"Prime Candidates for Iraq"
SWJ Blog - "Prime Candidates for Iraq".
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Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, reports on a new US State Department intitiative; nay, order; that will see additional diplomats taking posts in Iraq next year because of expected shortfalls in filling openings, the first such large-scale forced assignment since the Vietnam War. As far as we are concerned this is a long overdue move by State to fulfill its end of the 80% political, 20% military counterinsurgency (COIN) fight in Iraq.
... On Monday, 200 to 300 employees will be notified of their selection as "prime candidates" for 50 open positions in Iraq, said Harry K. Thomas, director general of the Foreign Service. Some are expected to respond by volunteering, he said. However, if an insufficient number volunteers by Nov. 12, a department panel will determine which ones will be ordered to report to the Baghdad embassy next summer...
While we applaud (what we call “long overdue”) this move, we do acknowledge that State and other non-military departments and agencies lack the resources to fulfill its COIN obligations. It is time for Congress to get serious and ensure that our Nation has the capacity to deploy fully-trained and mission-capable personnel that truly represent all elements of national power.
Much more at the link...
A perception, correctly or not, that most
multi-national agencies are prone to ask the US to do more while excoriating the US on many counts leads to a strong disinclination to support the use of those agencies in pursuit of US policy. Thus, I suspect we'll see little movement in that direction. Restoring USAID to its pre-Clinton size and mission would perhaps be a better plan. :)
There is little support for increased Government provided foreign aid from the US to developing nations due to beliefs that the money is often diverted to pockets of leaders, thoughts regarding the essential inefficiency of government programs (as witnessed by the flaws of many internal to the US) and the perception cited above -- that they'll take the money but don't appreciate it enough to avoid sometimes harsh criticism and actions that seem to be no more than "thumb your nose at the big guy." Pretty hard to get Joe Sixpack interested in supporting nations that routinely vote against you at the UN...
The counterpoint to that is that US private giving tops most everyone else; thus it is not stinginess nor a perceived lack of need; it is in the 'how to do it' pocket as opposed to what to do.
That is, of course my sensing of the national mood and I'm sure it bears little relationship to the consensus in the better watering holes. My sensing is also that mood encompasses, population wise, about 75%+ and the better watering holes account for <25%. ;)
So maybe DoS needs at least
something larger then an "Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stability" and something more along the lines of a Bureau of Reconstruction and Stability that would provide more of a say at the table, offer continuity, incentivize, etc.?
Or would it be better suited to the culture of AID - the one that existed back in the 80s in Africa and S. America - I met some guys and gals in that line of work while in Addis as well who were smart and did not mind getting dirty?
Maybe the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stability should be moved under AID and used to provide structure to those capabilities?
If you want
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a unified, consistent effort, those assets will have to come from State, and if we don't have 'em, we need to find 'em.
as Matt says, then that means something along the lines of what the military reflects as DOTLMPF type impacts and that requires willingness to change and resources ($$$) to do so.
As for the watering holes - there is going to be a good one down at Sines on the 30th and I hear Rex has shifted his "free beer" commitment to some reporter:D
I'm not sure but I suspect that the essential
problem is that we're just a kinder and gentler America. A lot of the PRT guys in Viet Nam were not volunteers and most had been through a three or four month course on the job that included some language training.
I imagine that in the intervening years, the culture got to the point where we expected folks to volunteer --or get paid mega bucks -- to go to unhealthy places. Far as I know the SecState has always had the authority to order any FSO to any station. I do not know what training they're given now but given the standard US ploy of skimping on training (at great cost in the long run), I bet they aren't getting three or four months.
None of which answers the obvious question; why wasn't this done three or four years ago...
State doesn't have enough
FSOs, neither does AID, and we lost more than another bureaucratic HQ when we amalgamated USIA with State. In addition, State and AID have gone to outsourcing at least as much as DOD with the same kinds of problems.
It is interesting to note that Civil Affairs was cionceived by General Marshall in WWII as an organism that should be transferred, lock, stock, and barrel, to State after the shooting stopped. didn't happen and maybe it could not have but it would have given State the capability that many are calling for now.
True -- and there's enough blame for that very
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Originally Posted by
John T. Fishel
FSOs, neither does AID, and we lost more than another bureaucratic HQ when we amalgamated USIA with State. In addition, State and AID have gone to outsourcing at least as much as DOD with the same kinds of problems.
It is interesting to note that Civil Affairs was cionceived by General Marshall in WWII as an organism that should be transferred, lock, stock, and barrel, to State after the shooting stopped. didn't happen and maybe it could not have but it would have given State the capability that many are calling for now.
dumb shortfall for a lot of folks to share. Between Jesse Helms, the Reagan, Bush 41 and Clinton admins (and I won't even go into the emasculation of the CIA and DIA by every one from Nixon forward, a related batch of stupidity) at a time when the future need should have been obvious, the US elected to do its usual "post war dividend" act and slice needed capabilities at the behest of a number of Congresses so that said squirrels could buy votes with more "entitlements." Yes, I know that's simplistic and to an extent unfair -- but not by much.
Almost as bad as "We fight the nation's big wars..." :mad:
Iraq and Afghanistan both are in dire need of police trainers. Germany was supposed to pick that up. They have not, so we cobble something together three years after we knew that Police trainers were an urgent need, that the Germans were not going to do it and that failure to act was simply because of fears in several quarters that the ideal folks to do this, the MPs, should not be so used due to (fill in the blank based on parochial concern).
Aargh!!! You not only hit my last nerve, John, you stood on it.... ;)
No bets on, say, five to seven years from now. :wry:
Thanks, John. Interesting. I was vaguely aware of
some of that, mostly because I was still working and our hotshot Garrison MP Company commander went down with some of her troops on a rotation shortly after the dust settled.
Our ability to reinvent pentagonal wheels when the round variety is right in front of us never ceases to amaze me. :wry:
With no Federal uniformed Police (except the Park Service; not counting the essentially security crowds here and there), training a Reserve (not ARNG) MP Battalion or two as a police instructor cadre to be augmented by other MP (or AF Scty guys and gals) as required seems like a no-brainer to me -- but then, I'm just a dumb ridgerunner from Kentucky... :D
The Guard and reserve are full of cops. One of
the problems that cropped up in DS/DS was that their absence put a lot of small departments in a real hurt.
Many of these guys and gals are already in MP units. Given the tendency toward non-violence (was that well worded or what ;)) and a desire to help others in the NE and on the West coast plus the large number of big cities; seems like those would be ideal locations.
The units could cater to the older guys; that lends maturity and experience to the unit and gives the older folks a slightly less stressful active duty job. Plus, being from the larger cities, they'd be used to dealing with a diverse population (and a weird bureaucracy :rolleyes:).
One of the many benefits the RC folks bring to work is the wide variety of skills from their civilian life; that and a willingness to do missions the AC won't do or want to do because they 'know better' or fear the task will not be career enhancing.
If we don't tap into that for the Advisory mission, we're nuts. You want builders? Farmers? Electrical power supply experts? Paramedics? Paralegals? Transportation specialists? Bankers? Hospital Administrators? Cops? The Reserve and Guard are full of 'em.
All it would take to do that is breaking a few Rice Bowls... :D