During Wednesday's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) questioned witnesses about the defunding of the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations in the State Department.
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00:00recognize Representative Titus. Thank you. Well, while we're hearing about
00:07devastating cuts that are coming from the other side of the aisle, I'd like to
00:11talk about maybe some productive ways that we could enhance the mission
00:15through the State Department. One of those, I believe, is establishing a
00:19diplomatic reserve corps. That's an initiative that I believe would make the
00:24State Department more agile and better able to respond to crises around the
00:28world more quickly. And I'm going to be introducing a bill that establishes such
00:33a corps. Ambassador Jeffrey, you've been a career ambassador in Iraq and Turkey. You
00:40mentioned Albania. You've been a deputy national security adviser. Would you speak
00:45to the advantages of having such a reserve corps? I think they're
00:49extraordinary. I've seen how it works with the military. It's what kept us afloat in
00:54several conflicts, rotating people in and out. It also gives the secretary
00:58flexibility without having to expand dramatically the personnel in the costs
01:04of the department, because as you can see, that's not appreciated by everybody here
01:10or in the country as a whole. A reserve corps would be much cheaper and in some
01:17respects more flexible, because these are people who are ready to go in an instance
01:23notice. In many cases, we've tried variants of this on an experimental basis
01:30before, and I think it proved its worth. So I would strongly support that, because
01:35there will be surges. We're going to be involved in the kind of thing we did in
01:39Iraq and Afghanistan. Sooner or later, one way or the other, we have been through the
01:44history of the Foreign Service and the U.S. government.
01:48Doing well by doing good or vice versa. Well, thank you. I'm glad to hear you say that, and
01:55I hope my colleagues will pay attention to that, that it meets some of their goals of being
02:00more efficient and also serving the mission. The second question is that if you look at
02:09Senator Rubio's comments during his confirmation hearing, he said, preventing crises is a lot cheaper
02:15and a lot better than dealing with crises after the fact. Now, I happen to agree with that, but when
02:21I look at the State Department reorganization, I see that the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization
02:27Operations has disappeared. I don't see it on the new organization chart. Looks like it's going to sunset
02:35according to the fact sheet. I think this Bureau is very important. It plays a role in atrocities prevention,
02:42implementation of the Global Fragility Act, conflict mapping and analysis, support for peace negotiations.
02:49But it's gone. I mean, where is it gone? Are these technical capacities going to exist elsewhere in the State Department?
03:00Would you address that, Ms. Zeya? Thank you. Absolutely. The Bureau of Conflict Stabilization Operations has evolved into the
03:10really the premier player supporting high-stakes diplomatic negotiations, including the achievement of a cessation
03:20of hostilities agreement in Ethiopia that ended the devastating conflict in Tigray. But they've also helped our efforts
03:31efforts to stand up in a temporary political authority in Haiti. They've supported diplomatic efforts on Sudan.
03:41And as we've discussed, they are the government lead on the Global Fragility Act, a bipartisan effort to really pursue
03:50evidence-based, locally-led approaches to better prevent and end conflict sustainably. So, you know, from an oversight
03:59perspective, I think there are a lot of questions as to what consolidation means. And there's a real imperative
04:06to ensure the United States does not lose this tremendous reserve of expertise that is making a difference in an effort to
04:15slash and consolidate. And on the overall point of consolidation, I want to say that the world is so complex that you
04:23that you simply cannot concentrate it in the hands of six regional undersecretaries. The functional bureaus of the Department of State are absolutely operational and strategic. One of the ones that I oversaw, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, stood up a coalition of more than 160 countries to fight the scourge of synthetic, illicit synthetic drugs and fentanyl.
04:50So, this is really a moment for all players on the field, not to take out our team members in a short-sighted effort to streamline that undercuts our interests.
05:04Thank you very much. I yield back.
05:08The chair now recognizes Representative Jackson from Texas.