President's FY 2010 Budget Request
for the Civilian Stabilization Initiative

The President’s FY 2010 Budget, released on May 7, 2009, requests $323.3 million for the Civilian Stabilization Initiative (CSI) to build our nation’s civilian capacity for reconstruction and stabilization efforts. A cornerstone of this strategy is the development of the Civilian Response Corps (CRC).

This vital initiative will expand the current CRC and establish a permanent U.S. Government-wide civilian reconstruction and stabilization response capacity. The President’s budget request supports the recruitment, development, training, and equipping of a 4,250-person Civilian Response Corps comprised of:

• 250 Active component members;
• 2000 Standby component members; and
• 2000 Reserve component members.

The CRC will span 8 federal agencies (State, USAID, Justice, Treasury, Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services), and with a Reserve component, will also allow the U.S. Government to tap the expertise in state and local governments, and the private sector.

The need for CSI has been consistently illustrated over the past two decades in a range of reconstruction and stabilization crises, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Sudan, Kosovo, and Somalia. It builds on four years of interagency development, exercises, and pilot efforts to create a robust civilian response capability, and underpins it with new and innovative approaches to integrated civilian-military planning and operations management. CSI also answers Congress’ call for the U.S. Government to build its civilian capacity.

With broad bipartisan support, Congress passed, and the President signed, the Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act of 2008 (Title XVI of Public Law 110-417) in October 2008. This important law charges the Department of State with leading the interagency effort to: (1) significantly improve the ability of the United States to respond to conflict, and (2) create a civilian counterpart to the U.S. military ready and capable of assisting countries in the transition from conflict and instability.

Successfully building civilian response capacity is an essential part of the Administration’s strategy to enhance the tools of smart power and to allow the Department of Defense to focus on its core military mission responsibilities.

For additional information, please refer to the Report to Congress on Implementation of Title XVI of P.L. 110-417, the Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act of 2008 or contact: Terry Heide at Heidet@state.gov.