Disaster Diplomacy

Finding the Right Mix: Disaster Diplomacy, National Security, and International Cooperation

Disaster relief operations – such as the massive efforts after the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan – have become an increasingly prominent part of America’s diplomatic repertoire, and one in which its military forces are playing an ever more central role. Beyond their obvious humanitarian benefits, moreover, these operations can yield significant strategic value for the United States, as well as for its allies and coalition partners. Among other benefits, they can help eliminate sources of instability that terrorists could exploit. They can also help build or restore cooperative military ties that may prove useful in other mission areas, provide regional powers with the chance to demonstrate new-found military capabilities in a non-provocative manner, and establish goodwill in areas where it had been latent at best. As a result, such operations can be vital tools for winning the “battle for hearts and minds” in the global war on terror.

For these and related reasons, rising interest in disaster relief operations is shared by U.S. allies and other partner states, especially in Europe and the Asia-Pacific area. Therefore, the opportunities are ripe to advance disaster relief as a more potent tool of U.S. foreign policy that could be wielded unilaterally or in concert with like-minded nations. This project, funded by the Smith Richardson Foundation, will address the key organizational and operational challenges that must be surmounted if disaster response is to support U.S. strategic interests, while not unnecessarily diverting military resources from other vital missions.

The Project

The goal of this project is to help those responsible for the overall management of large-scale disaster-relief efforts to achieve a greater unity of effort and a better division of labor among the diverse mix of civilian and military, national and international, and public and private sector entities that must work together as a team to execute such operations. The project draws on a comment made at a 2005 IFPA workshop by Lieutenant General Robert “Rusty” Blackman, USMC, from his experience as commander, Combined Support Force 536, just after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. “Lessons learned,” he asserted, are only “lessons observed” until they are “captured and operationalized” and then fully integrated into policy planning and training for the next natural disaster.

The project team will first conduct an analysis of critical capabilities needed and key operational challenges, followed by an in-depth review of existing and proposed cooperative mechanisms to facilitate disaster relief planning, training, and implementation. The team will then undertake a study of three recent cases of disaster response: U.S. and allied/partner responses to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, and the 2006 Philippine mudslides. For each case study, the team will identify critical lessons observed and/or learned, and assess their implications for ways to improve major relief efforts and maximize their strategic value. An interim report will be produced to disseminate initial findings and recommendations to U.S. and allied decision makers in official policy-making circles and to selected leaders in the broader disaster relief community.

IFPA will then convene a one-day, senior-level workshop/tabletop exercise in Washington, D.C. Participants will include military, civilian, governmental, and non-governmental specialists, including industry representatives. A monograph-length final report with detailed findings and recommendations would then be produced and disseminated, supplemented by one or more focused, policy-oriented briefings for key audiences based on the final report.

For more information, contact Charles Perry, director of studies at IFPA: cperry@ifpa.org