After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration elevated the significance of foreign assistance as a foreign policy tool. President George W. Bush elevated global development as a third pillar of national security, with defense and diplomacy, as articulated in the U.S. National Security Strategy of 2002, and reiterated in 2006. In the FY2009 budget request, the Bush Administration reiterated the importance of the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by saying that the FY2009 budget "reflects the critical role of the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development in implementing the National Security Strategy.... " At the same time that foreign aid is being recognized as playing an important role in U.S. foreign policy and national security, it also is coming under closer scrutiny by Congress, largely in response to a number of presidential initiatives (such as implementing the F process and creating the Millennium Challenge Account, or "MCA" ), and by critics who argue that the U.S. foreign aid infrastructure is cumbersome and fragmented, and without a coherent aid strategy. Implementation of the F Bureau

In January 2006, Secretary of State Rice announced the "transformational development" initiative, or "F process," to foster greater aid program coordination and to achieve specified objectives. The Secretary created a new State Department Bureau of Foreign Assistance (the F Bureau) headed by the Director of Foreign Assistance (DFA) who also serves concurrently as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 2006 the F Bureau developed a Strategic Framework for Foreign Assistance (FAF) to align U.S. aid programs with American strategic objectives. This Framework heavily guided the writing of the FY2008 and FY2009 budgets and the FY2010 budget request. While the 14 studies surveyed by CRS emphasize different aspects of the importance of U.S. foreign assistance, all agree that foreign assistance must be reformed to improve its effectiveness. Only one of the recommendation categories—enhancing civilian agency resources—has the support of all of the studies covered in this report. The next two most-often cited recommendations are (1) raising development to equal status with diplomacy and defense; and (2) increasing the emphasis of U.S. foreign aid to be more needs-based, with recipient governments taking ownership of both identifying needs and taking responsibility for using aid to meet them. The role of Congress in foreign aid should expand, according to half of the studies reviewed. Since these studies were written for the purpose of making recommendations to reform U.S. foreign aid, it is not surprising that none of them recommend maintaining the status quo. It should be noted, however, that given the current economic environment and budget constraints along with the numerous other major concerns, such as two wars, health care, energy policy, and global warming, some Members in the 111 th Congress may prefer a continuation of the existing foreign aid structure with minor modifications and increased or adjusted resources where possible. Foreign Affairs , Vol. The author recommends that the next President:
Develop a national foreign assistance strategy that elevates global development as critical to our national interest and lays out the principal missions and mandates for foreign assistance; Reform the organizational structure by merging most foreign assistance programs and related development policy instruments into a new cabinet-level department and strengthen the organization by expanding and deepening the professional staff, revamping delivery mechanisms, and building a serious monitoring and evaluation system; Rewrite the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to streamline procurement rules, earmarks, and restrictions, and to re-establish a strong partnership between the executive branch and Congress that allows greater flexibility to executive aid agencies provided there is greater accountability and responsiveness to Congress; Place a higher priority on multilateral channels of assistance; and Increase the quantity and improve the allocation of assistance, because, even with recent increases, U.S. foreign assistance is not great enough or unencumbered enough to meet our foreign policy goals. Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. Hearing on Foreign Aid Reform .
Both the 111th Congress and the Obama Administration have expressed interest in foreign aid reform and are looking at ways to improve and strengthen the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), coordination among implementing agencies, and monitoring effectiveness of aid activities. Legislation containing elements of reform includes H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011; H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009; and S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization Accountability Act of 2009.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the role of foreign assistance as a tool of U.S. foreign policy has come into sharper focus. President George W. Bush elevated global development as a third pillar of national security, with defense and diplomacy, as articulated in the U.S. National Security Strategy of 2002, and reiterated in 2006.
In January 2006, Secretary of State Rice announced the "transformational development" initiative to bring coordination and coherence to U.S. aid programs. She created a new Bureau of Foreign Assistance (F Bureau), led by the Director of Foreign Assistance (DFA), who also serves as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. F Bureau developed a Strategic Framework for Foreign Assistance (Framework, or F process) to align aid programs with strategic objectives. The Framework became a guiding force in the FY2008 and FY2009 budgets, as well as the FY2010 budget request.
In recent years, numerous studies have addressed various concerns and provided recommendations regarding U.S. foreign aid policy, funding, and structure. Views range from general approval of the F process as a first step toward better coordination of aid programs and the need to build on it, to strong criticism of the creation of the F Bureau, its inadequacy in coordinating or reforming much of what is wrong with foreign aid, and the need to replace it with a cabinet-level department of foreign aid.
While the 14 studies surveyed by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) emphasize different aspects of the importance of U.S. foreign assistance, all agree that foreign assistance must be reformed to improve its effectiveness. Of the 16 recommendation categories CRS identifies, only enhancing civilian agency resources has the support of all of the studies covered in this report. The next two most-often cited recommendations are raising development to equal status with diplomacy and defense, and increasing needs-based foreign aid, while encouraging recipient-government ownership of aid effectiveness. Half of the studies urge a greater congressional role in foreign aid budgeting and policy formulation.
Because these studies were written for the purpose of reforming U.S. foreign aid, it is not surprising that none of them recommends maintaining the status quo. Given the current economic crisis and budget constraints along with other major concerns, such as health care, energy policy, and global warming, however, some Members of Congress may prefer a continuation of the existing foreign aid structure. This report is a review of selected studies written between 2001 and 2008. For related information on foreign aid and foreign affairs budgets, see CRS Report R40693, State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2010 Budget and Appropriations, by [author name scrubbed], [author name scrubbed], and Marian Leonardo Lawson.