At Clinton Hearing, Like Minds for Restructuring State Department While a world of problems await Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State, she and the senators questioning her Tuesday returned to a more bureaucratic, internal matter: management and restructuring at the State Department. More than a half-dozen members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked about the issue at her confirmation hearing, and Clinton, D-N.Y., signaled that she has plenty of changes in mind at Foggy Bottom and its related aid agencies. While she parried questions about talking to Iran and Hamas and defended former President Bill Clinton’s disclosure of donors to his foundation, she often came back to the need for “smart power,” a robust diplomatic and development machine that works in better equilibrium with Defense. “One of my first priorities is to make sure that the State Department and USAID have the resources they need,” Clinton said, referring to the U.S. Agency for International Development. “And I will be back to make the case to Congress for full funding of the president’s budget request.” Concerns about the State Department came from both parties, but Clinton had a similar answer for all of them. She told Democrats who seek to ensure a larger role for the softer elements of U.S. foreign policy that she would push for the same. For Republicans concerned about possible redundancies in the State Department’s bureaucracies, she said efficiencies would emerge as a result of her efforts. Clinton said developing a bigger, better foreign assistance budget and a more efficient system would fall to Jacob Lew, who has been nominated as a second deputy secretary for resources and management—a post that has been vacant since before the Bush administration began. Clinton said Lew, a former director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, would “take a look at our existing authorities to determine what works, what doesn’t work, to try to eliminate redundancies, to fill gaps, because, you know, we do have some of those as well.” As things stand, she said, diplomacy has a bad name. The Pentagon has taken over traditional development work on the ground. Aid programs operate ad hoc across agencies and departments with no one coordinating. USAID “has been decimated.” Several recent reports confirm Clinton’s assertions. One, from the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Henry L. Stimson Center, calls for more than 4,700 new jobs across the diplomacy and aid spectrum by 2014 — a 46 percent increase. The report estimates an annual cost of $3.3 billion for the new personnel. Reclaiming Duties From Defense Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has even made an unusual call for stronger diplomatic and development agencies to take back some duties the Pentagon has absorbed. “If we’re going to move authorities and resources back from the Defense Department to the State Department, we have to be able to function effectively and demonstrate our efficiency,” Clinton said. “We’re at a great disadvantage.” Despite the difficult economic conditions that have led to a focus on domestic programs, members of both parties seemed to welcome Clinton’s ideas. A senior Senate Republican aide said Congress would be receptive even in tough times if Clinton lays the groundwork for change and promotes its national security implications. “This is not a one-year effort,” the aide said. “What would be very, very helpful for Capitol Hill is to present, in tandem with USAID, a multi-year proposal for strengthening personnel, for management reforms. I’d appreciate a PowerPoint, frankly.” The fiscal 2010 budget was largely assembled under the current administration, so it might be fiscal 2011 before significant change gets proposed. But Sen. Jim aid it would be difficult to see State’s role expanding, given the falling economy and expanding deficit. “It will be my undertaking to make this department as efficient as possible, so that you know you’re getting your money’s worth — to streamline it as much as possible,” Clinton told him. In a related effort, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard L. Berman, D-Calif., is working on legislation to overhaul foreign assistance. He wants to move the bill through the House by July 4, and it’s unlikely he would support a plan that was not in line with Clinton’s. Berman “looks forward to working with the Obama administration and his colleagues in both the House and Senate to make U.S. foreign assistance programs more efficient and effective, and to increase the capacity of our civilian foreign policy agencies,” said spokeswoman Lynne Weil, noting that Berman was “encouraged” by Clinton’s remarks about “using the full range of tools of soft power.” |
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