The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

A s an agency that is unaccustomed to being in the limelight, USAIDdoes not often show up on the av- erage citizen’s radar screen. In spite of some truly significant successes worldwide, we do not toot our own horn. Indeed,most people would be hard pressed to define what USAID is. This sad fact is invariablymentioned by the seven publicmembers who serve on our yearly Performance Evaluation Boards. Impressed by what they read in the Annual Evaluation Forms, these private citizens spontaneously vow to talk to their colleagues about the great work we perform for our country. One reason for our invisibility is a regulatory prohibition on lobbying the gen- eral public andCongress. Another reason is that themedia prefer to focus on prob- lems, not accomplishments. But perhaps the main reason is that no one seems to know just where USAID fits in the federal picture. In the past, with USAID or its predecessor in the lead, foreign assistance pro- grams in health, agriculture, education, business, housing and democracy helped rebuild wartorn Europe, kept the communist threat in check, reconciled ancient enemies and provided emergency assistance to countries suffering natural disasters. However, once the ColdWar ended, we cashed in our peace dividend and slashed our programs and staff. While the 21st century saw a doubling of foreign assistance, this did not trans- late into a strengthening of the agency. Instead, a large part of this new funding shifted to the State Department, the MillenniumChallenge Corporation and even the military. Ironically, the powers-that-be did not trust the agency and, in effect, replaced it with new programs and agencies. Of late, we finally have renewed support fromboth the executive and legislative branches of government to expand our staff and in-house expertise. We are now considered part of the national security trident: Defense, Diplomacy and Devel- opment. We should be happy, right? Yes and no. Yes, because USAID is finally getting recognized for our essential service to the country. No, because there is an internecine government struggle re- garding our ultimate level of independence. On the one side, the State Depart- ment is pulling us closer by increasing control of the budget, policy and planning functions; on the other, Congress is introducing legislation to strengthen these ac- tivities at USAID. Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., James Risch, R-Idaho, and Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.—three Democrats and three Republicans — introduced the Foreign Assistance Revital- ization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S. 1524). And in the House, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who is chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, drafted the Initiating Foreign Assistance ReformAct of 2009 (H.R. 2139). Both these bills have the aimof overhauling and reforming foreign assistance— correcting the damage done by the constant earmarking and the fragmentation and dispersal of aid programs to other agencies. The winner of this tug-of-war will answer the question of where USAID fits. Will USAID simply be an appendage of the State Department, or will we be entrusted tomanage the whole set of develop- ment tools ourselves? Stay tuned… ❏ 70 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 A F S A N E W S V.P. VOICE: USAID ■ BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA Where Does USAID Fit? AFSA Joins Facebook We are happy to report that AFSA has joined the social networking world by establishing its own Facebook page. We encourage all of our members, and other interested parties, to visit the page and become “fans” of AFSA. To do so, simply go to www.facebook.com, type “American Foreign Service Association” into the search box and then click the “Become a Fan” button at the top of the AFSA page. You can also go directly to the AFSA page by visiting www. facebook.com/afsapage. We will use the Facebook page as an- other way of getting information to our members by posting links to news items of interest, sending reminders about upcoming deadlines, alerting you about a new issue of the Foreign Service Journal , notifying you of upcoming AFSA events and posting pictures fromAFSA- related cer- emonies and events. We also hope to have input from members about how we use the page in the future. We encourage people to post com- ments and observations. (Please be civil; otherwise we will have to call the Facebook police.) The page is being ad- ministered by Marketing and Outreach Manager Ásgeir Sigfússon; any com- ments or questions about the page may be directed to him at sigfusson@ afsa.org. Members may also want to become fans of AFSA’s other pages on Facebook: the Foreign Service Journal , our Inside a U.S. Embassy book and the national high school essay contest all have their own Facebook pages. ❏ Briefs • Continued from page 68