“The hearing will come to order.

   “Good morning, and welcome to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations’ hearing on the implications for Interagency Reform derived from the specific example of the establishment and operation of Provincial Reconstruction Teams. 

   “There has been wide-ranging discussion in Washington about interagency weaknesses in collaborating on essential national security tasks.  We have examined the experience of Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan in past hearings and heard about their “tactical” successes and shortcomings.  In areas where they have fallen short these drawbacks can be traced back to weakness in the interagency process at the operational and strategic levels.  

   “As we have broadened our inquiry to the larger Security, Stabilization, Transition and Reconstruction operational capacity development context these weaknesses have become more evident.  Yet, it has also become even clearer to us that the shortcomings in current interagency collaboration identified by the PRT experience need to be confronted in an enduring and institutionalized way if we are to realize any long-term and lasting success in this critical area. 

   “Our goal here is not just to examine why things have not worked as well as they could in the past but to look at some specific ideas as to how things could be improved.

   “Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. concept and approach to global security have changed fundamentally.  Weak and failing states, long neglected, have become a priority focus as real or potential terrorist safe-havens.  There is a much greater appreciation that threats to U.S. interests can emanate from within states with which the United States is not at war.  There is now a strategic imperative to devise multi-decade, integrated approaches that are preventative in nature.

   “We hope our witnesses today will be able to provide us with some depth and initial conclusions on this topic.

   “We are joined today by:

• Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Diplomat in residence at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University and a former Foreign Service officer with over 30 years of experience concentrated in the Arabian Peninsula and greater Persian Gulf, including as Ambassador to Yemen.

• Ambassador Carlos Pascual, Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institution and the first Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the State Department.

• Ms. Michele Flournoy, President, Center for a New American Security, formerly of CSIS (Beyond Goldwater-Nichols project lead) and before that Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy.

• Ms. Nora Bensahel, Senior Political Scientist, The RAND Corporation and author of numerous studies on post-conflict reconstruction and the related policy challenges.

   “Welcome to all of you and thank you for being here.  After Mr. Akin’s opening remarks, I’ll turn to each of you for a brief opening statement.  Your prepared statements will be made part of the record.   

   “On an administrative note, I’ll remind our members that we will use our customary five-minute rule today for questioning, proceeding by seniority and arrival time. 

   “With that, let me turn it over to our ranking member, Mr. Akin, for any statement he would like to make.”