U.S. Touts Provincial Reconstruction Teams as a Model

[SWJED]

13 October Los Angeles Times - U.S. Touts Provincial Reconstruction Teams as a Model by Doug Smith.

... In a muted ceremony on a U.S. base in this northern city, Khalilzad inaugurated the reconstruction team for Salahuddin province, the last of seven teams the U.S. has established. In addition, Britain, Italy and South Korea are sponsoring a team each.

While characterizing the reconstruction groups as the "embodiment of the U.S. commitment … to ensuring Iraq's success," Khalilzad acknowledged their limited financial resources...

The teams will focus primarily on developing leadership at the local and provincial levels to continue the rebuilding process with diminishing U.S. financial aid...

The teams represent a "transition from working with them to spend U.S. money to working with them to spend Iraqi money," Robert Tillery of the State Department said in a telephone interview Thursday...

Provincial reconstruction teams are modeled on a similar concept used in Afghanistan. Each team consists of about 65 specialists from the State Department, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USAID and the American military's civil affairs contingent.

The Iraqi Constitution does not allow local governments to raise revenue, thus forcing the provinces to compete for money from Baghdad. "We hear every time we go to the provinces that governments … want the authority to raise revenue," Tillery said at a recent news briefing. "And you can't blame them."

He said efforts were underway to insert a clause allowing local taxation into Iraq's national charter...

[pcmfr]

I always thought the names of the PRTs were somewhat ironic. What kind of infrastructure was there to begin with in AF that needs to be "reconstructed?"

[jcustis]

Military Wants More Civilians to Help in Iraq http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/wa...He0o40mA2JEsKQ

I'm curious as to how the recent article above relates to the PRT blog entry. Although it totally makes sense that interagency cooperation and involvement would go a long way towards sustainable development, what if a PRT was built and nobody came?

Is it the inherent danger of working outside the wire? Is Iraq (Foreign Service) duty viewed as "hiding in the bilges of a sinking ship" and on par with the sentiment we know exists about advisor duty?

Madame Secretary Rice was referenced to have asked for about 120 military personnel to staff 350 new DoS jobs in Iraq that are a spinoff of the new strategy...I'd go in a heartbeat, but that's not the point.

Have we lost that JFKian sense of selflisness? I look back to my readings in Vietnam history, and there were plenty of civilian govt. employees out in the boonies. Granted, the environment may have been a bit more benign, but if these PRTs are a critical component to the revised strategy, then it is likely doomed if we can't get people on board to pack their trash and go forward.

This lack of cohesiveness is killing us with a death by a thousand cuts, and the insurgents (or terrorists if you prefer) are laughing all the way home.

[Jedburgh]

30 Oct 07 testimony before the HASC Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Stabilization and Reconstruction Operations: Learning from the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Experience:

Ambassador John E. Herbst, Coordinator, Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization, DoS

My office is charged with two tasks. The first is to ensure that the entire U.S. Government is organized to deal with reconstruction and stabilization (R&S) crises affecting U.S. national interests, to include harmonizing civilian and military activities. The second and equally important task is to build the civilian capacity to staff these missions when called upon to respond.

These tasks are simple to describe, but not so simple to achieve. It requires a major, perhaps even a revolutionary, change in the way the U.S. approaches conflict response. Just as the military underwent tremendous reform in the 1980s following the passage of Goldwater-Nichols legislation, we are proposing shifts across our civilian agencies that similarly promote unity of effort so that we best leverage limited resources, and avoid working at cross-purposes.....

Celeste Ward, Dpty Asst Secretary, Stability Operations Capabilities, DoD

Note: I didn't quote Ms. Ward, because I didn't feel that she said anything substantive. But you can follow the link and decide for yourself.

Joseph A. Christoff and Janet St. Laurent , Director, International Affairs & Trade Team and Director, Defense Capabilities & Management Team, GAO

State and DOD have begun to take steps to better coordinate stabilization and reconstruction activities, but several significant challenges may hinder their ability to integrate planning for potential operations and strengthen military and civilian capabilities to conduct them. State’s Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization is developing a framework for U.S. agencies to use when planning stabilization and reconstruction operations, but the framework has yet to be fully applied to any operation. The National Security Council has not approved the entire framework, guidance related to the framework is unclear, and some interagency partners have not accepted it. For example, some interagency partners stated that the framework’s planning process is cumbersome and too time consuming for the results it produces. While steps have been taken to address concerns and strengthen the framework’s effectiveness, differences in planning capacities and procedures among U.S. government agencies may pose obstacles to effective coordination.

DOD has taken several positive steps to improve its ability to conduct stability operations but faces challenges in developing capabilities and measures of effectiveness, integrating the contributions of non-DOD agencies into military contingency plans, and incorporating lessons learned from past operations into future plans. These challenges, if not addressed, may hinder DOD’s ability to fully coordinate and integrate stabilization and reconstruction activities with other agencies or to develop the full range of capabilities those operations may require. Among its many efforts, DOD has developed a new policy, planning construct and joint operating concept with a greater focus on stability operations, and each service is pursuing efforts to improve capabilities. However, inadequate guidance, practices that inhibit sharing of planning information with non-DOD organizations, and differences in the planning capabilities and capacities of DOD and non-DOD organizations hinder the effectiveness of these improvement efforts.....

[relative autonomy]

Does anyone think the PRTs are similar to the Revolutionary Development Cadres in Phoenix Program during Vietnam?

[Jedburgh]

5 Dec 07 testimony before the HASC Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Provincial Reconstruction Teams - Historical and Current Perspectives on Doctrine and Strategy:

Bernard Carreau, NDU

General (Ret) Volney F. Warner

BG (Ret) Rick Olson (Former Cdr CJTF-76)

Kathleen Hicks, CSIS