Briefings
The Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense project seeks to educate policymakers and opinion leaders about current issues in foreign affairs and defense resource planning, with a particular focus on opportunities and options for reform. As a part of this strategy, Dr. Gordon Adams conducts regular briefings for Congressional staff members, Administration officials, academic audiences, and professional groups on areas of current research. The following are summaries of recent briefings and events by the Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense project.
David Glaudemans and Bill Bacchus Speak at the National Defense University
November 20, 2008
Speaking at the National Defense University’s Seminar Series on Stability Operations, David Glaudemans and Bill Bacchus highlighted the major budgetary and organizational issues with creating a civilian contingency force capability. Speaking alongside Richard Kugler (Distinguished Research Professor at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy), Glaudemans and Bacchus examined the cost to create a 15,000 member civilian contingency force. The cost (over $2 billion), is “only one hurdle Congress and the Obama adminsitration must overcome to make this civilian force a reality. Defining the roles and responsibilities of the State Department, DOD, and the White House, along with the human resource issues may prove to be the most difficult obstacle to overcome” according to Glaudemans. Yet, this capacity is likely to be a vital component of a future multi-lateral diplomatic agenda and is necessary for the United States to carry out its role as a global leader.
Dr. Adams Testifies before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
July 31, 2008
Dr. Gordon Adams called for far-reaching reform in the way the State Department, USAID and the civilian agencies of the U.S. national security toolkit are structured and managed, in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, chaired by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI). The hearing entitled “A Reliance on Smart Power: Reforming the Foreign Assistance Bureaucracy” focused on ways the Congress and the next administration can address serious shortfalls in civilian resources, personnel and efficiency for U.S. foreign assistance and national security. Dr. Adams stressed the need for recruiting and training a new generation of Foreign Service officers and civil servants in order to strengthen the capacity of State and USAID. Other witnesses included Richard Greene, Deputy Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance; Leo Hindery, Vice-Chairman of the HELP Commission; Anne Richard, Vice President for Government Relations and Advocacy for the International Rescue Committee; Samuel Worthington, President and CEO of Interaction; and Dr. Gerald Hyman, Senior Advisor at CSIS.
RAND Corporation
June 17, 2008
Distinguished Fellow Dr. Gordon Adams briefed the RAND Corporation today on the need to re-balance and strengthen the US national security toolkit. This includes the civilian and military agencies and the interagency processes that are designed to more effectively integrate these tools.
Hill Staffers Briefing
May 29, 2008
Dr. Gordon Adams briefed over 50 Hill Staffers on the trends in security assistance, the diaspora of foreign assistance and the need for interagency reform among the organizations relevant to US national security policy. Sponsored by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Dr. Adams outlined some of the main themes in national security resource planning and budgeting that hinder efforts to produce strategic and effective planning for national security.
Dr. Adams Briefs the Congressional Research Service
May 20, 2008
Dr. Gordon Adams briefed the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on Tuesday. He discussed a wide range of issues including the increased role of the Defense Department in stabilization and reconstruction, the “diaspora” of foreign assistance, as well as the new “F” process and the Director of Foreign Assistance at State/USAID.
Truman Foundation
May 16, 2008
Speaking before the Truman Foundation, Dr. Gordon Adams highlighted the need to “Re-balance the National Security Toolkit.” Adams talked about the expanding DOD portfolio in foreign engagement, specifically the DOD’s proposed legislative package – “The Building Global Partnerships Act”- that seeks to expand and write into permanent law many of the new DOD-led assistance programs that have emerged since 2001. In addition, Dr. Adams argued that the “diaspora” of existing foreign assistance accounts and organizations make creating a new Department of Development a difficult if not impossible task that would in fact hinder the effort to increase funding for foreign assistance and international development.
Dr. Adams speaks at Stanford University
May 9, 2008
Dr. Adams flew to the West coast this week to talk about how the US plans and budgets programs to support good governance around the world. In his talk, Dr. Adams pulled together all the spigots of funding for “governance” programs in the federal government and talked about the wide array of budget accounts, bureaus, agencies and programs employed by the federal government to promote good governance. He also highlighted some of the major recipients of funding for “good governance.” In addition to the overall theme of governance, Dr. Adams shared his findings on the “diaspora” of foreign assistance programs and the increasing role of the Defense Department in the area of stabilization and reconstruction.
Dr. Gordon Adams briefs the Government Accountability Office
May 6, 2008
Continuing his ongoing briefing series on foreign assistance reform, Dr. Gordon Adams briefed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this Tuesday. Dr. Adams focused on the “diaspora” of foreign assistance programs and the role of the Defense Department in new stabilization and reconstruction activities.
CSIS Smart Power Speaker Series
April 29, 2008
Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program at the Henry L. Stimson Center Dr. Gordon Adams was a guest at CSIS on Tuesday April 29, 2008 as part of their ongoing Smart Power Speaker Series. Dr. Adams spoke of the need to better integrate our foreign assistance and diplomatic resources to strengthen the civilian toolkit of U.S. national security policy. In addition, Dr. Adams called for greater interagency collaboration through an enhanced relationship between the NSC and OMB. The discussion was moderated by Kathleen Hicks, Senior Fellow at CSIS’ International Security Program.
In his talk at CSIS, Dr. Adams said, “The cobbled-together civilian structure will never be able to manage its missions in the 21st century world if it is not significantly reformed, better integrated, funded and staffed than it is today.” The lecture echoed Dr. Adams Senate testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where Dr. Adams called for substantial reform in the way the U.S. structures, budgets, plans and implements national security policy.
Dr. Adams testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
April 24, 2008
Dr. Gordon Adams called for far-reaching reform in the way the civilian tools for national security policy are structured and operated in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The hearing, chaired by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) was titled “Implementing Smart Power: Setting an Agenda for National Security Reform.” Witnesses, in addition to Dr. Adams, included former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Dr. Joseph Nye or Harvard University, and the Honorable Jim Locher III.
Dr. Adams expressed concern that the nation’s civilian diplomatic agencies lack the capacity to carry out their responsibilities for national security policy. The result of this “capacity deficit” has been significant growth in the roles and responsibilities given to the Defense Department for such civilian tasks as reconstruction, foreign assistance, and public diplomacy, unbalancing the nation’s national security toolkit. “The outsourcing of our diplomatic and foreign assistance portfolio to the Pentagon has overstressed the military, weakened our civilian tools even further, and put a uniformed face on America’s international engagement,” Dr. Adams said, “As much as one can respect and value the work the military services have been doing, the consequence of this imbalance has been a more negative perception of the U.S. around the world and a reduction in the capacity of the U.S. to lead.”
