ABSTRACT
The State Department, although in favor of long-term developmental Agency for International Development (AID) for precisely the same reasons as Wolpe, must operate in the realm of present diplomacy, and prefers the immediate returns from fungible grants under Security Assistance to nebulous long-term benefits. The Basic Human Needs mandate and related legislation represented attempts by advocates of distributed development to codify their goals. The Development Coordination Committee had been established in 1975 as a focal point for developmental interests. The International Development Cooperation Agency Director and his staff would oversee AID, the Development Coordination Committee and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. An important corollary would be the general flexibility of AID's planners in-country to support locally-initiated small projects and institutions with a minimum of paperwork and central approval. The Reagan administration, understanding the utility of foreign aid in general for strategic and diplomatic purposes, has lobbied for its expansion as an expression of self-interest.
