In July 2009, the State Department launched the inaugural Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR). The aims of this ambitious and required effort that should attempt to bring the department into the 21st century include: “unified smart power”, clearly defining roles and missions of State and USAID, and “tangible organizational change leading to excellence in performance.”
An interim report was to be released in April and a the final report was due this month. The April deliverable was apparently sidetracked by conflict with NSC’s Presidential Study Directive on Global Development Policy (PSD-7).
Amazingly, no draft has leaked out and little is known about the QDDR.
Assuming there is still progress, what impact will Jack Lew’s departure have on the QDDR black box?
Yesterday, the Center for a New American Security released several policy recommendations to State on the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review:
Planning Diplomacy and Development: Force Planning Applications for the State Department and USAID by Brian Burton draws lessons from the Pentagon’s experience with force planning to help USAID and the State Department allocate their capabilities more effectively as they execute U.S. foreign policy objectives.
In Eye to the Future: Refocusing State Department Policy Planning, CNAS authors Richard Fontaine and Brian Burton argue that the ongoing QDDR process offers the Department a unique opportunity to improve its capacity to plan medium and long range foreign policy. This policy brief articulates central lessons learned in the decades since the establishment of the Policy Planning Staff and provides recommendations aimed at enhancing effectiveness.
Rebuilding Diplomacy: A Survey of Past Calls for State Department Transformation by Richard Weitz and Eugene Chow surveys past recommendations to overhaul the State Department and summarizes common suggestions for reform.
Anyone have news of the status of the QDDR?
