“A bill to reauthorize the Global Fragility Act of 2019, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section designates the Act as the Global Fragility Reauthorization Act and sets forth the table of contents.
This section states the sense of Congress that integrating all development, diplomatic, and defense tools—including all forms of diplomatic engagement and security cooperation—into the Global Fragility Strategy is crucial to achieving U.S. national security interests.
This section states that it is the policy of the United States to stabilize conflict-affected areas and prevent violence and fragility globally to increase U.S. security, stability, and prosperity, including by (1) ensuring coordination among relevant federal departments and agencies for coherent, long-term goals; (2) improving coordination with international, multilateral, and donor organizations; and (3) enhancing the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance programs through improved assessment, monitoring, and evaluation.
This section authorizes the President to select additional priority countries under the Global Fragility Act of 2019 during the one-year period beginning on the date of enactment, in accordance with existing selection criteria, and requires submission of a report to the appropriate congressional committees at least 30 days prior describing those criteria. It further relieves the Department of State of any obligation to continue programming to implement country or regional plans under the act if the Secretary of State certifies to Congress, after interagency consultation, that (1) the country or region no longer meets fragility indicators in subsection (a)(1)(B) (e.g., rankings on global fragility lists or levels of violence); or (2) its government(s) no longer commit to effectively working with the United States on required reforms. (As background, the act directs integrated U.S. diplomatic, assistance, and security efforts in designated priority countries and regions to prevent conflict, reduce violence and fragility, and advance stability.)
This section establishes an annual meeting of senior U.S. government officials, chaired by the Deputy Secretary of State or Deputy National Security Advisor and including the Counselor of the Department of State, specified Under Secretaries of State and Defense, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, the Joint Staff Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy, relevant Assistant Secretaries and Administrators, and equivalent officials from other relevant agencies, to (1) evaluate alignment of the strategic approach and objectives of priority country and regional plans under the Global Fragility Act with current U.S. policy priorities; (2) assess elements of those plans and address deficiencies; (3) determine beneficial updates or amendments to the plans or policy priorities; and (4) consider steps to increase alignment of relevant diplomatic, development, and security assistance activities with plan objectives. (As background, the Global Fragility Act of 2019 requires 10-year interagency plans to integrate U.S. diplomatic, development, and security efforts aimed at preventing conflict, reducing fragility, and promoting stability in priority countries and regions.) This section also makes conforming amendments to reference new subsection 506(a) (from section 506).
This section revises implementation requirements under the Global Fragility Act of 2019 for the Global Fragility Strategy (GFS)—a whole-of-government effort to prevent conflict and fragility in designated priority countries and regions—by (1) adding the CEOs of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Millennium Challenge Corporation to required interagency coordination; (2) directing the Secretary of Defense to fully implement defense and security goals in 10-year plans using appropriated funds; (3) requiring DFC to set investment targets in fragile countries to mobilize private sector investment for conflict prevention and stabilization; (4) designating the State Department Counselor to lead GFS implementation, with regional bureaus delegating conflict prevention experts to assist; (5) requiring discontinuation of GFS in Haiti and Libya, which no longer qualify as priority countries under selection criteria; and (6) requiring continuation of GFS in Coastal West Africa, Mozambique, and Papua New Guinea, while authorizing additions to the priority list after 30 days' congressional notice.
This section amends section 508 of the Global Fragility Act of 2019 (22 U.S.C. 9807) by adding subsections (c) through (e) concerning expansion of the Global Fragility Strategy (i.e., a whole-of-government approach integrating diplomacy, assistance, and security to prevent conflict in fragile states). Specifically, it (1) directs the Secretary of State to study the feasibility of applying strategy principles to other geographic areas, develop a department-wide implementation strategy (including exporting regional collaboration successes), and submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees within 180 days of enactment summarizing these efforts and required staffing and resources; (2) requires the President, in collaboration with relevant agencies, to identify staffing, resources, and reforms needed to remove impediments to conflict prevention (e.g., diplomatic security constraints, professional development gaps, and surge staffing processes); and (3) requires relevant agencies to maintain sufficient staffing levels to implement the strategy, subject to appropriations.
This section reauthorizes annual appropriations of $200 million for the Prevention and Stabilization Fund (PSF)—administered by the Department of State and USAID to stabilize conflict-affected areas, prevent fragility including through the Global Fragility Strategy, and assist areas affected by ISIS or other terrorist groups—through FY2030 (from FY2024) and expands permissible uses of the funds to include (1) administrative expenses related to operating, managing, and monitoring Global Fragility Strategy programs and activities and (2) diplomatic and other operational activities to implement the strategy in countries and regions selected by the President.
This section reauthorizes the Complex Crises Fund—a USAID-administered fund in the Treasury to support programs and activities preventing or responding to emerging or unforeseen overseas events, including through the Global Fragility Strategy—at $30 million annually through FY2030 (from FY2024) and revises the fund's name from "Complex Crisis Fund" to "Complex Crises Fund."
This section authorizes amounts appropriated to the Economic Support Fund (ESF) to be used for monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities in countries and regions selected by the President under the Global Fragility Act of 2019 (GFA), notwithstanding any other provision of law applicable to programs funded by the Prevention and Stabilization Fund or related agency programs implementing the Global Fragility Strategy. It further directs the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Under Secretary for Policy, to (1) appoint a senior official to lead such Department of Defense efforts and (2) provide sufficient staffing and resources in accordance with GFA section 507, as amended.