Rep. Vic Snyder | Strategic Agility for 21st Century Challenges

Strategic Agility for 21st Century Challenges
Interagency Lessons from Provincial Reconstruction Teams

Address by Representative Vic Snyder
Chairman, House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

A six term congressman from Arkansas’s second district and Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Dr. Vic Snyder is a leading voice on Capitol Hill on the need to improve the U.S. government’s ability to shape and respond to national security challenges through better integrated defense, diplomacy, and development assistance programs.  His subcommittee recently focused on ongoing stabilization and reconstruction efforts and future capability requirements.  He hosted a dozen hearings in the past year on these issues, including the effectiveness of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Defense Department’s enhanced focus on stability operations, as well as the State Department’s push to fill the void in deployable civilian personnel by establishing a civilian response capability.  In April, his subcommittee released a report, using PRTs as a case study on interagency planning and operations, that found PRTs are performing admirably in very challenging and often dangerous conditions with less than ideal training, guidance, oversight, and support.   The lack of clear direction, interagency cooperation, and uncoordinated resourcing not only impacts the effectiveness of today’s PRTs, but also offers valuable lessons for the planners of interagency operations in the future.

In addition to guests from various parts of government and the policy community, the event seeks to bring together a number of alumni of PRT deployments.

Moderated by Frederick Barton, CSIS senior adviser and codirector, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project.

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