The 1945 Charter of the United Nations gives the UN Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. UN peacekeeping operations have traditionally been associated with Chapter VI of the charter, which outlines provisions for the peaceful settlement of disputes. However, in recent years, the Security Council has increasingly used Chapter VII to authorize the deployment of peacekeeping operations into volatile environments where the government of the host country is unable to maintain security and public order. Chapter VII allows the peacekeepers to take military and nonmilitary action to maintain or restore international peace and security. Chapter VIII authorizes regional organizations, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the African Union (AU), to resolve disputes prior to intervention by the UN Security Council, so long as the activities of the regional organizations are consistent with UN principles. In this report, we differentiate between traditional and multidimensional mandates for peacekeeping operations. Traditional operations generally monitor or supervise cease-fire and other peace agreements between formerly warring parties. Their tasks can include monitoring of border demarcation, exchange of prisoners, and demobilization efforts. Multidimensional operations tend to go beyond traditional peace monitoring tasks by attempting to restore or create conditions more conducive to a lasting peace. On two occasions since 1998, the UN Security Council granted multidimensional operations the executive authority to direct and carry out the construction or reconstruction of political, legal, and economic institutions in Timor L’este and Kosovo. Multidimensional mandates generally include one or more of the following tasks in their mandates: Monitoring, supervising, training, or reconstructing police forces and otherwise supporting efforts to restore rule of law; monitoring, assisting, or instituting efforts to improve human rights; supporting, facilitating, coordinating, or safeguarding humanitarian relief monitoring, supporting, coordinating, or safeguarding assistance provided to help refugees or internally displaced persons return home and reintegrate into the society of the affected country or region; and conducting, supporting, or coordinating elections and other democracy- building efforts. In general, the United States has supported the expansion of UN peacekeeping operations as a useful, cost-effective way to influence situations affecting U.S. national interests without direct U.S. intervention. For example, in 2006, the United States voted for UN operations to ensure that Southern Lebanon was not used for hostile activities; to assist with the restoration and maintenance of the rule of law and public safety in Haiti; and to contribute to the protection of civilian populations and facilitate humanitarian activities in Darfur. These operations support U.S. national interests by carrying out mandates to help stabilize regions and promote international peace. The UN manages 16 peacekeeping operations worldwide as of September 2008, 6 of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Figure 1 shows the location of UN peacekeeping operations as of September 2008. The United States contributes the greatest share of funding for peacekeeping operations. All permanent members of the Security Council—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—are charged a premium above their assessment rate for the regular budget (22 percent for the United States). For the 2008-2009 UN peacekeeping budget year, the UN assessed the United States about $2 billion according to a State official, or about 26 percent of the total UN peacekeeping budget. This represents an increase of over 700 percent in the budget since 1998 (see fig. 2). The U.S. government also makes significant voluntary contributions in support of countries providing UN peacekeeping forces. For example, State obligated about $110 million in fiscal year 2007 and 2008 funds for countries providing forces for the UN operation in Darfur. In addition, the United States had provided 308 troops, police, and military observers to six UN peacekeeping operations as of September 30, 2008. The extent and nature of U.S. support for UN peacekeeping is largely contained in Section 10 of the UN Participation Act of 1945. For example, it limits total U.S. contributions to 1,000 troops at any one time. It also limits the U.S. government to providing free of charge to the UN no more than $3 million worth of items or services—such as supplies, transportation assistance, or equipment—to each operation per year. UN guidelines call for DPKO to undertake planning and predeployment tasks before the approval of a UN Security Council mandate authorizing an operation. These include drawing up operations plans to address the expected mandate, estimated sector responsibilities, and force requirements. DPKO also assesses the availability of forces from potential contributors and then validates the estimates through visits of UN military and police officials to the host country and to troop and police contributing countries to assess unit readiness and availability. The Secretary General then issues a report on establishing the mission, including its size and resources. On the basis of the report, the Security Council may then pass a resolution authorizing the operation’s mandate and number of troops and police. According to U.S. officials, this is the maximum level allowed. Although the Security Council may authorize the mission’s mandate, its full budget must still be prepared and approved. In this process, the UN Department of Field Support prepares a draft budget and the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions reviews it. According to the UN, considerable scrutiny of the proposed budget occurs during this process and there is debate among member states that pay the bulk of costs of the operation and the top troop contributors. The General Assembly then approves the budget for the amount agreed upon. UN guidelines note that the lead time required to deploy a mission depends on a number of factors, particularly the will of member states to contribute troops and police to a particular operation and the availability of financial and other resources due to long procurement lead times. For missions with highly complex mandates or difficult logistics, or where peacekeepers face significant security risk, it may take several weeks or even months to assemble and deploy the necessary elements. The UN has set a 90-day target for deploying the first elements of a multidimensional UN peacekeeping operation endorsed by the UN Security Council. Over the past decade, the UN has undertaken a number of assessments and initiatives to improve its peacekeeping organization, doctrine, planning, logistics and conditions of service for peacekeeping staff, as well as its efforts to establish a capacity to rapidly deploy peacekeepers. For example, the 2000 report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, or Brahimi report, made recommendations to the Secretary General to improve the strategic direction, planning, organization, and conduct of peace operations. In response, the UN consolidated all peacekeeping responsibilities into DPKO, substantially increased its staff, and took steps to improve and integrate mission planning. Moreover, the Secretary General’s 2001 No Exit Without a Strategy noted that missions’ mandates should include elements such as institution building and the promotion of good governance and the rule of law to facilitate sustainable peace. The Peace Operations 2010 initiative announced by the Secretary General in 2006 focused on further reforms in the area of personnel, doctrine, partnerships, resources and organization. As a result, the UN took steps to strengthen its capacity to direct and support peacekeeping operations that included splitting DPKO into two departments in 2007 by creating the separate Department of Field Support; establishing integrated operations teams to integrate the daily direction and support of peacekeeping operations; and, in 2008, issuing a consolidated statement of peacekeeping operations, principles, and guidelines and a field guide to assist senior staff address critical mission startup tasks and challenges. GAO has reviewed the status of a number of UN reform initiatives, most recently the UN’s efforts to clarify lines of authority for field procurement between DPKO and DFS. Since 1998, UN peacekeeping operations have taken on more complex and ambitious mandates, taken place in increasingly challenging environments, and grown in size and scope. As shown in table 1, the operations have more mandated tasks and are increasingly authorized under Chapter VII of the UN charter to use all means necessary to carry out the mandate. The locations of the operations also are in less developed areas, as measured by the UN’s index of health, economic, and education levels, and the operations are deployed in some of the most politically unstable countries in the world. Finally, current operations with multidimensional mandates have an average of nearly 9 times as many troops, observers, and police as those in 1998, and more than 13 times as many civilian staff. Appendix V provides details on current UN peacekeeping operations. Appendix VI provides details on the military capabilities of UN peacekeeping operations as of November 2008. Since 1998, the United Nations has undertaken operations with broader and more complex mandates than before. The 16 operations in 1998 had mandates averaging three tasks or objectives each. The mandates of 10 of these operations were limited to such traditional peacekeeping tasks as monitoring cease-fire agreements and boundaries between formerly warring parties. The other 6 operations had a small number of tasks, which went beyond traditional peace monitoring by calling for the restoration or creation of conditions more conducive to a lasting peace. In September 2008, the UN also had 16 ongoing peacekeeping operations, but 11 had multidimensional mandates with political, security, social, and humanitarian objectives. Also, 15 of the 17 UN Peacekeeping Operations begun or augmented since 1998 were multidimensional missions. According to the November 2000 report by the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, the mandated tasks of these operations reflected the more comprehensive approach to restoring security the UN had adopted as part of its ongoing efforts to improve the strategic direction and conduct of peace operations. This report noted that the effective protection of civilians and assistance in postconflict environments requires a coordinated strategy that goes beyond the political or military aspects of a conflict if the operation is to achieve a sustainable peace. We reported that since 1999 the UN has increasingly focused on a more comprehensive approach to making a transition from peacekeeping to a sustainable peace.