The Foreign Service Journal, February 2010

to the U.S. Global Leadership Coali- tion ( www.usglc.org ) . The FY 2010 foreign affairs budget of $48.7 billion is $1.24 billion below the 2009 budget. But the 2009 budget contained several billion dollars worth of supplemental appropriations, some of which carry over into 2010. Signifi- cantly, the budget includes funding for 700 new Foreign Service members at State and 300 new FSOs at USAID, a continuation of the effort to rebuild staff levels at that agency. The 2010 budget also includes a new contingency account — the Com- plex Crises Fund, a $50 million fund located at USAID. “This account rep- resents a first step in strengthening State/USAID funding flexibility for contingency operations, part of a grow- ing effort by the executive branch and Congress to rebalance the civilian and military missions and portfolios,” says Gordon Adams, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center and director of its Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense Program ( www.stimson.org ) . To date, State has relied on funding for unforeseen crises overseas from the Defense Department. The Obama administration has clas- sified the international affairs budget, which funds the operations of the State Department and USAID, among other things, as part of its “security fund” — equal in importance to defense and homeland security. But despite an in- crease in resources for international af- fairs in the last two years, it still represents only 6.8 percent of the na- tional security budget. “Given the many international chal- lenges our nation faces, it’s imperative that we reinvigorate our civilian-led, smart-power tools of development and diplomacy,” says Senate Foreign Rela- tions Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., a sponsor of the letter to Pres- ident Obama on the FY 2011 budget. “Sufficient commitments to diplomacy and development are critical to U.S. national security,” says Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Mem- ber Richard Lugar, R-Ind., another sponsor. “We will continue our strong support of adequate resources.” Their conviction is echoed by the six bipartisan sponsors of the letter on the House side, including House For- eign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. Getting Up to Speed on Yemen After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden, nearly a year before the events of 9/11, Yemen grad- ually retreated from public conscious- ness into relatively safe anonymity, and a full-court press by Washington in Sanaa worked to ensure that it would stay that way. Even the bombing of the U.S. embassy there in 2008 by al- Qaida did not make lasting waves. Now, however, the Dec. 25 terrorist attempt aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit has put this small country, lodged in Saudi Arabia’s underbelly, back on the map. Just when it seemed the solution to the ter- rorist problem lay in dogged pursuit of the allied operation in Afghanistan, the question is raised: Is Yemen next? In reality, the problems and dangers in Yemen are not new. The country is Osama bin Laden’s birthplace, and it is home to a wing of al-Qaida led by Nasser al-Wahayshi, who was once bin 10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 0 C Y B E R N O T E S 50 Years Ago... W ashington moved comfortably into the new year — almost too comfortably — in view of the pressing nature of prob- lems outstanding and decisions which needed to be made. For the Foreign Service there had never been a time when the expanding nature of the uni- verse and the contracting nature of the world made their profession of such scope, demanding the utmost in training, equipment and personal values. —– From “Washington Letter” by Gwen Barrows, Managing Editor, February 1960 FSJ. CHANGE OF ADDRESS Moving? Take AFSA With You! Change your address online at: www.afsa.org/comment.cfm Or Send change of address to: AFSA Membership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037