The Foreign Service Journal, March 2006

Each USAID employee gets one of the small houses on a grassy compound with a dining hall (State employees eat in the large dining facility run by KBR). The hous- es have Internet access, Direct-TV and small kitch- enettes as well. According to a USAID officer who was in Baghdad as the housing was being constructed, the agency contracted locally for the job and completed the project in nine months. Many respondents — both from USAID and State — pointed to USAID hous- ing as much more secure and more comfortable than the trailers. Several employ- ees from both agencies noted that they were under the impression that the USAID housing cost the gov- ernment less money than the trailers and is not only more F O C U S M A R C H 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 27 Top: FSO Bob Holby (in vest) heading to a meeting in Tikrit Left: Dinner with Falluja City Council, provincial governor and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq