num_pages: 54
description: Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the military and economic instruments of American power have benefited from renewed attention and resources. However, the forward edge of American national security policy, the Department of State, is in a profound state of disrepair, suffering from long-term mismanagement, antiquated equipment, and dilapidated and insecure facilities.These deficits are not only a disservice to the high-caliber men and women who serve as part of the Department of State. They also handicap the ability of the United States to shape and respond to the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century. If the deterioration continues, the ability of the United States to rely on statecraft to avoid, mangage, and resolve crises and to deter aggression will decline, increasing the likelihood that America will have to use military force to protect its interests abroad.The Task Force's purpose was unique. It did not attempt to reinvent the many constructive findings and recommendations of the numerous blue-ribbon commissions that have studied the Department of State. Instead, the Task Force synthesized these findings and recommendations into two crisp memos, one to the president and one to the secretary of state, that articulate a "resources-for-reform" strategy of concrete steps to redress the department's shortcomings in infrastructure, human-resources policies, and budgetary management, and to recharge the department's role in the interagency process that makes and implements U.S. national security policy. The proposed strategy rests on the assumption that, although resources will be neccessary to reform the Department of State, reform from within the department will be necessary to obtain those resources from the U.S. Congress.
language: English
title: State Department Reform (Task Force Report
titlecomplete: State Department Reform (Task Force Report (Council on Foreign Relations))
publisher: Council on Foreign Relations