Author: Jay Liddick

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13:

"Like the post-9/11 Bush administration, the Obama administration must confront numerous security threats to U.S. national interests at home and abroad. The Obama administration, however, has the added challenge of a severe domestic economic recession. Amidst the economic quandary, President Obama and Congress must prudently go about the arduous task of determining how to best utilize U.S. resources to mitigate national security threats in a domestic environment demanding fiscal discipline. ... Two of the most notable Bush administration and congressional efforts to integrate U.S. capability in addressing weak or failed states were the establishment of the Office of the Coordinator of Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS) within the State Department to lead and coordinate conflict prevention and responses and making stability operations a core U.S. military operational task. While both actions seem appropriate, the following examination will indicate neither has resulted in an optimal level of capacity to stabilize weak, failing, or failed states. Additional measures are needed to develop fully the means necessary for this purpose. These measures include greater funding and staffing of S/CRS and establishing Congressional Reconstruction and Stabilization Oversight Committees in both houses of Congress."--Simons Center web site.