Hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on the Role of the Department of Defense in Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan and Iraq

Statement

Hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on the Role of the Department of Defense in Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan and Iraq

Statement of Subcommittee Chairman Vic Snyder

"The hearing will come to order.

"Good afternoon, and welcome to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations' first hearing on the role of the Department of Defense in Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Provincial Reconstruction Teams are a mix of military and civilian personnel, representing the three "D's" of stability operations: defense, diplomacy, and development. The PRT mission is to extend the reach of government in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they operate in a dynamic and non-permissive environment. The specific activities of any given PRT will depend on the security conditions on the ground, as well as the maturity of the provincial or local government with which the PRTs work. PRTs perform a variety of functions and may be working to improve security, develop governmental capacity, or assist in reconstruction.

"The United States leads 12 of the 25 PRTs in Afghanistan. As part of the "New Way Forward" for Iraq, the President announced in January that he was increasing the number of PRTs in Iraq from 10 to 20. That number has since been further increased to 25, with the new PRTs being significantly smaller than their predecessors and actually embedding within Brigade Combat Teams as advisors to the commander. The PRTs in Afghanistan and Iraq differ significantly. Within Iraq, there are two different kinds of PRTs. I would be interested in hearing if there are pros and cons to the various models being used.

"We chose this topic for the hearing because PRTs are considered to be so critical to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. PRTs also go to an issue that my colleague, Mr. Akin, and I, as well as several members of the subcommittee, have been interested in: that is, examining in more depth how the interagency process is working, or for that matter, is not working at the point of implementation and operations in the field. As we've seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, the national effort involves more than just military actions, and, instead, requires integrated efforts and the resources of other governmental departments and agencies besides the Department of Defense. Provincial Reconstruction Teams could be a case study of the need for an effective integrated process to achieve government-wide "unity of effort" In complex contingency operations.

"That said, at present, DOD is carrying a heavy load for PRTs. In Afghanistan, military 0-5s (often Air Force Lt Colonels and Navy Commanders) command the PRTs and all but 3-4 persons on a 100 person team are military. In Iraq, the 10 original PRTs are housed on Forward Operating Bases or "FOBs" and rely on the FOB commander and the commander in charge of the battlespace for their security, life support, and whether they can get out to conduct their missions. For the Embedded PRTs, DOD is filling all but a few billets until at least December as the State Department could not fill its billets with either career professionals or contract employees until then. The military also runs a significant portion of PRT training at Ft Bragg. So, this project is well within the jurisdiction of the HASC and this subcommittee.

"In December 2005, the President gave the State Department the lead for managing and coordinating interagency activities in stability and reconstruction operations. The President's report to Congress, earlier this year, on improving interagency operations in support of stability, security, transition and reconstruction operations recognizes that "non-kinetic" activities like "building host nation governance capacity, bridging ethnic divides, improving economic opportunity," and creating effective criminal justice systems are the best tools for shifting public support away from the enemy toward host nation governance. PRTs have that mission in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"In addition to getting a better understanding of the role DOD plays in the PRT program, and how DOD personnel are selected and trained to serve on PRTs, we would also like to better understand how the PRTs are operating, what they hope to accomplish, and how well they are doing including how progress is measured.

"We have a very interesting panel of witnesses this afternoon:

"Deputy Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) Ginger Cruz. Ms. Cruz just returned from Iraq, where SIGIR has conducted an audit examining the effectiveness of the PRT program. This is the third in a series of audits on PRTs that SIGIR has completed. We understand that the results of the audit have not been formally released yet, but we will be interested in hearing about that work and SIGIR's previous reports.

"Ms. Michelle Parker served for a year and a half as a USAID representative on a PRT in Jalalabad, Afghanistan and later became the development advisor to the NATO commander. She is currently at RAND on a fellowship.

"And, Mr. Rick Barton, who is a co-director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project, and has experience in numerous post-conflict reconstruction settings. He co-authored a report earlier this year measuring progress in Afghanistan.

"Welcome to all of you and thank you for being here. After Mr. Akin's opening remarks, I'll turn to each of you for a brief opening statement. Your prepared statements will be made part of the record.

"On an administrative note, we will use our customary five-minute rule today for questioning, proceeding by seniority and arrival time. With that, let me turn it over to our ranking member, Mr. Akin, for any statement he would like to make."

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