UPDATE: Today is the start of the USGLC’s annual conference. We’ll be live streaming online at usglc.org and be sure and follow our updates on Twitter (@USGLC) and on Facebook.

Having Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates, Secretary of Treasury Geithner, USAID Administrator Shah, and Millennium Challenge CEO Yohannes all together to talk about the importance of global development is an extraordinary occasion. And our friend Steve Clemons over at the New America Foundation agrees, calling our event Tuesday a “mega conference.” (He has a new piece on Huffington Post discussing the State Department’s QDDR Process.)

With the President’s announcement of a new development policy last week saying our “national security strategy recognizes development as not only a moral imperative, but a strategic and economic imperative,” the conversation should be lively Tuesday afternoon. And the very presence of this level of leaders demonstrates how important global development is becoming to our national security and foreign policy.