We spoke with Dr. Michael Nacht, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs, and Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. (Transcript is here.) The topic of the discussion was the new QDR, and how the Pentagon is thinking about a number of challenges that we see down the road. There is a lot in this interview of interest, too much to quote at any length. I will, however, quote the section on planning for developing that increaed expeditionary capacity among the interagency that we have talked about a lot lately. The QDR strategy explicitly speaks to the need to grow both the expertise and resource base for civilian partners in the interagency. We look not just at the -- overseas piece. We also look at how well we partner at home. But given your question, I'll focus just on the expeditionary piece. There is, as you may know, a quadrennial diplomacy and development review under way at the State Department. Prior to their beginning that review, they worked very closely with us on the QDR to ensure that we were appropriately fitting the DOD partnership in a context of a broader foreign and national security policy. So the language you see in the QDR very much reflects a joint DOD-State and, actually, National Security Council viewpoint of how these pieces fit into a holistic national security strategy and budget. Out of the QDDR from the State Department, I think you will see a growing level of planning, strategic planning, in terms of how they assess the size and capacity and capability sets that they need to grow to match with the other elements of the interagency. And so I think you'll see some more data in terms of the civilian expeditionary workforce coming out of State, whether it's the Civilian Response Corps or something else, and I think you'll see much more in terms of the right alignment of authorities and responsibilities and dollars when it comes to issues like foreign assistance. So QDR was first out of the gate. We worked very closely in partnership with State, but I think much more is to come in the State Department's own review, which we in turn will play a very important role in, just as they played an important role in our review. It will be interesting to see what State comes up with when the QDDR is complete. We've talked about the importance of developing the interagency's ability to get out in the field and live there, with the troops and the population -- or, in places where there is not a US military presence, on their own. It's going to be a challenge for them, but I think that State has at least the right model to try and make it work.
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Posted
Feb 04 2010, 10:11 AM
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