Overseas Presence: Observations on a Rightsizing Framework

I am pleased to be here today to discuss our ongoing work on rightsizing the U.S. overseas presence. For our purposes, we define rightsizing as aligning the number and location of staff assigned to U.S. embassies1 with foreign policy priorities and security and other constraints. To follow up on our November 2001 report on the executive branch s efforts in this area,2 you asked us to determine what rightsizing actions may be feasible to reduce costs and security vulnerabilities while retaining effectiveness in meeting foreign policy objectives. We reviewed reports, including those of the Accountability Review Boards,3 the Overseas Presence Advisory Panel (OPAP),4 and a State Department-led interagency rightsizing committee,5 and we discussed overseas staffing issues with officials from the State Department, other U.S. agencies operating overseas, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is currently implementing the president s management initiative to rightsize U.S. embassies. We also performed fieldwork at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. We selected this embassy as a case study because it is a large embassy that has been the subject of substantial rightsizing discussions, including recommendations by the former ambassador to France to reduce the number of staff in.

Following the 1998 terrorist bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that resulted in more than 220 deaths and 4,000 injuries, there have been recurring calls to evaluate and realign-or rightsize-the number and location of staff at U.S. embassies and consulates and to consider staff reductions where practical to reduce security vulnerabilities. The administration showed its support for rightsizing in the President's Management Agenda by directing all agencies operating overseas to rightsize their presence. The Office of Management and Budget (0MB) is implementing this rightsizing initiative by analyzing the U.S. overseas presence and reviewing the staffing allocation process. Given the high costs of maintaining more than (30,000 Mexicans and foreign nationals overseas and the events of September 11, 2001, that highlighted the security vulnerability of Americans worldwide, the administration's rightsizing initiative aims to reconfigure U.S. government overseas staff to the minimum number necessary to meet U.S. foreign policy goals. In May 2002, we presented testimony on a framework for determining the appropriate number of staff to be assigned to a U.S. embassies. As you requested, this report presents the framework discussed in our testimony that outlines the key criteria for evaluating the U.S. overseas presence, along with examples of key questions that may be useful in making the right decisions.

Rightsizing is the aligning of the number and location of staff assigned to U.S. embassies with foreign policy priorities, security, and other constraints. Report discusses GAO's ongoing work on rightsizing the U.S. overseas presence.