The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

emerging threats and problems, but also propose long-term, specific solu- tions. Such a group within the White House can command the ear of the president and serve as a kind of “early warning system.” Finally, we also need a global capa- bility along the same lines located in the United Nations that can draw on the best minds of all nations to give the entire world early warning and recommendations for action to miti- gate or prevent the worst. Harry C. Blaney III FSO, retired Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy Washington, D.C. A Political Tool I take issue with friend and former colleague Irv Rosenthal’s September letter (“Ignoring USAID?”) and sup- port the editor’s comments that fol- lowed. Even from within the agency, it has been difficult to differentiate the political from the true economic development and implementation themes. As I recall, USAID has long had an inverted salary pyramid for employees and a political appointee saturation second only to that of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I voiced that concern to AFSA in a June 2004 Foreign Service Journal article, “USAID & Contracting Out,” though the idea was politically un- palatable at the time. Under this ad- ministration, the agency has func- tioned exclusively as a “money ham- mer” to force all nations into unquali- fied support for our wars and wrong- headed, arrogant policy initiatives. In that spirit, the State Depart- ment bureaucracy sees USAID as a mere political tool to expedite cash flow to nations and favored contrac- tors, with little oversight capability. And unfortunately, many past USAID employee letters to the editor have 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 9 L E T T E R S