Seeking adviser to 'deploy with DOD forces in humanitarian emergencies'
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http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/obama-blurs-line-between-military-foreign-aid/#vQZ8uAUuw9xYda1I.9The lines between U.S. military and humanitarian actions
have become increasingly blurred under the Obama administration, which globally
will deploy advisers to further merge what historically were separate defense
and foreign-aid functions.
Seeking adviser to 'deploy with DOD forces in humanitarian
emergencies'
The lines between U.S. military and humanitarian actions
have become increasingly blurred under the Obama administration, which globally
will deploy advisers to further merge what historically were separate defense
and foreign-aid functions.
The reformation began under President George W. Bush but is
reaching new heights under Obama.
The Military Liaison Team, or MLT, at the U.S. Agency for
International Development will leverage the new advisers to coordinate efforts
between USAID and all Department of Defense agencies, according to planning
documents that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor discovered via routine database research.
These Humanitarian Assistance Adviser/Military, or HAA/M,
adviser posts will serve as a “critical liaison function between USAID and the
DoD military establishment.” USAID on Sept. 27 began publicly recruiting
candidates to fill multiple HAA/M slots both domestically and worldwide.
The goal of the liaison function will be to “represent the
humanitarian sector perspective and expertise” in situations in which parties
such as USAID and DOD – as well as the United Nations, NGOs and “private
voluntary organizations” – jointly respond to international crises.
HAA/M candidates must have “professional experience planning
for or responding to” chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive
events, the Personal Services Contracting notice emphasizes.
The agency’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, or
OFDA, initially will deploy the HAA/Ms to DOD Combatant Command facilities
where there already exists “an OFDA operational need to work with the military
independent of future country specific disasters.”
Those locations include Stuttgart, Germany – current home of
the U.S. Africa Command – as well as Honolulu and Miami.
OFDA’s strategic plan also is weighing potential HAA/M
assignments in Washington, D.C.; Bangkok, Thailand; San Jose, Costa Rica;
Okinawa, Japan; and Manama, Bahrain, the document says.
OFDA is the primary USAID unit tasked with providing
“emergency non-food humanitarian assistance.”
The three-division office is part of the Bureau for
Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, or DCHA.
OFDA separately is recruiting for a HAA/M position that the
office has planned for U.S. Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM,
headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla.
“Due to their existing presence in countries around the
world, special operations forces (SOF) can be the first U.S. military forces in
country following natural disasters or complex emergencies,” the solicitation
says.
Because of SOF’s unique global responsibilities, “OFDA is
increasingly liaising and engaging with those units to ensure staff awareness
of [U.S. government] roles before, during, and following an international
disaster response operation.”
Indeed, the Bush administration centered its efforts at
USSOCOM when the White House first sought to create some parallel USAID and DOD
functions.
That initiative countered the traditional U.S. government
perspective on USAID’s distinct humanitarian role.
The John F. Kennedy administration created USAID as a unit
intentionally detached from “political and military functions that plagued its
predecessor organizations,” according to the agency’s official history. As a
consequence of this separation, USAID more ably could offer “direct support to
the developing nations of the world.”
Under Bush, however, USAID’s DCMA unit in 2005 created the
Office of Military Affairs, subsequently hiring senior advisers to initiate and
expand its relationship with DOD.
USAID started this process by hiring senior development
advisers to USSOCOM and to the U.S. European Command, respectively.
Soon after, it sought to install a Washington, D.C.-based
senior military adviser to “create, foster and formalize a network of working
relationships between USAID and the U.S. military, with a focus on leaders
throughout the Pentagon.”
The creation of the more recent HAA/M adviser positions will
attempt to elevate these relationships to a higher level, while also taking
steps to ensure that the lines are not completed blurred when it comes to
military and humanitarian functions.
Among the core duties of the advisers will be to “deploy
with DOD forces in humanitarian emergencies” and to “assist OFDA management in
defining a strategy for military coordination.”
Despite the coordination, the adviser also will be tasked
with drawing at least some distinction between DOD and USAID responsibilities.
The establishment of these boundaries is evidenced by
additional duties called for in the solicitation. Among them is the stated need
to “coordinate with the humanitarian community to achieve the best use of
military assets by reducing redundant or counterproductive military
activities.”
The HAA/M adviser likewise must determine “whether OFDA
participation in DoD humanitarian activities is necessary and useful.”
This article originally was published via WND on Oct. 1, 2013. Under agreement with the publisher, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.
