US International Affairs: Maintaining American Leadership

This is a AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSONAFB OH report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A004433. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: In September 1996, the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations jointly convened the Task Force on Resources for International Affairs to examine the scope and nature of US programs in international affairs and strategies to ensure appropriate levels of funding for those programs. The Task Force highlighted the stagnation and decline of funding to international affairs during the last decade and focused attention within the executive, legislative, and private sector communities to the potentiality that important Americans interests would be foregone if international affairs funding continued its current trend in appropriations. This report seeks to build upon the Task Force's initial assessments and further explore the impact of foreign affairs programs upon US national interests. It attempts to assess the organizational alignment of the Executive Branch community of policy makers and implementors and offers recommendations concerning how this community can more effectively function within its legislative and public authorizing environment.