110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1084 

AN ACT 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the State 

Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956, and the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to build operational readiness 

in civilian agencies, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reconstruction and 

3 Stabilization Civilian Management Act of 2008’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) In June 2004, the Office of the Coordinator 

7 for Reconstruction and Stabilization (referred to as 

8 the ‘‘Coordinator’’) was established in the Depart9 ment of State with the mandate to lead, coordinate, 

10 and institutionalize United States Government civil11 ian capacity to prevent or prepare for post-conflict 

12 situations and help reconstruct and stabilize a coun13 try or region that is at risk of, in, or is in transition 

14 from, conflict or civil strife. 

15 (2) In December 2005, the Coordinator’s man16 date was reaffirmed by the National Security Presi17 dential Directive 44, which instructed the Secretary 

18 of State, and at the Secretary’s direction, the Coor19 dinator, to coordinate and lead integrated United 

20 States Government efforts, involving all United 

21 States departments and agencies with relevant capa22 bilities, to prepare, plan for, and conduct reconstruc23 tion and stabilization operations. 

24 (3) National Security Presidential Directive 44 

25 assigns to the Secretary, with the Coordinator’s as26 sistance, the lead role to develop reconstruction and 
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1 stabilization strategies, ensure civilian interagency 

2 program and policy coordination, coordinate inter3 agency processes to identify countries at risk of in4 stability, provide decision-makers with detailed op5 tions for an integrated United States Government 

6 response in connection with reconstruction and sta7 bilization operations, and carry out a wide range of 

8 other actions, including the development of a civilian 

9 surge capacity to meet reconstruction and stabiliza10 tion emergencies. The Secretary and the Coordinator 

11 are also charged with coordinating with the Depart12 ment of Defense on reconstruction and stabilization 

13 responses, and integrating planning and imple14 menting procedures. 

15 (4) The Department of Defense issued Direc16 tive 3000.05, which establishes that stability oper17 ations are a core United States military mission that 

18 the Department of Defense must be prepared to con19 duct and support, provides guidance on stability op20 erations that will evolve over time, and assigns re21 sponsibilities within the Department of Defense for 

22 planning, training, and preparing to conduct and 

23 support stability operations. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 
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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 

3 States Agency for International Development. 

4 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any 

5 entity included in chapter 1 of title 5, United States 

6 Code. 

7 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT8 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com9 mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

10 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

11 Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

12 (4) DEPARTMENT.—Except as otherwise pro13 vided in this Act, the term ‘‘Department’’ means the 

14 Department of State. 

15 (5) PERSONNEL.—The term ‘‘personnel’’ means 

16 individuals serving in any service described in sec17 tion 2101 of title 5, United States Code, other than 

18 in the legislative or judicial branch. 

19 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of State. 

21 SEC. 4. AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE FOR RECON22 STRUCTION AND STABILIZATION CRISES. 

23 Chapter 1 of part III of the Foreign Assistance Act 

24 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2351 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

25 after section 617 the following new section: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 618. ASSISTANCE FOR A RECONSTRUCTION AND STA2 BILIZATION CRISIS. 

3 ‘‘(a) ASSISTANCE.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the President determines 

5 that it is in the national security interests of the 

6 United States for United States civilian agencies or 

7 non-Federal employees to assist in reconstructing 

8 and stabilizing a country or region that is at risk of, 

9 in, or is in transition from, conflict or civil strife, the 

10 President may, in accordance with the provisions set 

11 forth in section 614(a)(3), subject to paragraph (2) 

12 of this subsection but notwithstanding any other 

13 provision of law, and on such terms and conditions 

14 as the President may determine, furnish assistance 

15 to such country or region for reconstruction or sta16 bilization using funds under paragraph (3). 

17 ‘‘(2) PRE-NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—The 

18 President may not furnish assistance pursuant para19 graph (1) until five days (excepting Saturdays, Sun20 days, and legal public holidays) after the require21 ments under section 614(a)(3) of this Act are car22 ried out. 

23 ‘‘(3) FUNDS.—The funds referred to in para24 graph (1) are funds made available under any other 

25 provision of law and under other provisions of this 

26 Act, and transferred or reprogrammed for purposes 
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1 of this section, and such transfer or reprogramming 

2 shall be subject to the procedures applicable to a no3 tification under section 634A of this Act. 

4 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The authority contained in this 

5 section may be exercised only during fiscal years 2008, 

6 2009, and 2010, except that the authority may not be ex7 ercised to furnish more than $100,000,000 in any such 

8 fiscal year.’’. 

9 SEC. 5. RECONSTRUCTION AND STABILIZATION. 

10 Title I of the State Department Basic Authorities Act 

11 of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a et seq.) is amended by adding 

12 at the end the following new section: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 62. RECONSTRUCTION AND STABILIZATION. 

14 ‘‘(a) OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR FOR RECON15 STRUCTION AND STABILIZATION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

17 within the Department of State the Office of the Co18 ordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. 

19 ‘‘(2) COORDINATOR FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND

20 STABILIZATION.—The head of the Office shall be the 

21 Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, 

22 who shall be appointed by the President, by and 

23 with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Co24 ordinator shall report directly to the Secretary. 
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1 ‘‘(3) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Office 

2 of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabiliza3 tion shall include the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) Monitoring, in coordination with rel5 evant bureaus and offices of the Department of 

6 State and the United States Agency for Inter7 national Development (USAID), political and 

8 economic instability worldwide to anticipate the 

9 need for mobilizing United States and inter10 national assistance for the reconstruction and 

11 stabilization of a country or region that is at 

12 risk of, in, or are in transition from, conflict or 

13 civil strife. 

14 ‘‘(B) Assessing the various types of recon15 struction and stabilization crises that could 

16 occur and cataloging and monitoring the non17 military resources and capabilities of agencies 

18 (as such term is defined in section 3 of the Re19 construction and Stabilization Civilian Manage20 ment Act of 2008) that are available to address 

21 such crises. 

22 ‘‘(C) Planning, in conjunction with 

23 USAID, to address requirements, such as de24 mobilization, disarmament, rebuilding of civil 

25 society, policing, human rights monitoring, and 
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1 public information, that commonly arise in re2 construction and stabilization crises. 

3 ‘‘(D) Coordinating with relevant agencies 

4 to develop interagency contingency plans and 

5 procedures to mobilize and deploy civilian per6 sonnel and conduct reconstruction and stabiliza7 tion operations to address the various types of 

8 such crises. 

9 ‘‘(E) Entering into appropriate arrange10 ments with agencies to carry out activities 

11 under this section and the Reconstruction and 

12 Stabilization Civilian Management Act of 2008. 

13 ‘‘(F) Identifying personnel in State and 

14 local governments and in the private sector who 

15 are available to participate in the Civilian Re16 serve Corps established under subsection (b) or 

17 to otherwise participate in or contribute to re18 construction and stabilization activities. 

19 ‘‘(G) Taking steps to ensure that training 

20 and education of civilian personnel to perform 

21 such reconstruction and stabilization activities 

22 is adequate and is carried out, as appropriate, 

23 with other agencies involved with stabilization 

24 operations. 
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1 ‘‘(H) Taking steps to ensure that plans for 

2 United States reconstruction and stabilization 

3 operations are coordinated with and com4 plementary to reconstruction and stabilization 

5 activities of other governments and inter6 national and nongovernmental organizations, to 

7 improve effectiveness and avoid duplication. 

8 ‘‘(I) Maintaining the capacity to field on 

9 short notice an evaluation team consisting of 

10 personnel from all relevant agencies to under11 take on-site needs assessment. 

12 ‘‘(b) RESPONSE READINESS CORPS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) RESPONSE READINESS CORPS.—The Sec14 retary, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

15 United States Agency for International Development 

16 and the heads of other appropriate agencies of the 

17 United States Government, may establish and main18 tain a Response Readiness Corps (referred to in this 

19 section as the ‘Corps’) to provide assistance in sup20 port of reconstruction and stabilization operations in 

21 countries or regions that are at risk of, in, or are 

22 in transition from, conflict or civil strife. The Corps 

23 shall be composed of active and standby components 

24 consisting of United States Government personnel, 

25 including employees of the Department of State, the 
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1 United States Agency for International Develop2 ment, and other agencies who are recruited and 

3 trained (and employed in the case of the active com4 ponent) to provide such assistance when deployed to 

5 do so by the Secretary to support the purposes of 

6 this Act. 

7 ‘‘(2) CIVILIAN RESERVE CORPS.—The Sec8 retary, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

9 United States Agency for International Develop10 ment, may establish a Civilian Reserve Corps for 

11 which purpose the Secretary is authorized to employ 

12 and train individuals who have the skills necessary 

13 for carrying out reconstruction and stabilization ac14 tivities, and who have volunteered for that purpose. 

15 The Secretary may deploy members of the Civilian 

16 Reserve Corps pursuant to a determination by the 

17 President under section 618 of the Foreign Assist18 ance Act of 1961. 

19 ‘‘(3) MITIGATION OF DOMESTIC IMPACT.—The 

20 establishment and deployment of any Civilian Re21 serve Corps shall be undertaken in a manner that 

22 will avoid substantively impairing the capacity and 

23 readiness of any State and local governments from 

24 which Civilian Reserve Corps personnel may be 

25 drawn. 
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1 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State 

3 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2007 

4 through 2010 for the Office and to support, educate, train, 

5 maintain, and deploy a Response Readiness Corps and a 

6 Civilian Reserve Corps. 

7 ‘‘(d) EXISTING TRAINING AND EDUCATION PRO8 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall ensure that personnel of the 

9 Department, and, in coordination with the Administrator 

10 of USAID, that personnel of USAID, make use of the rel11 evant existing training and education programs offered 

12 within the Government, such as those at the Center for 

13 Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies at the Naval 

14 Postgraduate School and the Interagency Training, Edu15 cation, and After Action Review Program at the National 

16 Defense University.’’. 

17 SEC. 6. AUTHORITIES RELATED TO PERSONNEL. 

18 (a) EXTENSION OF CERTAIN FOREIGN SERVICE

19 BENEFITS.—The Secretary, or the head of any agency 

20 with respect to personnel of that agency, may extend to 

21 any individuals assigned, detailed, or deployed to carry out 

22 reconstruction and stabilization activities pursuant to sec23 tion 62 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act 

24 of 1956 (as added by section 5 of this Act), the benefits 

25 or privileges set forth in sections 413, 704, and 901 of 
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1 the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3973, 22 

2 U.S.C. 4024, and 22 U.S.C. 4081) to the same extent and 

3 manner that such benefits and privileges are extended to 

4 members of the Foreign Service. 

5 (b) AUTHORITY REGARDING DETAILS.—The Sec6 retary is authorized to accept details or assignments of 

7 any personnel, and any employee of a State or local gov8 ernment, on a reimbursable or nonreimbursable basis for 

9 the purpose of carrying out this Act, and the head of any 

10 agency is authorized to detail or assign personnel of such 

11 agency on a reimbursable or nonreimbursable basis to the 

12 Department of State for purposes of section 62 of the 

13 State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956, as added 

14 by section 5 of this Act. 

15 SEC. 7. RECONSTRUCTION AND STABILIZATION STRATEGY. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con17 sultation with the Administrator of the United States 

18 Agency for International Development, shall develop an 

19 interagency strategy to respond to reconstruction and sta20 bilization operations. 

21 (b) CONTENTS.—The strategy required under sub22 section (a) shall include the following: 

23 (1) Identification of and efforts to improve the 

24 skills sets needed to respond to and support recon25 struction and stabilization operations in countries or 
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1 regions that are at risk of, in, or are in transition 

2 from, conflict or civil strife. 

3 (2) Identification of specific agencies that can 

4 adequately satisfy the skills sets referred to in para5 graph (1). 

6 (3) Efforts to increase training of Federal civil7 ian personnel to carry out reconstruction and sta8 bilization activities. 

9 (4) Efforts to develop a database of proven and 

10 best practices based on previous reconstruction and 

11 stabilization operations. 

12 (5) A plan to coordinate the activities of agen13 cies involved in reconstruction and stabilization oper14 ations. 

15 SEC. 8. ANNUAL REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

16 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act and annually for each of the five years 

18 thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the ap19 propriate congressional committees a report on the imple20 mentation of this Act. The report shall include detailed 

21 information on the following: 

22 (1) Any steps taken to establish a Response 

23 Readiness Corps and a Civilian Reserve Corps, pur24 suant to section 62 of the State Department Basic 
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1 Authorities Act of 1956 (as added by section 5 of 

2 this Act). 

3 (2) The structure, operations, and cost of the 

4 Response Readiness Corps and the Civilian Reserve 

5 Corps, if established. 

6 (3) How the Response Readiness Corps and the 

7 Civilian Reserve Corps coordinate, interact, and 

8 work with other United States foreign assistance 

9 programs. 

10 (4) An assessment of the impact that deploy11 ment of the Civilian Reserve Corps, if any, has had 

12 on the capacity and readiness of any domestic agen13 cies or State and local governments from which Ci14 vilian Reserve Corps personnel are drawn. 

15 (5) The reconstruction and stabilization strat16 egy required by section 7 and any annual updates to 

17 that strategy. 

18 (6) Recommendations to improve implementa19 tion of subsection (b) of section 62 of the State De20 partment Basic Authorities Act of 1956, including 

21 measures to enhance the recruitment and retention 

22 of an effective Civilian Reserve Corps. 
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1 (7) A description of anticipated costs associated 

2 with the development, annual sustainment, and de3 ployment of the Civilian Reserve Corps. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 5, 

2008. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1084 

AN ACT 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the 

other purposes. operational readiness in civilian agencies, and for and the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to build State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956,