Security

I just returned from the Brookings Institution, where I heard Secretary Clinton deliver a speech previewing the United States' priorities during next week's U.N. General Assembly session.

Before diving into her speech though, Clinton remarked on President Obama's announcement yesterday of changes in the U.S. missile defense program. She said the new system stemmed from a "lengthy and in-depth assessment" of the threats posed by Iran and is based on the United States' "best understanding of Iran's capability."

The new system will "deploy sooner," be "more comprehensive," and have a "better capacity to protect." Clinton said it will "deploy technology that's actually proven" to work and "does what missile defense is actually supposed to do." She added that criticisms of the new system are "not connected to the facts."

Then Clinton delved into her official remarks. Nonproliferation of nuclear weapons will be the main topic that the United States will address next week. Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation to a conference on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the first time that a U.S. secretary of state has attended such a conference.

Another key topic for the United States next week will be Iran. The issue isn't Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, she said. Rather, she firmly stressed, the problem is that for years Iran has not lived up to its responsibilities to demonstrate that its program is "exclusively for peaceful purposes."

Clinton said that the United States' past refusal to engage Iran had yielded no progress and added, "We remain ready to engage." (Whether Iran is ready to engage on talking nukes, however, is an entirely different story.)

Some other tidbits:

•Clinton said the United States and Iraq have entered a new, "more mature partnership."

•Clinton will be chairing a session on women, peace, and security at the U.N. General Assembly session. She said, "If women are free from violence and afforded their rights," they can be "change agents."

•On corruption, Clinton said it was a "security problem," not just a "good government concern."

•Finally, at the end, Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott asked Clinton about U.S. health-care reform. Clinton said, "We're going to be successful," but went on to say it "won't be pretty."

Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

A few Clinton-related news articles:

•Secretary Clinton and the U.S. State Department are trying to find accommodations for Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, who'll be visiting New York for next month's U.N. General Assembly meeting. He prefers to erect Bedouin-style air-conditioned tents, such as this tent he set up in Paris in 2007, but his request to camp in Central Park was rejected. Now, he wants to put down stakes at a Libyan-owned estate in Englewood, N.J., but residents don't want to host the leader who just embraced the recently released Pam Am Flight 103 bomber.

•"Hillary's Right About the 'Defense Umbrella'" argues a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Referring to the "defense umbrella" that Clinton said the United States should consider extending over the Middle East to deter Iran's nuclear ambitions, the piece argues that Clinton has "the right idea," but that the Obama administration must put its money where its mouth is and support missile defense, not scale it back.

•The finance chairman of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign has been accused of fraud for allegedly lying to Citibank to secure a $74 million loan.

Photo: GLENNA GORDON/AFP/Getty Images