THE APPLICATION OF USAID AND THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IN A COMPREHENSIVE GOVERNMENT APPROACH

The foreign policy of the United States is built on the three Ds: development, diplomacy and defense (3Ds). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead development agency; the Department of State (DOS) leads on diplomacy; and the Department of Defense (DOD) leads on defense issues. The 3D approach provides to the United States Government an opportunity to use a collective set of responses to tackle global security challenges. Complicating the 3D approach is that over the last decade, DOD’s budget and authorities to conduct international development programs have grown significantly. These multiple funding accounts and authorities of DOD to provide development assistance have overshadowed both symbolically and substantively USAID’s development role overseas, which is counter to the 3D approach. To address complex security challenges in a constrained budget environment, DOD and USAID need to ensure that their development programs are closely coordinated, mutually reinforcing, and not working in isolation of one another. While the USG missions in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate that the nature of threats to the USG are becoming progressively more complex, USAID and DOD need to learn from lessons and experience to date, and institutionalize best practices if their relationship within the 3Ds is to be effective.