Legal Authorities

Legal Authorities

1) 5 U.S.C. 301 - Management of the Department of State

2) 22 U.S.C. 2651a - Organization of the Department of State

3) 22 U.S.C. 3921 - Management of the Foreign Service

4) PUBLIC LAW 108-447 [H.R. 4818] DEC. 08, 2004

108 P.L. 447; 118 Stat. 2809; 2004 Enacted H.R. 4818; 108 Enacted H.R. 4818 I

[*408] Sec.408. There is established within the Department of State the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization: Provided, that the head of the Office shall be the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, who shall report directly to the Secretary of State: Provided further, that the functions of the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization shall include--

(1) Cataloguing and monitoring the non-military resources and capabilities of Executive agencies (as that term is defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code), State and local governments, and entities in the private and non-profit sectors that are available to address crises in countries or regions that are in, or are in transition from, conflict or civil strife;

(2) Monitoring political and economic instability worldwide to anticipate the need for mobilizing United States and international assistance for countries or regions described in paragraph (1);

(3) Assessing crises in countries or regions described in paragraph (1) and determining the appropriate non-military United States, including but not limited to demobilization, policing, human rights monitoring, and public information efforts;

(4) Planning for response efforts under paragraph (3);

(5) Coordinating with relevant Executive agencies the development of interagency contingency plans for such response efforts; and

(6) Coordinating the training of civilian personnel to perform stabilization and reconstruction activities in response to crises in such countries or regions described in paragraph

5) In 2008, Congress authorized the establishment of the Response Readiness Corps (a.k.a. The Civilian Response Corps), [P.L. 110-447, Title XVI, Section 62 (b)] “to provide assistance in support of reconstruction and stabilization operations in countries or regions that are at risk of, in, or are in transition from, conflict or civil strife. The Corps shall be composed of active and standby components consisting of United States Government personnel, including employees of the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, and other agencies who are recruited and trained (and employed in the case of the active component) to provide such assistance when deployed to do so by the Secretary to support the purposes of this Act”.