The State Department on Wednesday sent lawmakers a draft
version of the long-awaited Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, the document
that is meant to chart the long-term strategy for both State and USAID.
You can take a look at the document here
(PDF).
"To advance American interests and values and to lead other
nations in solving shared problems in the 21st century, we must rely
on our diplomats and development experts as the first face of American power.
We must lead through civilian power," states the draft, which is marked NODIS
(meaning no distribution) but was obtained by the Washington Post.
The document also proposes a host of new organizations to be
established within the State Department: These include an Office of the Under
Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environmental Affairs, which will
include a new Bureau of International Energy Affairs; a Special Coordinator for
Sanctions and Illicit Finance; and an Office of the Under Secretary for
Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, which would include a new
Bureau for Crisis and Conflict Operations. The current Coordinator for
Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS) would be incorporated into this
bureau.
The document also proposes to "Empower and hold accountable
Chiefs of Mission as CEOs of multi-agency missions and engage them in
high-level interagency decision-making in Washington."
Interestingly, the document proposes to establish a joint
planning and budgeting process between the State Department and the Defense
Department in areas where the two institutions work together, such as Iraq and
Afghanistan. The document notes that the government is also "examin[ing] the
creation of a unified National Security Budget." The idea of combining Defense
and State Department funding into one pool has been proposed by Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton before, but
could face resistance on Capitol Hill.
As for USAID, in addition to increased control over its own
budgeting and policy planning, the development agency will see its mid-level
hires triple and would assume leadership and accountability for the Global
Hunger and Food Security Initiative right away, as well as eventually assuming
control of the Global Health Initiative, according to the draft document.
The proposal would also expand the USAID Office of
Transition Initiatives (OTI), which places experts in crisis countries such as Afghanistan to help local institutions.
Todd Shelton, senior
director of policy at InterAction, a coalition of humanitarian organizations, told
the Washington Post that "[t]he
tension inherent in the draft is the same one that has been playing out over
the past 14 months of the QDDR process -- namely how to 'Build USAID as the
World's Premier Development Agency' on the one hand, and integrate both the
diplomatic and development components into what is being called 'civilian power'
on the other."
"From a development expert perspective, the QDDR PowerPoint appears to
give with one hand but take away with the other," Shelton said. "It talks about
building USAID's capacity in a variety of ways. For example, it formally
recognizes the new budget office at USAID, but then makes clear its
recommendations will be subject to review and final approval by the Deputy
Secretary of State. USAID also will have the lead in formulating the
development component of 'integrated strategies' referred to in the draft but
the chief of mission at an embassy will have the final say on the strategy,
which forms the basis for budget requests."
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