot was burned alive. He was here in this country asking us for bombs and materiel, we haven’t provided him with any of them. He’s now looking to China for that. The Egyptian president, a very brave and pious Muslim, who has said there is a cancer in the heart of Islam, has asked us to share intelligence. We are not. The Turks have asked us to help them topple Bashar al-Assad, we are not. There are a whole set of things that we’ve been asked to do by our allies who know this is their fight, and we’re not doing any of them.”
With terror groups like ISIS and the rise of both Russia and China, the world is at a tipping point. We need a leader with extensive experience on the global stage who knows the foreign leaders and who understands the global economy. That is the only way we can get America back in the leadership business again. Because, as Carly repeatedly says, the world is a far more dangerous place when America doesn’t lead – and right now we are sorely lacking real leadership.
