Summary of Atwood Article

The current international aid efforts of the United States are disorganized and half-hearted. Great amounts of money are being wasted on disorganized foreign development efforts, often driven by the sole purpose of winning public opinion of politicians. These foreign aid efforts are a shadow of what the U.S. was achieving throughout the 1960’s until the late 1980’s. This is in large part due to the shrinking role of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). To return to the level the United States was once capable of, there needs to a restructured independant USAID, or a new federal department devoted to foreign development.

The USAID was at its greatest strength during the cold war. Since then, it has seen much of its responsibility either shifted to the State Department or lost through cut programs. The USAID lost nearly half of its staff from 1980-2008, despite being an agency which had as important a focus as any during that time period. The increase of the use of the Defense and State Departments to deal with foreign intervention has had a much more negative impact than the NSAID had in its prime. These departments have allocated funds improperly and created unnecessary tension in countries where real, efficient, local development strategies like those of the NSAID and Millenium Challenge Corperation could have made a much more positive impact.

To create a more efficient and effective foreign aid system, the NSAID should become its own cabinet level department, and be in control of all humanitarian and development programs. This will allow for the usage of funds for humanitarian efforts more efficiently, more organized aid programs, and most importantly, a way to escape the influence of both the State and Defense department’s foreign political interests.