Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future: Fixing a Hollow Service

Although America faces many complex foreign policy challenges, several recent studies have found that the U.S. State Department, USAID, and the Foreign Service do not have the human and financial resources to appropriately respond to them. The US State Department has seen its human and financial resources reduced 30-50 percent since the end of the Cold War. To address this, the American Academy of Diplomacy undertook a major study that builds upon the findings of previous reports to detail exactly what budget is needed to enable the State Department and the Foreign Service to accomplish their missions in classic diplomacy, public diplomacy, development diplomacy, and reconstruction and stabilization.

Drawing from research and analysis done by the Henry L. Stimson Center, the Academy publically launched this report on October 16, 2008 at the Stimson Center. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Ambassador Thomas Boyatt, Richard Nygard, Gordon Adams, AFSA President John Naland and Stan Silverman presented the report’s main findings. They said the President needs 50% more diplomats to implement a successful foreign policy, and that public diplomacy activities such as educational and cultural exchanges should be greatly expanded to promote a more positive image of the U.S. abroad. The report also recommends that authority for certain Security Assistance programs should be shifted from the Department of Defense to the Department of State.

Outreach Campaign

A major component of this project is educational outreach to the public, the U.S. Congress, and the media to explain the realities of the State Department and Foreign Service today, and how those institutions can be strengthened to make American diplomacy more effective. The Academy has sponsored discussions and presentations in Washington, DC and across America through World Affairs Councils and universities in Brookings, South Dakota; Philadelphia; Denver; Dallas; Jacksonville, FL; Reno, NV; Cincinnati; Kansas City; Houston; Greater Hampton Roads, VA; Columbia, SC; Peoria, IL; Riverside,and Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Ventura, CA.. AAD plans to continue organizing similar outreach events throughout the year. The Academy thanks the Una Chapman Cox Foundation for its generous support of this project.

To date, Congress has also shown much interest the report’s recommendations. The project’s principals have testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia; the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; and the Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs. To access the written testimonies, please see the links below.

Advisory Group

The Advisory Group of the Foreign Affairs Budget Project was created to provide conceptual guidance to the drafting of the report, to set the tone and objectives of the study, and draw from the considerable experience of the Group’s members to guide the project and research team at the Henry L. Stimson Center.

Red Team

The Red Team of the Foreign Affairs Budget Project was created to critique the assumptions underlying the methodology of the report, and thereby strengthen the study through a rigorous process of evaluation and feedback.

Media Materials

>”US Must Deploy More Foreign Diplomacy Personnel,” signed by Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice

Congressional Testimony

> Testimony of the Honorable Thomas D. Boyatt, Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workfoce, and the District of Columbia, September 24, 2009

> Testimony of the Hon. Thomas R. Pickering, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, April 21, 2009

> Testimony of the Hon. Thomas R. Pickering, House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, February 25, 2009

> Testimony of the Honorable Thomas D. Boyatt, Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, July 16, 2008

> Oral statement given by Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, July 16, 2008

> Testimony of John Naland, Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, July 16, 2008