The Fate of the Civilian Surge in a Changing Environment | Page 21

the DOD’s Quadrennial Defense Review.52 Additionally, since 2014, the NSC has convened an interagency
task force on fragile states, which aims to collect and
compare political analyses and early warning tools
produced by federal agencies to provide better planning tools to senior policy makers.53 Despite its narrow
focus, this task force represents a potentially expandable platform for interagency planning, replacing an
earlier R&S interagency policy committee chaired by
S/CRS until its dissolution in 2011.54
Overseas, since 2012, U.S. embassies have produced annual Integrated Country Strategies (ICS) that
serve as planning tools for chiefs of mission to amalgamate the efforts of all U.S. government agencies
working as part of the bilateral country team, including the DOD’s known local equities.55 Complementing the ICS, USAID’s overseas development offices,
known as missions, produce five-year Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS) organized
into strategic objectives for development and humanitarian assistance activities, including projected
financial resource needs and personnel requirements.
The CDCS serves as a reference document for budget
formulation, personnel allocation, program design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and a
lessons learned effort to inform the next generation of
the strategy. This process amalgamates what defense
doctrine defines as deliberate planning and programming. Taken together, the ICS and CDCS provide opportunities for interagency collaboration at the headquarters level in Washington and in individual host
countries – although the limited capacity and interest
in regional planning among civilian agencies remains
a weakness.

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