WASHINGTON, D.C. /eNewsChannels/ — Today, the Civilian Response Corps reached 100 Active component members just 18 months after the Corps’s Congressional authorization in October 2008. Led by the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, the Civilian Response Corps embodies the true ideal of Secretary Clinton’s concept of smart power through a whole-of-government partnership, a cadre of innovative skill sets, and a new expeditionary capacity.
The Corps brings together specially trained civilian federal employees who are equipped to rapidly deploy to fragile states in order to prevent conflict or assist in the stabilization of countries either in or emerging from crisis. The Corps’ innovative partnership leverages a wide range of expertise and experience from eight federal departments and agencies: Department of State; U.S. Agency for International Development; and Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, and Treasury.
Active members of the Corps are new full-time employees whose specific job is to train for, prepare, and staff conflict prevention efforts, stabilization, and reconstruction. Members in the Active component can deploy within 48 hours and are able to focus on critical immediate needs in the field, such as assessment, planning, management, administration, logistics, and resource mobilization.
Additionally, supplementing this full-time expertise, the Corps also has standby component of more than 800 full-time federal employees who can also mobilized, when necessary, to support reconstruction and stabilization operations, expanding the Corps expert pool to over 900 members.
