Of all the utterances George W. Bush made in his 2000 campaign for president none have been subsequently been disregarded quite the way "no more nation-building" has. The Bush administration might tell you 9/11 changed everything, but there is evidence people like Dick Cheney had a plan all along to ...

In less than two years as Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates has at the very least distinguished himself from predecessor Donald Rumsfeld. The Washington Post's Ann Scott Tyson reports that yesterday Gates warned against the "militarization" of U.S. foreign policy. He ...

The Washington Post’s Stephen Barr reports that Jeremiah S. Johnson, a volunteer with the Peace Corps, was told to leave the U.S. Agency of International Development-run service program because he contracted HIV. But Johnson wanted to finish out his job and has contacted the ACLU to see if the Peace ...

No matter what your attitude towards American taxpayer dollars going to fund political parties in foreign countries -- something I think often backfires -- you have to wonder why the U.S. has been putting money into Pakistan's government-established Election Commission.

A panel convened by Congress to examine America's government foreign affairs machinery has called for a complete restructuring and "a super-size international affairs agency" to improve America's foreign policy planning and implementation.  Glenn Kessler writes in the Washington Post that the proposed "super-State," a Cabinet-level agency, would have four sub-Cabinet ...

On the front lines of American foreign policy, culture and communication can be as important as Humvees and RTEs.  In this spirit, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called for more funding for . . . the State Department.  Thom Shanker of the New York Times reports that ...

Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations writes in the New York Times that the State Department and U.S. government agencies dealing with foreign audiences should be revamped to meet the challenges of what he calls "Islamic terrorism."  He calls for "information and development agencies" like USIA and USAID to "be made independent again."   Why?

There is a leadership vacuum at the top of America's most important federal agencies, Philip Shenon reports in the New York Times.  The departments of Justice, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs are now being run by interim heads.  The State Department has no undersecretary for arms control.  USAID has a part-time ...

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has extended the review period for new security regulations that would force NGOs receiving AID grants for international projects to report more detailed information about grantees, staffing, and expenditures.  See Walter Pincus’s follow up article from the Washington Post ...

In a move protested by many non-governmental organizations, the Agency for International Development (USAID) is proposing that its grantees -- U.S. organizations that administer infrastructure, consulting, and training programs overseas using taxpayer funds -- submit detailed information about employees and contractors receiving funds, Walter Pincus reports in the Washington Post.  ...