President Barack Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Secretary of State John Kerry, right, speaks about the Islamic State group in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Feb. 11, 2015.

President Barack Obama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Secretary of State John Kerry, right, speaks about the Islamic State group in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Feb. 11, 2015. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

On Extremism: Stop Talking About Strategy and Start Talking About Execution

The boring truth is we have strategies to fight violent extremism; we’re just not able to execute them.

With the White House preparing for this week’s international conference on violent extremism, Secretary of State John Kerry recently warned the threat represented no less than “a challenge to the nation state.” It was a thoughtful speech, in its diagnosis and prescriptions: it recognized the magnitude and complexity of the threat, the need for both military and civilian response, and the greater investment of resources and time required. As a former U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, staffer who specialized in programming in places like Yemen and Libya, I was heartened to see that the secretary got it.

But reflecting later, I realized this hasn’t been our problem in recent years, and understood why this high-profile event feels so inconsequential. I’ve been reviewing administration policy papers and USAID strategy documents recently, and it’s striking just how similarly thoughtful and nuanced many are in their diagnosis of the problem and in their recommendations and guidance. It’s clear from these documents that we as a government have some very good ideas about how to apply civilian tools to help stabilize fragile states and staunch the spread of extremism more effectively. We also recognize just how hard this task is, and how much time and patience will be required.

Our problem, it turns out, is not a lack of insight or strategic direction—our problem is in the execution. We simply don’t have the civilian tools required: we don’t have the right the systems, staff, authorities, flexibility and support from Washington.

Right now, the U.S. simply doesn't have the civilian tools—the right systems, staff, authorities, flexibility and support from Washington—required to fight extremism.

Consider the plight of my old employer, USAID. This is an organization whose work Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both agree is as critical to national security as that of the Departments of State and Defense—but the budget it alone controls is less than the cost of the next aircraft carrier, which alone will carry many more sailors and airmen than USAID has total foreign service officers. No less critically, this funding is so tightly restricted and the oversight requirements are so onerous that USAID field staff lack the discretion and flexibility these strategy documents consistently agree are required to build and implement fast, creative programs (with the notable exception of those working for USAID’s small but specialized Office of Transition Initiatives). In the field, we’re not just fighting a battle against extremism; we’re fighting battles against our own bureaucratic inanities—and those may be the ones consuming the preponderance of our time.

What is needed most urgently is thus not more White House attention to strategy or to international partnerships, but rather sustained administration attention to forcing and facilitating a very real, very technical, and—for most of Washington, unfortunately—very boring conversation about systems, budgets, reporting authorities, procurement mechanisms and the myriad other components that have turned our civilian foreign policy agencies into bureaucratic behemoths at precisely the time that we most need them to be nimble and adaptive. 

For USAID, I’d urge that this conversation begin with four big goals. First, Congress should return greater budgetary discretion and flexibility to USAID—or at the very least, allot to USAID sufficient unrestricted funding that it can have flexibility in priority situations. Second, funding must be provided for the additional staff needed to design, manage and evaluate these most complex priority programs. Third, the White House and Congress need to absorb one of Kerry’s most important points: While you can mitigate the spillover of violent extremism in the short-run, eliminating the threat will take years; this scale of societal and political change can’t happen overnight. And fourth, political leaders must recognize that effective programming in these environments requires accepting risks—not only by courageous personnel in dangerous locations, but in the types of programs they create. When staff are more concerned about a project being plucked out of context and publicly pilloried by the media or Congress, they revert to the most bland, anodyne and safest possible projects.  In these circumstances, those aren’t the ones that get results.

(Related: Inviting Arab States To Fight Terrorism is Just Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain)

This White House conference won’t be the only time this spring that violent extremism is discussed; the forthcoming State-USAID Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, or QDDR, will also be important in further refining our approach to this threat. But the reality is that these are unlikely to give those tasked with implementation of our strategy the necessary tools, nor will helpful but limited internal reform efforts like the USAID Forward initiative be sufficiently transformative. Until we devote as much attention, discourse and resources to execution as we do to strategy, then budget constraints, political realities and a sclerotic bureaucracy will ensure that we continue to enter these battles with one hand tied behind our back and the other filling out yet more reports for Washington.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.