May 25th Rotary Meeting
 
Announcements and Reminders
 
Rotarian of the week for organizing the blues festival this weekend is Sandra Wallace. She has the list of volunteers and assignments.
 
July 28th the District Governor will visit. Board member and service chairs should be here at early at 11:00.
 
June 23rd will be the District Governors Toast at Gilroy Gardens.
 
Dr. Art received recognition for his donation to Rotary International.
 
Keith Madeiros party  is June 26th at his house. He also reported on Neil McCallum’s funeral which 15 club members attended.
 
Claire McAdams reported on the grants committee. They are making decisions on scholarships.
 
Bee Peters introduced our speaker today, Dr. Casey Lucius. She was in the navy, has a Master’s degree in national security affairs and a PhD in political science. She teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School. She is running for Sam Farr’s congressional seat but was here at Rotary to talk about national security and ISIS.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dr. Lucius said we do not have a clearly defined set of national interests.  She said that everything should be defined in terms of a threat.  She agrees with authors who say that we should separate morality from our national interest and that ideals should not detract from national security. The national security strategy as written by Obama identified security of the country, a strong economy, respect for universal values and an international order advancing peace. She disagreed with the last two asserting that this collective interest does not exist.
 
She defined five that she thinks matter: (1) Trade and economic prosperity; (2) Energy supply; (3) Freedom of the seas; (4) Cybersecurity and  (5) Homeland security. What do you do to protect and advance those interests? First decide if they are threatened. Dr. Lucius asserts that four of these are being threatened by ISIS.
How can we defeat ISIS? (1) Diplomacy or strategic communications in the region; (2) Beat them at their own game e.g. information warfare using social media; (3)  Economic tools. (They collect $90 million a month)We need to take their money thru levying sanctions against those countries that are buying oil from ISIS; (4) Using our military as in sending troops to Iraq and (5) A domestic peace. We need to come together here at home.
 
Dr. Lucius concluded that by using all five of the tools she named,  we can be successful in responding to international challenges.