A U.S. State Department bureau originally founded as a "whole-of-government czar" for reconstruction and stabilization worldwide has evolved to anticipate, prevent and respond to international conflict, a recent State Department press release said.
November marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO). Originally known as the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS), the bureau was created in 2004 when then-Senator Joseph Biden teamed with Senator Richard Lugar to propose the Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act. The legislation mandated the State Department to carry out operations in a “country or region that is at risk of, in, or is in transition from, conflict or civil strife,” the release said.
The bureau was converted to the CSO in 2011 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Since then, the CSO has evolved to underpin the ‘3 Ds’ of Defense, Diplomacy, and Development as the most practical and effective means of addressing issue faced by at-risk countries, the release said.
"Diplomacy is by far the lowest cost yet most essential avenue to address conflict worldwide," Robert J. Faucher, acting assistant secretary for the U.S State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, said in the release. “It is more important than ever that the Department has a specialized team focused on these issues.”
S/CRS provided for a full-time rapid deployment force of diplomats to engage in ‘peacebuilding,’ making significant progress in countries such as Afghanistan and South Sudan, the State Department said. Today, CSO continues its overseas presence through rapid, short-term deployments in troubled areas of the world that include Burkina Faso, Burma, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda.
"This is in addition to longer-term Foreign Service Stabilization Advisors assigned to diplomatic and military posts, including various military combatant commands, Kenya, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates," the State Department said in the release. "New Foreign Service Officer positions are soon to come in Niger, Central Command and embassies in countries chosen to participate in the Global Fragility Act’s Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability."
