The Fate of the Civilian Surge in a Changing Environment | Page 14

years for legislation to pass both houses of Congress in
order to implement and fund the reforms envisioned
in NSPD-44.23
In 2008, the Congress endorsed S/CRS as part of
permanent law; in 2008 and 2009, it appropriated a total of $140 million to establish and partially fund a new
Civilian Response Corps (CRC), to be managed by S/
CRS with personnel detailed from several civilian
agencies.24 As proposed by the Bush administration,
the CRC was to have three components, the first two
of which eventually received funding and authorization. The first was an “active” roster (CRC-A) of up
to 250 newly hired civilian staff with specialized R&S
expertise. The second was a “stand-by” force (CRCS) of up to 2,000 existing U.S. government employees
with relevant skills, who agreed to deploy as needed
for periods of up to three months. The most ambitious
element of the CRC proposal was a larger “reserve”
component (CRC-R), intended as a civilian analogue
to the military reserves. The civilian reserve would be
open to qualified U.S. citizens whose skills, readiness,
and availability matched capability requirements during R&S contingency operations. Despite being requested by both Presidents Bush and Barack Obama,
this component never received funding or authorization due to persistent congressional wariness about
R&S becoming a standing foreign policy priority of
the U.S. government.25
Policy Objectives, Gains, and Gaps
A decade has passed since the issuance of NSPD44. However, President Obama’s successful election
campaign, with his promise to end the war in Iraq,
signaled a shift in national attitudes concerning sta-

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