Statements by Secretary Rice on the FY09 International Affairs Budget

April 15, 2008 – Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee

“…we are requesting, in this year’s 2009 budget from the President, increases to both the Foreign Service and to USAID, 1,100 new Foreign Service Officers, and 300 new USAID officers. And this reflects the fact that the effort to take the peace dividend in the 1990s did not only cut into our military forces, but it, in effect, cut into our civilian capacity as well.”
“There was a period in the 1990s when we were not keeping pace, even close to keeping pace with attrition. And so we have a Foreign Service of – with professional officers of just under 6,500…it is, indeed, a very…small professional force. USAID has dropped from highs in the 1980s of nearly 5,000 officers to 1,100 officers currently. And so we have some significant rebuilding of our civilian professional corps to do.”
“Department of State diplomats are beginning, I think, to realize more and more that our work is not — increasingly not reporting on the politics of another country or spending time with government officials, but it’s being out in the field with people, helping them improve their lives, helping them improve their governance and hopefully creating a network of well-governed democratic states that will not be sources of terrorism and security risk.”

February 13, 2008 – Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

“I’d like to thank you very much for the support of this Committee in significantly increasing foreign assistance during this Administration…I hope that it will continue into the future because we have learned that as important as development assistance is, foreign assistance is because of our moral obligation to help those who are less fortunate. It is also critical to our national security. We have seen what happens when states are failed states, when they are unable to deliver for their people and we have both an obligation and an interest in having well-governed democratic states that can deliver for their people, that can fight poverty, that can defend their borders. And I think foreign assistance is our most valuable tool in doing so.”

February 13, 2008 – Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee

“Mr. Chairman, The FY 2009 International Affairs request proposes an increase of 16% over the FY 2008 base appropriation, and more than 9% over all FY 2008 appropriations enacted to date. I understand that this is a significant increase. But the President and I, as well as the officials in all departments and agencies which administer the foreign affairs account, strongly believe this request is fully justified and critical to the national security interests of the United States.”