Thursday, December 20, 2007

Why does the United States need another reconstruction reserve corps, as advocated by Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in their Dec. 17 op-ed, "A Civilian Partner for Our Troops"?

As Mr. Lugar and Ms. Rice acknowledged, the United States already has one -- the U.S. Agency for International Development. Since 1961, USAID has administered America's official contributions to the advancement of poorer countries, including post-conflict stabilization assistance (the Office of Transition Initiatives), post-disaster humanitarian relief (the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance) and longer-term economic, social and democratic development (the rest of USAID).

The Bush administration has increasingly marginalized USAID by creating assistance vehicles, such as the multibillion-dollar Millennium Challenge Corp., that have substantially the same objectives as USAID. USAID's capacity has also been eviscerated by a consistent shorting of operational funding. Year after year, the administration requests significantly less money than needed for effective development assistance and its management.

Congress first pushed for USAID's absorption by the State Department and then, failing that, for its death by a thousand budget cuts. Hundreds of capable, experienced USAID officers have been let go, replaced by contractors whose funding is taken from assistance programs. The poverty of those decisions is now evident.

ROBERT J. MAUSHAMMER

McLean