The Foreign Service Journal, November 2011

28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1 • Producing enhanced training for State and USAID Foreign Service personnel with emphasis on management skills including planning and budgeting, resource man- agement, multiagency operations and “whole of govern- ment” solutions. Joint training of diplomatic and develop- ment officers will be pursued where feasible. • Ensuring that personnel levels include positions ded- icated to training (the “training float”) so that training and staffing needs do not conflict. • Providing additional opportunities for State and USAID personnel to take assignments in the other organ- ization at all levels, including the assignment of USAID of- ficers as ambassadors and DCMs, and State officers as USAID mission directors. • Increasing rotational assignments to other agencies for State and USAID officers. • Activating the congressionally authorized State- USAID-Department of Defense Advisory Panel to im- prove coordination among the three agencies and review roles and responsibilities. • Taking a variety of steps to improve contracting. • Establishing an Overseas Contingency Operations budget to separate such activities from the regular base budget so that extraordinary, one-off activities do not se- verely damage regular base budgets. This reform has been achieved with the adminstration’s FY 2012 budget submission that includes a line item ($8.7 billion for State and USAID OCO activities) in DOD’s larger OCO budget. • Completing the process begun in 2007 of consoli- dating State and USAID administrative support at over- seas posts under the International Cooperative Administrative Support Services (ICASS) platform. The consolidation process should give due consideration to incorporating USAID administrative best practices. The QDDR: A Highly Significant Management Initiative The Foreign Affairs Council believes that this first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, and its reforms and recommendations, together represent the most significant management initiatives in the operation of the Department of State and USAID in many decades. First, the QDDR as an institutional management tool brings an integrated strategic view for judging the re- sources necessary for managing the civilian side of Amer- ica’s challenges abroad. Second, it recognizes that many of these challenges must be addressed in multiyear time frames. Third, it enables the Department of State and USAID to deal more effectively with the reality that their most crit- ical resource is people — and people take time to acquire and develop. It takes years to accumulate the professional skills, specialized knowledge and personal relationships that are the keys to success in diplomacy and development. We cannot compensate quickly or easily for the kinds of staff losses incurred in the 1990s. At this point, of course, the reforms and recommen- dations of the QDDR are in the stage of declaration (“We will do this”) or exhortation (“That should hap- pen”). Some, perhaps most, of the developments can be implemented immediately by the Secretary. Others will require congressional authorization and additional ap- propriations. Either way, the Secretary and her team will need to demonstrate the strong leadership and stam- ina that have characterized her leadership thus far. Her leadership and concern for the institution and its peo- ple have won their respect and buttressed their morale. As the report itself states, “Ultimately, however, the re- forms and recommendations presented in the QDDR are only as good as their implementation.” Recommendations for Future Action • Resources for Staffing and Training 1. Secretary Clinton should pursue her budget proposal to strengthen diplomacy and development assistance by se- curing funding for an additional 1,250 Foreign Service po- sitions at the State Department and 650 at USAID by FY 2014. 2. To achieve the above recommendation, the Secretary should make completion of Development 3.0 the first pri- ority. Small reductions in the various assistance program accounts would fund the personnel increases now pending without damaging the development effort. 3. The Secretary should use a portion of the new posi- tions to complete the staffing of a Foreign Service training complement equal to 15 percent of core staffing to provide the professional education and training needed to raise the overall level of performance of the State Department and USAID. • The QDDR and Development, Stabilization and Reconstruction 1. The Department of State should pursue its request that Congress pass legislation requiring a QDDR. The C OVER S TORY