Todd Harvey from the Defense Department’s Office of Stability Operations and Chris Hoh
from State’s new Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and
Stabilization discuss Directive 3000.05: “Military Support for
Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction Operations” and
National Security Presidential Directive 44. In late November 05, the
Department of Defense issued the groundbreaking directive that places
stability operations tasks –like support for civil society– on par
with combat as a mission for the armed services. The following month,
President Bush put forward a directive designating the Secretary of
State as the lead on post conflict reconstruction. Today’s
missions often entail a heavily interdependent military-civilian
effort. A key goal for our agencies is to improve planning and
coordination in these efforts within the federal government, but also
with international partners, NGOs and private sector organizations.
Previously, these activities had no “home,” in the Executive Branch.
The combination of these two directives sets out to fundamentally fill
this gap.
