usaid co-led a recent assessment of expected electoral process needs in the near future. in addition to contingency planning we're taking action under this rapidly evolving conditions. usaid is expanding its geographic scope to include urban areas were recent unrest paralyzed more basic services, and increase the number of vulnerable people. we are continuing summer programs for over 14,000 youth in five governance based on a successful pilot of youth engagement that was it done last year. the agency is providing for example, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to health facilities that are treating the wounded in cities that are facing extended violent protests. yemen is facing immense challenges, at the same time local and global in nature. and it is in support of vital u.s. national interests to continue to provide development assistance to yemen. thank you, and i look forward to your question. >> thanks very much. ambassador sanderson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman casey, ranking member risch, distinguished them as of the committee, let me first joined with my

of the usaid administrator dr. shaw and my boss the director of the assistant administrator for the bureau of democracy conflict and humanitarian assistance nancy l linborg i give you greetings. i bring you human welfare, in his speech he basically argued now in 2011 a quarter century after the founding of usip, and a quarter century after usaid has been involved in the promotion of democratic assistance, many are uncomfortable with the idea of democratic human rights are is being is a integral part of our human development. but dr. shah argued in his speech, quote, we can't rely on the unsustainable stability provided by autoo crats or endorsed by governments instead we will seek real democratic reform as a means to further peace and give people the ultimate voice in their own destiny and development. at the end of his speech he said and i quote again, if we can expand our engagement with citizens, if we can successfully intergrate democracy, rights and governance into our broader development portfolio, and if we

usaid. the next one says power transmission, $86 million, and that is just d.o.d. the next one is a road. that is $23 million, which doesn't sound like surp to me and that is d.o.d. the last one is governmental infrastructure centers. that is $20 million, and that is d.o.d. so who is deciding what d.o.d. builds and what usaid is building? who is making that decision? that cencom command making that decision, the stfs, and on what basis is it being made? >> first of all, for the purpose of the afghan infrastructure fund, and the reason it is funded out of department of defense funds, as my colleague, mr. thier has said, the commander on the ground has made the determination that our success on the battlefield requires both the reality and the prospect for certain economic inputs. the largest of those is electric. kandahar and helmond provinces are the center of gravity for our ongoing campaign. that is where the majority of our forces were put into place. for general mccrystal and then genera

as our other components, i know will work closely with usaid. we have the privilege are reviewing an early draft of johns excellent field guide present here today. i would like to highlight some of the new steps we have taken to enhance our ability to deliver high-quality programming that truly leverage is a wide range of talent, skill, and resources. unl has increased our own in- house technical expertise in the area of police, justice, and corrections. it facilitates integrated programming across the criminal- justice sector, enhances our ability to respond to new and emerging requirements and a timely manner, and improves country into a program designed and monitoring and a violation capability. to augment our in-house team, we have reached out to tap the unique skill sets of active officers as advisers, trainers, and mentors. the u.s. does not maintain a national police service. u.s. law enforcement expertise is spread across the country in various departments. inl has agreements and working relationships with corrections and police departme

>> this is an issue our colleagues in usaid have been concerned with as well. your three missions right now. there is talk of creating a special envoy who will work on some of these issues from the u.n. it hasn't been vandalized but it's one way, have someone who is dealing all of it, but i think right now we're going to have to rely on the leadership in the u.n. on the ground to do this. the peacekeeping operation going into abyei response to point you just me, that is the effectiveness of the u.n. operation to the peacekeeping operation that was in abyei was not effective. if it had been might not have had the crisis we had. so we turned to a country we knew would put in peacekeepers who would carry out the mandate vigorously, and that's the ethiopians. but it took us a long time to work that out. and i think they are going to be there at least months, and maybe longer until we get a resolution. the nation in the south is a big mission. it's going to be there for a while. if we can get darfur, that would be wonderful but that's going to take some time. i can'

the defense department and usaid are primarily responsible for this.blem that we will talk about today is no one is totally responsible. there's no one i can really find that wants to say, i'm responsible. in fact, i will be surprised if i don't hear testimony today from people that say, you know, i'm not really responsible. it is time that somebody is responsible for money that is spent on roads that will not ever be sustained and for buildings and electrical power facilities that are built that no one there even knows how to use much less access the power that supposedly we are going to provide. it is time for someone to step forward and say, i'm responsible. i'm the one planning these projects. i'm the one that's certifying sustainability. the department of defense isn't certifying sustainability. we all know that the funds which originally -- i rep at -- remember at the beginning we talked about serc. it was supposed to be walking around money. it was supposed to be money used by various units that were on the ground in iraq to -- the example i was

usaid says they have suspended mitchell without pay. they have also removed his employee security clearance. usaid provides humanitarian assistance around the world in support of u.s. foreign policy. >>> the woman accused in the death of her co-worker at a yoga store in bethesda will go on trial in october. her name is brittney norwood. she's accused of murdering jana murray inside the lululemon store back in march. today a judge set her trial date for october 24th. police say norwood beat murray to death after murray apparently caught norwood stealing store merchandise. after a court hearing today, norwood's lawyer said he's not ruling out the possibility of addressing his client's mental health. >> a serious case like this, you have to explore every possibility, because you -- you know, as you go along, you discover certain things in the case. and our investigation is still continuing. we're looking into our client's backgrou background. so we're just trying to keep that as an option. >> reporter: for now, norwood's lawyers are still

she has worked for the national endowment for democracy, usaid and gao. as a 2008-2009 international affairs fellow of the united nations, she authored a series of prominent articles on somalia and has provided content. she has traveled frequently to the month regions of somalia -- northern regions of somalia. she is currently a fellow at the one earth future foundation. then we'll hear from dr. martin must have my who is an internationally-recognized expert on piracy and unconventional conflict at sea. he is a visiting fellow at the corbett center for marry time policy -- marry time policy and was a senior fellow at the center for strategic and budget tear assessments between 2008 and 2010. he has authored a number of books, chapters and articles on somali price, international price laws and related topics. and finally, we'll hear from dr. david shin, has been a professor in the elliot school of international affairs at george washington university since 2001. prior to that he served 37 years in the u.s. foreign service and held the following positions,

president of louis berger group, an international consulting company that holds large contract with usaid in afghanistan. he is responsible for providing strategic direction for the firm for the successful completion of its programs. he oversees the development of strategic operating plans for each business unit and oversees the implementation of company- wide initiatives. thank you for being here, mr. walker. mr. hakki is currently the chief executive officer of contract international inc., which holds millions of dollars of contracts in afghanistan. he has been responsible for overseeing operations of the u.s. headquarters office. his responsibilities include oversight of u.s. material procurement, engineering and quality control, shipping logistics' and monitoring of administrative personnel. he has been in the construction business for nearly 30 years. i look forward to both of you coming to that. i'm glad you're both here today and i look forward to your testimony. it is the custom of the committee to swear in all witnesses that come before us. please stand and raise your right hand.

you see again and again, usaid, the state department, having difficulties. it when i started working on yemen, it is a familiar situation to me, although, it is not iraq and afghanistan. it is focused on working with local partners that may or may not work in the areas we are mostly concerned with. it is overly centralized, very focused on process and sort of the factions that in the national capital. i cannot take with the political opposition is. that is the political opposition we need to be worried about. but we do not have a good understanding of the human terrain. and iraq, could almost happen by accident. -- it on this happen by accident. i think most of our human terrain is probably focused on the counter-terrorism mission. it is not about the human terrain that leveraged it. we have a sensitivity, and interest of the people. >> you mention in your testimony and number of times about the everything we should undertake in the countryside. >> yes, sir. >> how the best describe that? i realize we make efforts in another country that are focused on a big

i have to commend usaid and the work that they are doing. yesterday at a hearing we had on this situation, ms. kromer from the usaid talked about the fact they had an early warning system and they had prepositioned food which shows that planning have resulted in less loss of life than would have been had they not been prepositioned. . but we still have a very serious problem. last week i introduced h.res. 361 calling attention to this crisis and we have already over 50 co-sponsors. indeed, congress' taking notice. my colleague, jim mcgovern, jo ann emerson, members of the hunger caucus, along with myself and barbara lee and maxine waters and gwen moore and others have been very vocal on this issue. ms. mccollum also has added her voice from minnesota. the crisis is worsening though. the famine early warning system network believes within the next one or two months the famine will spread throughout all of southern somalia. as the situation has grown more dire, over 600,000 somalis have fled to neighboring countries, some walking hundreds of m

is also closely coordinated effort with usaid and usda. in times of reduced financial resources, efforts must be focused on core competency. there are three core areas that have been identified. innovation through collaborative research, in country capacity, in areas such as regulation, trade and expension, and official market development through information, analysis, and statistics. so the third and important as we deal with food security as the door competency of u.s. departments and agencies as well as other developing countries and international organizations. as we've seen for decades, it's the best for game changing results. research and a climate changing error is working to cop and extent through technologies and methods for agriculture water use efficiency, soul conservation, and basic productivity of land in which seeds are sown. at the same time, innovative genetic research is changing plant breeding by providing us with a better understanding of the genetic bases of high yielding and stress resistance crops. to confront heat a

state, quote, the mission should eventually fall under the jurisdiction of a different agency like usaid or the department of commerce. the task force for business and stability operations in afghanistan and its $115 million budget should not be funded and not authorized in the defense appropriations bill. this function and this money belongs in the state and foreign operations appropriation bill. this task force is another example of the militarization of foreign assistance that diverts the peb from -- pentagon from its core mission. it also dangerously blows a -- blurs the line between military affiliated personnel in a war zone and civilian personnel carrying out development activities. america needs the department of defense to take care of its top priorities, ensuring the national security of our country. we all know that there will be fewer and fewer military personnel in afghanistan in fewer months. troops stationed in afghanistan will be in increasing danger. we must allow those troops to focus on their security mission. if the secretary of defense truly believes business develop

spending has been todefense department and usaid are primarily responsible for this.ponsible. am responsible. in fact, i will be surprised if i do not hear testimony today really responsible. it is time that somebody is responsible for money that is spent on roads that will not ever be sustained and for buildings and electrical power facilities that are built that no one there even knows how to provide. it is time for someone to step forward and say i am planning these projects. i'm the one certifying sustainability. even certifying sustainability, and we all know that the -- i talked about surp. here is what it was a posted a pair it was supposed to be walking-around money, used by iraq. ground in the community and and the window of his store is broken. we need to be the sergeant to say to the storeowner i have the money to fix your window. that is the kind of thing that provides stability, wins the hearts and minds of the community. we have gone from broken store windows to hundreds of millions in construction projects. meanwhile, no one has taken ownership of what

there is a massive development program, usaid putting a lot of money in, i've been told, but they also need foreign investors to come in. for that to happen, to change some of these appalling statistics we have been hearing here, you know, worst maternal mortality rate in the world, 84% of women in this country are illiterate, to turn those statistics around, they need investment and they need security. they need to try to find a way to make peace with their northern neighbor. >> all right, nima, thanks so much from south sudan. the newly independent people of south sudan are celebrating as you can see there. there is very serious diplomatic business surrounding the birth of a new nation. elise labat joins us now from washington. how does the obama administration view the independence of this south sudan. we saw there that susan rice was there, that's an indicator. >> well, susan rice was very involved as was colin powell. the united states has been pushing for the independence of south sudan. they have been very involved in the sudan issue and they help the sudanese get to that refere

the nrc staff went over to japan and did not go over as an nrc team but part of a usaid team there for a humanitarian assistance. there are a number people who have offered their assistance. while the nuclear may have seen many of the headlines, it was not the biggest piece of the u.s. response. in general, but i have seen through my interactions as chairman is that we have worked kolar bradley and cooperatively -- with the white house. >> how do you determine balance between regulatory agency and industry? tryan ideal world, indusr would be self-policing. how do you see it working now and how would you like to? >> in general, the systems work well. the nrc establishes safety requirements. they're responsible for implementing those and ultimately has an immediate day- to-day responsibility for safety. there is also a self-regulatory organization which plays a role in providing an excellence. i think we have many different pieces working on this. of course we have the public. one of the things i continue to be amazed by is the level of engagement we get from members of the public on all

usaid will sponsor a conference in september, not a pledging conference. it presents exactly that. what are their priorities in governance and development and how could the private and public sector help? but at the early stages they have been focused so heavily on becoming independent. they're moving from a liberation army to becoming a government and that transition is entirely complete. they have to engage in a new constitution. they have an interim constitution but they need to develop a constitution that brings more popular participation in to the process. i would say they are at early stages and need a lot of encouragement. >> you mention the question of the army and its own transition. they have a force of 130,000 soldiers but they have incorporated within that range a number of armed groups. my question is i don't think that is sustainable politically and otherwise. what should their priority be for security reform and how can we have an impact or should we have an impact with respect to that? >> one way they deal with these militias is to incorporate them into the army whi

who is the assistant administrator of the year for democracy conflict and humanitarian assistance at usaid. she spent 14 years as president of mercy corps where she focused on international relief in the development during her time with our c-corp. nancy also served as a number of positions among nongovernmental organizations and advisory capacity to government agencies where she worked on issues related to foreign relations and assistance we have full biographies made part of the record because you were accomplished people and we will then hear from dr. reubin currently serving as deputy assistant secretary of state for the bureau population refugees and migration and states and in this capacity supervises the u.s. refugee programs in africa manages the mentor and diplomacy for international partners and the development of the migration policy. previously worked on the human rights watch and has been active in active-duty u.s. naval officer. recently turned from east africa where he worked on the ground with refugees and we will be returning shortly to that area. the ambassador, please pr

usaid is building a major road down to the uganda border and a couple of other roads. we are hoping donors are going to come in more heavily on agriculture, health, and education. we are hoping the world bank will come in heavily, the chinese, and others because exactly right, we're going to do a lot in agriculture. but if there are no roads for people to market their commodities, it won't have the right result. so we're going to look to other donors to do more in the infrastructure area. >> great. thank you very much. thank you for jr. -- for your service. i see senator coontz is here. thank you for your time. >> thank you. i like to thank my colleagues for leadership. and all of the dedicated people who have worked so hard to make south sudan achieve independence. less than a year ago, it looked unlikely independence day would ever come from south sudan, it not only came, it came on time. through a peaceful and free and fair referendum. but all celebrate as the 54th nation. i remain concerned as my colleagues as the path forward and in darfur. that's why senators isa

even usaid says they want to work with the u.n.ese areas controlled by this militant group. they say it's okay, that they'll allow access. but the u.n. wants assurances that aid workers are not kidnapped or killed if they go to these people and give them that assistance. with that instance in southern somal somalia, you would see a slowdown in the flow of refugees here to kenya and you might see a quick end to this crisis. but that's the $6 mill krion question right now. will al shabab let the aid groups into the south. >>> education budgets on the chopping block. are we sacrificing our future or is it a necessary evil in tough economic times? our stream team will tackle that subject right after the break. >>> last week memphis city school superintendent kriner cash was directed to cut $78 million from the current budget. entire budgets for nonmandated programs such as junior rotc, school security staff and early childhood education were cut. the memphis city school's board held an emergency meeting last night. the board claims the

in terms of diseases, because of the ongoing programs that have been conducted by usaid and others, 93 to 95% of somali children we can reach have received polio immunizations. just to show the power of those interventions, we have been able to prevent reoccurrence of that. what we are most concerned about and what we see as children, across the border is malnutrition and disease is related to a lack of sanitation and clean drinking water. respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal and malnutrition -- we are always on alert for the possibility of those kinds of epidemics that are all too frequently common in these situations and thus far, and the camps at least, we've been able to address that. the concern is as conditions continue to deteriorate in those areas that are difficult to reach. >> thank you. >> thank you very much for your questions. in the interest of time, i will do my best to be brief. with regard to the appeal, we do not yet know exactly what the size of that shortfall is going to be. the high commissioner for refugees has publicly said that there is a shortfall for the ent

usaid resourced three embedded prts and resourced our prt, our prudential prt. and i believe that the wise outreach to the shakes in -- shs in the tribe, and the outreach to the stabilization and governance project, where the governance had been completely shattered as a result of the al qaeda and the efforts, that comprehensive effort paid off in the end. it built up governance which had the capacity to stand up on it's own two feet and extend the writ of the prudential government out into the districts and down to the municipalities and even to the tribes. it incorporated the tribes into the solution, rather than have the tribes be on the outside of governance and part of the problem. it ultimately built the capacity for the people of that providence, the people along the river, to ply their trade to engage in economic development and that in conjunction with the persistence governance all overwatched by u.s. forces, but eventually over watched by iraqi security forces provided the trade space necessary ultimately for the persistence of government and the mess

usaid resourced three embedded prts and resourced our prt, our prudential prt. d i believe that the wise outreach to the shakes in -- shs in the tribe, and the outreach to the stabilization and governance project, where the governance had been completely shattered as a result of the al qaeda and the efforts, that comprehensive effort paid off in the end. it built up governance which had the capacity to stand up on it's own two feet and extend the writ of the prudential government out into the districts and down to the municipalities and even to the tribes. it incorporated the tribes into the solution, rather than have the tribes be on the outside of governance and part of the problem. it ultimately built the capacity for the people of that providence, the people along the river, to ply their trade to engage in economic development and that in conjunction with the persistence governance all overwatched by u.s. forces, but eventually over watched by iraqi security forces provided the trade space necessary ultimately for the persistence of government and the mes th

staff who went over to japan, did not go over as a team but went over as a usaid team and there is a tremendous number of people throughout the government who have offered their assistance. while the event seen many of the headlines, it wasn't the biggest piece of the u.s. response. in general, what i have seen through my interactions as chairman is we have worked very cooperatively and with the white house, with other federal agencies, but there has been a very strong respect for the independent role of the n.r.c. in ultimately making nuclear safety decisions. >> how do you determine the prompt balance between the regulatory agency and the industry itself? if we lived in an ideal world, the industry would be self-policing, but maybe long-term experience across the landscape of the business world suggests it isn't a dependable model. how do you see it working right now and how would you like to see it? >> the system works pretty well. the n.r.c. has the responsibility to establish safety requirements. we have an industry that has been responsible for implementing those and has the im

in fact, the nrc staff went over to japan, did not go over as part of the usaid team that was there for humanitarian ecosystem. in fact there was a tremendous amount needed to have offered assistance that can help assist japanese people. while they may have seen the headlines come it wasn't necessarily the u.s. bombs. in general, but i do my interaction as chairman is we have worked very collaboratively and cooperatively with the white house and other agencies, but there has been a very strong respect for the independent road the nrc in the nutley making the safety decisions. >> someone is asking, how do you determine the appropriate balance between the regulatory team industries of? a supposedly lived an ideal world, the industry would be releasing aggressively, the launcher makes. in the business world doesn't suggest the depend adult model. have you see working right now and how would you like to hear? >> well, i think in general the system works pretty well. we have the nrc, which has a responsibility to safety requirements. we have an industry which has been ultimately upon for imp

united states has provided over $450 million in humanitarian aid through the horn of africa through usaid's office of foreign disaster assistance and the food for peace program. along with refugee assistance from the state department's bureau of population refugees and migration. but much more needs to be done. the next three to six months will be critical. the drought is expected to worsen, at least to the end of the year, and then we will wait to see what happens during the next cycle of rains. will communities be able to recover? will small farmers be able to plant new crops? or will heavy rains produce floods that drive communities deeper into poverty? my colleagues need to understand, however, that the current crisis, terrible as it is, could have been much worse. there is good news amongst so much tragedy. the last time a drought of this magnitude hit ethiopia, over 14 million people faced starvation. this time about 4.5 meteorologist ethiopians are in need of emergency aid. the difference? since 2005 the united states and other donors have made significant investments in ethiopia's p