Yesterday, President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to conduct a broad reassessment of its global development policies. Revamping the government’s approach to foreign aid has been a longtime goal of progressives, who see a smarter approach to development projects as a major non-military solution to global insecurity and environmental problems. The liberal Center for American progress cheered that the move begins to put “development alongside diplomacy and defense as a crucial instrument of US foreign policy.”
In May, CAP released its “National Strategy for Global Development,” a lengthy report that calls for reworking the federal government’s balkanized approach to global assistance. The resources for foreign aid “are now spread across 24 government agencies, offices, and departments,” it notes, “and are neither centrally coordinated nor guided by clear goals or a national strategy.” Among other things, the report suggests appointing a single person to oversee global development policy, focusing on building strong government institutions abroad, and reinvigorating US AID, which had a staff of 15,000 during the Vietnam War but has languished to 3,000 today.
Obama’s executive order asks the National Security Council and National Economic Council to submit a joint report on US development policies by January. Any shakeup that results would come none too soon. CAP has found major flaws in how the US has provisioned aid in Afghanistan, which, along with other hotspots, may ultimately succeed or fail on the effectiveness of roads and schools as much as IEDs and smart bombs.
