The Foreign Service Journal, December 2020

34 DECEMBER 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Christian A. Herter Award for a Senior Foreign Service Officer Monica Smith Standing Up for the Rule of Law M onica Smith strongly advocated changing the way USAID’s West Bank and Gaza Mission engaged in the Gaza water sector, given the pervasive influence of Hamas there. In so doing, she per- sistently challenged the approach of mission management, at great personal cost. Her astute assessment of the risk of inadvertently assisting a terrorist actor led to a significant shift in the way the mission operated in Gaza and the West Bank. Based in Tel Aviv as the senior resident legal officer for USAID’s WBG mission, Ms. Smith was there in part to help the mission navi- gate an extremely fluid foreign assistance environment. She advised the mission on policy restrictions regarding terrorist organizations and the provision of support in Gaza. Providing economic assistance in Gaza is complicated by the fact that Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, con- trols the territory. U.S. legislation makes it a crime to provide material support to terrorist organizations. There was real concern that USAID funds for Gaza could be diverted to assist Hamas. The WBG mission also experienced intense scrutiny via oversight from Congress and high-level interest from the White House, especially in connection with U.S. peace efforts in the region. After the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, USAID invested heavily in constructing water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza to help prevent a humanitarian crisis. To operate in Gaza, the mission relied on carefully documented legal and policy deci- sions made in Washington. However, in 2018, political and economic relationships shifted, calling into question the ability of the mission to rely on previous authorizations and, potentially, putting the continued imple- mentation of U.S. government–funded construction projects at risk. Ms. Smith determined that two steps were necessary: The mission needed to thoroughly vet specific individuals and consult with various offices in Washington before proceeding with economic assistance activities in Gaza. (The West Bank/Gaza vetting program was mandated by the United States Congress.) She drafted a detailed memo for officials in Washington, laying out the pro- grammatic history, legal guidance, input from the technical office, policy implications and next steps. She then met with mission manage- ment to advise on these issues. Although Ms. Smith’s advice was based on her review of more than a decade of existing policy and legal guidance on the topic, mission management strongly pushed back, voicing their disagreement through various channels. In the end, Ms. Smith and the technical office (led by Cybill Sigler) devised a solution that allowed USAID-funded water activities in Gaza to be completed in compliance with U.S. law. Ms. Smith and the technical office proposed that the mission negotiate with the Palestinian Water Authority in Ramallah, in the West Bank, which agreed to designate a new point of contact for ongoing construction issues. Ultimately, Ms. Smith’s efforts allowed the mission to Monica Smith speaking at a USAID event with implementing partners in Nazareth, Israel, in 2017. Monica Smith.