The Foreign Service Journal, June 2008

it possible is already happening in the field. Preserve the PRT Model Provincial Reconstruction Teams were developed in Afghanistan and, later, Iraq, in response to an aware- ness at the ground level that coordi- nation between the military and other civilian agencies was critical — not because of interagency coordination back in Washington. For that very reason, and despite their proven effectiveness, PRT operations are still being hindered by the lack of coordi- nation concerning resources, staffing, structure, organization and a host of other factors that could be resolved if military and civilian agencies were better meshed under a Foreign Policy Director. Indeed, many of the current dilemmas we face could have been avoided if an FPD already existed. For example, many experts have stat- ed that PRTs should have been orga- nized prior to the invasion of Iraq in order to aid with stability and support operations immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The delay in establishing those teams highlights the current weaknesses in interagency coordination to meet for- eign policy objectives. The current plan to embed Pro- vincial Reconstruction Teams down to the brigade combat-team level is a commendable goal because it will harness the skills inherent in both military and civilian agencies. How- ever, this is not enough: the process should be pushed all the way down to the battalion level. This would expo- nentially increase the array of options when those commanders are con- fronted with issues beyond the realm of security and kinetic operations. In particular, these leaders would greatly benefit from the expertise and guidance that Foreign Service offi- cers bring to issues relating to stabili- ty and support operations. The suc- cess PRTs have enjoyed thus far is due to skillful improvisation by those personnel who are most directly experiencing the pain caused by the lack of proper coordination. Those are lessons a Foreign Policy Director should learn from to avoid repeating the painful lessons of recent years. PRTs are not only well suited to counterinsurgency conflicts. They are also ideal for humanitarian aid missions and in the expansion of mil- itary and diplomatic ties between the U.S. and other countries at the mid- level, both within the military and civilian cohorts. For all those rea- sons, we would lose a great deal of experience and expertise if the PRT program were eliminated at the end of the current conflicts in Afghanistan J U N E 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 49