The Foreign Service Journal, March 2008

50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 8 eign Relations Committee report on the field experience of the first round of the F process. Finally, State and USAID need to work with Congress, not submit bud- get proposals on a “take it or leave it” basis — particularly when the admin- istration knows they are dead on ar- rival. Next Steps As we transition to a new adminis- tration next year, State needs to take further steps: • Make the director of foreign assis- tance a second Deputy Secretary of State, conferring the clout needed to do the job. The authority to carry out this step already exists in law, but State has not enacted the provision. • Transfer responsibility for opera- tional budgeting — now divided be- tween the under secretary for man- agement and the Resource Manage- ment Bureau (which lost its assis- tance budget function when F was created) — to that deputy, who can become a Deputy Secretary of State for Operations. This move would give Congress better oversight and accountability, increasing its confi- dence in the process. • Begin a pilot project in long- range strategic planning and budget- ing, looking out over five years or more and defining resource require- ments connected to long-term stra- tegic objectives — something the F office does not now do. For its part, the White House should mandate a foreign assistance strategic planning and budget planning process, based in F and connected to senior officials at the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget. • Beef up resource planning capa- bilities inside the regional bureaus so that each has a robust capability to interact with the F process. Such steps will help State become a more effective foreign relations de- partment, one in which development, public diplomacy and humanitarian assistance all have equal standing with political and strategic relations as tools with which to engage the world. Alternatively, if the F process is allowed to die, and the current organi- zational dysfunction persists, develop- ment programs will decline in useful- ness as a policy instrument, weakening our diplomacy. To fill the vacuum, national engagement will fall to the only department organized to imple- ment such programs, Defense. DOD will do its best, but it is not trained in the arts of diplomacy, for- eign assistance administration or even post-conflict reconstruction. As a result, our civilian capacities will be lost, the American face to the world will wear a uniform, and our ability to achieve our strategic purposes will be weakened. Interim Accommodations for Corporate and Government Markets Apartments, Townhouses & Single Family Homes “FOR THE EXECUTIVE ON THE MOVE” finder5@IX.netcom.com Locations throughout Northern Virginia and D.C. Units fully furnished, equipped and accessorized Many “Walk to Metro” locations Pet Friendly 5105-L Backlick Road, Annandale, Virginia Tel: (703) 354-4070 Fax: (703) 642-3619 Executive Lodging Alternatives