WASHINGTON, July 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice formally launched the interagency Civilian Response Corps
in a ceremony held at the Department of State on July 16.
The Civilian Response Corps will consist initially of Active and
Standby components. Both are composed of full-time federal employees that
are trained and equipped to deploy rapidly to countries in crisis or
emerging from conflict, in order to provide reconstruction and
stabilization assistance. They are diplomats, development specialists,
public health officials, law enforcement and corrections officers,
engineers, economists, lawyers, public administrators, agronomists and
others - offering the full range of skills needed to help fragile states
restore stability and the rule of law, and achieve economic recovery and
sustainable growth as quickly as possible.
The primary responsibility of Active members is to be prepared to
deploy within 48-72 hours to points of crisis. Standby members have other
jobs within the federal government, but have volunteered to undertake
additional training and to be available to serve in stabilization missions
in case of need.
The Civilian Response Corps is a partnership of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) and the Departments of Agriculture,
Commerce, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and
Treasury. Senior officials from each of these agencies joined Secretary
Rice at the ceremony.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Secretary Rice was "inducted" as an
Honorary Member of the Civilian Response Corps by the Director of United
States Foreign Assistance and Administrator of USAID, Henrietta Fore, and
the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, Ambassador John
Herbst.
A 2005 Presidential directive empowers the Secretary of State to
coordinate and lead integrated U.S. Government efforts to prepare, plan
for, and conduct stabilization and reconstruction activities, and to
coordinate with the Secretary of Defense to harmonize civilian and military
activities.
This launch was made possible by the decision of Congress to
appropriate up to $75 million for this purpose in the Supplemental
Appropriations Act, 2008 (PL 110-252). For Fiscal Year 2009, the
Administration has requested funding to significantly expand the Active and
Standby components of the Civilian Response Corps (to 250 and 2000 members
respectively) and to create a Reserve component, made up of 2000 volunteers
from the private sector and state and local governments who will bring
additional skills and capabilities to the Corps that do not exist in
sufficient quantities in the federal government.
For more information on the Civilian Response Corps, please contact the
Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at
scrs_info@state.gov or visit http://www.state.gov/s/crs/.
For more information about USAID and its programs visit http://www.usaid.gov.
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International
Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide
for nearly 50 years.
Public Information: 202-712-4810
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