Time for U.S. Foreign Affairs and the Interagency to Sharpen Its Regional Focus

To sharpen U.S. regional focus in foreign affairs, the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Defense should align their geographic regions of the world while also elevating and empowering the regional bureaus within the Department of State. This would allow the regional bureaus to map out and execute a more persistent and consistent U.S. foreign affairs engagement strategy than is currently possible and add control to the interagency process. Through document research and personnel interviews, this paper reviewed the need for change in the national security system as well as the makeup of the three major U.S. foreign affairs stakeholders. It then looked at three different plans to reform the system and interagency process. These three plans included one put forth by the Project on National Security Reform, one by Dr. James J. Carafano from the Heritage Foundation and one offered by the author of this paper. The conclusions find that a hybrid of the three plans actually provides the best solution for this nation. This solution included the elevation and empowerment of regional bureaus within the Department of State to lead and focus foreign affairs efforts within standardized regions around the world. These bureaus would ensure a whole of government approach when it came to actions required within their boundaries. But this solution also required trained interagency professionals and a standardized architecture for sharing information amongst all stakeholders to ensure its success.