U.S. President Barack Obama is taking steps to realign military, diplomatic and development operations, as he has pledged to do. His administration plans to refocus three programs from military to civilian control in fiscal 2011.

In his fiscal 2011 budget request for foreign affairs, Obama is asking Congress to fund the training of Iraqi police, counterinsurgency efforts in Pakistan, and crisis stabilization missions through the State Department instead of the Pentagon.

The main push to realign civil military operations, however, is expected in 2012 after the administration completes the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review as well as the presidential study on global development policy.

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the 2011 budget, Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) said the fiscal 2011 proposal “represents the beginning of our efforts to move funds that had migrated elsewhere back to the State Department budget.”

The Complex Crises Fund

In addition to calls for restructuring foreign assistance responsibilities, the Obama administration also has pledged to give agencies more funding flexibility in responding to unforeseen events. A proposed doubling of the Complex Crises Fund addresses both goals.

The requested increase for CCF comes as Section 1207 of the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, which focuses on military-led contingency efforts, is set to expire. That law has been used to allocate Pentagon funds for programs administered by the State Department and other agencies.

“CCF funds will be focused on advancing peace and stability and will replace funding formerly provided through the Department of Defense Section 1207 authority,” the president’s congressional budget justification document for foreign operations said.

Established in the fiscal 2010 omnibus appropriations bill, CCF was funded with $50 million through the U.S. Agency for International Development but would switch to the State Department’s account in 2011. The two agencies currently are discussing how to spend the 2010 CCF money, according to an administration official.

“None of the policies and procedures, including the procurement procedures, governing that fund have yet been established, and most likely will not be until the ²⁰¹¹ appropriation is actually enacted,” the official said.

The creation of the CCF represented a shift in Congress, according to Laura A. Hall, a Council on Foreign Relations international affairs fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a public policy institute focused on international peace and security issues. Hall most recently worked on the development of civilian response capabilities both in the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization and at the National Security Council.

Past efforts to create similar crisis response funds, she said, were unsuccessful because legislators were reluctant to give the State Department or USAID unallocated funds that may be spent without much congressional input. In addition, when faced with the inevitable constraints on the international affairs budget and the choice of cutting tangible programs or unallocated funds, appropriators tended to slash the latter.

But that dynamic may be starting to change, Hall noted, as lawmakers recognize the need for speed and flexibility in addressing emergencies.

“In the last five years, the Congress has seen the difficulties we’ve experienced in responding to crisis situations,” she said. “While there are mechanisms to address these issues, they often involve shifting money around and cutting programs – and often these are programs that members of Congress care strongly about. This new fund will require Congress and the administration to balance the need to be responsive with the need to consult Congress as well as to demonstrate the value of this greater flexibility in getting better, faster results on the ground.”

The Civilian Stabilization Initiative

The president’s budget proposal calls for a $34-million increase in funding for the Civilian Stabilization Initiative, a hiring effort by eight government agencies involved in reconstruction and stabilization efforts.

“While deploying these personnel generates new expenses in some accounts, it will reduce expenses in others by changing the way we do business,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said of CSI at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Feb. 24. “We are ending an over-reliance on contractors and finding opportunities to save money by bringing functions into government and improving oversight.”

While some implementing partners of the State Department and USAID have worried such crisis response teams could “crowd out” their organizations’ role in U.S. government projects overseas, according to Hall, the funding increases for CSI could actually help these organizations perform. Building the capacity of government to plan and oversee programs in the field and to deploy rapidly with flexible funding for new programs, she said, may expedite the procurement processes.

Obama and Clinton have pledged to decrease the government’s reliance on contractors and to provide more flexible funding through programs such as CCF.

Training Iraqi police

The fiscal 2011 budget proposal and fiscal 2010 supplemental, submitted by the White House to Congress along with the 2011 proposal, also request $800 million to facilitate the State Department’s assumption of training Iraqi police in fiscal 2012.

“Our civilian efforts will not and cannot mirror the scale of our military presence, but rather provide assistance consistent with the priorities of the Iraqi government,” Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “As these funds allow civilians to take full responsibility for programs, the Defense budget for Iraq will be decreasing by about $16 billion – a powerful illustration of the return on civilian investment.”

The Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund

The Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund had been shared between Defense and State since its establishment in fiscal 2009. The White House is requesting $1.2 billion for fiscal 2011, an increase of $500 million, for PCCF under the civilian management of the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. PCCF is used to train and equip the Pakistani military, and had been funded through the Pentagon. The Defense Department is likely to continue issuing PCCF contracts even after yielding funding authority for the fund to the State Department.

Programs staying with Defense

Some smart power advocates would like to see the State Department and USAID assume even greater responsibility for programs currently funded through the Defense Department. The $500-million Global Train and Equip program is one example of an aid-related program that will remain under the purview of the Pentagon. Global Train and Equip provides “a wide range of training and equipment to help build the capacity of partner nations supporting global war on terrorism operation,” according to the Defense Department Web site. The State Department has the authority to ratify or reject Pentagon decisions related to the program, but has a limited role in its planning.

Fiscal 2011 starts in October, and Congress is expected to debate annual appropriations for several months. Final budgets often differ significantly from White House proposals.