The Foreign Service Journal, September 2016

18 SEPTEMBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL G LOBE, the Global Learning and Obser- vations to Benefit the Environment Program, is an international science and education program sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Founda- tion and supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of State. Announced on Earth Day 1994, the program was launched inter- nationally one year later. This year, GLOBE was expanded beyond a formal school setting to include indi- viduals of all ages. GLOBE defines its vision and mis- sion thus: “A worldwide community of students, teachers, scientists and citizens working together to better understand, sustain and improve Earth’s environment at local, regional and global scales.” Participants in this citizen science program are encouraged to engage in local investigations that cover five core fields: atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, soil (pedosphere) and Earth-as-a-system. The program is implemented through government-to-government agreements, with each country partner responsible for in-country activities. Observations made locally are submitted to the GLOBE data and information system, and can be accessed freely online. These mea- surements are combined with read- ings at automated stations to create a worldwide resource for conducting scientific inquiry. The GLOBE data and information system has grown to more than 130 million measurements from some 10 million students in 113 countries around the world. GLOBE is one of the many pro- grams included in CitizenScience. gov, an official government portal launched by the General Services Administration in April to accelerate the use of crowdsourcing and citizen science across the U.S. government. GSA developed the site in col- laboration with theWoodrowWilson International Center for Scholars in response to a memo from theWhite House Office of Science and Technol- ogy Policy urging federal agencies to establish citizen science and crowd- sourcing projects that contribute directly to their missions. Several other USAID and State Department projects are included in the portal. —Susan B. Maitra, Managing Editor SITE OF THE MONTH: www.globe.gov authors state. And it should be under civilian control. The perfect agency for the job? USAID. As presently defined, however, USAID’s development mission is too broad and undefined to be effective, and because it is “stretched too thin” it fails to provide adequate resources to high-risk places. “Instead of trying to promote develop- ment for its own sake in every poor coun- try in the world, USAID should limit its efforts to enhancing core state functions in strategically important countries,” the authors argue. Currently, USAID would typically spend only $2.3 billion of a proposed FY2017 budget of $22.7 billion on activi- ties that may fall under such a “nation- building” umbrella. Yet gains in USAID’s current core activities (e.g., poverty alleviation, global health, biodiversity, women’s empower- ment, education, sanitation, and eco- nomic and agricultural development) are generally temporary and need constant maintenance to avoid backsliding. Better to leave that work, Boot and Miklaucic say, to international and nongovernmental organizations that do those things equally well. They also urge a focus on governance rather than democracy promotion, argu- ing that the United States can coexist and even work with undemocratic states much better than ungoverned states. Such a transformation of the agency would exclude more than half of the coun- tries where USAID currently operates, the authors acknowledge. With an evolving understanding of the security-development nexus, they say, a transformed USAID could help the U.S. avoid continuous military interventions while contributing to the stabilization of failing states. —Shannon Mizzi, Editorial Assistant