The Foreign Service Journal, February 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2013 23 abuse. When Congress cuts off emergency appropria- tions and troops are drawn down, the question of how best to secure American interests and sustainable development with more limited resources for the countries we aspire to help will remain. Above and beyond the surge capacity they can provide, another motivation for turning to contractors is the reality that securing funds for additional government staffing is an ever-tougher sell in today’s political environment. The percep- tion that hiring more government employees means more bureaucracy and less efficiency makes outsourcing the path of least resistance for getting anything done—and one that is less prone to scrutiny. It is also easier to secure funds for programs than to ensure The transformation was fueled by a decade of war and ambitious operations in post-conflict environ- ments. Outsourcing to gain surge capacity was one way to deal with what were seen by some to be unique circumstances, unlikely to be repeated. Hiring others to do jobs in these environments meant the government could avoid building up staff it would not need in the future, when Iraq and Afghanistan had been stabilized. Sadly, the demand for civilian resources has proved insa- tiable. Admittedly, wartime contracting differs dramatically from contracting in more stable environments, but the basic point pertains for both. Throwing money at problems in an improvised fashion without proper attention to the optimal chain of command is always a recipe for waste, fraud and The QDDR report calls on state to restore government capacity in mission-critical areas to balance the work force.