Summary
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Section 1207 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of FY 2006 and FY 2007 authorized the Defense Department (DOD) to provide up to $200 million over two years in funds, services, and defense articles to the State Department (DOS) for security, reconstruction, and stabilization.
- The DOD transferred over $99 million in Section 1207 assistance to the DOS to fund projects in Haiti ($20m), Somalia ($25m), Nepal ($10m), Colombia ($4m), trans-Sahara Africa ($15m), Yemen ($8.8m), and Southeast Asia ($16.9m).
- Congress’s intent in authorizing this program was to jump start the new
State Department Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. It was also to promote a “whole of government” approach to security-assistance programs.
- After two years’ experience, publication of principles and guidelines for 1207 project applications should solve problems resulting from a lack of awareness of the program and confusion over leadership and application procedures.
- Adding USAID to the decision-making Technical Advisory Committee should remove the largest source of interagency tension that has troubled the program.
- Greater clarity is needed concerning the relative weight of the program’s priorities, which include security, counterterrorism, stabilization, and reconstruction and avoiding the need to deploy U.S. military forces.
- There is a need for the DOD and DOS to provide additional resources to embassies that are expected to complete a relatively complicated application form. There is also a need for the DOD to streamline the provision of funds so the money arrives in real time before circumstances change and projects cannot be implemented.
- Ultimately, the DOS and DOD need to honor the intent of Congress and request that Congress appropriate funds directly to the DOS for these projects.
