Richard N. Gardner, Of Counsel to Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius and Professor of Law and International Organization at Columbia University, has been U.S. Ambassador to Italy and Spain and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. Last year, he served on the Secretary of State's Overseas Presence Advisory Panel, which made recommendations on the reform and funding of U.S. diplomacy.
A dangerous game is being played in Washington with America's national security. Call it the "one percent solution" -- the fallacy that a successful U.S. foreign policy can be carried out with barely one percent of the federal budget. Unless the next president moves urgently to end this charade, he will find himself in a financial straitjacket that frustrates his ability to promote American interests and values in an increasingly uncertain world.
Ultimately, the only way to end the dangerous one percent solution game is to develop a new national consensus that sees the international affairs budget as part
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