The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

between 2010 and 2014, as well as 369 locally employed staff. • Increase current academic exchanges by 100 per- cent, International Visitor grants by 50 percent, and youth exchanges by 25 percent in this timeframe. • Expand capacity of PD English and foreign- language advocacy Web sites aimed at experts, young professionals and youth, and hire 57 additional special- ists in Web-site design and program content. • Establish 40 American Cultural Centers (or a mix- ture of ACCs and smaller Information Resource Cen- ters) in order to broaden U.S. daily cultural presence worldwide. • Re-engage the autonomous pro-U.S. Binational Cen- ter network in Latin America, whose membership is desirous of closer cultural and political ties with the U.S. • Expand other programs, particularly overseas staff and operations, to increase the effectiveness of public diplomacy as described below. These staff increases will cost $155.2 million annual- ly by 2014 and the program activities, $455.2 million. Overall funding increases will total $610.4 million in 2014. IV. U.S. Agency for International Development - Foreign Economic Assistance Recommendation: Increase U.S. direct-hire permanent staff by 1,250 above FY 2008 levels by 2014 in addition to increased locally employed staff overseas, to be partly offset by a reduction or conversion of some 700 personal services contractors and other short-term American staff. These staffing additions would require budget increases that total $521 million above the current services baseline by 2014. V. Reconstruction and Stabilization Recommendation: Provide a substantial surge capacity for reconstruc- tion and stabilization efforts under the authority of the Secretary of State, and increase direct-hire American staffing by 562 above present levels by FY 2014. This would include: (1) 500 employees to serve as an active response corps to be deployed immediately in crisis sit- uations; (2) 37 to staff an expanded Office of the Coor- dinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization; and, (3) 25 to support the new Standby Response Corps of federal employees and the Civilian Reserve Corps. These increases and related program costs would require increased funding that would total $286 million annually by FY 2014. SECURITY ASSISTANCE — STRENGTHENING THE SECRETARY OF STATE’S ROLE Recommendation: Policy and budget responsibility for the following authorities and programs should be moved from the Department of Defense to the State Department, along with 50 new staff, while implementation would remain DOD’s responsibility: • Section 1206 (National Defense Authorization Act of 2006 provision giving DOD authority to spend up to $300 million of its own appropriations to train and equip foreign militaries to undertake counterterrorism or sta- bility operations — Ed.) • Coalition Support Funds (Funds used by the Secretary of Defense to reimburse coalition countries for logistical, military and other expenses in supporting U.S. military operations in the war on terrorism — Ed.) • Defense Combating Terrorism Fellowship Pro- gram. In addition, we recommend that: 1. Non-combat-related Commander’s Emergency Response Program activities should, over time, be trans- ferred to the authority of the Secretary of State. 2. Section 1207 authority (National Defense Auth- orization Act of 2006 provision for DOD to transfer to the State Department defense articles, services training or other support for reconstruction, stabilization and security activities in foreign countries — Ed.) should be repealed. If funds are needed to support the civil- ian surge capacity (see section on Reconstruction and Stabilization), there should be a direct appropriation to the Department of State for this purpose. 3. The Combatant Commander’s Initiative Fund should not be expanded to cover humanitarian, civic and reconstruction assistance. 4. DOD should not be authorized to expand the use of its humanitarian assistance program to include stabi- lization activities. F O C U S D E C E M B E R 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 57