[Senate Hearing 108-725]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 108-725
ASSESSING THE SAFETY AND SECURITY
OF PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 22, 2004
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana, Chairman
CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware
LINCOLN D. CHAFEE, Rhode Island PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland
GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio BARBARA BOXER, California
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee BILL NELSON, Florida
NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West
JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire Virginia
JON S. CORZINE, New Jersey
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Staff Director
Antony J. Blinken, Democratic Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Ford, Jess, Director, International Affairs and Trade, U.S.
General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C..................... 36
Prepared statement........................................... 38
Maloy, Gladys, Former Peace Corps Romania Volunteer, Washington,
D.C............................................................ 66
Prepared statement........................................... 67
Quigley, Kevin F.F., President, The National Peace Corps
Association, Washington, D.C................................... 46
Prepared statement........................................... 48
Threlkeld, Cynthia, Country Director (Guatemala), Peace Corps,
Washington, D.C................................................ 59
Prepared statement........................................... 61
Vasquez, Gaddi, Director, Peace Corps, Washington, D.C........... 2
Prepared statement........................................... 5
(iii)
ASSESSING THE SAFETY AND SECURITY
OF PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS
----------
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
United States Senate,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
Washington, D.C.
The committee met at 9:34 a.m., in room SD-419, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Norm Coleman, presiding.
Present: Senators Coleman, Voinovich, and Dodd.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. NORM COLEMAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA
Senator Coleman. This hearing of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee will come to order.
Today's hearing will examine the safety of Americans
serving overseas as Peace Corps volunteers.
Let me state from the outset I believe the Peace Corps is
American diplomacy at its best. In a world where America is too
often misunderstood, the Peace Corps represents an opportunity
to show the compassionate nature of this country and its
citizens. Now, more than ever, we need the Peace Corps to
continue fostering international goodwill at the grassroots
level.
That is why I am proud to support the President's
initiative to double the size of the Peace Corps and will
continue to press for adequate funding to do so.
Unfortunately, we have seen again in recent weeks the
desire of some people to harm Americans. The world is a vastly
different place than it was in 1961 when President Kennedy
founded the Peace Corps. Americans abroad face different
security risks today than they did 43 years ago.
Director Vasquez has told the committee that the safety and
security of Peace Corps volunteers is his number one priority,
and I applaud that focus. Under his leadership, the Peace Corps
has established an Office of Safety and Security, including
field-based safety and security officers and a compliance
officer to ensure adherence to safety measures.
This hearing is designed to examine the effectiveness of
recent initiatives to improve volunteer safety and to consider
proposals to further protect Peace Corps volunteers. In
particular, I have asked witnesses to discuss the frequency of
site visits by country directors, oversight of volunteer living
quarters, and the availability of self-defense and other safety
training. I am interested to know if there are better ways to
employ technology such as cell phones and satellite phones to
keep volunteers safe and deal with incidents once they occur. I
also want to hear about the specific threats which single
female volunteers face.
I would like to emphasize the active involvement of my
colleagues from Ohio, Senator Voinovich and Senator DeWine, on
the issue of Peace Corps volunteer safety and security. Both
Senators have been diligently working on this issue, and I
would note that Senator DeWine has introduced legislation to
this end. I deeply appreciate the interest of my colleagues in
the Peace Corps, and I do anticipate that Senator Voinovich
will be able to be with us later this morning.
The committee will hear this morning from five outstanding
witnesses. We will begin with the Peace Corps Director, Gaddi
Vasquez. Director Vasquez brings a public service background to
his position as Director, and his law enforcement experience
informs his work on volunteer safety issues.
Director Vasquez will be followed by Jess Ford, Director of
International Affairs and Trade at the General Accounting
Office, who will provide us with an update of GAO's
investigation of volunteer safety.
We will have three witnesses on our third panel.
First will be Kevin Quigley, President of the National
Peace Corps Association and a former volunteer in Thailand in
the 1970s. Mr. Quigley's organization represents some 30,000
returned Peace Corps volunteers.
Second we will hear from Cynthia Threlkeld, a Peace Corps
country director serving in Guatemala, who can discuss the
current state of volunteer safety and the role of the country
director. Ms. Threlkeld, I might add, is a graduate of St.
Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota and is a former
director of the Minnesota International Center. We in Minnesota
are very proud of Ms. Threlkeld and the thousands of other
Peace Corps volunteers who have come out of our State.
Third we will hear from Gladys Maloy, a former Peace Corps
volunteer who served just a few years ago in Romania. I am
particularly glad to have Ms. Maloy here because she is an
example of a volunteer who brought more years of experience to
the field than the typical college graduate. Ms. Maloy is
living proof of the benefits of diversifying the Peace Corps
volunteer base to better reflect the face of America.
And now we will turn to Director Vasquez for his opening
statement.
STATEMENT OF GADDI VASQUEZ, DIRECTOR, PEACE CORPS, WASHINGTON,
D.C.
Mr. Vasquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I request that my
full written statement be entered into the record.
Senator Coleman. Without objection.
Mr. Vasquez. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I
am pleased to appear before your committee today, and I
appreciate the opportunity to present an overview of the
current state of the Peace Corps and the many accomplishments
that we as an agency have achieved since my arrival in February
of 2002. Mr. Chairman, I also appreciate the ongoing support
that you and this committee have shown for the Peace Corps.
While I understand the purpose of today's hearing is to
discuss the safety and security framework that has been
designed to protect Peace Corps volunteers, let me begin with
some general comments about the Peace Corps and our goals.
More than 171,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps
volunteers since 1961. These volunteers have helped dispel
misconceptions about Americans, assisted in fostering positive
relationships with host country nationals, promoted sustainable
development, and returned back home with messages about life
overseas, the people they have served, and the cultures they
have experienced. The core values of the Peace Corps and the
grassroots work that President John F. Kennedy envisioned when
he established the Peace Corps remains relevant, vital, and
strong.
It has been an exciting time at the agency as we continue
to carry out President Bush's call to public service and his
goal to increase the number of Peace Corps volunteers serving
in the field. However, since the amounts provided in the
appropriations process for the past 2 years have fallen
significantly short of those needed to double or to meet the
goal of doubling the number of volunteers, the Peace Corps is
now pursuing the strongest growth possible within the
constraints of our resources while preserving the quality of
the Peace Corps volunteer experience and focusing on safety and
security.
I am happy to report that in September of 2003, the Peace
Corps achieved a 28-year high with 7,533 volunteers working in
the areas of agriculture, business development, education, the
environment, health and HIV/AIDS, and youth development.
I will now move to the important issue of volunteer safety.
I will start by reaffirming that safety and security of each
volunteer is the agency's top priority. While the Peace Corps
will never be able to issue an absolute guarantee of volunteer
safety, we remain committed to developing optimum conditions
for a safe and fulfilling experience for every Peace Corps
volunteer.
Safety and security issues are fully integrated into all
aspects of volunteer recruitment, training, and service with an
emphasis on volunteers taking personal responsibility at all
times and integrating into communities. Information provided
throughout the recruitment and application process all include
the key messages that being a volunteer involves risk, that
volunteers can and are expected to adopt safe lifestyles, and
that the Peace Corps has an effective safety support system in
place.
Since taking office in February 2002, I have always been
mindful of the new security environment that September 11th
placed on overseas organizations like the Peace Corps.
Based on my personal experience as a former public safety
official and aided by suggestions of others in the agency and
recommendations from the GAO, the Peace Corps has taken the
initiative to create and implement a number of safety
enhancements. In 2002, I approved a reorganization that created
a new Office of Safety and Security and increased by 80 the
number of personnel dedicated to full-time safety and security,
of which 95 percent of those 80 additional staff are deployed
in the field.
The staff includes a new Associate Director of Safety and
Security, a Chief Compliance Officer, a research psychologist,
nine regionally based safety and security officers, and 71
safety and security coordinators at each Peace Corps post.
It is also vital that volunteers know how to handle
emergency situations, whether it is one volunteer in an
accident or all volunteers in one country who need to be
evacuated. As you may know, we recently suspended our program
in Haiti due to the civil unrest. This has been the sixth
successful evacuation during my tenure as Director. Whether it
is civil unrest or natural disaster or the outbreak of SARS,
the Peace Corps is diligent in monitoring the safety and
security at each post and will not hesitate to take action
should the need arise to move our volunteers out of harm's way.
The Peace Corps makes use of all available and appropriate
technology to communicate with volunteers. As technology
evolves, so does the volunteer use of technology. In some
countries where cell phones are readily available, reliable,
and widely used, almost all Peace Corps volunteers will have
one. However, regardless of the availability of cell phones,
the Peace Corps always has alternative methods of communication
in place, and volunteers are required to provide at least three
modes of communication on their locator forms.
The most effective tool for gauging success is to ask the
volunteers. Every 2 years, the Peace Corps conducts a global
survey to measure the level of volunteer satisfaction with
programming, safety, medical, and other key indicators. In the
most recent volunteer survey, which had a 68 percent response
rate, 97 percent of the respondents replied that they felt very
safe to adequately safe where they live; 99 percent of the
respondents felt very safe to adequately safe where they work;
89 percent of the respondents overwhelmingly responded in the
affirmative when asked if they would make the same decision to
join the Peace Corps.
Mr. Chairman, as you may know, the Peace Corps is a unique
Federal agency in that most employees are limited to serving
the agency for 5 years. Recently Congress gave the Peace Corps
authority to exempt certain positions associated with safety
and security from the 5-year rule. I have designated our first
group of 23 exempt positions, of which 19 are in our newly
reorganized Office of Safety and Security.
Last month the Peace Corps contracted with outside experts
to perform an objective and independent analysis of the Peace
Corps workforce, including the Office of Inspector General. At
the conclusion of the consultant's review, I will make further
decisions about any other appropriate exemptions for personnel
related to safety and security.
Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, our agency has accomplished a
great deal over the past 26 months in both safety and security
and growth of our programs. I am grateful to you and members of
the committee for your continued support of the Peace Corps
mission. I believe that the Peace Corps is well positioned to
safely achieve expansion without compromising the quality of
the volunteer experience, and we can build upon the successes
of the past 43 years.
Mr. Chairman, I am now prepared to answer any questions
that you or members of the committee may have. I thank you for
this opportunity.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Vasquez follows:]
Prepared Statement of Gaddi H. Vasquez
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to appear before your Committee today. I appreciate
the opportunity to present an overview of the current state of the
Peace Corps and the many accomplishments, which we, as an agency, have
achieved since my arrival in February 2002. Mr. Chairman, I also want
to thank you for the on-going support that you and many Members of this
Committee have shown for the Peace Corps, and I would be remiss if I
did not take a moment to encourage Members of the Committee to visit
Peace Corps Volunteers should you travel to any of the 71 countries in
which we operate. Seeing the Volunteers firsthand can give you a
heightened appreciation for the remarkable service our American men and
women perform overseas. Whether teaching schoolchildren in the
Dominican Republic how to use the Internet, or assisting a community in
Namibia to build a solar-powered oven, seeing the Volunteers in action
makes you proud of these Americans who are serving their country in
nations around the world. If you are traveling to a country in which
the Peace Corps has a program, please let us know and we will make
every effort to connect you with a Volunteer. After meeting them, I
know you will share in our enthusiasm to ensure the Peace Corps
continues as a world-class organization, promoting world peace and
friendship abroad.
While I understand the purpose of today's hearing is to discuss the
safety and security framework that has been designed to protect Peace
Corps Volunteers, let me begin with some general comments about the
Peace Corps and our goals. In March, we celebrated the Peace Corps'
43rd anniversary. We have learned valuable lessons during the last four
decades. More than 171,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps
Volunteers. The Volunteers have helped dispel misconceptions about
Americans, assisted in fostering positive relationships with host
country nationals, promoted sustainable development, and returned back
home with messages about life overseas, the people they have served,
and the cultures they have experienced. The core values of the Peace
Corps and the grassroots work that President John F. Kennedy envisioned
when he signed the Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps on
March 1, 1961, remain relevant, vital, and strong.
These are the Peace Corps goals that we continue to promote:
to help the people of interested countries and areas in
meeting their need for trained men and women;
to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the
part of the peoples served; and
to bring that information back home to help promote a better
understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
This past year has brought many accomplishments. It has been an
exciting time at the agency as we continue to carry out President
Bush's call to public service and his goal to increase the number of
Peace Corps Volunteers serving in the field. Mr. Chairman, the Peace
Corps is pleased to be on a pathway for growth. However, since the
amounts provided in the appropriations process for the past two years
have fallen significantly short of that needed to meet the goal of
doubling the number of Volunteers, we are pursuing the strongest growth
possible within the constraints of our resources. However, I am happy
to report that in September 2003, the Peace Corps achieved a 28-year
high with 7,533 Volunteers working in 71 countries in the areas of
agriculture, business development, education, the environment, health
and HIV/AIDS education and prevention, and youth development.
By knowing local cultures and communicating in local languages, the
Peace Corps continues to be actively engaged in activities addressing
HIV/AIDS, at the grassroots level, providing over two million service
hours a year. Fighting the ravages of this disease is paramount to the
survival of people across the globe, and important to this agency. All
Volunteers who serve in our 26 African nations--regardless of their
program sector--are trained to provide HIV/AIDS prevention and
education. In fiscal year 2003, for example, we re-entered the
countries of Botswana and Swaziland exclusively to address the HIV/AIDS
epidemic. We are also collaborating with the Office of the Global AIDS
Coordinator to continue our work in this arena and seeking to assist in
meeting the President's challenge to provide treatment to 2 million
HIV-infected people; prevent 7 million new infections; and, offer care
to 10 million people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, including
orphans and vulnerable children. The Peace Corps is projected to
receive $1.13 million from the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative for work in 6
of the 14 focus countries in the President's Emergency Plan. We
continue to be involved in the efforts of the other nine focus
countries, as well.
Additionally, Peace Corps Volunteers remain committed to serving in
countries with predominantly Muslim populations. This has been true
since the Peace Corps' inception in 1961. Currently, almost 20 percent
of our Volunteers are serving in nations with predominantly Muslim
populations in West and North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and
Central Asia. Three out of four of our new country entries in 2003 were
in predominately Muslim countries--Albania, Azerbaijan, and Chad--
bringing our total program involvement in Muslim nations from 14
nations in 2002 to 17 in 2004. The Peace Corps' mission in these
regions matches our efforts worldwide and continues to be important.
Host communities are exposed to positive and personal images of
Americans, and returning Volunteers share their new understanding of
these different cultures with friends and family in the United States.
In May, I visited Azerbaijan--one of our newest country entries.
Azerbaijan has a Muslim population of over 90 percent. It was truly
heartwarming to see after four short months the rapport of the
Volunteers among the elementary school children and the eagerness of
these young students to learn English. The President of Azerbaijan,
Ilham Aliyev, also expressed his profound appreciation for the Peace
Corps Volunteers and mentioned his desire to see Peace Corps programs
in Azerbaijan expand in the future beyond English education.
New Initiatives and Accomplishments
Last fall, we launched a new national recruiting campaign to
attract new Volunteers and increase diversity. The campaign theme--
``Life is calling. How far will you go?''--was designed to touch the
hearts, enlighten the minds, and inspire the spirits of the next wave
of Peace Corps Volunteers. It included new recruiting materials, a re-
designed website, updated recruitment videos, and new public service
announcements. The response has been tremendous. Over the past year,
Volunteer applications have increased by nearly 12 percent and, since
the launch of the re-designed website, online inquiries are up 44
percent. Applications now completed on-line have jumped to 81 percent
of all applications submitted; this is an increase from 42 percent in
2001. Applications from Latinos, African-Americans, Native Americans,
and Asian-Americans are also up by 10 percent. The bottom line is that
Americans want to serve and there are developing countries that want
and need not only the skills of our citizens, but also want to build
relationships that help further world peace and friendship.
In February of 2004, the Peace Corps and the American Association
of Community Colleges unveiled a new, groundbreaking recruitment
initiative that will increase awareness of opportunities for specially
trained Americans to share their skills internationally. It will allow
those with the experience and occupational and technical skills--such
as licensed nurses and trained information technology experts--to
respond to the critical needs of countries where Peace Corps Volunteers
serve. The rollout was launched in four different regions of the United
States--Washington D.C., Colorado, California, and Minnesota--and has
been met with an overwhelming positive response. In fact, many
community colleges nationwide are expanding their international
programs and view Peace Corps service as an opportunity to enhance
their graduates' professional careers.
On November 12, 2003, I signed an historic agreement that will lead
to Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Mexico for the first time. This
innovative partnership will allow Volunteers to join along side the
National Council on Science and Technology (CONACYT) of Mexico and work
in the areas of information technology, small business development, and
science and technology. The Peace Corps country director has been
selected and the first group of Volunteers will arrive in Mexico this
fall.
Travel to Peace Corps Countries
Over the past year, I have also had the privilege to travel to 17
different Peace Corps countries from Central and South America, to
Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Pacific. During each
visit, I met with Volunteers, host government officials, and
representatives of our U.S. missions abroad. The support and enthusiasm
I have received from each of these groups remains very high. In Fiji,
for example, I was approached by a man in his mid-thirties, asking if I
was the Peace Corps Director. The man stated that he had recognized me
from the news the night before and was very excited that Peace Corps
had returned to Fiji. He went on to explain that as a young boy he was
taught by Peace Corps Volunteers and has never forgotten them. This
type of story is repeated to me over and over throughout my travels.
The Peace Corps continues to leave a lasting legacy across the globe,
which I experience each time I travel abroad.
While the world today is very different from 1961 when Peace Corps
began, and even more so since September 11th--the American spirit of
sharing with others remains a fundamental part of our democratic
society.
Just two weeks ago, I returned from Peru where President Toledo
thanked the Peace Corps again for returning to his country. In
expressing his deep appreciation for the Volunteers, President Toledo
said, ``I can't be objective about the Peace Corps because the Peace
Corps changed my life when I was just a young man.'' President Toledo,
a strong advocate of the Peace Corps, first encountered Volunteers as a
youth. They lived with his family, taught him English and later helped
him gain admission to a college in the United States. After being
elected president in 2001, he invited the Peace Corps to return to Peru
after a 27-year absence. A third group of 13 Volunteers was sworn-in at
the Presidential Palace during my visit.
Volunteer Safety and Security: Our Overarching Priority
I will now move to the important issue of Volunteer safety. I will
start by reaffirming that the safety and security of each Volunteer is
the agency's top priority. All 16 Peace Corps directors, beginning with
Sargent Shriver, the agency's first director, have placed a high
priority on Volunteer safety and security. While the Peace Corps will
never be able to issue an absolute guarantee, we remain committed to
developing optimum conditions for a safe and fulfilling experience for
every Peace Corps Volunteer.
Safety and security issues are fully integrated in all aspects of
Volunteer recruitment, training, and service, with an emphasis on
Volunteers taking personal responsibility for their safety at all times
and assimilating into communities. Information provided throughout the
recruitment and application process--to recruiters, on the recruitment
website, in printed application materials, informational booklets and
educational videos, during the two days of staging, and the 10 to 12
weeks of in-country pre-service training--all includes the key messages
that being a Volunteer involves risk, that Volunteers can and are
expected to adopt safe lifestyles, and that the Peace Corps has an
effective safety support system in place.
Since taking office in February 2002, I have made the safety and
security of Volunteers my number one priority, and I am always mindful
of the new security environment that September 11th placed on overseas
organizations like the Peace Corps.
Based on my personal experience as a former public safety official,
and aided by suggestions of others in the agency, the recommendations
and findings from the General Accounting Office's July 2002 report on
Volunteer safety, and Volunteers in the field, the Peace Corps has
taken the initiative to create and implement a number of safety
enhancements. In 2002, I approved a reorganization that created a new
Office of Safety and Security and increased by 80 people the number of
full-time safety and security staff, 95 percent of whom are deployed
overseas.
This staff, which includes a new associate director of safety and
security, a chief compliance officer, a research psychologist, nine
regionally-based safety and security officers, and a safety and
security desk officer for each Peace Corps region, was restructured to
better communicate, supervise, monitor and help set safety and security
policy. In addition, all 71 Peace Corps posts have established a safety
and security coordinator in country to oversee Volunteer safety issues
in the field.
Other new initiatives in safety and security include:
The creation of new standard operating procedures and a new
standard template for posts in developing their Emergency
Action Plans;
The implementation and compliance of new procedures for
Volunteer/Trainee Safety and Security (Manual Section 270) to
measure and monitor posts' compliance with important safety and
security requirements;
The addition of the equivalent of one full day of safety and
security training during a two-day pre-departure orientation
(staging) for new trainees;
The establishment of regular safety and security staff
training on a two-year cycle;
An updated Volunteer site locator form identifying multiple
methods of contact;
Revised site development guidance to assist in the selection
of safe and secure Volunteer sites;
An enhancement of the safety and security information
message that a potential applicant receives from his or her
first contact with Peace Corps--during recruitment and
throughout the application process; and,
The availability of safety and security information on the
Peace Corps' website.
The Peace Corps Safety and Security Officers (PCSSOs) play a vital
new role in conducting country specific safety and security risk
assessments. At the request of a Country Director, a PCSSO will enter
the host country and consult with embassy personnel, local NGOs,
government ministries, police officials, and Peace Corps staff to
review the current safety and security environment and offer suggested
enhancements when necessary. In Panama, for example, the Country
Director was trying to ascertain if Volunteers could be placed in new
sections of one of the poorest regions in the country. A review of this
province was part of the PCSSO's overall safety and security
assessment.
Overall, the new staff, the new compliance tools, the additional
documentation, and the restructured Office of Safety and Security have
all been designed to bring greater standardization, continuity, and
accountability to the safety and security function.
It is important to note that the Peace Corps' core safety and
security philosophy is one of Volunteer acceptance and integration into
the local community. This necessitates the thoughtful design of viable
projects, the adaptation of Volunteers into their new sites and
cultures, and the development of the Volunteers network of support. A
safe and secure Volunteer is one who is working in the community on a
well-designed project. In all programming, the Peace Corps works to
ensure Volunteers have clearly defined job assignments. The technical
training component of pre-service training prepares Volunteers with the
essential competencies to successfully perform their work in their
program sector. Eighty percent of pre-service training involves some
community based training in order to simulate real-life experiences in
the workplace, home, and community. Solid training and jobs enable
Volunteers to become more quickly involved in their work, build a
support network that includes their new colleagues, and produce
measurable project outcomes. These factors lead to higher rates of
Volunteer job satisfaction, which is important to Volunteer safety.
While the pre-service training contains many important technical
components, language, cultural nuances, and safety and security
training are key factors in preparing a Volunteer for integration into
the host community and laying the groundwork for a safe and fulfilling
Volunteer experience. High quality, practical cross-cultural training
is also a cornerstone of Volunteer training. At the conclusion of pre-
service training, ``trainees'' must pass a series of 10 core safety and
security competencies before being sworn in as full-fledged Peace Corps
Volunteers, which were recently revised this year. These core
competencies require trainees to demonstrate an understanding of issues
such as personal safety strategies, dealing with unwanted attention,
identifying risk factors and strategies for avoiding risk, and the
importance of incident reporting. They must also be able to communicate
basic messages in the local language, exhibit an understanding of Peace
Corps policies, as well as know their roles and responsibilities in the
Emergency Action Plan.
Earlier this year, the Peace Corps formalized its worldwide
guidance that recommends a minimum of two site visits during the first
year (including one visit within the first three months) and one visit
during the second year. In addition to these minimum guidelines, each
post develops country-specific standards on the timing and frequency of
site visits that reflects the location and placement of each Volunteer
in-country. While the APCDs--who oversee individual Volunteer
programming--may have the most regular contact, Volunteers may also be
visited by Peace Corps Medical Officers, Safety and Security
Coordinators, or the Country Director. Where applicable, Volunteer
Leaders also make site visits, and act as mentors to integrate new
Volunteers as they adapt to their sites. Aside from visiting Volunteers
at their sites, in-country staff interact with Volunteers when they
come to the Peace Corps Office to conduct business, gather for their
in-service training programs or attend other events over the two-year
period. Overall, the Peace Corps has guidance in place to promote
frequent visits and contact with Volunteers, recognizing that each
country must establish its own schedule, reflecting the geography and
infrastructure of the country.
It is vital that Volunteers know how to handle emergency
situations, whether it is one Volunteer in an accident or all
Volunteers in one country who need to be evacuated. As you may know, we
recently suspended our program in Haiti, due to the civil unrest, and
brought our 76 Volunteers home. This has been the sixth successful
evacuation during my tenure as Director--the 10th since the fall of
2001--impacting 908 Volunteers. Whether it is civil unrest, war, or the
outbreak of SARS, the Peace Corps is diligent in monitoring the safety
and security at each post and will not hesitate to take action should
the need arise to move our Volunteers out of harm's way.
In the activation of an Emergency Action Plan, as well as in more
isolated emergencies--such as notification of a serious illness of a
family member at home--the Peace Corps needs to be able to reach
Volunteers at their sites. The Peace Corps makes use of all available
and appropriate technology to communicate with Volunteers. As
technology evolves, so does the Volunteers' use of technology. In some
countries, where cell phones are readily available, reliable, and
widely used, almost all Peace Corps Volunteers will have one. For
example, almost 100 percent of the Volunteers in South Africa have cell
phones. In others, where cell phone coverage is non-existent or
sporadic at best, Volunteers make use of the best parts of the
communications infrastructure of that country. For instance, in the
South Pacific Islands, cell phone systems are not available. Instead,
solar-powered land lines are available to be used by Volunteers with
Iridium phones as back up with the Volunteer Leaders. Overall, posts
use a combination of cell phones, land lines, solar-powered land lines,
e-mail, beepers, radios, and message relay systems to reach Volunteers
on a regular basis and in emergency situations. Regardless of the
availability of cell phones, the Peace Corps always has alternative
methods of communication in place and Volunteers are required to
provide at least three modes of communication on their site locator
forms. Furthermore, when Peace Corps Volunteers are placed in
communities around the world, they have a circle of support around them
that includes local host country nationals as well as Peace Corps
staff. As would be the case here in the United States, if a person were
in distress, friends, neighbors, colleagues, host country counterparts,
and local police are available to assist with the situation and to send
and receive emergency messages.
The Peace Corps uses four key elements in establishing and
maintaining its safety and security framework for Volunteers and staff:
research, planning, training, and compliance. Safety and security
information is tracked and analyzed on an on-going basis. The data
analysis, conducted now by our new safety and security research
psychologist, is used to enhance existing policies or develop new
policies and procedures, as needed. Our new research psychologist is
currently revising our data collection process and intake forms and
periodically corroborates statistical data on crimes against Volunteers
with the Department of State's Crime Division, the only division solely
dedicated as an official repository of crime statistics.
After careful analysis and planning, changes are being integrated
throughout the agency. The training of Volunteers includes the most up-
to-date safety and security information available. Lastly, compliance
is essential to ensure that safety and security measures are adhered to
and remain a top priority over the course of time. Each of these
components helps create a framework to safeguard the well being of
Volunteers and staff, institutionalizing enabling them to carry out the
Peace Corps' mission.
Tracking Assaults for Prevention Purposes
In 1990, the Peace Corps designed the Assault Notification and
Surveillance System (ANSS) for internal tracking purposes. From this
data, Peace Corps has enhanced policies, systems, and training to help
prevent future Volunteer assaults. The Peace Corps had collected
assault data before 1990 but not in a form that facilitated trend
analysis.
The ANSS established specific definitions to allow for the
systematic collection of data regarding the characteristics of an
assault event. Definitions are critical to ensure consistency for trend
analysis and prevention purposes so that the prevention strategies are
appropriate to the types of incidents taking place. The Peace Corps
uses safety statistics to increase the understanding of trends so that
training and policies can be adjusted and safety enhanced. Improvements
in safety reporting have allowed the Peace Corps to identify associated
risk factors (time of day, location, alcohol use, means of
transportation, etc.) and develop strategies to help Volunteers address
them.
In addition to the statistical data, the most effective tool for
gauging success is to ask Volunteers. Every two years, the Peace Corps
conducts a global survey to measure the levels of Volunteer
satisfaction with programming, safety, medical, and other key
indicators. In the most recent global volunteer survey, which had a 68
percent response rate (itself a high response rate):
97 percent of the respondents replied that they felt ``very
safe'' to ``adequately safe'' where they live;
99 percent of the respondents felt ``very safe'' to
``adequately safe'' where they work;
84 percent of the volunteers felt ``very safe'' to
``adequately safe'' when they traveled; and,
89 percent--overwhelmingly responded in the affirmative when
asked if they would make the same decision to join the Peace
Corps.
Proposed Legislation
I am aware of the legislation that has been introduced affecting
the Peace Corps. One of the major strengths of the Peace Corps Act is
that it is a broad authorization, which has over the years, given ample
opportunity for the agency to maintain its independence and its
effectiveness. Congress set forth broad objectives, and let the
Executive Branch, in consultation with the host government or its
peoples establish programs that meet the individual needs of each
country. Few agencies have been so successfully and efficiently managed
over such a long period. To maintain our effectiveness in an era of
continued growth and opportunity requires that management has the
flexibility to make decisions that best serve the agency and, most
importantly, the Volunteers. The Administration does not believe that
this legislation is in the best interest of this agency or will
significantly improve Volunteer safety.
The Peace Corps currently has a positive and independent working
relationship with the Office of Inspector General (IG), as a Designated
Federal Entity under the Inspector General Act of 1978. The budget for
the office has consistently increased over the last three years, with a
current budget of $2.55 million in fiscal year 2004 supporting 17
positions (the total budget for the agency is $308 million). Given the
size of our agency and funding level, we find this arrangement
appropriate and in line with similar agencies of our size and stature.
Other agencies where the Inspector General is appointed by the head of
an agency include AMTRAK, the Federal Reserve, EEOC, and SEC. The
President appoints Inspector Generals at large departments and
agencies, such as DOD, Commerce Department, Department of Education,
HHS, and HUD.
The most recent debate in Congress over IG status has revolved not
around creating more Presidentially appointed IGs, but instead
eliminating the IGs of smaller agencies and putting those agencies
under the IGs of larger agencies. This bill would move in the opposite
direction, when we believe the current relationship is appropriate and
working effectively.
An additional consequence of the proposed legislation would be that
the IG would make his or her own budget request directly to Congress.
This could result in the IG competing with the Peace Corps' overall
budget request. At present, a competitive process does not exist and,
over the past three years, the Office of the IG has consistently
received the funding increases requested by the IG.
Secondly, we find it unnecessary to permanently institute an Office
of the Ombudsman. This new statutory requirement would be duplicative
on many levels, diluting the authority already granted to the Office of
the Inspector General and supplanting existing complaint/grievance
process. Given the broad parameters that we understand the legislation
would create for the Ombudsman, it could actually conflict with the
Inspector General's existing jurisdictional authority and could
artificially interrupt standard review procedures. In addition, the
office could open the agency to a large universe of potential
complainants and complaints, since the legislation not only allows
current and former Volunteers access to the Ombudsman, but all current
and former Peace Corps employees including personal services
contractors. The agency has already taken steps to consider
establishing an internal liaison to facilitate post-medical services
issues on behalf of returning Volunteers--an item I will address
further at the close of my remarks. Again, while the idea of an
Ombudsman may have merit, we do not see the creation of a separate
office of the proposed scope and magnitude as an effective use of
agency funds, in part because it is duplicative of current grievance
procedures.
Impact of the 5-year rule
As you may know, the Peace Corps is a unique federal agency in that
most employees are limited to serving the agency for five years, though
we are permitted to extend the service of a limited number of employees
past the five-year mark. This creates a dynamic, energetic atmosphere
in which Peace Corps staff works hard to have a positive impact on the
agency during their five-year tenure. Recently, Congress gave the Peace
Corps authority to exempt certain positions associated with safety and
security from the five-year rule. Since this is a departure from our
historical employment laws and regulation, I carefully reviewed the
positions and formally designated our first group of 23 exempt
positions on October 29, 2003. Nineteen of these positions are in our
newly re-organized Office of Safety and Security, which is the Peace
Corps office primarily responsible for Volunteer safety and security.
One Safety and Security Desk Officer position in each of the regional
directorates has been designated, and the position of Director of
Quality Improvement in the Office of Medical Services has also been
exempted. We believe that these 23 positions are the most clear-cut and
readily justifiable applications of the new authority, as they most
directly and obviously impact Volunteer safety. Additionally, the 71
safety and security coordinator positions at post are not subject to
the five-year rule limitation.
While these were the most obvious designations, I directed the
hiring of an independent expert to review Peace Corps operations and
make recommendations on what additional, second-tier safety-related
positions should be exempted from the five-year rule. Just last month,
the Peace Corps contracted with outside experts to perform an objective
and independent analysis of the Peace Corps workforce, including the
Office of the Inspector General. At the conclusion of the consultants'
review, I will make decisions about any other appropriate exemptions
for personnel related to safety and security. Because of these on-going
activities to implement the five-year rule exemption appropriately, we
also do not see the necessity of further legislation in this regard.
The first 23 positions, which directly impact Volunteer safety and
security, are now exempt and we expect to exempt a number of second-
tier positions as we proceed through this process.
Volunteer Care
Lastly, let me take a moment to address the issue of Volunteer care
and reiterate a point that is true agency-wide: the Volunteer is at the
heart of all Peace Corps programs and policies. These are Americans who
commit to serving 27 months abroad with the hope of making a
contribution and a connection to people they do not know and often
learning a language that they do not speak. Volunteers exhibit great
commitment, optimism, and a ``can-do'' attitude as they work toward
sustainable development at the grassroots level in emerging countries.
While the circumstances in which they work may be challenging, the
personal and professional rewards can be immeasurable. As an agency, we
commit to providing the best experience possible to our Volunteers from
their first contact with Peace Corps as an applicant to their years as
a returned Peace Corps Volunteer. The Volunteers are the heart and soul
of the Peace Corps and everything this agency does revolves around
them.
Thus, we constantly work to provide support to our Volunteers and
continually seek ways to improve. During a Peace Corps Volunteer's
service in the field, the Office of Special Services plays an essential
role in our Volunteer support system. For instance, the Office of
Special Services coordinates the after-hours duty system, which
provides 24 hours a day, seven days a week coverage for all Volunteers
and their families. Parents may call this office, at any time, if they
need to advise their Volunteer of a critical illness or death of a
family member. The Office of Special Services immediately informs the
Country Director so that the information is passed on to the Volunteer
as soon as possible, and arrangements can be made for special emergency
leave if appropriate. The Office of Special Services also serves as a
key link with families in the intense time of a country evacuation or
the tragic event of the death of a Volunteer. This office is also a key
resource for staff and volunteers in assisting with mental health and
behavioral issues. In all of these situations, the trained
professionals who work in the Office of Special Services strive to
provide top-quality care, timely information, and supportive service to
Peace Corps Volunteers and their families. Here is just a sample of one
family's experience. ``When Peace Corps called us about Beth's accident
in Zambia and her life-flight to Pretoria, my husband, Gerry,
immediately flew to South Africa to be with our daughter . . . Through
this terrible time, I was in close telephone contact with a Peace Corps
counselor in Washington, D.C. When Gerry arrived, he was met and
supported throughout by a Peace Corps medical officer . . . the Peace
Corps was our advocate in every way possible. They treated us as though
we were part of their own family.''
While Volunteers may or may not have circumstances that necessitate
the involvement of the Office of Special Services during their tenure,
all Peace Corps Volunteers go through a readjustment process upon
completion of their service as a Peace Corps Volunteer. For some, the
transition back to life in the United States is a return to
familiarity--the filling out of paperwork and taking care of any needed
medical follow-up. For others, however, moving from two years of
medical care by the Peace Corps, helping with everything from a
toothache to a serious medical issue, can present a more significant
challenge.
The Post Service Unit in our Office of Medical Services facilitates
post-service medical benefits to returned Peace Corps Volunteers with
service-related medical conditions as their care is transferred to the
U.S. Department of Labor. Volunteers are considered Federal employees
for the purpose of health benefits provided through the Federal
Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program administered by the Office
of Workers' Compensation Programs at the Department of Labor. The FECA
program provides post-service medical and compensation benefits for
conditions exacerbated, accelerated, or precipitated by service in the
Peace Corps.
Peace Corps staff has been vigilant in trying to ensure that claims
on behalf of returned Peace Corps Volunteers are processed by the
Department of Labor in a timely manner. We are proud to report that the
backlog that previously existed has now been eliminated and that the
Peace Corps recently received recognition by the Department of Labor as
the agency with the quickest filing results. Progress in this area
rewards former Volunteers that have already served their country and
enhance the attractiveness of the Peace Corps Volunteer program to
future Volunteers. As we strive to provide our Volunteers with the best
service possible, we always welcome new ideas.
Additionally, when a Volunteer completes his or her service, the
Volunteer has the opportunity to purchase private health insurance
through CorpsCare (a program similar to the COBRA health insurance
plan). Peace Corps pays the first premium covering the first 31 days
and then the individual can continue to purchase the policy for up to
18 months. The policy is designed to cover any medical issues not
related to a Volunteer's service, including full coverage for pre-
existing conditions without a waiting period. After identifying a gap
in which many Volunteers who purchased CorpsCare were experiencing a
lag time as they awaited a decision on their FECA claim, Peace Corps
renegotiated the CorpsCare contract to provide former Volunteers with
greater continuity of coverage. The new CorpsCare contract went into
effect on March 1, 2004, and we are especially pleased with this new
arrangement, which should be a great improvement in providing care for
returned Peace Corps Volunteers.
As we seek to further Peace Corps' three goals, the Volunteer is
always the central focus. We are continually striving to improve the
agency and ensure that our Peace Corps Volunteers have meaningful,
productive, and life-changing experiences as they serve throughout the
world. More than 171,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps, and
we look forward to providing excellent care to the people of the United
States who may serve, are serving, or have returned from service. The
Peace Corps will not rest on our achievements and accomplishments. We
will build on the successes and learn from events as they occur. Not
long ago, I read a message from the parent of a volunteer who was
grateful for the quality of care that was rendered by Peace Corps staff
overseas and here in the United States. The parent wrote, ``As a United
States citizen, I am very proud of the Peace Corps; it is a superb
organization worthy of every citizen's support.''
Conclusion
The safety of the Volunteer is the number one priority of the Peace
Corps, and remains the primary focus of many of the research, planning,
training, and compliance components of the agency. As noted above, our
agency has accomplished a great deal over the past 26 months--in both
safety and security and the growth of our program. Our FY 2005 budget
request of $401 million will support this continued growth and maintain
the infrastructure we presently have in place.
In conclusion, I am grateful to you and members of the Committee
for your continued support of the Peace Corps mission. September 11th
is a grim reminder that the work of past, present, and future
Volunteers is more critical than ever. I believe that the Peace Corps
is well positioned to safely achieve expansion and build upon the
successes of the past 43 years.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Director Vasquez.
Before we begin the questioning, I would like to turn to my
colleague, Senator Dodd, for any opening statement he might
have.
STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER J. DODD,
U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT
Senator Dodd. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
How are you, Mr. Vasquez? Nice to see you. I apologize for
arriving a couple minutes late, but I would like to make an
opening comment, if I could.
First of all, let me commend you, Mr. Chairman, for holding
this hearing. It is very worthwhile and I am grateful to you
for doing so. I think it an important issue of safety and
security of volunteers, and it gives us an opportunity to
evaluate one of the most important aspects of this very, very
important program.
I am hopeful that witnesses testifying before the committee
this morning, who represent voices from inside and outside of
the agency, will provide us with some very helpful insights as
we consider the legislation that Senators DeWine and Durbin
have introduced.
As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, I am very proud to
have been a part of that agency, the 170,000 of us as former
volunteers. There are now several of us. In fact, Chris Shays
whose wife Betsy actually worked for the Peace Corps--I think
we are the only State to have a House member and a Senate
member who are former Peace Corps volunteers. Paul Tsongas and
I were the first two former volunteers to be elected to the
Congress. Thomas Jefferson was President I think when I was
elected here.
[Laughter.]
Senator Dodd. It seems that long ago.
Obviously, to have been a part of this remarkable agency
that was a part of President John Kennedy's visionary program--
actually I always say as well--and one of the ideas of Hubert
Humphrey--he does not get enough credit in my view, but
actually Hubert Humphrey came up with a concept, an idea that
has been around for some time in other nations around the
globe. But obviously John Kennedy rightfully deserves a lot of
credit because he made the program come alive, obviously, under
his administration.
I recall with great fondness, as I have said on numerous
occasions over the years, serving with the Peace Corps in the
Dominican Republic and the lessons I learned there, and the
experiences I gained from those years have benefited me
tremendously and had an awful lot to do with my decision to
enter public life.
It is my hope that more young Americans would have the
opportunity to join the Peace Corps, and I am pleased to hear
about the numbers that you, Gaddi, have just mentioned in terms
of the high watermark of people volunteering or seeking to
volunteer.
At the same time, there has never been a moment in our
history where the Peace Corps' objectives are more urgent than
now, and we all know this almost on a daily basis. Indeed, our
woeful lack of understanding about the cultures and languages,
the misper- ceptions that others hold about our country have
contributed to some of the highest rates ever of anti-American
sentiment around the globe. That is why now, more than ever, we
must remember why the Peace Corps is so important because the
Peace Corps and its volunteers not only help those in need, but
they also help build bridges of mutual understanding and good
trust. I have often said the presumptuous idea of sending
predominantly very young Americans over to eradicate ignorance,
poverty, and disease was outweighed by the tremendous benefit
that comes back to our country of having literally hundreds and
thousands of people who have had an experience in a different
environment, a greater appreciation of our own country, and a
better understanding of the world in which we live.
It is the broad context that the next question of safety
for Americans serving overseas takes on a new degree of
urgency. I would say to you, Mr. Chairman, that the seven-part
series of Peace Corps security issues which appeared in the
Dayton Daily News--and our colleague, George Voinovich, is here
from that State. I know he knows a lot about this, having
followed those stories in the Dayton papers--raised some very
serious questions about safety and security of volunteers
serving abroad and about the agency's response to those
problems. It is my hope that our witnesses this morning will
shed some additional light on those allegations, as well as the
steps that the Peace Corps can take--and they have mentioned
some of those already--to address these issues.
Clearly, we all expect, to the maximum extent possible,
that Peace Corps management has as one of its highest
priorities, if not its highest priority, working to ensure that
volunteers have quality experiences in safe and secure
environments. Based upon recent GAO findings and the Peace
Corps' own statements, it would appear that steps are being
taken to enhance security and better prepare volunteers for
their service.
I certainly look forward, Mr. Chairman, to a detailed
description by the Director of the Peace Corps about what has
already been done and what the agency intends to do in the
future to address legitimate concerns, particularly at the same
time that the agency is under pressure to vastly expand the
numbers of volunteers in the field. Those can be tremendously
contradictory goals we are trying to achieve. As mostly young
American men and women venture out to the least developed
corners of the world to become our grassroots ambassadors, if
you will, it is our responsibility as the oversight committee
to ensure that the agency is afforded every necessary resource
to ensure our volunteers' safety.
I will be asking some questions, Mr. Chairman, a little
later in the process here, which I am sure you and the Director
would anticipate; you have already with some of your comments.
But I want to stress the importance of three points, if I can,
in conclusion.
First, an evaluation of the safety and security of Peace
Corps volunteers is timely and appropriate, and I welcome it.
But I would hope that our witnesses would not interpret our
questions as an attack on the viability of the program as a
whole. The Peace Corps enjoys broad bipartisan support
precisely because it is such a successful element of our
foreign policy.
Second, we must always situate our discussion within the
realm of the possible. It might not be realistic to assume that
we can prevent any and every incident of violence against Peace
Corps volunteers, but that should be our goal certainly. That
is why we need to use every resource at our disposal to prevent
such acts from occurring, and we must be open about the threats
that exist and learn from our mistakes so that we do not repeat
them.
Third, and finally, if we create new responsibilities for
the Peace Corps administration, then we have also got to ensure
that we provide adequate funding for them to meet those
requirements so that existing programs and goals do not suffer
as a result.
Again, I want to thank our witnesses for being here today,
for their time, and for their willingness to speak frankly
about the challenges of providing safety and security for
thousands of Americans serving around the globe in some of the
most difficult spots. They do a tremendous job, and while
certainly security is a tremendous issue and one that we have
got to put at the top of our list of priorities, I do not want
to see us sacrifice the goal. If we end up not sending people
into areas that are difficult, then the very purpose of the
Peace Corps and the values we have associated with it will be
lost. These are the times when, clearly, there are those around
the globe who do not like the Peace Corps, who would prefer
that this program did not exist. It is a great challenge to
those who want to undermine American values. So I would hope we
keep it in balance here as we move forward.
But again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for holding the
hearing.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Senator Dodd. I must say that
on issue after issue, you bring an experienced perspective to
what we discuss. Here you also bring a deeply personal
commitment to the success of this program, and I do appreciate
that. Thank you very much.
Senator Voinovich.
STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE V. VOINOVICH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM OHIO
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like
to thank Senator Lugar and Senator Biden for agreeing to
convene this hearing to examine the safety and security of our
Peace Corps. I would like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and
underscore the fact that you are the chairman of the
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics
Affairs. You have got a big plate in terms of your
chairmanship.
Senator Coleman. I am trying to figure out who put all
those together and into one committee. I am going to find that
person.
[Laughter.]
Senator Voinovich. As my colleagues are aware, last
October Senator Mike DeWine and I asked this committee to
convene a hearing to assess the safety and security of our
Peace Corps volunteers after the Dayton Daily News published an
eye-opening series of articles which highlighted violent
assault, robbery, rapes, and murders perpetrated against Peace
Corps volunteers serving around the world.
To prepare this in-depth report, the Dayton Daily News
reporters spent more than 2 years interviewing more than 500
people. I think that in itself is a great contribution to this
committee, Mr. Chairman. They traveled to 11 countries and
filed dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests. Their
findings raised serious questions regarding areas in which
Peace Corps volunteers are vulnerable, and they have compelled
us to look closely at measures in place to ensure the security
of our volunteers. They have also led us to discuss ways that
we might enhance these measures. I am sure, Mr. Vasquez, that
you have read those articles. It was interesting, from hearing
part of your testimony, that you are acting to try and deal
with some of them.
While the majority of Peace Corps volunteers serve without
incident, we cannot and should not ignore the reality that
dangers exist for our volunteers, which have led to deadly
consequences. Though there is an amount of risk inherent in the
decision to serve abroad, there are areas in which the Peace
Corps can take action to enhance the safety and security of its
volunteers, the majority of whom are young women and men just
out of college with little life experience or training in the
jobs that they are asked to perform. You mentioned again that
more training is so very, very important today.
In today's world, as the United States continues efforts to
fight terrorism and address growing anti-Americanism, we should
be proactive, not reactive, in our efforts to ensure that our
volunteers serving overseas are as safe as possible. Peace
Corps volunteers often serve in remote, undeveloped parts of
the world. That has been the case; it is not likely to change.
That being said, we must be certain that Peace Corps volunteers
living and working in remote areas have the ability to
immediately communicate with Peace Corps staff in times of
emergency.
In many cases, volunteers in remote areas do not have
access to a telephone, nor do they have access to the internet
or to a radio. This was true with Peace Corps volunteer Lupine
Skelly of Colville, Washington, who was assigned to a site 13
hours from Bolivia's capital city of La Paz, with an hour walk
to the nearest bus stop and without access to a phone or to a
radio.
This was also true for Peace Corps volunteer Walter
Poirier, a 22-year-old graduate of Notre Dame, originally from
Lowell, Massachusetts. Walter also went to Bolivia where he was
assigned to promote tourism in the Zongo Valley, a task for
which he had no training. Though he also worked in the capital
city of La Paz, Walter lived in a remote area in the Zongo
Valley. His site could be reached only by foot for the last
quarter mile. Buses to La Paz took hours and they were
infrequent.
As the Dayton Daily News reported, Walter Poirier was last
seen in La Paz on January 31, 2001, at which time he e-mailed
friends and family from his Yahoo e-mail account. He returned
to his room in the Zongo Valley but has not been seen since
that time. No one knew that Walter was missing until his
mother, who had attempted to reach her son to no avail, called
a Peace Corps hotline in Bolivia on March 4, 2001. Two days
later, and more than one month after he was last seen on March
6th, Walter Poirier was officially declared missing.
In my view, volunteers living and working under such
conditions must be able to quickly and effectively communicate
with superiors in country in the event of an emergency. We
should also look at the possibility of providing these
volunteers with radios for use when they most need them. I
understand that there are some areas where cell phones do not
work, but communication today is one of the most important
things we can make available to these young people. Relying on
host communities which might not in every instance be
supportive is simply not enough. This is particularly true in
the event that a woman or a man is sexually assaulted.
Steps must also be taken to establish regular, frequent
contact with Peace Corps volunteers. Limitations on the ability
of country directors or associate directors to visit every
volunteer site on a frequent basis can be understood. However,
there must be checks in place to ensure that the whereabouts of
all volunteers are known. It is inexcusable that a volunteer,
such as Walter Poirier, would be missing for more than a
month--more than a month--before his absence was noticed.
In an effort to promote safety and deter crime, it is also
crucial that housing provided to Peace Corps volunteers be
reviewed prior to sending a volunteer to a site. The Dayton
Daily News report cites many instances of robbery and
situations in which Peace Corps volunteers called on their
superiors to take action because they did not feel safe in
their living arrangements. Peace Corps volunteer Pam Parsa, a
graduate of Oberlin College in my State of Ohio, felt unsafe in
her house in Gabon in 1998. She reported that her house had
flimsy windows, and her doors were difficult to lock. She
received new locks paid for by the Peace Corps, but still
requested a change of housing, a request the Peace Corps did
not respond to for more than 1 year.
The cases of Walter Poirier and others outlined in the
Dayton Daily News are not representative of the experiences had
by most of our volunteers. Thank God. They do, however, raise
critical questions that must be addressed, and that is why we
are here today for this hearing.
I appreciate the action taken by you, Mr. Vasquez, but I
think that we need to understand that we need to stay on top of
this. I have another committee that I am involved with. That is
the Oversight of Government Management and the Federal
Workforce in Governmental Affairs, and the real question I keep
asking is, do you have the people to get the job done? What is
your budget? The President has asked for twice the number of
Peace Corps volunteers. That is easier said than done, and if
it does occur, it means that the infrastructure of your agency,
in terms of personnel and other things, has got to be expanded
to respond to that. You cannot do it with the budget that you
have currently.
I agree with Senator Dodd that the Peace Corps is very
important. I think about our national security. I think
intelligence is an area where we really need to do a much
better job. However, we are not doing enough with diplomacy,
and we are paying the price for that today. In terms of putting
a new face on America, the Peace Corps has been probably the
best face that we have ever put on in terms of this country. It
is very, very important.
But if we expect people to stay in the Peace Corps, if we
expect to be able to attract people into the Peace Corps, we
have got to assure these young men and women that they are
going to have the necessary communications capability, that
they are going to have the security, and that they are going to
have the housing so that they are willing to serve.
So I appreciate your leadership and look forward to asking
you some questions.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Senator Voinovich.
Director Vasquez, both my colleagues have raised the Dayton
Daily News series, which reports a number of attackers who were
never prosecuted, a 1997 case that was not even reported to the
U.S. embassy. There was a clear implication in that series that
the Peace Corps was more interested in preserving its own image
than in dealing transparently with these incidents.
I would note, however, that, for instance, the Walter
Poirier incident, was in 2001. I have received a lot of
information from former volunteers who were incensed by these
charges. One group of former volunteers in El Salvador called
the articles exaggerated, sensational, and riddled with
falsehoods. So there are some very different perspectives.
Can you first generally respond to the article, and then
specifically, if you can talk about steps to improve follow-up
after a crime is committed, talk about where we are today. But
if you could respond, I think it would be helpful.
Mr. Vasquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, in
general terms I have read the articles, and I will say that,
first and foremost, I do not think the Peace Corps should ever
stop or deviate from learning from the experiences and episodes
that have occurred over the years. The majority of those that
were described in the articles preceded my time, including Mr.
Poirier, but I have examined some of those to try to learn from
them to see what we can do differently.
But I will tell you that in my view there were some
distortions. As an example, it was cited that a volunteer dies
in service once every 2 months. The fact of the matter is I
have been Director of the Peace Corps for over 2 years, and
every loss of life is tragic and sad, but to represent that a
volunteer dies every 2 months when, during my time, 3
volunteers have died in service is a bit of a distortion and a
bit of a misrepresentation. If I were a reader and saw that
account, it would cause me some concern.
But the fact of the matter is that we have taken very
significant steps and implemented a number of new processes and
procedures both in the field and here in Washington to enhance
the locations, the sites where volunteers work, the reporting
processes, the guidance that is provided to countries on where
volunteers should be located, establishing new positions in
each country. As an example, the new safety and security
coordinators, which did not exist just a short couple of years
ago, who are now in place who are responsible in country for
the locator forms, to ensure that there is compliance with the
standards and the guidance that the Peace Corps has put in
place. So there have been very significant changes that have
now been implemented throughout Peace Corps in response to a
world that is changing, a world that is evolving.
If I may comment specifically to one particular point. I am
committed to expanding and growing the Peace Corps, but only
when it is appropriate and in a strategic manner. Part of that
strategy is ensuring that we have, as Senator Voinovich has
referred to, the infrastructure to be able to sustain the
growth of the Peace Corps without compromising safety and
security. As a former public safety official, I can tell you
that part of risk management is constant risk assessment, and
we are constantly reassessing our procedures and our policies,
with the cooperation and support of our field staff to give us
guidance, to give us input and feedback on what is going right,
what is going wrong, and what we can do better.
Senator Coleman. One area the GAO raised had to do with
volunteer assignments and whether they are defined properly,
that if they are poorly defined, what it creates is idle time
and limited contacts with counterparts. And you have, as a
result of that, folks more apt to run into security problems.
The GAO has written that ``at posts we visited, we found
instances of volunteers whose counterparts had no plans for
their volunteers when they arrived at their sites. Only after
several months and much frustration did the volunteers find
productive activities.''
Can you just discuss efforts to improve definition of
volunteer assignments?
Mr. Vasquez. Well, first of all, an acknowledgement that I
make right up front is that there are areas where we have
sought to improve and enhance the relationship between host
organizations, partner organizations, communities in the Peace
Corps to be more definitive about those jobs. In fact, in the
global survey that was done, the percentage of volunteers who
described the match between their skills and the job they were
doing was very, very high. I think it was in the 80th
percentile who responded saying that their skills matched the
job that they were doing.
I think it is a result of providing more specific guidance
to our staffs in country to ensure that when volunteers are
placed, they are placed in locations where they can make a
meaningful contribution to the community in which they serve,
but that volunteers can also take something from the experience
of having served. So we have been more precise in the guidance.
We have set standards for ensuring that volunteers are
evaluated, and where a volunteer feels that he or she is not a
good match, they are encouraged to communicate with country
staff to indicate the kind of disconnect that may occur from
time to time to hopefully reestablish them in a place or to
take corrective action so that there is a better and clearer
understanding.
Mr. Chairman, I agree with you. Idle time with volunteers
is our worst enemy. Consequently, it is in our best interest--
and I think we have done a fairly good job of making sure that
guidance is available to country staff so that we minimize
those instances where volunteers may feel a bit out of place
and not connected with the job and the site they have been
assigned to.
Senator Coleman. You mentioned in your testimony the areas
where cell phone service is available and then you talked about
three modes of communication. On the cell phone issue, do folks
pay for that themselves? Is it part of the equipment that they
are given? And could you be more specific, in those areas where
there is not adequate cell phone coverage, what kind of modes
of communication do volunteers have with country directors and
others?
Mr. Vasquez. First of all, the cell phone issue is one
that has been evolving. As you know, cellular technology is
evolving very, very quickly in some of these countries. So when
volunteers are able to acquire cell phones, we provide in our
communications allocation that is made to volunteers the
opportunity to acquire and to maintain a cell phone.
However, I must emphasize that part of our strategy is to
ensure that we have backup positions so that we are not fully
reliant on cellular technology. To do so I think would be
compromising the safety and security of volunteers. It is just
one avenue.
The other avenues that we use are land-line communications,
local law enforcement that we have communications with, and
also the host family or the host organization where volunteers
may be working have different modes of communication that we
are able to use and have on a number of occasions.
We test our processes. I might add at this time that we
require that our posts engage in an assessment and an
evaluation of how our communication systems work so that we
check the layers of communication that exist in country to
ensure that they are viable and that they work and that they
are in place and that they are effective, and where they are
not, they are corrected.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Director Vasquez.
Senator Dodd.
Senator Dodd. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Again, thank you, Director Vasquez, for your testimony here
this morning.
Let me, first of all, if I can, ask a general question. To
what do you attribute this increase in the acts of violence?
And then related, where are they coming from? Is it mostly
urban areas? Are there specific regions within the Peace Corps
that seem to have higher incidences of assaults than others?
Give us some picture, if you can, globally of, one, why this
seems to be occurring in your own mind or based on assessments
that have been done. If there are any areas that have a higher
rate than others, I would be curious to know about that.
Mr. Vasquez. First of all, Senator, the fact is that in a
number of categories, the crime against volunteers over the
last 2 or 3 years has been decreasing. It has not been
increasing. So we have seen a downturn. We have provided
reports that outline the specifics that indicate things like
major sexual assaults, which have shown a decrease in the
number of crimes being perpetrated against volunteers.
Senator Dodd. So the number, 1991 to 2002, 125 percent
increase, that number is actually down, 2003-2004, up to now?
Mr. Vasquez. That is correct, yes. So we have seen a
decrease in the amount of crimes being perpetrated against
volunteers. What we do find is that most volunteers, as I
stated in my testimony, feel safe where they live, where they
work. I think based on the information that I have reviewed in
the last several months, the exposure, the vulnerability to
crime increases in many instances--and you having been a
volunteer, I think you can certainly appreciate what I am going
to say about places like the Dominican Republic where you
served, that once you get into capital cities, into highly
urbanized areas, the problems of theft, the problems of
pickpocketing, and other things that occur, occur sometimes on
transportation systems, on buses, and other modes of
transportation. Our indicators suggest that that is when
volunteers feel most vulnerable.
When we become aware of situations and conditions where we
see an increase in crimes that are affecting volunteers, be it
public transportation or otherwise, country staffs conduct an
evaluation with the safety and security coordinators. It may
include the regional security officer at the embassy. It may
include other safety and security personnel, local law
enforcement to offer new guidelines, offer modification, offer
alternative modes of transportation.
For example, if in an urban area we find that volunteers
are being victimized on buses as a mode of transportation, the
country director may authorize the use of private taxis for
volunteers to be brought in from the fringes of a city to the
country office. So we take corrective action as we conduct our
risk assessments and detect that there are issues and problems
that may be surfacing, depending on the location, depending on
the country.
As to the areas where we have seen increases, we have
probably seen a slight increase in crimes against volunteers
occurring principally in Central America, some in South
America, and in the Caribbean, which we call the Inter-America/
Pacific Region in the Peace Corps. So those are the areas where
we have seen a slight increase, but that is essentially where
we've seen a increase in the number of crimes, but it has not
been dramatically significant.
Senator Dodd. Compare these numbers. I apologize for not
knowing them myself, but the rates of attrition. The rate of
attrition is around 30 percent, as I am told. Correct me if I
am wrong about that. That attrition rate, I presume, you have
got a relatively high rate of attrition I think initially. At
least it seemed to me years ago. I do not know if it is still
true, that you get high attrition rates early on in a program.
Tell me how this is affecting the violence issues, the assault
issues. Is that affecting attrition?
Mr. Vasquez. It is not. I have looked at some numbers just
in the last week, and the reasons that volunteers cite for
early termination, many of them are personal in nature, medical
issues that emerge at home, professional opportunities that
develop. A volunteer decides that he or she wants to go to grad
school. They secure a job that they did not expect. So there
are a number of reasons. The 30 percent that you cite in the
termination rate is one that is based on that 27-month period.
On an annual basis at Peace Corps globally it is about 10
percent of the volunteers who early terminate. Again, the list
of reasons that volunteers terminate is very, very long, but
most of them are personal in nature, family-related issues.
Illness may be a factor for some. And as the Peace Corps
diversifies, that is, older volunteers, married couples, start
coming into the Peace Corps in greater numbers, we begin to
see, of course, the corresponding impact of reasons and causes
for people to early terminate.
Senator Dodd. Some time ago, the Peace Corps counted an
assault as a single incident, even when there might be more
than one volunteer involved, rather than identifying, for
instance, where there were three volunteers who were assaulted
as three events, as one event. Are you still doing that?
Mr. Vasquez. Yes, Senator, we are doing it. We are using
the system that we have discussed and had evaluated by the
Department of Justice, Bureau of Crime Statistics, which uses
an incident-based reporting system. It is a system the Peace
Corps has used now for I think about 10 years, and it is a
system that is established to evaluate incidents because we use
them to train, to change policies, to change practices, to
change procedures. I was in law enforcement. We used incident-
based reporting to establish incidences and crime trends so
that then we could take corrective action. Peace Corps uses the
same approach which is to evaluate incidents as they occur.
Even though there may be multiple victims, we certainly provide
assistance, support, remedy, and recourse, legal and otherwise,
for all of the victims. That is not diminished. We use it on an
incident-based platform or methodology because we look at the
incidents so that we can learn from them; we can train
accordingly, and we can reform our practices where we see a
pattern developing of incidents of crimes against volunteers.
Senator Dodd. Let me ask you the obvious question here.
You told me at the outset of my questioning that the actual
numbers are down in 2003 and 2004 from the 125 percent that the
Dayton papers identified.
Mr. Vasquez. Yes.
Senator Dodd. To what extent would you alter your answer
to my question if you counted the number of volunteers that
were actually assaulted as opposed to the incidents?
Mr. Vasquez. I could provide specific numbers, if you
would allow me, as a follow-up. There is a very slight
difference or moderation based on the numbers that I have been
shown. We keep those statistics. We have those statistics
available.
I might also add that under our new process one of the new
offices that we have created at Peace Corps is an office that
is dedicated solely to evaluating crime statistics and data
relative to incidents and number of volunteers who were
victimized to look at the occurrences, to look at the
incidents, and to make recommendations on practices and
procedures that we might change our in training components.
What we are basically doing is looking beneath the numbers to
see what kind of causes, what kind of practices, may be
contributing to an escalation.
Senator Dodd. But you understand my question.
Mr. Vasquez. Yes, sir.
Senator Dodd. So your numbers do not change then. There
still is a decline. We are not looking at necessarily more
volunteers who might have been assaulted in a single incident,
my point being is you count incidents. You do not count
volunteers.
Mr. Vasquez. That is correct.
Senator Dodd. So the numbers do not change. Still the
numbers are going down of the numbers of volunteers who have
been assaulted.
Mr. Vasquez. I would not be able to respond to you
directly but can provide supplemental information on the
specific number, whether there would be a significant impact. I
have seen a snapshot of the last 5 years or so, and if you look
at the number of incidents, the number of volunteers impacted
in those incidents and compare them year to year, the
difference in the number of victims per year is very, very
slight.
Senator Dodd. Good. Mr. Chairman, it might be worthwhile
to get that.
Senator Coleman. Please provide that, Director Vasquez.
Thank you.
[The information referred to above follows:]
Overview of Major Sexual and Physical Assaults
by Number of PCVs Involved, 2000-2004
2000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Type of incident Total Number of Events w/more Total Number of V/T Years
Events than one PCV PCVs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Sexual Assault........................ 11 3 16 4170
Major Physical Assault...................... 26 6 37 6831
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Assault Notification and Surveillance System (ANSS). Data is accurate as of 6/30/04.
In 2000, the breakdowns of assaults are as follows:
Major Sexual Assaults
8 events involved 1 PCV
2 event involved 2 PCVs
1 event involved 4 PCVs
Major Physical Assaults
20 events involved 1 PCV
3 events involved 2 PCVs
2 events involved 3 PCVs
1 event involved 5 PCVs
2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Type of incident Total Number of Events w/more Total Number of V/T Years
Events than one PCV PCVs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Sexual Assault........................ 23 0 23 4089
Major Physical Assault...................... 21 8 36 6729
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Assault Notification and Surveillance System (ANSS). Data is accurate as of 6/30/04.
In 2001, the breakdowns of assaults are as follows:
Major Sexual Assaults
23 events involved 1 PCV
Minor Physical Assaults
13 events involved 1 PCV
5 events involved 2 PCVs
2 events involved 3 PCVs
1 event involved 7 PCVs
2002
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Type of incident Total Number of Events w/more Total Number of V/T Years
Events than one PCV PCVs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Sexual Assault........................ 17 0 17 3808
Major Physical Assault...................... 20 5 29 6277
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Assault Notification and Surveillance System (ANSS). Data is accurate as of 6/30/04.
In 2002, the breakdowns of assaults are as follows:
Major Sexual Assaults
17 events involved 1 PCV
Major Physical Assaults
15 events involved 1 PCV
2 events involved 2 PCVs
2 events involved 3 PCVs
1 event involved 4 PCVs
2003
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Type of incident Total Number of Events w/more Total Number of V/T Years
Events than one PCV PCVs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Sexual Assault........................ 11 2 13 3931
Major Physical Assault...................... 20 6 35 6656
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Assault Notification and Surveillance System (ANSS). Data is accurate as of 6/30/04.
In 2003, the breakdowns of assaults are as follows:
Major Sexual Assaults
9 events involved 1 PCV
2 events involved 2 PCVs
Major Physical Assaults
14 events involved 1 PCV
2 events involved 2 PCVs
2 events involved 3 PCVs
1 event involved 4 PCVs
1 event involved 7 PCVs
Senator Dodd. I see the time is up. I will come back. We
are going to have another round, I suppose, of questions too.
There is a piece that I have been asked by Senator Sarbanes
to include in the record, some comments by Hugh Pickens, who is
the publisher of the Peace Corps Online, regarding the 5-year
rule. And I would like to ask unanimous consent to include
that.
Senator Coleman. Without objection.
[The letter referred to by Senator Dodd follows:]
A Critical Flaw in the Proposed Peace Corps Safety and Security Bill
Mr. Chairman:
My name is Hugh Pickens, I served in the Peace Corps in Peru from
1970 to 1973, I publish a Web Site and News Forum that is read by
100,000 Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and Friends of the Peace Corps
every month, and I am here to point out a critical fault in the
proposed ``Peace Corps Safety and Security Bill of 2003'' that needs to
be corrected before this bill passes the Senate.
THE FIVE-YEAR RULE
The Peace Corps is unique among federal agencies because employees
receive time-limited appointments and most employees are limited to a
maximum of five years of employment with the agency. The five-year rule
has been a cornerstone of Peace Corps' organizational structure and has
kept the Peace Corps institutionally young and innovative over the past
40 years. Its purpose is to ensure that the agency does not fall into
the trap of entrenched government bureaucracies where it is impossible
to fire a civil servant no matter how incompetent he or she may be. As
a volunteer organization, the principle has been that neither Peace
Corps volunteers nor Peace Corps employees have lifetime employment at
the agency.
The five-year rule was instituted by Sargent Shriver and was
codified into law as an amendment to the Peace Corps Act in 1965. Over
the years there have been numerous critiques of the five-year rule:
that it interferes with the Peace Corps' institutional memory, that the
agency continually has to break in new people, and that the Peace Corps
has to let people go just when they are getting good at their jobs.
At the same time the rule has been modified so that a certain
percentage of Peace Corps employees are eligible to have their
employment extended for up to 8\1/2\ years (three 2\1/2\ year terms
plus a one year extension). Still the principle of ``In, Up, and Out''
has remained the same over the past 40 years--to keep the Peace Corps
institutionally young by continuously bringing in new blood.
An Exemption to the Five-Year Rule
One year ago a clause was put into the ``Consolidated
Appropriations Bill of 2003'' that exempted employees working in Safety
and Security from the five-year rule:
Quote:
Provided further, That the Director of the Peace Corps may
make appointments or assignments, or extend current
appointments or assignments, to permit United States citizens
to serve for periods in excess of 5 years in the case of
individuals whose appointment or assignment, such as regional
safety security officers and employees within the Office of the
Inspector General, involves the safety of Peace Corps
volunteers:
Provided further, That the Director of the Peace Corps may
make such appointments or assignments notwithstanding the
provisions of section 7 of the Peace Corps Act limiting the
length of an appointment or assignment, the circumstances under
which such an appointment or assignment may exceed 5 years, and
the percentage of appointments or assignments that can be made
in excess of 5 years.
Director Vasquez supported this change to the five-year rule and
wrote letters to over fifty members of Congress on the Conference
Committee for the Appropriations bill urging them to support this
change to the five-year rule.
This Bill Expands the Exemption
The ``Safety and Security Bill'' that is now under consideration
takes the exemption one step further and provides an exemption to the
five year rule to employees who work in safety and security, members of
the Inspector General's office and personnel involved in medical
services.
This Bill also contains a clause for the Comptroller General to
study the five year rule and report back in one year with
recommendations, if any, for legislation to amend provisions of the
Peace Corps Act relating to the five year rule.
These exemptions will create a two-tiered employment structure at
the Peace Corps which will damage morale at the agency. More
importantly, these ``lifers'' will begin to dominate PC operations
given their longevity and ``institutional knowledge,'' resulting in
cynicism and hard feelings among non-tenured staff. Returned Volunteers
also fear that over the next few years the increasing numbers and
influence of safety and security employees not subject to the five-year
rule will change the nature of the Peace Corps.
Hugh Pickens,
Publisher, Peace Corps Online,
Baltimore, MD.
Senator Coleman. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You were saying that the incidents of violence are down. Is
there any area of the world where incidents of violence are up?
Mr. Vasquez. Again, Senator, I think the area of the
Inter-America/Pacific Region is an area where we have seen an
increase, a slight increase. I cannot offer you specific
numbers right now, but that is the region where we have seen
some slight increases, and we are taking steps to address some
of the issues, some of the considerations, and to evaluate what
we might be able to change or do differently to reduce and
minimize the impact on volunteers.
Senator Voinovich. How many volunteers do we have that are
in Muslim countries?
Mr. Vasquez. Approximately 20 to 22 percent of the
volunteers serving in the Peace Corps are serving in Muslim
countries.
Senator Voinovich. Have you noticed any increase in
incidents since 9/11?
Mr. Vasquez. No, Senator, none whatsoever. No variation in
terms of occurrences.
Senator Voinovich. In other words, the fact that there are
Peace Corps volunteers in a Muslim country has not been a
source of irritation in terms of their presence there? There
has been some feeling of secularism, bringing values that are
not consistent with the faith of the individuals that are
there.
Mr. Vasquez. No, sir, on the contrary. There has been
tremendous support. Last year we reentered or entered
Azerbaijan, Albania, and Chad, countries that are Muslim
countries, and I just returned from a visit to Azerbaijan and
our program has had a tremendous launch in that country,
enjoying great success, embraced by governmental leaders,
embraced by communities. The volunteers have been on the ground
for about 4 months and have received a tremendous welcome in
that country, and we continue to see that pattern throughout.
So we have seen no impacts, and we do monitor very, very
closely all countries in Peace Corps, but we monitor countries
throughout the world. In this instance, we note no events or
occurrences that would cause us concern.
Senator Voinovich. I am interested in it. If you have got
any extra information on it and can make it available, I would
appreciate it because I think that that is a wonderful area
where we can, with the growing fundamentalism and some
extremism, have an outreach of people going into these
countries and spending time with individuals, again bringing to
them what our value system is, which I think is very, very
important and could be a real area for some real good
initiative in terms of breaking down some of the misconceptions
that we have been seeing lately around the world.
[Additional information submitted by Mr. Vasquez follows:]
Peace Corps Programs in Predominantly Muslim Countries--An Overview
The Peace Corps continues to support programs in countries with
predominantly Muslim populations, namely, countries in the Sahel, North
Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia. Three out of four of our
new country entries in 2003 were in predominantly Muslim countries--
Albania, Azerbaijan, and Chad--bringing our total program involvement
from 14 nations in 2002 to 17 in 2004. We also re-entered Jordan and
Morocco, increasing the total number of Volunteers working in countries
with predominantly Muslim populations to over 20 percent. The Peace
Corps' mission in these countries matches our efforts worldwide and
continues to be important. Host communities are exposed to positive and
personal images of Americans, and returning Volunteers share their new
understanding of these different cultures with friends and family in
the United States.
As is true throughout the world, our potential to expand into
additional countries with Muslim populations is dependent on a written
expression of interest from a senior host government representative, a
positive in-country assessment, and available resources. The funding
must be available to support administrative start-up, training, and
Volunteer program support. The inviting country must meet safety and
security criteria, including a stable operational environment; access
to effective and reliable communications; available, safe and
affordable housing; access to essential services, such as health care
and banking; and access to evacuation logistical support.
Likewise, expanding the number of Volunteers in any current country
is influenced by resources, program opportunities, and safety and
security considerations. Our research verifies that safety and security
concerns are country specific and show no ethnic, religious, or
regional pattern.
The Peace Corps tracks assault events, both major and minor,
through a sophisticated data tracking system. In reviewing the data,
there is no pattern of assault events indicating a difference in the
safety and security of Volunteers in countries with significant Muslim
populations versus other Peace Corps countries. In fact, the region
with the highest rate of major assault events over the past five years
is the region without predominantly Muslim populated countries.
Thus, based on our data, Volunteers serving in Sahel, North Africa,
Middle East, Central and South Asian countries are equally safe and
secure as Volunteers world wide. We monitor individual country
situations carefully, and if a situation precludes Volunteers being
able to continue their work and community interaction effectively, we
reassess our presence in the country. We see no regional or ethnic
patterns to these assessments.
Senator Voinovich. I would also like to see the change in
orientation that you have, if you have got a piece of paper on
what the orientation was before you came in and what the
orientation is now, just to get a feel for how it has been
changed.
[Additional information submitted by Mr. Vasquez follows:]
Additional ``Orientation'' on Safety and Security
Staging is the two-day orientation for Peace Corps trainees that
takes place in the United States prior to departing for their host
country. In the summer of 2002, the Peace Corps extended staging from a
one-day to a two-day orientation and developed a new accompanying
curriculum to focus almost exclusively on safety and security and the
importance of personal responsibility. This reinforces the themes
articulated during the application process and flows directly to the
two to three months of intense pre-service training that follows. The
staging includes training on:
Peace Corps' overall approach to safety and security;
Awareness of policies and procedures that must be followed;
Acceptance of cultural differences that exist and
willingness to make adjustments;
Awareness of risks and how they can be managed; and
Understanding that Volunteers, Peace Corps staff, community
have specific responsibilities for Volunteer safety.
In addition to the information provided by recruiters and others in
the application process thus far, the staging kit that is sent out
several weeks prior to staging now contains a Peace Corps document
entitled ``Approach to Safety and Security'' that outlines key points
on safety and risk management.
Another new component to staging is the presence of a
representative from the Country Desk Unit throughout the staging event.
Not only is this individual a key contact for Volunteers and their
families, but the Country Desk representative is available to provide
country-specific information for trainees on expectations, cultural
sensitivities, and security incidents.
Senator Voinovich. Do you keep track of how often contacts
are made with individuals who are serving? Do you have
statistics on that? How often does the country director or
associate country director communicate with an individual?
Mr. Vasquez. Just for clarification, Senator, contact with
the volunteers?
Senator Voinovich. Yes. Once a week, once a month, once
every 6 months? You say you have got the new safety and
security people and you have got them out around the world, but
I would be interested in knowing just how often do they have
that contact.
Mr. Vasquez. Well, if I may respond very briefly, first of
all, there are minimum standards that are established by Peace
Corps, that a volunteer must be visited at least two times
during the first year, one time during the second year. That is
minimal guidelines.
What is more important to note is that throughout the year
the trainers, the staff, the support staff, the medical staff,
and other staff within that country will visit with the
volunteers. So there is probably in most countries a greater
frequency of that. There are volunteer leaders, what we call
wardens, individuals who are volunteers but who are responsible
for a certain area in the context of safety and security, the
interaction with the host organization or the partners, the
collaborators with whom the volunteers work.
So there is a frequency of interaction, and although at
first glance the minimal guidelines may seem few and far
between in terms of twice a year, the fact of the matter is
that the staff within country, beyond just the country
director, interact with volunteers on an ongoing basis. So the
frequency may be higher, depending on the volunteer, depending
on the kind of work and the proximity of the volunteer.
Senator Voinovich. I am not really interested in having
every move monitored or statistic kept track of, but if I gave
you the names of two or three individuals and asked you, could
you let me know how often they have been contacted? Could you
do that?
Mr. Vasquez. I suspect we could provide you some fairly
accurate information on that.
Senator Voinovich. So you would have a pretty good idea.
You would have a file on an individual and in that file would
be information regarding how often they had visited?
Mr. Vasquez. I do not know specifically how a country
would keep a specific file on a volunteer, but I could
certainly provide that information to you.
Senator Voinovich. In terms of the issue of communication,
since you have been there, is there a requirement that there be
communication, that they have to be available?
Mr. Vasquez. Yes, Senator. There is a requirement not only
that we have a communications plan in place within our
emergency action plan. Maybe I can take a moment here. Every
country is required to have an emergency action plan. That plan
is developed and designed to deal with any and all scenarios
that may develop in a country. I will cite the six evacuations
that have been conducted on my watch. It has ranged everything
from countries like Madagascar to Cote d'Ivoire, to the SARS
situation in China. Every one of those countries, every one of
those evacuations was successful in great part because our
communications plans worked because when we approve an
evacuation, we exercise that communications plan to let the
volunteers know that they are either to consolidate or they are
going to need to prepare to leave country for emergency
reasons.
So we do have a communications plan in every country. It is
tested to ensure that it is in place, that it works. Perhaps
most importantly, in response to the General Accounting Office
concern about some inconsistency, we now ensure that all of our
posts are compliant and that they all meet the standards so
that we minimize; and frankly, our goal is to eliminate any
inconsistencies that may occur. We require our posts to test
their plan, to ensure that it works, and when it does not work,
to take corrective action where appropriate.
Senator Voinovich. But fundamentally they have got better
communications than they did before you came on board.
Mr. Vasquez. I believe so, Senator. If I may just add. Of
course, as I mentioned earlier in my testimony, cellular
technology has evolved almost on a monthly basis in some
countries. So as that net of communication expands, then it
gives us an opportunity to create one more layer of
communication and a greater linkage. Frankly, I would not take
credit for the evolution of the cellular technology, but it
sure is helping us.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Senator Voinovich.
We are going to do a 5-minute follow-up round of
questioning.
Director Vasquez, I want to talk a little bit about the 5-
year rule. I understand Senator Sarbanes also had some concerns
about that. In your testimony, you noted that there were 23
exemptions, 19 of which are safety related. I will lay out the
questions and then you can answer them in whatever order you
see fit.
One, I would like to understand what is the rationale is.
Second, the exemptions. Have those been done by executive
order? Is there any legislation needed to deal with this 5-year
rule? Specifically talk to me about the impact it has on
volunteer safety.
Mr. Vasquez. Well, Mr. Chairman, 2 years ago in our
appropriations bill, language was included that authorized the
Director of the Peace Corps to exempt employees who worked in
safety and security from the 5-year rule. Conceptually the 5-
year rule has been viewed as a way of generating a turnover or
a rotation in Peace Corps that keeps the agency, as some have
described it, fresh, energized. It minimizes the chances of an
entrenched bureaucracy from taking hold and therefore maybe
minimizing or affecting the creativity that I think makes the
Peace Corps such a unique agency and such a unique
organization.
However, the 5-year rule--and as I have said to some folks,
there are some days I wake up and I think it is terrific, and
there are other days I wake up and I think it could use some
changes because what you do lose in the process in some cases
is institutional memory, some continuity. In fact, in some
cases, you lose talent that may contemplate or consider coming
to work at Peace Corps, but we lose some candidates because
they do not want to be bound to a limitation of service.
So with safety and security, we conducted an evaluation and
identified 23 positions that we know to be fully dedicated to
volunteer safety and security. Those positions have now been
cleared to be exempt from the 5-year rule.
The second wave gets a little more complicated, and that is
why in my testimony I pointed out that we have retained a third
party consultant to do an evaluation and provide us some
criteria and recommendations on what the second grouping should
be of those who should be exempt from the 5-year rule. Is it
someone whose job is 20 percent safety and security, 30
percent, 50 percent, 60 percent? We need some clarity on those
kinds of things. So we are conducting that evaluation, and as
soon as that report is available, it is my intention to review
and, where appropriate, approve those positions.
Senator Coleman. Please keep us posted on the progress of
that study. I would like to have that information as soon as
possible.
Mr. Vasquez. Certainly.
Senator Coleman. I would like to talk just a little bit
about female volunteers. The GAO report found that I think more
than a third of female volunteers report sexual harassment on a
monthly basis. Have you found that single female volunteers
posted alone suffer more incidents of sexual assaults and are
there any extra self-defense measures that are taken to protect
these volunteers?
Mr. Vasquez. On the first question, the issue of women in
the Peace Corps, we have seen an increase in the number of
women in the Peace Corps. Up to about 60 percent of all of the
volunteers today are women. Consequently we have revised our
training components at the training level, when volunteers come
into service initially during that first training phase, to
address and provide information to women volunteers about some
of the conditions and circumstances that they may confront and
face during the course of working, living in a community, and
commuting in a community. So we try to put some information on
the table so that that is available. We are continually
providing in-service training to be responsive to that.
In terms of the statistics on victimization, on sexual
harassment, or comments, cat calls, and other things like that,
it is on a country-by-country basis, and I really could not
provide you, although we can do some research and provide maybe
a more narrow profile, but based on the statistics that I have
reviewed, it varies from country to country. But we try to
respond to that with ongoing training.
Senator Coleman. Does this training include self-defense
training?
Mr. Vasquez. I was going to comment that the subject comes
up from time to time. I will tell you that having been in law
enforcement and having been an officer who designed a program
that every high school girl or woman in my community back in
California received as training, our emphasis was not self-
defense. Our emphasis was crime prevention. Our emphasis was
about managing self in terms of circumstances, being aware of
your surroundings. Prevention, frankly, at least in my mind,
having taught that area, is about crime prevention because
there is a high risk or an element of risk that when someone
resists a purse snatch or some other crime, unless you are
very, very well trained and you have maintained your capacity
to respond physically, there could be some peril, which then
could complicate a situation and frankly make it worse than the
initial encounter. So we are not averse to it, but I think
there would be some pretty extensive studies and evaluation
that would need to be conducted in light of some of the risks
that are tied to ``self-defense.''
Senator Coleman. So I am clear then, you mean self-
protection in a broader context, being aware of your
surroundings, making sure that you are not distracted.
Oftentimes a lot of incidents occur when people are on cell
phones. That kind of broader self-protection, is that provided
then on a regular basis?
Mr. Vasquez. It is part of our training to talk about the
kinds of risks that volunteers are subjected to when they are
on public transportation systems in their communities. There
are communities where the volunteers set up an alarm system, a
notification system, whether it be a whistle, whether it be a
verbal signal. Women volunteers have shared with me that they
have a system set up in their host community so that if they
are in a small community and they are living with a host
family--and a considerable percentage do--then they have a
system set up so that when that whistle or some other signal is
activated, the family knows to respond or knows that the
volunteer may need some assistance or may be in distress. So
there are different things that are talked about, things that
are shared with volunteers, practices that have worked
successfully both at work, at home, and while in public places,
and that is done frequently.
Senator Coleman. Thank you.
Senator Dodd.
Senator Dodd. Thanks very much.
I think your point, Mr. Director, is a very good one on
prevention. I think that makes the most sense.
I was just going down the summary, just to pick up on the
Chairman's questions. Again, there is nothing worse than people
who go back, ``when I was in school, we walked barefoot.'' So I
will preface my comments.
When I was a volunteer, I think the male to female ration
was 2 to 1. I think those numbers are right. Back in the
earlier days of the Peace Corps, the majority of volunteers
were male. There has been a significant change in the profile
of a volunteer today. As you point out, 60 percent are women.
But I was intrigued going down these numbers of the trends
in the 2002 safety report. On the sexual assaults, in more than
44 percent of the incidents it was a friend or an acquaintance
of the victim. The volunteer was alone with the assailant in 86
percent of the cases. Those two statistics seem to jump out.
The point being that I do not know what the profile looks like
today. I am sure it varies from country to country, but the
idea of having pairs of volunteers, particularly with women, in
more remote areas or places where there is going to be less
opportunity for people to come and respond to whistles or
whatever the prevention mechanisms you suggest. I would be
curious whether or not the data supports this. Whereas in more
congested areas where there are apt to be people who can hear
something going on, you may have less of a problem. It just is
raised as a point of interest. The tandem approach with people
who may be more vulnerable to attack may do a lot to reduce the
incidents of it.
I do not know if that is part of the practices or not. Is
it part of that today, or how do you look at that? You do not
make decisions on where to locate volunteers based on that at
all?
Mr. Vasquez. Senator, what we do is we provide very
specific guidance to the posts and to the staff in country as
to what the expectations should be and what the standards
should be for housing and locating a volunteer. Typically,
before a volunteer lives at his or her site, assuming they are
not going to live with a host family (and a considerable
percentage do), every volunteer lives with a host family
initially until they have identified a location for permanent
housing.
The numbers of volunteers who find their housing
satisfactory and safe is again in the 90th percentile. So I
think our approach is working in the context that we do not
just send a volunteer, man or woman, to a community and say,
well, go out and find some housing, you are on your own. We
place them first with a host family in the community so that
they get the opportunity to----
Senator Dodd. No. I understood that. I am talking about
actually pairing up volunteers in more remote areas where--in
fact, these numbers are holding up--where you get people
alone--that the assailant is a known person to the victim, it
seems to me that, where possible, having tandem volunteers
serving in an area makes more sense than not. That is the
general point I am making. Obviously, there are exceptions to
this, but I am just wondering, given the high rate of women as
volunteers today, whether or not that is a presumption we try
to make and whether or not that actually might reduce the
number of assaults we are seeing in the sexually related area.
Mr. Vasquez. We do not have information that would suggest
to us----
Senator Dodd. I am curious about that.
Mr. Vasquez (continuing).----that doubling volunteers, or
clustering, as they call it, would impact the numbers.
Senator Dodd. Let me raise that as a question for you and
maybe you can get back and give us some sense of that.
Mr. Vasquez. Certainly.
[Additional information submitted by Mr. Vasquez follows:]
Research on the Relationship Between Contact With Other Volunteers and
Volunteer Safety (Pairing)
In the bi-annual Volunteer survey, we ask questions about the
overall Volunteer experience including questions about perceptions of
safety. The results from the most recent survey (2002) show the
following:
Volunteers feel increasingly safe the smaller the community
in which they live and work, and this trend is quite
significant. They feel most safe on islands and in small
villages, and least safe in capital cities.
There is a correlation between Volunteers feeling less safe
in capital cities and the frequency of seeing other Volunteers.
The more they see other Volunteers, the less safe they feel in
capital cities.
There is a correlation between Volunteers feeling
integrated into their communities and the frequency of seeing
other Volunteers. The more they see other Volunteers the less
integrated they feel in their communities--a key safety factor.
There is a correlation between Volunteers reporting sexual
or racial harassment and the frequency of seeing other
Volunteers. The more they see other Volunteers, the more
frequently they report sexual or racial harassment.
Senator Dodd. I also want to raise--I will not ask for a
response to this--the issue of the 5-year rule. I am a strong
supporter of it. We have obviously made exceptions over the
years. Loret Ruppe is an example where a director served--I
forget how many years--I think it was 8 years and did an
incredible job, by the way, just a remarkable director. I know
you know that as well. So I am not rigid about the rule, but I
always like it to be that the presumption is in favor of the
rule and you have really got to make a strong case to overcome
that presumption. But there is a concern being raised that if
we begin to expand this, you end up having an entrenched
bureaucracy in the Peace Corps, which can overwhelm the agency,
and the vitality of the Peace Corps in no small measure I think
is attributed to the fact that there has been this turnover
every 5 years. It has maintained a lot of its youthfulness, if
you will, as an organization. So I just raise that.
Quickly before my time runs out, I want to raise a couple
of things. One, the GAO report here on page 3 of the report
says, we reported that the Peace Corps headquarters had
developed a safety and security framework but that the field's
implementation of the framework had produced varying results.
And they go down to the last sentence of that paragraph saying,
however, recent Inspector General reports indicate that safety
and security shortcomings in the field are still occurring.
So I commend you for what you are doing, obviously, in
trying to establish a plan. It seems to me we have got to try
to follow up to make sure that the implementation is occurring
at the field level. Again, this is difficult. The success of a
volunteer is their ability to connect and relate to a community
and if they become overly burdened with security, it makes it
awfully difficult to get the job done. So striking that balance
is not an easy challenge, I admit, but I would encourage you to
sort of follow up with that field to get reports back on how we
can enhance that security.
Secondly or thirdly--and this I do want a quick answer to,
if you could give it to us. One is how much do you think this
may cost. The bills that have been introduced by our
colleagues, Senators DeWine and Durbin, call for security
people. You may have asked this already, but I would be
interested in whether or not you have made an assessment of
what the cost of the Peace Corps would be if you were to
fulfill the DeWine-Durbin requirements on security in their
legislation.
Lastly, one provision of their bill calls for the Peace
Corps to assign its own security officer to each country. I
wonder if you think this is an appropriate post for the Peace
Corps to fill.
Mr. Vasquez. On the first part of your question, Senator,
were you asking about the cost implications of the whole bill
or specific to----
Senator Dodd. Specific to the security piece.
Mr. Vasquez. Well, one of the elements that has been
talked about and proposed is the idea of American hires serving
as the safety and security coordinators in each of our posts.
We have not run the numbers on those costs, but just on its
face they would be significant, very, very significant.
Senator Dodd. Is that security through our embassy there
or separate?
Mr. Vasquez. No. The safety and security coordinators are
newly created positions----
Senator Dodd. Within the Peace Corps.
Mr. Vasquez (continuing).----for Peace Corps.
Senator Dodd. Only Peace Corps.
Mr. Vasquez. That is correct.
Senator Dodd. No connection with the U.S. embassy.
Mr. Vasquez. No. Exclusively dedicated to the Peace Corps
and to volunteer safety at each post.
The benefit of having host country nationals in those
positions--and although we do have some Americans, in fact,
return Peace Corps volunteers who are serving in those
positions now, but the fact is that many of them are host
country nationals who have been in law enforcement, who know
the country, who know the system, who know the geography, who
know the infrastructure, who know the criminal justice system,
and they bring tremendous knowledge to the table, and they
provide us some very, very good guidance and some good
perspective on how to manage safety and security in a host
country.
On your first comment, we have not run specific numbers,
but on its face, it would be very, very substantial costs for
the Peace Corps.
Senator Dodd. I think it would be helpful for us to get
that because I think Senators DeWine and Durbin have raised a
good point with their bill. We are obviously going to be asked
about it. It would be very helpful to get from the Peace Corps
what the costs are that we are talking about here. If you are
going to simultaneously increase the number of volunteers in
the field, then we better have some feel of what that is going
to cost, not only what it would cost today, but I would like
you to match those numbers up with increases so we have an
overall sense of this thing or everything is going to suffer as
a result, both security as well as recruitment, if that is our
goal.
Thanks.
[Additional information submitted in response to Senator
Dodd's question follows:]
Peace Corps Safety and Security Coordinators
The cost of adding 74 direct American hires at each post in FY 2005 =
$14.8 million.
(This includes all 71 posts, the opening of the Mexico program this
fall & the addition of two new countries in FY 2005.) In subsequent
years, this cost would only increase. To put this amount in context--
the Peace Corps' current budget is $308 million for FY 2004. The agency
received a $13 million increase from FY 2003, which was $51 million
below the President's request.
The Safety and Security Coordinator provides logistical and
administrative support to senior staff at post on safety and security
matters. Manual Section 270 (related to safety and security) requires
posts to maintain up-to-date information, such as accurate site locator
forms, site history forms, training components, site visit verification
and reports, and assault incident reports. The Safety and Security
Coordinator must be able to perform other functions, such as
coordinating with staff during the testing of the EAPs and the
appropriate recording and dissemination of results--including any
revisions. All Safety and Security Coordinators are hired as Personal
Service Contracts (PSCs), and almost all (97%) are host country
nationals. These host country nationals are often former law
enforcement officials and can readily navigate the language, cultural
norms, and laws of the host country.
Since the primary security need at post is for logistical support
at the Peace Corps office and in the field, a host country national is
completely competent--if not better--positioned to be effective on
behalf of the Volunteer.
The Peace Corps Country Director, a U.S. citizen, is the official
charged with the ultimate responsibility of Peace Corps Volunteers'
safety and security at post, and is therefore the primary recipient of
security or threat information coming from the U.S. Embassy. The
Country Director appropriately maintains high-level contact with the
Ambassador, Regional Security Officer (RSO), and others. In fact, the
Country Director is a member of the Embassy's Emergency Action
Committee and is fully briefed during times of crises or increased
alert. The Country Director tasks the in-country staff to perform the
security related functions required to adequately prepare for any
routine or emergency safety situation.
Additionally, each post is covered by a field-based Peace Corps
Safety and Security Officer (PCSSO). These individuals act as security
consultants for Country Directors and regional security staff at every
post. They must be U.S. citizens and maintain strong working
relationships with the Embassy's Regional Security Officer.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Senator Dodd.
Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. I just have one question. Have you
changed the examination of the host families since you have
been on board in terms of the procedure that is used to
determine reliability of the families that your volunteers are
going into?
Mr. Vasquez. The host families are screened and evaluated
on a country-by-country basis, and the procedures and the
processes that we have put in place include----
Senator Voinovich. Does the Peace Corps do the evaluation,
not the host country? The Peace Corps does the evaluation?
Mr. Vasquez. The Peace Corps staff in the host country,
the country director and the supporting staff in the Peace
Corps country do an evaluation of the family and do the
evaluation of the site, taking into account that safety and
security is a very, very important aspect of where we place
volunteers with host families. That is absolutely a component.
Senator Voinovich. Is there a tendency to have a
repetition of families? In other words, in a country where we
have been for 10-15 years, families continue to participate in
the program?
Mr. Vasquez. Senator, I do not have specific information
on that. I would be glad to follow up with information on that
specifically because, again, I suspect, as has happened so
often in Peace Corps, because our countries are so varied and
conditions and circumstances are so varied, there are
variations on that, and there are probably some families who
have been supporting Peace Corps volunteers for years and there
are others who may rotate in and out of the process.
[Additional information submitted by Mr. Vasquez follows:]
Placement of Volunteers With Host Families After a Security Incident
All Peace Corps posts have established and maintain site history
files. This is an important part of the compliance mechanism for manual
Section 270, related to safety and security. The site history files
contain information on site assessments and site visits, as well as
reported security incidents. thus, if the Peace Corps has records to
indicate that a security incident has taken place that involves a
specific host family; the Peace Corps will ensure that Volunteers will
not be placed with that family. If the situation warrants, not only
will the Peace Corps refrain from placing Volunteers with the host
family, but also in the community in which the incident occurred.
Senator Voinovich. In this article in the Dayton Daily
News, Kevin Leville of Ventura, California reported that he had
been burglarized three times during his service, and they were
all reported to the Peace Corps staff and nothing happened.
Ultimately the place was broken into and he was beaten to
death. If you get complaints like this, how fast do you respond
to them?
Mr. Vasquez. Well, Senator, first, I place expectations
with my country directors, and I have made it very clear and I
have spoken with every country director in Peace Corps. I
interview the candidates for country directors one on one. They
are my selection, and I make it very clear that I have
expectations, that they understand that we are a volunteer-
based organization and the volunteer is number one.
They also understand or should understand, because it is
articulated, that if a volunteer has issues relative to safety
or security, or where the fulfillment of the opportunity to be
a good Peace Corps volunteer is not being met, I have an
expectation that the country director and staff will be
responsive to that volunteer. With the enhancement of a safety
and security coordinator, we now have additional staff that can
also address safety and security issues when that volunteer
feels that safety and security is not to the standards that he
or she expects.
My test is that when a volunteer's work is disrupted,
interrupted or distracted, then we are not doing our job, and
we try to be responsive. When volunteers let us know and when
they communicate with us, my expectation is that the country
staff be responsive to the needs of a volunteer when a site,
when a job, and expectations are not being met.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Senator Voinovich.
Director Vasquez, I want to thank you for your testimony,
and I want to thank you for your leadership.
Mr. Vasquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Coleman. What we are going to do is we are going
to combine the next two panels. So our next panel will be Mr.
Jess Ford, Director, International Affairs and Trade at U.S.
General Accounting Office; Mr. Kevin Quigley, President,
National Peace Corps Association, Washington, D.C.; Ms. Cynthia
Threlkeld, Guatemala Country Director, Peace Corps; and Ms.
Gladys Maloy, former Peace Corps Romania volunteer.
I do anticipate that we have a series of votes around
11:15. So what we will do is we will begin the testimony. If
votes come up, we will recess, then come back and finish. We
will start with Mr. Ford, then followed by Mr. Quigley, Ms.
Threlkeld. And do I pronounce it right? Is it Maloy?
Ms. Maloy. Maloy.
Senator Coleman. The usual pronunciation.
We will start from there. Note that we have a timing
system, and when it gets to amber, please sum up. If you have
written statements, they will be entered into the record as a
whole. Let us start with Mr. Ford.
STATEMENT OF JESS FORD, DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND
TRADE, U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Mr. Ford. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the
committee. I am pleased to be here today to discuss GAO's work
on Peace Corps' efforts to improve safety and security of its
volunteers.
My testimony today will summarize and update, where
possible, key findings from our July 2002 examination and
report that touched on three main topics: first, that we
discuss the trends in crime against volunteers in the agency's
system for generating such information; we discuss the Peace
Corps's field implementation of its safety and security
framework; and we discuss the underlying factors that
contributed to the Peace Corps' performance in the field. I
will also discuss recent actions that the Peace Corps has taken
to improve the safety and security of its volunteers since we
issued our report.
The Peace Corps-reported rates for most types of assaults
have increased since the Peace Corps began collecting such data
in 1990. For example, the reported incidence rate for major
physical assaults nearly doubled from an average of about 9 per
1,000 volunteer-years to about 17 per 1,000 volunteer-years up
through 2002. The full extent of crime against Peace Corps
volunteers is unknown because there is significant under-
reporting of crime by volunteers.
We reported that the Peace Corps had initiated efforts to
encourage reporting and collect additional data but that there
were also unrealized opportunities for additional examination
of security information. For example, our analysis showed that
newer volunteers may be more likely to become victims of crime
than the more experienced colleagues.
In response to our findings, the Peace Corps hired an
analyst to enhance its capacity for analyzing crime data. The
analyst is focused on upgrading the crime data system in the
Peace Corps and has shifted responsibility for the data
collection and analysis to its new Office of Safety and
Security. According to the analyst, additional crime analyses
have not yet been fully conducted, but they are currently in
the process of looking at new ways to examine the information
that they obtain in order to try to prevent future crime
accidents.
We reported that Peace Corps headquarters had developed a
safety and security framework, but that the field's
implementation of the field work had produced varying results.
While volunteers are generally satisfied with the agency's
training programs, there was mixed performance in key elements
of the framework, such as developing safe and secure housing
sites, monitoring volunteers, and planning for emergencies. For
example, in each of the five posts we visited, we found
instances of volunteers who began their service in housing that
had not been fully inspected and had not met Peace Corps
guidelines. We also found variation in the frequency of staff
contact with volunteers and in the Peace Corps' responsiveness
to volunteers' concerns about safety and security.
To improve safety and security practices in the field, in
2002 the Peace Corps increased the number of field-based safety
and security officers charged with reviewing post practices and
assisted them in making improvements in their frameworks in the
field. The Peace Corps has recently hired a compliance officer
charged with independently assessing each post's compliance
with the framework.
We reported that a number of factors, including staff
turnover, informal supervision and oversight mechanisms, and
unclear guidance, hampered the Peace Corps' efforts to ensure
high quality performance for the agency as a whole. For
example, the Peace Corps reported high staff turnover caused in
part by the agency's statutorily imposed 5-year limit on
employment had resulted in a lack of institutional memory,
producing a situation in which agency staff were continually
reinventing the wheel.
We recommended that the Peace Corps address this issue.
Recently Congress has granted the Peace Corps authority to
exempt safety and security staff from the 5-year rule. The
Peace Corps has exempted 23 staff positions, and it is
currently examining the feasibility of exempting others as
well.
To strengthen supervision and oversight, the Peace Corps
has created an Office of Safety and Security and has
centralized safety and security functions under a senior
manager. The office is supported by a staff member in each of
the three regional bureaus and a compliance office and has nine
field-based security officers.
In response to our recommendations, the Peace Corps is
revising its current security framework and procedures and is
currently developing new ways to measure security in the field
to prevent further problems.
In conclusion, since we issued our report in July of 2002,
the Peace Corps has taken several actions to improve safety and
security of its volunteers. The Peace Corps is still in the
process of implementing many of these actions, which are
designed to improve the overall environment that volunteers
must work under.
That concludes my opening statement. I would be happy to
answer any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Ford follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jess T. Ford
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to be here to discuss Peace Corps' efforts to ensure
the safety and security of its volunteers. My testimony is based on our
July 2002 report, information we obtained from the Peace Corps to
update our analysis, and recent testimony before the House of
Representatives.\1\
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\1\ U.S. General Accounting Office, GAO-02-818, Peace Corps:
Initiatives for Addressing Safety and Security Challenges Hold Promise,
But Progress Should be Assessed (Washington, D.C.: July 25, 2002); and
GAO-04-600T, Peace Corps: Status of Initiatives to Improve Volunteer
Safety and Security (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 24, 2004). We reported
separately on events surrounding one specific security incident--the
disappearance of a volunteer in Bolivia in early 2001. See, The Peace
Corps Failed to Properly Supervise Missing Volunteer and Lost Track of
Him, GAO-O1-970R (Washington, D.C.: July 20, 2001).
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About 7,500 Peace Corps volunteers currently serve in 70 ``posts''
(country missions) around the world. The administration intends to
increase this number to about 14,000 over the next few years, and
Congress has increased appropriations for the Peace Corps to support
this expansion. Volunteers often live in areas with limited access to
reliable communications, police, or medical services. As Americans,
they may be viewed as relatively wealthy and, hence, good targets for
criminal activity. In many countries, female volunteers face special
challenges; more than a third of female volunteers report experiencing
sexual harassment on at least a monthly basis.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Most recent available data, from Peace Corps Volunteer Survey
Global Report 2002, Peace Corps (August 2003).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
My testimony today will summarize and update, where possible, key
findings from our 2002 report related to (1) trends in crime against
volunteers and the agency's system for generating such information, (2)
the agency's field implementation of its safety and security framework,
and (3) the underlying factors that contributed to Peace Corps'
performance in the field. I will also discuss actions that Peace Corps
has taken to improve the safety and security of its volunteers since we
issued our report.
We conducted fieldwork at Peace Corps' headquarters and visited
five countries with Peace Corps programs to prepare our report. To
develop our analysis, we:
analyzed Peace Corps' crime data;
reviewed agency-wide safety and security policies,
guidelines, training materials, volunteer satisfaction surveys,
and Inspector General reports;
interviewed key staff and more than 150 volunteers; and:
examined practices for selecting volunteer sites, developing
emergency action plans, and performing other tasks.
We conducted our work from July 2001 through May 2002 and from
February 2004 through March 2004, in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.
In summary, we found the following:
Peace Corps' reported incidence rates of crimes committed against
volunteers have remained essentially unchanged since we last
reported.\3\ Reported rates for most types of assaults have increased
since Peace Corps began collecting data in 1990, but reported rates
have stabilized in recent years. For example, the reported incidence
rate for major physical assaults nearly doubled from an average of
about 9 per 1,000 volunteer years in 1991-1993 to an average of about
17 per 1,000 volunteer years \4\ in 1998-2000. Data for 2001 and 2002
show that this rate has not changed. The full extent of crime against
Peace Corps volunteers is unknown because there is significant
underreporting of crime by volunteers. We reported that Peace Corps had
initiated efforts to encourage reporting and collect additional data
but that there were also other unrealized opportunities for additional
examination of data. For example, our analysis showed that newer
volunteers may be more likely to become victims of crime than their
more experienced colleagues. In response to our findings, in April
2003, Peace Corps hired an analyst to enhance its capacity for
gathering and analyzing crime data. The analyst has focused on
upgrading the crime data system and shifting the responsibility for
data collection and analysis from the medical office to the newly
created safety and security office, to place the responsibility for
crime data in an office dedicated to safety and security. According to
the analyst, additional crime analyses have not yet been conducted, as
the focus has been on upgrading the process for collecting and
reporting data.
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\3\ The Peace Corps crime data system records and tracks data by
criminal ``event'' rather than by volunteer; those charged with filing
reports are instructed to count events involving more than one
volunteer only once.
\4\ One volunteer year is equivalent to 1 full year of service by a
volunteer or trainee.
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We reported that Peace Corps' headquarters had developed a safety
and security framework but that the field's implementation of the
framework had produced varying results. While volunteers were generally
satisfied with the agency's training programs, there was mixed
performance in key elements of the framework such as in developing safe
and secure housing sites, monitoring volunteers, and planning for
emergencies. For example, at each of the five posts we visited, we
found instances of volunteers who began their service in housing that
had not been inspected and had not met Peace Corps' guidelines. We also
found that the frequency of staff contact with volunteers and the
quality and comprehensiveness of emergency action plans varied. Recent
tests of the emergency action plans indicate that the agency has made
improvements in the length of time needed to contact volunteers. To
improve safety and security practices in the field, in 2002, the agency
increased the number of field-based safety and security officers
charged with reviewing post practices and assisting them in making
improvements, and created a safety and security position at each post.
Peace Corps hired a compliance officer charged with independently
assessing each post's compliance with the framework. However, recent
Inspector General reports indicate that safety and security
shortcomings in the field are still occurring.
We reported that a number of factors, including staff turnover,
informal supervision and oversight mechanisms, and unclear guidance
hampered Peace Corps' efforts to ensure high-quality performance for
the agency as a whole. For example, Peace Corps reported that high
staff turnover, caused in part by the agency's statutorily imposed 5-
year limit on employment for U.S. direct hire staff, had resulted in a
lack of institutional memory, producing a situation in which agency
staff are continually ``reinventing the wheel.'' We made a
recommendation that Peace Corps develop a strategy to address staff
turnover, including an assessment of the ``5-year rule''--a statutory
restriction on the tenure of U.S. direct hire employees.\5\ In response
to our recommendation on staff turnover and the difficulties it
created, Peace Corps was granted authority to exempt safety and
security staff from the 5-year rule. The agency has exempted 23 staff
positions from the 5-year rule and plans to conduct a study to
determine whether there are additional positions that should be
exempted. To strengthen supervision and oversight, Peace Corps created
an office of safety and security that centralizes safety and security
functions under an associate directorship. The office is supported by a
staff member in each of the three regional bureaus, a compliance
officer, an analyst, and nine field-based security officers. We also
recommended that Peace Corps develop performance indicators and report
on its safety and security initiatives. The agency is still clarifying
its guidance on how to apply its revised framework, revising its
indicators of progress, and establishing a base line for judging
performance in all areas of safety and security.
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\5\ See U.S.C. 2506(a)(5), (6) and Public Law 108-7, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2003, as well as Public
Law 108-199, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2004.
This and other issues are addressed in H.R. 4060, passed June 1, 2004.
The bill has not been passed by the Senate as of June 22, 2004.
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In conclusion, since we issued our report in July 2002, it is clear
that the agency has taken a number of steps designed to improve the
safety and security of its volunteers. However, Peace Corps is still in
the process of implementing many of these actions and their full effect
has yet to be demonstrated.
Background
Created in 1961, Peace Corps is mandated by statute to help meet
developing countries' needs for trained manpower while promoting mutual
understanding between Americans and other peoples. Volunteers commit to
2-year assignments in host communities, where they work on projects
such as teaching English, strengthening farmer cooperatives, or
building sanitation systems. By developing relationships with members
of the communities in which they live and work, volunteers contribute
to greater intercultural understanding between Americans and host
country nationals. Volunteers are expected to maintain a standard of
living similar to that of their host community colleagues and co-
workers. They are provided with stipends that are based on local living
costs and housing similar to their hosts. Volunteers are not supplied
with vehicles. Although the Peace Corps accepts older volunteers and
has made a conscious effort to recruit minorities, the current
volunteer population has a median age of 25 years and is 85 percent
white. More than 60 percent of the volunteers are women.
Volunteer health, safety, and security is Peace Corps' highest
priority, according to the agency. To address this commitment, the
agency has adopted policies for monitoring and disseminating
information on the security environments in which the agency operates,
training volunteers, developing safe and secure volunteer housing and
work sites, monitoring volunteers, and planning for emergencies such as
evacuations. Headquarters is responsible for providing guidance,
supervision, and oversight to ensure that agency policies are
implemented effectively. Peace Corps relies heavily on country
directors--the heads of agency posts in foreign capitals--to develop
and implement practices that are appropriate for specific countries.
Country directors, in turn, rely on program managers to develop and
oversee volunteer programs. Volunteers are expected to follow agency
policies and exercise some responsibility for their own safety and
security. Peace Corps emphasizes community acceptance as the key to
maintaining volunteer safety and security. The agency has found that
volunteer safety is best ensured when volunteers are well integrated
into their host communities and treated as extended family and
contributors to development.
Reported Crime Incidents Have Increased, But Full Extent of Crime
Against Volunteers Remains Unknown
Reported incidence rates of crime against volunteers have remained
essentially unchanged since we completed our report in 2002.\6\
Reported incidence rates for most types of assaults have increased
since Peace Corps began collecting data in 1990, but have stabilized in
recent years. The reported incidence rate for major physical assaults
has nearly doubled, averaging about 9 assaults per 1,000 volunteer
years in 1991-1993 and averaging about 17 assaults in 1998-2000.
Reported incidence rates for major assaults remained unchanged over the
next 2 years. Reported incidence rates of major sexual assaults have
decreased slightly, averaging about 10 per 1,000 female volunteer years
in 1991-1993 and about 8 per 1,000 female volunteer years in 1998-2000.
Reported incidence rates for major sexual assaults averaged about 9 per
1,000 female volunteer years in 2001-2002.
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\6\ Crime data are available through 2002. Based on our assessment
of crime data that we performed in preparing our 2002 report and
subsequent discussions with agency officials, we concluded that the
data we obtained to update the rates and trends in crime against
volunteers were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this
statement.
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Peace Corps' system for gathering and analyzing data on crime
against volunteers has produced useful insights, but we reported in
2002 that steps could be taken to enhance the system. Peace Corps
officials agreed that reported increases are difficult to interpret;
the data could reflect actual increases in assaults, better efforts to
ensure that agency staff report all assaults, and/or an increased
willingness among volunteers to report incidents. The full extent of
crime against volunteers, however, is unknown because of significant
underreporting. Through its volunteer satisfaction surveys, Peace Corps
is aware that a significant number of volunteers do not report
incidents, thus reducing the agency's ability to state crime rates with
certainty. For example, according to the agency's 1998 survey,
volunteers did not report 60 percent of rapes and 20 percent of non-
rape sexual assaults. Reasons cited for not reporting include
embarrassment, fear of repercussions, confidentiality concerns, and a
belief that Peace Corps could not help.
In 2002, we observed that opportunities for additional analyses
existed that could help Peace Corps develop better-informed
intervention and prevention strategies. For example, our analysis
showed that about a third of reported assaults after 1993 occurred from
the fourth to the eighth month of service--shortly after volunteers
completed training, arrived at sites, and began their jobs. We observed
that this finding could be explored further and used to develop
additional training.
Efforts to Improve Data Collection and Analysis Are in Process
Since we issued our report, Peace Corps has taken steps to
strengthen its efforts for gathering and analyzing crime data. The
agency has hired an analyst responsible for maintaining the agency's
crime data collection system, analyzing the information collected, and
publishing the results for the purpose of influencing volunteer safety
and security policies. Since joining the agency a year ago, the analyst
has focused on redesigning the agency's incident reporting form to
provide better information on victims, assailants, and incidents and
preparing a new data management system that will ease access to and
analysis of crime information. However, these new systems have not yet
been put into operation. The analyst stated that the reporting protocol
and data management system are to be introduced this summer, and
responsibility for crime data collection and analysis will be
transferred from the medical office to the safety and security office.
According to the analyst, she has not yet performed any new data
analyses because her focus to date has been on upgrading the system.
Safety and Security Framework Unevenly Implemented in the Field
We reported that Peace Corps' headquarters had developed a safety
and security framework but that the field's implementation of this
framework was uneven. The agency has taken steps to improve the field's
compliance with the framework, but recent Inspector General reports
indicate that this has not been uniformly achieved. We previously
reported that volunteers were generally satisfied with the agency's
training programs. However, some volunteers had housing that did not
meet the agency's standards, there was great variation in the frequency
of staff contact with volunteers, and posts had emergency action plans
with shortcomings. To increase the field's compliance with the
framework, in 2002, the agency hired a compliance officer at
headquarters, increased the number of field-based safety and security
officer positions, and created a safety and security position at each
post. However, recent Inspector General reports continued to find
significant shortcomings at some posts, including difficulties in
developing safe and secure sites and preparing adequate emergency
action plans.
Volunteers Are Generally Satisfied with Training
In 2002, we found that volunteers were generally satisfied with the
safety training that the agency provided, but we found a number of
instances of uneven performance in developing safe and secure housing.
Posts have considerable latitude in the design of their safety training
programs, but all provide volunteers with 3 months of preservice
training that includes information on safety and security. Posts also
provide periodic in-service training sessions that cover technical
issues. Many of the volunteers we interviewed said that the safety
training they received before they began service was useful and cited
testimonials by current volunteers as one of the more valuable
instructional methods. In both the 1998 and 1999 volunteer satisfaction
surveys, over 90 percent of volunteers rated safety and security
training as adequate or better; only about 5 percent said that the
training was not effective. Some regional safety and security officer
reports have found that improvements were needed in post training
practices. The Inspector General has reported that volunteers at some
posts said cross-cultural training and presentations by the U.S.
embassy's security officer did not prepare them adequately for safety-
related challenges they faced during service. Some volunteers stated
that Peace Corps did not fully prepare them for the racial and sexual
harassment they experienced during their service. Some female
volunteers at posts we visited stated that they would like to receive
self-protection training.
Mixed Performance in Housing, Monitoring Volunteers, and Emergency
Action Plans
Peace Corps' policies call for posts to ensure that housing is
inspected and meets post safety and security criteria before the
volunteers arrive to take up residence. Nonetheless, at each of the
five posts we visited, we found instances of volunteers who began their
service in housing that had not been inspected and had various
shortcomings. For example, one volunteer spent her first 3 weeks at her
site living in her counterpart's office. She later found her own house;
however, post staff had not inspected this house, even though she had
lived in it for several months. Poorly defined work assignments and
unsupportive counterparts may also increase volunteers' risk by
limiting their ability to build a support network in their host
communities. At the posts we visited, we met volunteers whose
counterparts had no plans for the volunteers when they arrived at their
sites, and only after several months and much frustration did the
volunteers find productive activities.
We found variations in the frequency of staff contact with
volunteers, although many of the volunteers at the posts we visited
said they were satisfied with the frequency of staff visits to their
sites, and a 1998 volunteer satisfaction survey reported that about
two-thirds of volunteers said the frequency of visits was adequate or
better. However, volunteers had mixed views about Peace Corps'
responsiveness to safety and security concerns and criminal incidents.
The few volunteers we spoke with who said they were victims of assault
expressed satisfaction with staff response when they reported the
incidents. However, at four of the five posts we visited, some
volunteers described instances in which staff were unsupportive when
the volunteers reported safety concerns. For example, one volunteer
said she informed Peace Corps several times that she needed a new
housing arrangement because her doorman repeatedly locked her in or out
of her dormitory. The volunteer said staff were unresponsive, and she
had to find new housing without the Peace Corps' assistance.
In 2002, we reported that, while all posts had tested their
emergency action plan, many of the plans had shortcomings, and tests of
the plans varied in quality and comprehensiveness. Posts must be well
prepared in case an evacuation becomes necessary. In fact, evacuating
volunteers from posts is not an uncommon event. In the last two years
Peace Corps has conducted six country evacuations involving nearly 600
volunteers. We also reported that many posts did not include all
expected elements of a plan, such as maps demarcating volunteer
assembly points and alternate transportation plans. In fact, none of
the plans contained all of the dimensions listed in the agency's
Emergency Action Plan checklist, and many lacked key information. In
addition, we found that in 2002 Peace Corps had not defined the
criteria for a successful test of a post plan.
Actions Taken to Improve Field Compliance, but Implementation Still
Uneven
Peace Corps has initiated a number of efforts to improve the
field's implementation of its safety and security framework, but
Inspector General reports continued to find significant shortcomings at
some posts. However, there has been improvement in post communications
with volunteers during emergency action plan tests. We reviewed 10
Inspector General reports conducted during 2002 and 2003. Some of these
reports were generally positive--one congratulated a post for operating
an ``excellent'' program and maintaining high volunteer morale.
However, a variety of weaknesses were also identified. For example, the
Inspector General found multiple safety and security weaknesses at one
post, including incoherent project plans and a failure to regularly
monitor volunteer housing. The Inspector General also reported that
several posts employed inadequate site development procedures; some
volunteers did not have meaningful work assignments, and their
counterparts were not prepared for their arrival at site. In response
to a recommendation from a prior Inspector General report, one post had
prepared a plan to provide staff with rape response training and
identify a local lawyer to advise the post of legal procedures in case
a volunteer was raped. However, the post had not implemented these
plans and was unprepared when a rape actually occurred.
Our review of recent Inspector General reports identified emergency
action planning weaknesses at some posts. For example, the Inspector
General found that at one post over half of first year volunteers did
not know the location of their emergency assembly points. However, we
analyzed the results of the most recent tests of post emergency action
plans and found improvement since our last report. About 40 percent of
posts reported contacting almost all volunteers within 24 hours,
compared with 33 percent in 2001. Also, our analysis showed improvement
in the quality of information forwarded to headquarters. Less than 10
percent of the emergency action plans did not contain information on
the time it took to contact volunteers, compared with 40 percent in
2001.
Underlying Factors Contributed to Uneven Field Implementation, but
Agency Has Taken Steps to Improve Performance
In our 2002 report, we identified a number of factors that hampered
Peace Corps efforts to ensure that this framework produced high-quality
performance for the agency as a whole. These included high staff
turnover, uneven application of supervision and oversight mechanisms,
and unclear guidance. We also noted that Peace Corps had identified a
number of initiatives that could, if effectively implemented, help to
address these factors. The agency has made some progress but has not
completed implementation of these initiatives.
High staff turnover hindered high quality performance for the
agency. According to a June 2001 Peace Corps workforce analysis,
turnover among U.S. direct hires was extremely high, ranging from 25
percent to 37 percent in recent years. This report found that the
average tenure of these employees was 2 years, that the agency spent an
inordinate amount of time selecting and orienting new employees, and
that frequent turnover produced a situation in which agency staff are
continually ``reinventing the wheel.'' Much of the problem was
attributed to the 5-year employment rule, which statutorily restricts
the tenure of U.S. direct hires, including regional directors, country
desk officers, country directors and assistant country directors, and
Inspector General and safety and security staff. Several Peace Corps
officials stated that turnover affected the agency's ability to
maintain continuity in oversight of post operations.
In 2002, we also found that informal supervisory mechanisms and a
limited number of staff hampered Peace Corps efforts to ensure even
application of supervision and oversight. The agency had some formal
mechanisms for documenting and assessing post practices, including the
annual evaluation and testing of post emergency action plans and
regional safety and security officer reports on post practices.
Nonetheless, regional directors and country directors relied primarily
on informal supervisory mechanisms, such as staff meetings,
conversations with volunteers, and e-mail to ensure that staff were
doing an adequate job of implementing the safety and security
framework. One country director observed that it was difficult to
oversee program managers' site development or monitoring activities
because the post did not have a formal system for performing these
tasks. We also reported that Peace Corps' capacity to monitor and
provide feedback to posts on their safety and security performance was
limited by the small number of staff available to perform relevant
tasks. We noted that the agency had hired three field-based safety and
security specialists to examine and help improve post practices, and
that the Inspector General also played an important role in helping
posts implement the agency's safety and security framework. However, we
reported that between October 2000 and May 2002 the safety and security
specialists had been able to provide input to only about one-third of
Peace Corps' posts while the Inspector General had issued findings on
safety and security practices at only 12 posts over 2 years. In
addition, we noted that Peace Corps had no system for tracking post
compliance with Inspector General recommendations.
We reported that the agency's guidance was not always clear. The
agency's safety and security framework outlines requirements that posts
are expected to comply with but did not often specify required
activities, documentation, or criteria for judging actual practices--
making it difficult for staff to understand what was expected of them.
Many posts had not developed clear reporting and response procedures
for incidents, such as responding to sexual harassment. The agency's
coordinator for volunteer safety and security stated that unclear
procedures made it difficult for senior staff, including regional
directors, to establish a basis for judging the quality of post
practices. The coordinator also observed that, at some posts, field-
based safety and security officers had found that staff members did not
understand what had to be done to ensure compliance with agency
policies.
Peace Corps Taking Steps to Address These Factors
The agency has taken steps to reduce staff turnover, improve
supervision and oversight mechanisms, and clarify its guidance. In
February 2003, Congress passed a law to allow U.S. direct hires whose
assignments involve the safety of Peace Corps volunteers to serve for
more than 5 years. The Peace Corps Director has employed his authority
under this law to designate 23 positions as exempt from the 5-year
rule. These positions include nine field-based safety and security
officers, the three regional safety and security desk officers working
at agency headquarters, as well as the crime data analyst and other
staff in the headquarters office of safety and security. They do not
include the associate director for safety and security, the compliance
officer, or staff from the office of the Inspector General. Peace Corps
officials stated that they are about to hire a consultant who will
conduct a study to provide recommendations about adding additional
positions to the current list.
To strengthen supervision and oversight, Peace Corps has increased
the number of staff tasked with safety and security responsibilities
and created the office of safety and security that centralizes all
security-related activities under the direction of a newly created
associate directorate for safety and security. The agency's new crime
data analyst is a part of this directorate. In addition, Peace Corps
has:
appointed six additional field-based safety and security
officers, bringing the number of such individuals on duty to
nine (with three more positions to be added by the end of
2004);
authorized each post to appoint a safety and security
coordinator to provide a point of contact for the field-based
safety and security officers and to assist country directors in
ensuring their post's compliance with agency policies,
including policies pertaining to monitoring volunteers and
responding to their safety and security concerns (all but one
post have filled this position);
appointed safety and security desk officers in each of Peace
Corps' three regional directorates in Washington, D.C., to
monitor post compliance in conjunction with each region's
country desk officers; and
appointed a compliance officer, reporting to the Peace Corps
Director, to independently examine post practices and to follow
up on Inspector General recommendations on safety and security.
In response to our recommendation that the Peace Corps Director
develop indicators to assess the effectiveness of the new initiatives
and include these in the agency's annual Government Performance and
Results Act reports, Peace Corps has expanded its reports to include 10
quantifiable indicators of safety and security performance.
To clarify agency guidance, Peace Corps has:
created a ``compliance tool'' or checklist that provides a
fairly detailed and explicit framework for headquarters staff
to employ in monitoring post efforts to put Peace Corps' safety
and security guidance into practice in their countries;
strengthened guidance on volunteer site selection and
development;
developed standard operating procedures for post emergency
action plans, and;
concluded a protocol clarifying that the Inspector General's
staff has responsibility for coordinating the agency's response
to crimes against volunteers.
These efforts have enhanced Peace Corps' ability to improve safety
and security practices in the field. The threefold expansion in the
field-based safety and security officer staff has increased the
agency's capacity to support posts in developing and applying effective
safety and security policies. Regional safety and security officers at
headquarters and the agency's compliance officer monitor the quality of
post practices. All posts were required to certify that they were in
compliance with agency expectations by the end of June 2003. Since that
time, a quarterly reporting system has gone into effect wherein posts
communicate with regional headquarters regarding the status of their
safety and security systems and practices.
The country desks and the regional safety and security officers,
along with the compliance officer, have been reviewing the emergency
action plans of the posts and providing them with feedback and
suggestions for improvement. The compliance officer has created and is
applying a matrix to track post performance in addressing issues
deriving from a variety of sources, including application of the
agency's safety and security compliance tool and Inspector General
reports. The compliance officer and staff from one regional office
described their efforts, along with field-based safety and security
staff and program experts from headquarters, to ensure an adequate
response from one post where the Inspector General had found multiple
safety and security weaknesses.
However, efforts to put the new system in place are incomplete. As
already noted, the agency has developed, but not yet introduced, an
improved system for collecting and analyzing crime data. The new
associate director of safety and security observes that the agency's
field-based safety and security officers come from diverse backgrounds
and that some have been in their positions for only a few months. All
have received training via the State Department's bureau of diplomatic
security. However, they are still employing different approaches to
their work. Peace Corps is preparing guidance for these officers that
would provide them with a uniform approach to conducting their work and
reporting the results of their analyses, but the guidance is still in
draft form. The Compliance Officer has completed detailed guidance for
crafting emergency action plans, but this guidance was distributed to
the field only at the beginning of this month. Moreover, following up
on our 2002 recommendation, the agency's Deputy Director is heading up
an initiative to revise and strengthen the indicators that the agency
uses to judge the quality of all aspects of its operations, including
ensuring volunteer safety and security, under the Government
Performance and Results Act.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be
happy to respond to any questions you or other Members of the Committee
may have at this time.
______
Highlights of the 2002 Report
OBSERVATIONS ON VOLUNTEER SAFETY AND SECURITY
Why GAO Did This Study
About 7,500 Peace Corps volunteers currently serve in 70 countries.
The administration intends to increase this number to about 14,000.
Volunteers often live in areas with limited access to reliable
communications, police, or medical services. As Americans, they may be
viewed as relatively wealthy and, hence, good targets for crime. In
this testimony, GAO summarizes findings from its 2002 report Peace
Corps: Initiatives for Addressing Safety and Security Challenges Hold
Promise, but Progress Should be Assessed, GAO-02-818, on (1) trends in
crime against volunteers and Peace Corps' system for generating
information, (2) the agency's field implementation of its safety and
security framework, and (3) the underlying factors contributing to the
quality of these practices.
What GAO Found
The full extent of crime against Peace Corps volunteers is unclear
due to significant under-reporting. However, Peace Corps' reported
rates for most types of assaults have increased since the agency began
collecting data in 1990. The agency's data analysis has produced useful
insights, but additional analyses could help improve anti-crime
strategies. Peace Corps has hired an analyst to enhance data collection
and analysis to help the agency develop better-informed intervention
and prevention strategies.
In 2002, we reported that Peace Corps had developed safety and
security policies but that efforts to implement these policies in the
field had produced varying results. Some posts complied, but others
fell short. Volunteers were generally satisfied with training. However,
some housing did not meet standards and, while all posts had prepared
and tested emergency action plans, many plans had shortcomings.
Evidence suggests that agency initiatives have not yet eliminated this
unevenness. The inspector general continues to find shortcomings at
some posts. However, recent emergency action plan tests show an
improved ability to contact volunteers in a timely manner (see figure).
In 2002, we found that uneven supervision and oversight, staff
turnover, and unclear guidance hindered efforts to ensure quality
practices. The agency has taken action to address these problems. To
strengthen supervision and oversight, it established an office of
safety and security, supported by three senior staff at headquarters,
nine field-based safety and security officers, and a compliance
officer. In response to our recommendations, Peace Corps was granted
authority to exempt 23 safety and security positions from the ``5-year
rule''--a statutory restriction on tenure. It also adopted a framework
for monitoring post compliance and quantifiable performance indicators.
However, the agency is still clarifying guidance, revising indicators,
and establishing a performance baseline.
What GAO Recommends
In 2002, to ensure that Peace Corps initiatives to improve safety
and security performance would have their intended effect, GAO
recommended that the agency (1) develop indictors to assess the
effectiveness of these initiatives and (2) develop a strategy to
address staff turnover.
The full report, Peace Corps: Initiatives for Addressing Safety and
Security Challenges Hold Promise, But Progress Should Be Assessed, can
be accessed at: www.gao.gov/new.items/d02818.pdf.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Mr. Ford.
Mr. Quigley.
STATEMENT OF KEVIN F.F. QUIGLEY, PRESIDENT, THE NATIONAL PEACE
CORPS ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Mr. Quigley. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to
appear before the subcommittee to provide something about the
volunteers' perspective on this important issue of safety and
security. In addition to my written statement, I would like to
submit for the record a survey that we have done of our
membership and some comments from our membership about the
legislation the committee is considering.
Senator Coleman. It will be entered, without objection.
[The survey to which Mr. Quigley referred appears following
Mr. Quigley's prepared statement.]
Mr. Quigley. Thank you.
My testimony will have four parts: some background about my
organization, something about my experiences, the focus on
safety and security, and a summary from the membership survey
on these issues.
Founded in 1979, the National Peace Corps Association
(NPCA) is the only national organization for Peace Corps
volunteers, staff, and others whose lives have been influenced
by the Peace Corps experience. In our network, there are 154
affiliates and 36,000 individuals.
Over the past 10 months, I have had the chance to talk to
more than 1,000 volunteers and 30 groups about these issues of
safety and security. In the Peace Corps community, there is
fervent support for the Peace Corps mission despite the growing
awareness about concerns for their safety and security.
My Peace Corps experience: I became a volunteer in 1976 and
served for 3 years in Thailand. I arrived a month after the
last U.S. soldiers stationed there during the Vietnam War
departed.
My training involved three components: Thai language,
teaching English as a second language, and a cross-cultural
component. After 9 weeks of training, I was sent to an isolated
post in Dan Sai district in Loei province, approximately 10
miles from the border with Laos in an area that was described
as sensitive. Like many volunteers who had gone before me and
come after me, I knew there was some risk associated with my
assignment since it was in one of the most isolated and poorest
parts of the country.
Although there was considerable fighting going on in Dan
Sai district, I never felt threatened or in danger at my site.
This was due to the fact that I was included in and identified
as part of the community. It seemed that all the people in Dan
Sai understood who I was and that I was teaching their
children.
While in Dan Sai, I was visited by Country Director Manual
``Mick'' Zenick, who 25 years later gave me a copy of my letter
regarding his visit to my site.
Communication was by mail and since there was no phone
service in my district, I would have to travel to the
provincial capital 90 kilometers away. However, there was
regular mail service and a yearly monitoring visit, plus
periodic trips to Bangkok for training or medical purposes or
ongoing Peace Corps activities to provide oversight of my
experiences.
My experiences in Peace Corps, like others, involved a
pattern of site assessment prior to my arrival, volunteer
training, monitoring by the Peace Corps in-country staff, and
emergency planning.
If I had not been placed in such a remote site, for which I
was well prepared, I would not have been able to contribute or
learn anywhere near as much as I did. I have heard from
hundreds of other volunteers who have had comparable kinds of
posting in remote and sensitive areas and they share my
assessment.
In the aftermath of September 11th, there has been growing
public awareness about the needed attention to safety and
security of Americans overseas, including Peace Corps
volunteers. Within the community, there is a broad spectrum of
opinion about these sets of issues. There is no disagreement at
all about our grief for the 260 volunteers who have lost their
lives in service, and we have enormous sympathy for our fellow
volunteers who have experienced harm.
There is a sense within the Peace Corps community that some
of the discussion on safety and security misses the broader
context, whether the Peace Corps experience is, relatively
speaking, any more risky in terms of homicides or assaults than
life for a comparable cohort in urban America or, probably more
aptly, overseas development workers or volunteers for Peace
Corps' counterparts in Germany, Britain, France, and Japan.
There is also concern in the community that the necessary
attention to safety and security does not diminish the
essential uniqueness and value of the Peace Corps experience.
Mr. Chairman, let me say a few words about the summary from
our membership about some of the provisions in the legislation
you are considering.
Regarding the creation of an office of ombudsman, 72
percent of the respondents to our survey endorse this.
Establishing statutorily the office of safety and security,
our membership was split, 48 to 47 percent, regarding this
proposal.
On the issue of volunteer posting, there was a strong
sentiment in the community, despite I think Senator Dodd's very
good question about whether there needs to be some adjustment
in remote areas for female volunteers, 90 percent of our
respondents opposed requiring that all volunteers be assigned
in pairs. In my office we conducted an informal survey among
the eight former volunteers; the two who were married to their
spouses, who were also volunteers, were the only two who
opposed tandem pairings.
In conclusion, let me say that, Mr. Chairman, the Peace
Corps community thanks you and fellow RPCV and ranking member,
Senator Dodd, and members of the committee for taking a look at
this important issue of safety and security. The National Peace
Corps Association will work with you and the committee to
ensure that these issues are addressed in a way that preserves
the essence of the Peace Corps experience and best advances
U.S. interests. I would also be glad to answer any questions
that the committee might have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Quigley follows:]
Prepared Statement of Kevin Quigley
Senator Coleman, my name is Kevin Quigley, President of the
National Peace Corps Association. I appreciate the opportunity to
appear before the committee to provide the volunteers' perspective on
the important issue of the safety and security of Peace Corps.
My comments fall into four general categories: background, my
experience, the focus on safety and security, and the results of a
survey of our membership.
BACKGROUND
The National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) is a 501(c)(3)
organization founded in 1979. The NPCA is the only national
organization for Peace Corps volunteers, staff, and others whose lives
have been influenced by the Peace Corps experience. Our mission is to
``help lead the Peace Corps community and others in fostering peace
through service, education and advocacy.''
In the NPCA network, there are 154 affiliates and more than 36,000
individuals who participate in our national or affiliates' activities
and support our mission. These individuals reside in all 50 states and
the District of Columbia. The NPCA has programs to promote service,
enhance understanding of other cultures, and to advocate around issues
of concern to our community.
Over the past ten months since assuming this position, I have met
with 30 of NPCA's affiliates and talked about the Peace Corps
experience with more than a thousand former volunteers and staff. One
common theme through all of these discussions is that Peace Corps
service is the defining experience that continues to shape our lives.
Among the community of those who have served, there is broad, deep and
passionate support for Peace Corps, which often leads to ongoing
service back home. This community understands the vital importance of
having volunteers working overseas--as they have done in more than 130
countries--to promote peace through training individuals in their host
countries, educating them about the United States, and upon their
return educating Americans about the countries in which they served.
This reflects Peace Corps' three goals, which are perceived as every
bit as vital today as when the agency was established 43 years ago.
This fervent support for the Peace Corps mission continues despite
the growing awareness of concerns about our country's security and the
safety and security of volunteers. This community understands the vital
importance of America's positive engagement with the rest of the world,
especially at the grassroots level, and living together as friends and
colleagues, which only Peace Corps provides.
During these many conversations, I also have learned that no two of
the 171,000 Americans who have served as Peace Corps volunteers have an
identical experience. There are differences based on the volunteer, the
country, the assignment, the era, and the people we served. There are,
however, many common threads linking these experiences across the
generations of volunteers regardless of the country or region of
service or the nature of the assignment. These common threads include
serving in often remote locations, as perhaps the only American,
learning another language, living with others as friends and
colleagues, and developing a deep appreciation of another culture.
Even with these many commonalities, it is difficult to generalize.
So, Mr. Chairman, I would like to provide some perspective on this
important safety and security issue by describing my own experience, as
well as providing information resulting from a recent survey that we
have done with our membership.
MY PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE
I became a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1976 and served for three
years. My group arrived in Thailand the month after the last U.S.
soldiers stationed there during the Vietnam War departed but while
there was still fighting, especially in the border areas.
My training involved three components: (1) Thai language, (2)
Teaching English-As-A-Second Language, and (3) Cross-cultural. Having
studied nine different languages in some fashion, I can attest that
Peace Corps provided the finest language training I ever received. The
technical training was sufficient to ensure that we would succeed as
teachers in a Thai classroom. The cross-cultural training component
provided invaluable insights about how to live and adapt to what was
then an extremely foreign culture.
After 9-weeks of training, I was sent to an isolated post in Dan
Sai district, Loei province approximately ten miles from the border
with Laos in an area described as ``sensitive.'' In that area there was
ongoing fighting between insurgents and government forces. The closest
volunteers were 60 kilometers to the South or 90 kilometers to the
East, both over mountainous roads that were nearly impassable in the
monsoons. Like many volunteers who had gone before me, I knew there was
some risk associated with my assignment since it was in one of the most
isolated and poorest parts of the country.
Before my arrival at my post in Dan Sai, a Peace Corps program
manager had visited the site and met with the host counterpart to
ensure that there was an appropriate work assignment and housing.
Although there was considerable ongoing fighting in Dan Sai
district, including frequent firings of 105 millimeter shells, common
sightings of helicopter gunships and ambushes of government outposts, I
never felt threatened or in danger at my site. This was due to the fact
that I was included in and identified as part of the community. It
seemed that all the people in Dan Sai understood who I was and that I
was teaching their children. Since I was incorporated into the
community, filing the emergency action plan that Peace Corps required
of all volunteers seemed a bit unnecessary, if not unreal.
While a volunteer in Dan Sai, I was visited by the Country
Director, Manuel ``Mick'' Zenick--who 25 years later gave me a copy of
my letter regarding his visit. I was also visited by one other
volunteer who lived in the provincial capital, who I would visit
typically once a month. Communication was by mail since there was no
phone service in my district. To make a phone call required travel to
the provincial capital, 90 kilometers away. However, the mail and a
yearly monitoring visit, plus periodic trips to Bangkok for training or
medical purposes were sufficient to provide oversight of my activities.
In my second and third years, I worked in more urban settings. I
transferred from Dan Sai because I thought I could make more of a
contribution at a larger institution. I was visited once a year by a
Peace Corps official, which was sufficient.
The very nature of my initial Peace Corps assignment--in a remote
area far from where tourists traveled or where there were scant
Americans--made a deep impression on the people I worked and lived
with. This encouraged them to see Peace Corps and the government that
supported it in profound and important new ways, contributing to the
most memorable experience of my life. That was truly remarkable given
that the consequences of the war in Southeast Asia were still
reverberating around the region.
I recognize that my experience was unique to me and happened
decades ago. Based on what I have learned from many other volunteers,
however, it has bearing on this topic. My experience involved Peace
Corps's basic approach to volunteer placement: (1) site assessment, (2)
volunteer training, (3) monitoring, and (4) emergency planning. If I
had not been placed in such a remote site, for which I was well
prepared, I would not have been able to contribute or learn anywhere
near as much as I did. I have heard from hundreds of other volunteers
who had comparable kinds of postings in remote and ``sensitive areas,''
and they share my assessment.
FOCUS ON SAFETY AND SECURITY ISSUES
In the aftermath of the tragic events of September 2001, there has
been growing public attention to the issue of safety and security of
Americans overseas, including Peace Corps volunteers. Following the
2002 GAO Report and in the lead up and the aftermath of a series
published by The Dayton Daily News, there has been lively discussion in
the Peace Corps community about safety and security issues.
Within this community there is a broad spectrum of opinion.
However, among those of us who have served we agree that the safety and
security of volunteers must be a paramount concern. All our members
grieve for the 260 volunteers who have lost their lives in service and
have enormous sympathy for our fellow volunteers who have experienced
harm. Whenever a tragedy occurs or whenever a volunteer is harmed we
expect--in fact demand--that Peace Corps do everything humanly possible
to be responsive.
There is also a sense that the discussion on safety and security
misses the broader context, whether the Peace Corps experience is,
relatively speaking, any more risky in terms of homicides and assaults
than life for a comparable cohort in urban America, overseas
development workers or for volunteers with Peace Corps' German,
British, France and Japanese counterparts. Unfortunately, there is no
comparison regarding what those agencies' experiences are with regard
to safety and security.
In addition, there is concern among the community that the
necessary attention to safety and security does not diminish the
essential uniqueness and value of the Peace Corps experience--allowing
Americans to live and work alongside our host country counterparts and
living as they live. Much of this value is based on a flexible approach
to posting volunteers, whether it is in urban or rural settings.
Volunteers are sent to where there is a cooperating host institution
offering appropriate work, access to essential services, suitable
housing, and an expressed need for them. All volunteers also prepare a
plan for responding to emergencies. As I learned from the volunteers
who were recently evacuated from Haiti, these plans work remarkably
well. This is attested to by the fact that in the more than 30 post
closings over the past decade due to civil war, political unrest, or
concerns about repercussions related to the war in Iraq, there has not
been an incident where a volunteer was harmed.
There is also some concern that the resources required to address
safety and security concerns may undermine Peace Corps' unique and
vital contributions to U.S. foreign policy. This is especially the case
if adequate funding is not provided to enable Peace Corps to meet the
President's goal of doubling the size of Peace Corps, which is strongly
endorsed by the community.
In addition, the community believes that there is an opportunity to
significantly expand the number of countries where Peace Corps is
operating. Doing this would be extremely beneficial to the national
interest. This can be done without jeopardizing volunteer's safety and
security, although it may require that Peace Corps develop a more
flexible approach to programming. For example, this may require relying
on technical cooperation agreements in lieu of bilateral agreements as
in the recent case of Mexico. It may also require somewhat shorter or
more flexible assignments, perhaps only a year service or two years
service that could be interrupted for a short period for a home visit.
Doubling the size of Peace Corps and expanding to new countries are
goals endorsed by the community. It will require significant new
resources, which do not appear to be forthcoming. Thus, any new
requirements related to safety and security that Congress decides to
implement must be accompanied by additional financial resources.
Much of the discussion seems to miss the fact that concern with
volunteer safety and security is not new. Recently, I have had the
chance to talk with eight of the Peace Corps Directors, spanning from
the first Director to the current Director. For all of these directors,
safety of the volunteers was a critical issue. Over the past few years,
significant new investments have been made to address these issues in
the context of current global realities.
Mr. Chairman, I understand that the committee is considering
legislation to address the issue of volunteer safety and security. I
have had a chance to review this legislation and ask our membership
about its main provisions and some of the topics you mentioned.
MEMBERSHIP SURVEY
Last week, we at the NPCA posted a short survey to our website to
garner responses to the proposed legislation. While not necessarily
scientific, the survey results and the accompanying narrative responses
offer insight into the array of returned volunteer attitudes on this
important topic. Following are my own views, informed by my experiences
and supplemented by the results from our recent survey:
Office of Ombudsman. Creating an Office of Ombudsman would
be perceived by the Peace Corps community as being responsive
to many former volunteers, especially those who have been
harmed or become ill during their service and not received
promised post-service support. They will perceive that their
concerns are being addressed by a strong, vibrant mechanism
advocating for their interests. Seventy-two percent of the
respondents to our survey endorsed this.
Office of Safety and Security. Establishing statutorily the
Office of Safety and Security would underscore the Congress's
concern with and commitment to ensure the safety and security
of volunteers and recognition that these issues are a current
reality and will be with us for many decades to come. This
Office should be charged with notifying any volunteer
victimized by crime and should also be notified about the
processing of criminal charges. The respondents to our survey
were equally split regarding the merits of this proposal.
Inspector General's Office. Changing the status of the
Inspector General by making it independent is not perceived as
likely to have any appreciable effect on volunteer's safety and
security. The respondents to our survey were equally split
regarding the merits of this proposal.
Volunteer Posting. There have been proposals to post at
least two volunteers to each site or consolidate groups of
volunteers. That would diminish the experience and lessen the
impact of Peace Corps without necessarily enhancing the safety
and security of volunteers. Two volunteers posted together tend
to be less well integrated and perhaps less well accepted by
the local community. Two volunteers are more likely to be
perceived as able to look after each other, thus diminishing
the community's need to have a stake in their safety and
security. In our recent survey, 90% of the respondents opposed
requiring that all volunteers be assigned in pairs.
Five-Year Rule. The legislation proposes a report to
Congress of the ``Five-Year Rule'' and the rule's potential
implications on issues of recruitment, health, safety, and
productive work assignments. Seventy percent of our respondents
supported this provision.
Office of Medical Services. The legislation calls for a
report to Congress concerning medical screening processes and
guidelines, as well as a statistical review of the medical
appeals process. The community considers this Office critical
to volunteer's safety and security and wishes to see that this
Office has the resources required and the authority necessary
to play its critical role. Sixty-five percent of the
respondents in our survey supported this provision.
Provision of Cellular/Satellite Phones. Modern technology,
especially satellite and cell phones and access to the
internet, provides today's volunteers a much greater ability to
stay in touch with the in-country Peace Corps staff, as well as
their family and friends at home. If regular access to these
technologies can appreciably improve volunteers' safety and
security, they should be provided at the discretion of the
country director. In our survey, 67 percent of the respondents
opposed requiring volunteers to have modern communication
equipment.
Self-Defense Training. If this training improves volunteers'
safety and security, it should be offered on a voluntary basis,
again at the discretion of the country director.
Frequency of Site Visits. A successful Peace Corps
experience does require that there be oversight of the
volunteer's activities. That oversight can be accomplished
through a variety of means, site visits, phone and email
interactions, as well as meetings in the Peace Corps country
offices and during various in-service trainings. The frequency
of site visits should be determined by the country director.
Legislatively mandating the frequency of site visits can not
possibly recognize the vast differences between Peace Corps
countries and assignments.
CONCLUSION
It is essential that whatever Congress does to address this issue
of volunteer safety and security should not impede the fundamental
mission and style of Peace Corps, which has contributed to its success
over the past four decades. Peace Corps' greatest contributions have
resulted from the fact that it provides Americans a relatively unique
opportunity to live and work alongside our host country counterparts
and live as they live. Policies that isolate volunteers from the
communities they live and serve in and mandate more frequent site
visits are not necessarily going to enhance the safety and security of
volunteers. Equally important is that whatever Congress does on this
issue should not detract from the vitally important goal of expanding
the numbers of serving volunteers and that the President's 2005 budget
request be met.
Senator Coleman, the Peace Corps community thanks you for
addressing the issue of volunteer safety and security. The NPCA will
work with you and the Committee to ensure that these issues are
addressed in ways that preserve the essence of the Peace Corps mission
and best advance U.S. interests. We will also work so that the
President's budget request can be met, providing many more Americans
with the opportunity to serve their country through the Peace Corps and
to bring that experience back to America in ways that help shape our
place in the world.
National Peace Corps Association (NPCA)
Survey on Peace Corps Safety/Security Legislation
June 9-21, 2004
Survey Results and Comments From Respondents
______
Number of Respondents: 225
216 Respondents were returned Peace Corps volunteers (96%).
149 Respondents were NPCA members (66%).
______
(1) Should a Peace Corps Office of Safety and Security, with individual
country security coordinators, be established by law?
YES: 109 (48%)
NO: 110 (49%)
Comments on Safety & Security Issues:
``Having served recently, I and my fellow volunteers have
noticed the rapid increase in rules that affect our service,
mostly in response to Safety and Security issues. Although some
of the new requirements are necessary, many of them in practice
treat PCVs as children. There should be an understanding that
PCVs are competent adults and professionals, and should be
treated as such.''
Female, Bulgaria, 2002-04
``Safety concerns are an important part of PC training.
Accidents will happen, unfortunately, but we must not
overreact.''
Female, Solomon Islands, 1994-96
``I served as a PCV twice and as a Country Director and
realize that something needs to be done to strengthen and
monitor safety and security in many country programs. I would
suggest that Congress tread softly with this--I realize that
the Dayton newspaper reports raised serious concern--perhaps
more then was merited. I would hate to think that a wonderful
institution like Peace Corps could be harmed by ill-conceived
legislation based on this journalism. On the other hand, all
who have served in Peace Corps know that we are placed in
challenging situations. We depend on the good judgment of our
Country Directors, support staff in country and at HQ, our
counterparts and friends and supervisors on site and our own
good common sense. Legislation can only go so far to protect
the PCV in the field from harm. Let us support our country
programs--not second guess their safety and security PSTs,
country evacuation plans, site assessments and other useful
tools.''
Male, Sierra Leone, India, Mongolia, 1966-68; 1969-71; 1995-99
``The issue of safety and security of Peace Corps volunteers
is of the utmost importance and in my experience; I do not feel
that it has been given the priority that it deserves. Creating
institutions to further monitor these issues and respond to
volunteer concerns are very important to ensuring the safety
and security of each volunteer, so that they may then be better
able to fulfill their assignments.''
Female, Western Russia, 2000-02
``The concerns about Volunteer health and safety are always
important. However, efforts by Congress to dictate Peace Corps
procedures is not necessary and will be counter-productive.
Congress should appropriate adequate sums to Peace Corps for
operations and expansion and then leave it alone to do its
job.''
Male, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Macedonia, HQ, 1965-79, 1994-01
``Learning the language and living with the people and within
their means is the number one way to ensure security. We must
maintain the grassroots approach and do the best jobs we can do
so that the people will give us their respect and in turn their
security.''
Female, Uzbekistan, 2000-01
``I was one of the PCVs who was sexually assaulted during my
service, and the Peace Corps acted like it was my job to adjust
to the new culture. I got no help from anyone, even though my
assault occurred during training by a family member of a house
to which the Peace Corps assigned me to live. I question the
whole family getting process, the degree of autonomy with which
the trainers are permitted to work, and how the Peace Corps
balances volunteer safety with the goals of the Peace Corps.''
Anonymous
``Country security coordinator: The idea is good, but that
all countries need their own? There is something to be said for
economies of scale. Couldn't it be based on number of PVC's/
staff/level of security risks, etc. vs. every country needing
one?''
Female, Benin, 2001-03
``While I understand the issues of safety and security, I do
believe that the consideration must include context per
country. An in country office of Safety and Security would look
different in each country Peace Corps participates in and would
be most appropriate and helpful to volunteers.''
Female, Guatemala, 1987-91
``I was a PC Country Director 1992-97. During my tenure, we
instituted significantly increased safety and security
measures, in response to local conditions (e.g., increased
crime, predictions of increased hurricane activity, political
instability). I strongly believe that the respective post is in
the best position to judge the needs in that country. The key
is good quality staff in the field and at headquarters, not
additional legislation and more bureaucracy.''
Male, Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, 1970-71, 1980-83, 1992-
97
``The most useful safety tool for volunteers to have is good
relations with their neighbors, who are likely to be concerned
about the health and safety of everyone in the village.
Volunteers are safest when they are well integrated in the
local society. Peace Corps can help with that integration. The
most effective thing that could be done to improve volunteer
safety and security would be to have enough in-country Peace
Corps staff to visit volunteers to check on their progress,
relations with their neighbors, safety, health, etc. Staff
needs to have experience as volunteers and experience in their
country of service to be effective in such a role. Adding more
layers of Peace Corps staff in Washington will not solve health
and safety problems. Kevin Quigley should speak to Congress
about the reality of life as a Peace Corps volunteer.''
Male, Botswana, 1990-91
``While safety and security of PCVs is an important issue for
PC, the risks inherent in working in Third World countries is
and has always been a part of the job. I think we Americans try
to take all the risk out of our lives at the expense of truly
living.''
Male, Cameroon, 1976-78
``I left the Peace Corps because I did not feel safe. Since I
left several of my associates have been robed, assaulted and
raped. I do not feel like safety issues were taken seriously
enough nor were they budgeted for.''
Female, West Indies, 2003
``Safety and security were always the number one concern of
Peace Corps staff when I served. Beyond the instructions and
guidelines PC staff gave PCVs, there was the responsibility of
the PCVs to maintain regular contact with the office, with
other volunteers, and with their communities. Increasing safety
to PCVs is important, but at the same time, PCVs are adults and
should act like them.
Female, Panama, 2001-03
(2) Should a study be conducted concerning the ``Five-Year Rule'' of
employment for Peace Corps staff and the rule's potential
implications on issues of recruitment, health, safety and
productive work assignments?
YES: 158 (70%)
NO: 60 (27%)
(3) Do you support ``Five-Year Rule'' exemptions for Peace Corps'
Office of the Inspector General, Office of Safety and Security,
and Office of Medical Services?
YES: 114 (51%)
NO: 98 (44%)
Comments on the ``Five-Year Rule'':
``The prime role where the 5-year rule might be eliminated is
for staff involved in budgets, where experience with the
Congressional budgeting process is important.''
RPCV, Ghana 1962-64, Romania 2004-06
``If the five-year rule is kept it should remain that there
should be no exceptions. The entire PC is somewhat transitory;
this might hurt in some areas, but all-in-all it is a benefit
to keep new people coming in.''
Male, Thailand, 1962-64
``Term limits are, on the whole, a positive part of the PC
structure--keeping PC from becoming too bureaucratically rigid.
Exceptions should be based on special needs for continuity,
experience for opening a new program, program evaluations, etc.
at discretion of PC director and RDs--with some cap on the
number of third tours (basically, the current system).
Legislating certain positions for permanent exemption (S&S,
medical, etc.) is NOT a good idea. Machinations that inevitably
evolve will result in ``creative'' definitions of certain
person's jobs in order to circumvent the ``5-year'' rule.
Permanent exemptions will also lead to these folks having undue
influence within the system within 5-10 years (i.e., building
the bureaucratic empires the 5-year rule is designed to
mitigate).''
Male, Hungary, Armenia, Mongolia, 1995-97; 1998-2003
``The five-year rule should be modified. It should apply to
how many years someone can serve in a position in Peace Corps,
not in the agency. Too much knowledge is lost. If a person who
has served 5 years is not hired in another position within the
agency, then they should be given the standard 3-year provision
towards another federal job. They then could reapply to work
for PC at a later time and if hired, so be it.''
Female, Venezuela, 1967-69; Staff, 1985
``The five-year rule should be done away with except for the
newly proposed security personnel. As long as all staff and
volunteers are subject to annual review, there is no reason to
limit their time of service.''
Male, Thailand, 1975-77
``A process for waiver of the five-year rule should be
devised, for successive five-year periods, with required input
from active PCVs and RPCVs. The five-year rule made sense for
many years and still does. The original reasons--fresh turnover
of new ideas with new people and less chance of becoming a big
government bureaucracy with the same folks running the show--
are still true today. In my mind as a past and current worker
in the Office of Medical Services as I look around the office I
am thankful for the five-year rule and would additionally say
there should be no exceptions and no extensions.''
Female, Malaysia, 1967-68
``The 5-year rule should remain for all PC staff. That is the
true spirit of the agency.''
Female, Niger, 1990-92
``I don't think security people should be any more sacred
than other employees of Peace Corps (regarding the 5-year
rule). I do think it important to have medical staff that is
knowledgeable and consistent and would support their exemption
from the rule.''
Female, Guatemala, 1992-94
``I am not `solid' on most of the above questions, and could
likely be convinced to change the answer. But, I believe Peace
Corps should remain a different kind of agency, without
careerists, with minimum bureaucracy, and with the original
goals.''
Male, Sierra Leone
(4) Should an Office of the Ombudsman be created within the Peace
Corps?
YES: 163 (72%)
NO: 58 (26%)
Comments on the Office of Ombudsman:
``It will be essential that the Ombudsman and Inspector
General who are chosen come from the RPCV community and
appreciate the issues, challenges and concerns that country
programs face and the nature of the PCV in the field. If these
positions are filled by ill-informed folks, the legislation can
become detrimental to all concerned.''
Male, Sierra Leone, India, Mongolia, 1966-68; 1969-71; 1995-99
``I like the idea of an Ombudsman; universities and colleges
have them, and it seems a better way to bring up problems/
issues than solely going to Country Director and/or Washington
HQ. I also think the safety/security issues will only become
more relevant as time passes and it is a lot of responsibility
(on top of so many other duties/responsibilities) for the
Country Directors and staff to handle; creating a new position
to handle those issues strikes me as a good idea.''
Female, Dominican Republic, 2001-02
``Vital to keep Ombudsman and IG autonomous--i.e. independent
of agency control.''
Male, Tonga, 1997-99
``There needs to be adequate funding for the PC. There also
needs to be a way for returnees, or vols, to complain and be
heard. So, can't PC set that up with someone as ombudsman
without making a whole new position with all the expense of
that?''
Female, Niger, 1964-66
(5) Should an independent Inspector General for the Peace Corps be
established?
YES: 99 (44%)
NO: 116 (52%)
Comments on an independent Inspector General:
``My experience was that at least in Kenya the Country
Director's office did an excellent job. Any additional funding
by Congress should be used for volunteers not an unnecessary
bureaucratic layer of underutilized people.''
Male, Kenya, 1998-2000
``I'm not comfortable with the Inspector General being a
presidential appointee, and I am especially uncomfortable with
the suggestion that that appointee could remain in office
indefinitely (if the five-year rule did not apply).''
Female, Samoa, 2000-02
``The staffing of any congressional investigations (or GAO)
should be carefully done. A traditional government mindset
could lead to totally inappropriate findings.''
Male, Philippines, 1971-76, Washington Staff
``I am really nervous about PC becoming a political football
. . . a more independent Inspector General is one thing, but
appointed by the President? That's just asking for it to become
a totally political position.''
Female, Bolivia, 1998-2000
(6) Do you support a report to Congress by Peace Corps concerning
medical screening processes and guidelines, including a
statistical review of the medical appeals process?
YES: 148 (66%)
NO: 70 (31%)
Comments on medical screening process and guidelines:
``In general, I am against the plan for Congressional
oversight of Peace Corps. I believe Peace Corps needs to plan
more for the safety of PCV's and I think that there should be
an independent review when a PCV is separated early from the
Peace Corps. My personal observation is that when I was in
Honduras form 1982-84, any one who should have separated from
Peace Corps was and most of those who had medical problems were
adequately treated or sent to the States for treatment. I did
have issue with the PC MD in Honduras at the time and more than
a few of us questioned his abilities and judgment and we felt
that our worries were not given proper consideration.''
Female, Honduras, 1982-84
(7) Do you support a Comptroller General's review and report on issues
pertaining to Peace Corps' volunteer work assignments?
YES: 117 (52%)
NO: 97 (43%)
Comments on the issues concerning work assignments:
``After volunteers have been given job assignments, I believe
there should be periodic follow ups to ensure that what they
are doing actually benefits the people/students they are sent
to help as opposed to fulfilling their own agenda.''
Female, Kazakhstan, 1998-2000
``Poor assignment planning was another major problem when I
served, and from talking with many other volunteers, this seems
to have been an issue throughout the history of Peace Corps.
While I fear creating more bureaucracy via new layers of
oversight, I also fear that Peace Corps may need some sort of
oversight to act in the best interests of volunteers.''
Male, Jamaica, 1991-93
``I think PC staff must evaluate local requests for PCVs.
Some won't help more than obstruct. My days in Kofondua, Ghana
(01-03). There aren't enough places for us.''
Male, Ghana, 2001-03
(8) Which of the following most closely represents your views related
to general funding for the Peace Corps and current legislation
pertaining to health, safety and security of Peace Corps
volunteers? (Choose one)
97 (43%) Peace Corps should continue to move forward
with President Bush's call for expanding the number of
volunteers in the field. Congress needs to appropriate
sufficient funding to address safety and security
concerns and pursue Peace Corps expansion targets.
61 (27%) Changes proposed in the legislation are not
necessary. The use of any additional funding should be
determined by the Peace Corps and not congressional
legislation.
34 (15%) Peace Corps needs to maintain its current
number of volunteers. Any funding that goes beyond
meeting current volunteer levels should be prioritized
for addressing issues included in the Safety/Security
legislation.
31 (14%) Issues included in congressional legislation
are of such importance that they should be given
priority attention even if budget constraints require
Peace Corps to reduce its number of volunteers in the
field.
Comments on the issues of funding for health, safety, and security of
Peace Corps:
``Safety/Security issues are being run into the ground. Let
the volunteers do their work. I'm not sure creating other
positions in Washington is exactly what we need . . . there are
plenty of posts that are operating with insufficient funds.
Send the money to where it is most needed . . . in the field.
Male, Paraguay, 1992-2002
``It's not that I think this congressional thing is so very
important, but that in general I worry that we spread ourselves
way too thin in the interests of keeping up the number of
volunteers.''
Female, Samoa, 2000-02
``Because of Congress' refusal to fund the Peace Corps
program at the requested level, they have reduced the
effectiveness of the volunteers currently in the field and
seriously put their lives in danger. When a volunteer can't
leave the rugged geographical boundaries of his/her site
because Congress won't allocate $40 for a visa to escape, we
have some serious problems. I hope nothing serious happens
because that seems to be the only catalyst that causes Congress
to act''
Female, Uzbekistan, 2000-01
``The health and safety of PCVs must remain a high priority
regardless of budget considerations.''
Male, Sierra Leone, 1961-62
``I am actually a current PCV directly affected by the
massive budget cuts and reapportionment of the remaining budget
to cover new safety/security rules. As a result, our post has
had to reduce staff, not turn on lights or fans, cut phone
availability, cut volunteer conferences and training. DC
managed to spend way over budget in anticipation of recruiting
based on President Bush's call for doubling PC, but then the
President failed to back an increase in the budget and DC has
had to cut post budgets to make up the difference.''
Male, Tonga, 2002-04
``As a current Peace Corps staffer, anything that moves PC
away from being a partisan political operation and towards the
real mission of PC and real accountability at the highest
levels within PC would be worthwhile legislation. Too much
money being spent on Mexico, etc., detracts from the real PC
mission.''
Male
(9) While not currently in proposed legislation, there has been some
suggestion that all Peace Corps volunteers should work in pairs
in an effort to increase security. Should it be a requirement
that all volunteers be assigned in pairs?
YES: 24 (11%)
NO: 201 (89%)
Comments on the issue of volunteers being paired up:
``Rather than putting volunteers in pairs, I think a ``team''
approach is more appropriate, in which volunteers are placed in
reasonable distances from other volunteers and have guidelines
in place for team check-ins and communication.''
Female, Mali, 2000-02
``Forcing a pairing of all volunteers will change a dynamic
that today's Peace Corps relies upon. If a volunteer needs PCV
help he/she asks for it, if not they do the work themselves
with only local support, this is an example and a benefit to
the communities we serve.''
Male, Thailand, 1962-64
``The procedures noted will not stop a true terrorist, and
they are the only ones we need to be concerned about. PCVs are
by their nature very independent, hard working, and likeable
people. Give them the tools to accomplish their jobs.''
Female, Somalia
``I think working in pairs is good for some and should be an
option open to all vols. Some vols may be fine with being by
themselves. There has been great success with vols being by
themselves. But some may be better with someone. Hope they get
along.''
Female, Niger, 1964-66
``It is unfair to require volunteers to be assigned in pairs
unless the security situation in a country requires it. And if
that is the case then the more important question is why are
volunteers placed in countries or areas that are so unstable?''
Female, Kenya, 1987-89
``Even as a single woman in Colombia, I firmly believe that I
would have been less successful in my volunteer assignment,
less successful in understanding the communities in which I
worked, and undoubtedly would have experienced much less growth
as an individual had I been assigned as one of a pair of
volunteers.''
Female, Colombia, 1973-75
``The stress that life in a different culture can place on a
married couple is well known to Peace Corps. Who needs similar
stresses with a person with whom one has no commitment, and
possibly no affinity? Even co-workers who get along and work
well together would be stressed by having their entire lives
entwined. Please do not forget that for volunteers in small
rural communities, a Peace Corps assignment is not just a job,
it is a life. It does not take much imagination to realize that
most volunteers would have their relations with their community
significantly altered by the presence of another volunteer of
different personality, interests, skills, and demeanor.''
Male, Thailand, 1981-84
``The character of most of the propositions above reflect a
naive and inappropriate view of the Peace Corps Volunteer
experience. Volunteers are effective precisely because they
figure out how to integrate in a foreign culture. Pairing of
volunteers would prohibit or delay such integration and create
a completely different dynamic.''
Male, Senegal, 1963-65
``I don't think volunteers should have to be placed in pairs.
In my experience that would be unnecessary. Peace Corps staff
should use their judgment and specialized knowledge of the host
county area to determine if 2 volunteers need to be placed
together. This isn't necessary everywhere and what it means is
that some places that could be served won't be because there
aren't enough volunteers to go around.''
Female, Macedonia, 1998-99
(10) While not currently in proposed legislation, there has been some
suggestion that all Peace Corps volunteers should have modern
communication equipment, such as cell phones. Should volunteers
be required to have such equipment?
YES: 74 (33%)
NO: 151 (67%)
Comments on the issue of the use of cell phones:
``We have to take into consideration that a lot of areas
where PCV's are located do not have accessibility to cell phone
networks, but I do believe it is essential for PCVs to be able
to communicate with local offices at all times. we were caught
in an attack by UNITA while I was in service. Since I thought
that there was a volunteer left behind, the office gave
permission to go get them. After I reached the volunteer's site
I found out someone else had already picked him up. I could
have seriously been hurt and put myself in a dangerous position
for no reason.''
Female, Namibia, 1998-2000
``I was an Emergency Zone Coordinator and served on the
Safety and Security Work Group for Peace Corps Honduras (2001-
03) and as such think that anything Peace Corps and/or Congress
through additional funding can do to improve the chain of
communication for volunteers in the field would be a great
help. We were looking into the idea of cell phones, and other
means of communication for some of our more remote
volunteers.''
Female, Honduras, 2001-03
``Peace Corps volunteers are successful because they live and
work in the same circumstances as their counter parts. Changing
this in anyway will jeopardize their success/acceptance as well
as their ability to become part of the community. So, if their
counterparts have cell phones, sure get them for the
volunteers. Otherwise, find other tried and true ``low tech''
ways to ensure safety and security.''
RPCV, Costa Rica, 1975-78
``While I was serving as a PCV, my safety in my village was
in question. I felt that if I had had a cell phone, I would
have been safer. I ended up relocating out of my village.''
Female, Belize, 2001-03
``Cell phones might be appropriate in some situations. In my
original site, they don't work. But when I worked in Quito as a
PCV coordinator, using a PC-issued cell phone was a
lifesaver.''
Male, Ecuador, 1997-2000
``Initially, upon moving to my bush post in Niger, I would
have liked a cell phone. Later once I was integrated in the
village, it would have been intrusive and extremely unwelcome.
Safety is a concern, but so is preserving the culture of the
Peace Corps and its ideals.''
Female, Niger, 2000-02
``I think that the idea of mandating PCVs to work in pairs or
requiring them to carry cell phones will significantly change
where volunteers are placed. It may not be a need-based
placement in certain regions, provinces or countries. If there
is no cell phone service in a village would they then not place
a volunteer there even if the village was desperately in need
of technical assistance related to agriculture, health or
education?''
Female, Cameroon, 1993-95
``Depending on the location, cell phones can cause a
volunteer to be a target for theft, instead of providing a
safety tool.''
Female, Dominican Republic, 1991-94
``Modern communication equipment in the hands of PCVs would
only make them more suspect than they already are. PCVs are
always being thought of as spies and such equipment would
exacerbate those problems and make the volunteer less safe.''
Male, Somali Republic, 1962-64
Senator Coleman. Thank you very, very much, Mr. Quigley.
Ms. Threlkeld.
STATEMENT OF CYNTHIA THRELKELD, GUATEMALA COUNTRY DIRECTOR,
PEACE CORPS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Ms. Threlkeld. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee,
thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I would
like to request that my full written testimony be entered into
the record.
Senator Coleman. Without objection.
Ms. Threlkeld. As the current Country Director in
Guatemala and a former volunteer in both Botswana and Costa
Rica, I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you today about
our program, the role of a country director, and the steps we
take to prevent safety and security concerns.
Mr. Chairman, as you noted, I am from Minnesota, and I had
the opportunity to go home last May. It was great to be back
especially at the height of spring, even though it was 40
degrees.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Threlkeld. Today in Guatemala, we have 185 volunteers
working in agriculture, municipal development, the environment,
health, small business, and youth. Volunteers work to diversify
agricultural production and develop ecotourism projects. They
work with local government to increase citizen participation in
the democratic process and with schools to improve the health
of rural elementary students. With 50 percent of the Guatemala
population below the age of 24, our newest program is in youth
development, and all of our programs include a component
directed to youth.
Let me share with you the role and responsibilities as a
country director. Being a country director is an immense
responsibility that my colleagues and I take to heart. We are
held accountable, and rightfully so, for everything that
happens at our post, from financial management to program
quality and, first and foremost, for the safety and security of
our volunteers.
The primary components of our safety and security plan can
be classified in two major categories: prevention and training,
and support and response.
Prevention is the most critical part of our plan and a
component to which we devote a great deal of time. Peace Corps/
Guatemala provides 12 weeks of pre-service training upon
arrival in country. Trainees are given the tools to understand
the security risks unique to Guatemala, as well as general
personal safety practices. By the end of training, the new
volunteers are expected to develop their own personal plan and
be prepared to activate and participate fully in assuring their
safety and security.
In August of 2003, Peace Corps/Guatemala added the position
of safety and security coordinator, which now plays a central
role at post. Our coordinator is a former volunteer who served
in Guatemala and has lived in the country for over 7 years. He
has earned the trust of the volunteers and helps us achieve the
essential goal of encouraging them to act upon the safety and
security information that we provide to them. He coordinates
the information needed for our emergency action plan, ensures
our documentation for compliance with Peace Corps regulations,
and has developed and presented some of the sessions in our
pre-service training.
The role of the Peace Corps program manager is perhaps the
most critical to volunteer safety. Our program managers are
responsible to develop the project plans, to select the sites
and the counterpart agencies, to provide technical assistance,
personal support, and to visit volunteers in the field.
In addition to the Peace Corps staff, the program manager
and the safety and security coordinator, as the Country
Director I also make site visits. I visit a region of the
country for several days each month, supplemented with day
trips to volunteers who are closer to the capital. It is
important to me to see firsthand how volunteers live and work.
A majority of volunteers in Guatemala own their own cell
phones, which they purchase through their monthly stipend. The
number has increased substantially over the past years as the
technology in Guatemala has improved. It has made a substantial
difference in our ability to maintain close contact with
volunteers. It is now a key component of our emergency action
plan. There are still volunteers, however, who depend on
telegrams, beepers, a community phone, or a phone or a radio of
their counterpart agency because cell phone coverage is not
universal. We maintain at least three ways to contact each
volunteer at all times.
We tested our emergency action plan on May 26th of this
year by sending out a message by cell phone, by beeper, by
phone, with a communication to every volunteer to personally
contact the Peace Corps office immediately. We had outstanding
results with 92 percent of our volunteers responding within 16
hours and confirmed location of 100 percent of our volunteers
within 32.
Peace Corps/Guatemala has an excellent relationship with
the U.S. embassy. The Ambassador places high priority on
collaboration with Peace Corps. I attend weekly country team
and emergency action committee meetings and receive briefings
from the appropriate embassy staff as needed on political,
social, or economic issues that may have an impact on the Peace
Corps. Our primary contact is with the regional security office
which plays a key role in all of our safety and security plans.
My written testimony provides even more detail on the
comprehensive program for the prevention and safety of security
incidents. In addition, Peace Corps/Guatemala is prepared to
respond with a full range of support to volunteers who are
victims of crimes or accidents. The Peace Corps medical office
is the first line of response to volunteers who have been
injured in either in an accident or an incident. Our medical
staff includes a consulting doctor and qualified nurses who are
on 24-hour call in the event of a major incident. Our response
is the close coordination from the full team: Peace Corps/
Guatemala, the regional security office, Peace Corps/
Washington. We provide immediate attention to the physical and
emotional needs of the volunteer and take all steps necessary
for successful prosecution.
In conclusion, I would like to say that since my two terms
as a volunteer in the 1980s and the 1990s, the goals of the
Peace Corps have not changed, but believe me, the level of
accountability and the extent of regulations related to safety
and security have. Responsibility is placed on all parties,
from the country director and staff to the volunteers
themselves.
I sincerely doubt you would find any volunteers currently
serving in Guatemala who would complain that Peace Corps does
not provide enough information, support, or training on safety
and security. It is more likely they would complain that too
many measures are in place and it restricts their personal
liberties.
Serving in the Peace Corps requires a willingness to
restrict your personal liberties. Volunteers are expected to
uphold the image of Peace Corps at all times, to live within
the rules and the norms for safety and security, and to be held
accountable for their time and actions. You would be impressed
by the way volunteers in Guatemala step up to that
responsibility and the contributions they make to the United
States.
Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to you and to members of the
committee for your continues support for the Peace Corps
mission. If your travels ever take you to Guatemala, I would be
delighted to show you the work of our volunteers.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Threlkeld follows:]
Prepared Statement of Cynthia Threlkeld
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before your committee
today. As the current Country Director in Guatemala and a former Peace
Corps volunteer in both Botswana and Costa Rica, I appreciate this
opportunity to present an overview of our program in Guatemala, my role
as the Country Director, and our efforts to prevent and respond to
safety and security issues. Mr. Chairman, I would like to add that
Minnesota has been my home for over 25 years. I was just in the Twin
Cities for a visit at the end of May, and it was great to be back home
at the height of spring.
Let me begin my remarks by highlighting Peace Corps' rich history
of service in Guatemala and the current status of our program. The
first Peace Corps volunteers arrived in Guatemala in 1963. In
recognition of 41 years of quality service, in March of this year,
President Oscar Berger awarded Peace Corps with the Orden del Quetzal,
the highest honor Guatemala bestows on an individual or organization
that has rendered distinguished service. Peace Corps Director Gaddi
Vasquez personally came to Guatemala to receive the honor on behalf of
the more than 4,000 volunteers who have served in Guatemala since 1963,
and to issue a challenge to those of us who have the privilege to serve
there today. Peace Corps has the respect and credibility that is needed
to make a significant impact on grassroots development efforts, which
strengthens the friendship and goodwill between our countries at a time
when Guatemala is again under new, forward-looking leadership.
Today we have 185 volunteers working in agriculture, municipal
development, the environment, health, small business and youth
development. Volunteers work to diversify agricultural production and
better manage harvests. They work with local government to increase
citizen participation in the democratic process, and with schools to
improve the health and hygiene of rural elementary students. Volunteers
help develop eco-tourism projects and promote environmental education.
With 50 percent of the Guatemalan population under the age of 24, our
newest program is in youth development, and all of our programs include
a component directed to youth as the basis for the future of the
country.
By living and working in local communities, volunteers learn
firsthand about the challenges that face a developing country. Poverty
is no longer a statistic; it translates into names and faces.
Volunteers do not leave this community behind after they have completed
their two years of service. They return to the U.S. and become their
voice to the world, helping Americans better understand our role as
world citizens.
Let me share with you my role and responsibilities as Country
Director in Guatemala. Being a Country Director is much more than the
challenge of representing the Peace Corps and implementing its goals in
grassroots development and intercultural exchange. It is an immense
responsibility that my colleagues and I take to heart. We are held
accountable, and rightfully so, for everything that happens at our
post, from financial management to program quality and, first and
foremost, for the safety and security of volunteers.
As the Director has noted, the message that safety and security is
the number one priority of the Peace Corps is clearly conveyed to
Country Directors as well as to all volunteers throughout their term of
service.
The primary components of our safety and security plan can be
classified into two main categories: (1) prevention and training and
(2) support and response.
I. PREVENTION AND TRAINING
Prevention is the most critical part of our safety plan, and a
component to which we devote a great deal of time and attention.
Pre-Service Training
Peace Corps/Guatemala has twelve weeks of Pre-Service Training for
prospective volunteers upon arrival in country. In addition to being
fully integrated into the language, cross-cultural and technical
training, the topic of safety and security is covered in seven separate
sessions presented by the State Department's Regional Security Officer,
the Peace Corps Medical Officer, and the Safety and Security
Coordinator through a combination of lectures, videos, information on
crime statistics, and a review of past security incidents.
Trainees are given the tools to understand the security risks
unique to Guatemala, as well as general personal safety practices. By
the end of training, the new volunteers are expected to develop their
own personal plan and participate actively and fully in assuring their
own safety and security.
Role of Peace Corps/Guatemala Safety and Security Coordinator
In August of 2003, Peace Corps/Guatemala added the position of
Safety and Security Coordinator, which now plays a central role at
post. The Safety and Security Coordinator reports directly to the
Country Director and concentrates on safety and security issues related
to the prevention, training and support of volunteers. Our coordinator
is a former Volunteer who served in Guatemala, and has lived in the
country for over seven years. He has earned the trust of volunteers and
thus helps us achieve the essential, but somewhat elusive goal of
encouraging volunteers to act upon the safety and security information
we provide to them. He also coordinates the information needed for our
Emergency Action Plan, ensures our documentation for compliance with
Manual Section 270 related to safety and security, developed and
presented some of the sessions in Pre-Service Training, organizes the
Regional Safety and Security meetings, manages the new E-Zone
Coordinator system. The Safety and Security Coordinator also keeps
fully informed on any political or social disturbances through contact
with the State Department's Regional Security Office and by staying
informed through local news sources. He is a resource to both
volunteers and staff, and I will elaborate on some of the safety tools
that he has helped put in place.
Bi-Annual Regional Safety and Security Meetings
Peace Corps/Guatemala holds safety and security meetings for all
volunteers every six months within each region of the country to
reinforce safety and security training, review any new security issues,
and discuss any concerns volunteers may have about their personal
safety. Topics of discussion include preparation plans for natural
disasters and review of the Peace Corps Emergency Action Plan.
Volunteer Safety Manual
To augment our safety information, our Safety and Security
Coordinator just completed a draft of a Volunteer Safety Manual that
will reinforce and expand upon topics covered in Pre-Service Training
and includes sections on safety while at site, including housing and
work related risks; during travel, including off-limits areas and
travel to the capital; and other general concerns specific to
Guatemala.
Role of Peace Corps Program Manager, Site Selection, and Field Visits
The role of the Peace Corps Program Manager is perhaps the most
critical to volunteer safety. Our Program Managers are responsible to
develop project plans and Volunteer Activity Descriptions, select sites
and counterpart agencies, provide technical assistance and personal
support, and visit volunteers in the field. Peace Corps/Guatemala has
specific criteria and a checklist for site selection that includes a
security assessment, availability of appropriate housing, access to
transportation and communication and other key factors.
Site visits are made a minimum of twice during the first year,
including once during the first three months, and once during the
second year of service, with additional visits as needed due to either
program issues or security concerns. Volunteers select their own
housing within a clear set of security guidelines, often with
assistance from either their counterpart agency or a volunteer site
mate. The Program Manager reviews and approves housing during the
initial site visit, and also assesses the neighborhood. In addition to
site visits from the Program Manager, volunteers also receive visits
from the Program and Training Officer, Program Assistants, and the
Safety and Security Coordinator. These visits are on an as-needed
basis, and supplement the visits mentioned above.
As Country Director, I also make site visits. I make one extended
visit of several days to a specific region of the county each month,
supplemented with day trips to volunteers closer to the capital. It is
important for me to see how volunteers live and work, and to listen to
their comments and concerns about their projects, as well as their
general sense of well being. In addition, I have an ``open door''
policy for volunteers that stop by the office, respond to phone calls
and emails that I receive on a continuous basis, meet with volunteers
during in-service trainings, and personally interview each Volunteer at
the completion of his or her service. Safety and security is a topic
during each of these contacts.
Expectations for Volunteer Behavior and Peer Support Network
Peace Corps/Guatemala expects volunteers to adjust their lifestyle
to adhere to recommended safety and security standards and policies.
Some policies can result in administrative separation if not followed,
especially the Peace Corps ``zero tolerance'' policy on the use of
illegal drugs.
Peace Corps staff recognize that the personal and emotional
challenges of serving as a Volunteer can at times contribute to
adjustment problems or excessive alcohol use, which in turn compromises
personal security. Peace Corps/Guatemala volunteers have taken an
active role by developing a peer support network as a way to assist one
another with these challenges, especially during the initial months of
service.
Communication, Emergency Action Plan, and Cell Phones
A majority of volunteers in Guatemala own their own cell phones,
which they purchase through their monthly stipend or personal
resources. The number has increased substantially over the past several
years, as access to the technology in Guatemala has improved. It has
made a substantial difference in the ability of Peace Corps to maintain
close contact with volunteers and is now a key component of the
Emergency Action Plan. There are still volunteers who depend on
telegrams, beepers, community phones, or counterpart agencies as their
primary connection to the office because cell phone coverage is not yet
universal, and the Peace Corps maintains at least three methods of
contacting volunteers at all times. Volunteers are aware of the need to
maintain discretion in the use of cell phones, especially in order to
avoid theft, by keeping the phone on silent ring and not using it while
in public view. Additionally, the Peace Corps office in Guatemala City
also has a satellite phone for use in case of major emergencies.
Peace Corps/Guatemala tested its Emergency Action Plan on May 26th
by sending out text messages by cell phone, beeper, telegrams, email,
and phone depending on the communication plan for each Volunteer. As
part of the test, volunteers received a message instructing them to
personally contact the Peace Corps office immediately. We had excellent
results that far exceeded any previous tests, with confirmed location
of volunteers according to the following timeline: 83% within 8 hours;
92% within 16 hours; and 100% within 32 hours.
Out of Site Policy and Emergency Zone System (E-Zone)
An improved out of site policy for Peace Corps Guatemala went into
effect July 5, 2003. The policy provides specific instructions to
volunteers on how to report their location to Peace Corps every time
they travel out of their site. Concurrent with the new policy, a
modified warden system called the ``E-Zone System'' was put in place.
This system creates a nationwide network of volunteers with good access
to communication that have agreed to assist with relaying security
information to volunteers within their region and to serve as a
standard point of contact for updates during an emergency. Their role
supplements rather than replaces staff responsibilities for these
tasks. E-Zone Coordinators receive training and a small stipend for
cell phone minutes and Internet use.
Restrictions on Travel to Capital and Dedicated Security Phone Line
Guatemala City is one of the more high-risk areas of the country.
Volunteers are advised to avoid travel to the capital except when
necessary for official business. Peace Corps/Guatemala has a dedicated
security phone line with a message that is updated daily advising
volunteers on any protests, roadblocks, or disturbances in the capital
and whether it is clear to travel to the Peace Corps office. Volunteers
are instructed to call the number before any travel to the capital, and
to take a taxi from the edge of town to the Peace Corps office rather
than using public transportation. Also, U.S. embassy families open
their home to volunteers through a ``bed and breakfast'' program to
offer a safe alternative to a hotel, as well as moral support for
volunteers while they are in the capital.
Embassy Support and Role of Regional Security Office
Peace Corps/Guatemala has an excellent relationship with the U.S.
Embassy. The Ambassador places a high priority on collaboration with
Peace Corps, and communicates that to the Country Team. The Ambassador
briefs Peace Corps trainees on the political situation in Guatemala,
hosts our swearing-in ceremonies, makes site visits to volunteers when
he is in the field, personally calls volunteers who have been injured
during service, and participates in the ``bed and breakfast'' program
that I just mentioned. As Country Director, I attend weekly Country
Team and Emergency Action Committee meetings, and I receive briefings
from the appropriate embassy staff as needed on political, social, or
economic issues that may have an impact on the Peace Corps.
The primary safety and security contact for the Peace Corps within
the embassy is with the Regional Security Office. The Regional Security
Office plays an integral role in all aspects of our safety and security
plan: they present Pre-Service Training sessions on crime prevention;
provide information on security concerns in specific geographic regions
or during civil disturbances; participate in debriefings or meetings to
discuss specific incidents; and respond immediately to major security
incidents involving volunteers, including traveling to site to assist
local police with crime investigations and follow-up.
Maintaining a strong relationship between Peace Corps/Guatemala and
the Regional Security Office is considered one of our highest
priorities.
II. RESPONSE AND SUPPORT
We have a comprehensive program for the prevention of safety and
security incidents, but we can never fully eliminate them because of
the realities of the environment in which we operate. Peace Corps/
Guatemala is prepared to respond with a full range of support to
volunteers who are victims of crime or accidents.
Role of the Peace Corps Medical Office
The Peace Corps Medical Office is the first line of response to
volunteers who have been injured in either an accident or assault. Our
medical staff includes a consulting medical doctor and qualified nurses
who are on call 24 hours a day. These medical professionals are highly
experienced in responding to both the physical and emotional needs of
volunteers, collecting the proper forensic evidence when necessary, and
serving as a triage for further medical or counseling services either
in Guatemala, or through medical evacuation to the United States. The
Medical Office works in close collaboration with the Office of Medical
Services in Peace Corps/Washington, which provides excellent care to
volunteers who need to go to Washington for post-trauma counseling or
medical follow-up after a safety or security incident occurs.
The Medical Officers are also fully involved in pre-service
training, in-service training, and provide input on criteria for
housing, site selection and all other aspects of Peace Corps life.
Assaults and Major Security Incidents
In the event of a major security incident or assault, the key to
the response is the close coordination and collaboration from the full
team, including Peace Corps/Guatemala, the Regional Security Office,
and Peace Corps/Washington. One excellent resource developed by Peace
Corps is the ``Rape Response Handbook,'' which clearly outlines roles
and responsibilities. This handbook covers not only the immediate steps
that need to be taken to ensure the physical and emotional well-being
of the Volunteer, but also steps for successful prosecution of the
case, and tips for managing the difficult emotional response of the
victim, as well as other volunteers and staff.
Debriefing and Monitoring of Security Incidents
Peace Corps/Guatemala carefully reviews security incidents, both
with volunteers and staff, including the Regional Security Office when
appropriate. The goal is to cover the following points: could the
incident have been prevented; what was the quality and depth of the
Peace Corps/Guatemala staff response; were there any steps the
Volunteer could have taken to reduce the risk; what are the lessons
learned for site development or Volunteer training; and what are the
recommendations for monitoring or further action steps. Volunteers are
directly involved in the development of any action plans, especially
those involving possible site changes or the need for close monitoring
of the security situation in their community or region.
Peace Corps Office of Inspector General
The Peace Corps Office of Inspector General coordinates the
investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against volunteers,
including providing guidance on the management of forensic evidence.
Each case has to be managed according to the laws and court procedures
in Guatemala, and the Country Director consults with the Office of
Inspector General and the Regional Security Officer about the retention
of a local lawyer to advise the post on the criminal procedures. An
agent from the Inspector General's Office will interview crime victims
to help clarify the facts of the case, and will accompany those victims
willing to return to Guatemala for court proceedings.
Conclusion
I served two terms as a Peace Corps Volunteer, in the 1980s and
again in the mid-1990s. The goals of the Peace Corps have not changed,
but--believe me--the level of accountability and the extent of the
regulations related to safety and security certainly have.
Responsibility is placed on all parties from the Country Director and
staff to the volunteers themselves.
I doubt you would find many volunteers who currently serve in any
of the 71 Peace Corps programs around the world who would complain that
the Peace Corps does not provide enough information, training or
support on safety and security. It is more likely they would complain
that too many measures are in place, and it restricts their personal
liberties.
Service in the Peace Corps requires a willingness to sacrifice some
of your personal liberties. Volunteers are expected to represent the
image of the Peace Corps at all times, live within the rules and norms
for safety and security, and be held accountable for their time and
their actions. You would be impressed by the way volunteers in
Guatemala step up to that responsibility, and the contributions they
make representing the United States.
In return for their commitment, the Volunteer has the right to
expect the Peace Corps to provide a well-defined job, a carefully
selected site and the proper technical, medical and personal support to
help facilitate their success. The primary role of the Country Director
is to ensure that all parties live up to their end of the bargain.
Does it always work the way we hope it will, and thus is everyone
content and satisfied? No, we're not perfect, but we do our best and we
set high standards and continually strive to improve.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to you and members of
the Committee for your continued support of the Peace Corps mission. If
your travels ever bring you to Guatemala, I would be delighted to show
you the work of our volunteers--wonderful American citizens who truly
exemplify a spirit of service. I now look forward to answering any
questions you may have.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Ms. Threlkeld.
Ms. Maloy.
STATEMENT OF GLADYS MALOY, FORMER PEACE CORPS ROMANIA
VOLUNTEER, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Ms. Maloy. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I
submitted a lengthy testimony for the record. If you would
enter that, I would appreciate it.
Senator Coleman. It will be entered, without objection.
Ms. Maloy. Thank you. Let me begin by thanking you for
being able to appear here. My name is Gladys Maloy, and I am a
former Peace Corps volunteer in the country of Romania from
February 2000 to June 2002. So my comments and observations are
quite recent and fresh in my memory.
Today I would like to talk about the safety and security I
experienced during my Peace Corps experience, and I have made
an effort to let you draw your own conclusions, although at the
end I do try to lead you a little.
Romania is a country of approximately 23 million people
with a communist past that was both destructive to the people,
as well as the environment. Peace Corps came soon after the
1989 revolution, and I was a member of the 10th group of
volunteers in country. Our group was diverse with all ages and
backgrounds. Our official jobs included social work, teaching
English, business development, and environment. However, we all
taught our colleagues English and were involved in many
projects from hugging babies in orphanages to encouraging voter
participation in elections and policy making.
The first 12 weeks were devoted to preparing us to live and
work in the country. During that time, I lived with a Romanian
family and met every day with other volunteers for training. My
Romanian host did not speak English, so it was a challenge and
sometimes frustrating, but always stimulating.
Near the end of training, our group set up our own safety
and security committee of volunteers, and we elected
representatives from the major geographic areas of Romania.
These representatives worked closely with Peace Corps staff and
were available to discuss personal and emotional issues from
volunteers who were hesitant to discuss those with staff.
Near the end of training, I was introduced to my NGO
counterpart and traveled with her for a few days to site. My
counterpart was a member of the organization I would work with
and was responsible for my welfare at work and at home.
Soon after I moved to site, Peace Corps medical staff
visited me and reviewed my living conditions. If I had had a
problem, they would have come sooner. Site visits by Peace
Corps program staff and the country director were frequent.
I lived in Galati, a city of 400,000 at the mouth of the
Danube River and worked in the environmental sector. Other
Peace Corps volunteers, all women, lived there and worked in
different sectors, but we all had separate apartments. Peace
Corps did not provide cell phones, but I purchased one, as did
most other volunteers, and we had good reception. The cost of
the cell phone was well within our monthly living allowance of
$188 a month.
Any time I left site for another location in Romania, even
weekends and holidays, I had to report my destination to my
program director, along with all contact information, reason
for travel and dates. When leaving the country, I needed prior
approval and a request for vacation days, and it had to be
filled out in advance and approved by my program director and
the country director.
The country director did weekly mailings to all volunteers
with a Newsweek magazine and a letter containing country news
and advisories of potential security risks where volunteers
lived and in Bucharest, the capital city. A Peace Corps medical
volunteer and a program staff member were always available for
consultation by telephone, 24 hours a day.
An emergency action plan was in place, and it used a tier
system of volunteer contact. The system was tested often when
new groups arrived and at unannounced times. I do not remember
the statistics, but I do recall that if it was not fast enough,
they did it again.
Judging from my experience in Peace Corps as a volunteer,
the safety and security of volunteers is a high priority, and
with the changing world situation, they have adapted quickly to
meet these demands. One example in Romania is with the
formation of a volunteer advisory committee of elected
representatives from each sector to screen volunteer issues and
present them to the country director at a monthly meeting. I
was elected to represent the environmental sector and after a
shaky start, the participation was remarkable. We were able to
give the country director an insight into volunteer concerns
and problems that he would have never been able to or had the
time to address.
Keeping the focus on volunteers and not letting one issue
overshadow all others is important. My experience in Romania
was one of the most rewarding of my life. I feel the Peace
Corps did everything possible to secure my safety, but as
always, anywhere you travel, you take personal responsibility
for being aware of dangers and making an effort to avoid them.
Being integrated into the community is of utmost importance,
and it allows us, as Peace Corps volunteers and citizens of the
United States, to promote all the great values for which this
country stands.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear, and I hope my
brief presentation of my Peace Corps experience is helpful for
your investigation and your decision-making.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Maloy follows:]
Prepared Statement of Gladys M. Maloy
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, let me begin by thanking
you for the opportunity of appearing before you today. My name is
Gladys Maloy; I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Romania from February
2000 until June 2002, so my comments and observations are quite recent
and fresh in my memory.
I was born and raised in south Florida and was Mayor of my small
town in Palm Beach County for twelve years. I earned a degree in
Chemistry and studied accounting and finance. I have three grown
children, two attorneys and a Ph.D. Peace Corps had always been
something I thought about doing; so, when the company at which I was
CFO was sold, I joined as a senior volunteer. Today I want to talk
about the safety and security as I experienced it during my Peace Corps
service.
Romania is a country of approximately 23 million people with a
communist past that was both destructive to the people as well as the
environment. Peace Corps came soon after the December 1989 revolution
and I was a member of the 10th group of volunteers in country. Our
group was diverse with all ages and backgrounds. Our official jobs
included social work, teaching English, business development and
environment; however we all taught our colleagues English and were
involved in many other projects from hugging babies in the orphanages
to encouraging voter participation in elections and policy making.
Training
The first 12 weeks in Romania were devoted to preparing us to live
and work in country. During that time I lived with a Romanian family
and met each day (Monday through Saturday) with the other volunteers
for eight hours of training in Romanian language, cross-cultural
orientation, technical training, and safety and security. My Romanian
hosts did not speak English so it was challenging and sometimes
frustrating, but always stimulating. This living arrangement was
helpful in understanding the country and gave me an in depth look into
the life of the ordinary Romanian.
Each training session consisted of four hours of language with the
Peace Corps Romanian language teachers. The remaining four hours were
training sessions with Peace Corps medical and program staff, national
government officials, local security officials, NGO leaders, U.S.
officials and others. There were lectures on safety and security issues
which included videos, publications on crimes statistics with detailed
problems and their solutions. Volunteers already in country came to
training sessions, shared their experiences and gave us information on
what to expect.
During Saturday sessions we took trips with our language teachers
to acquaint us with travel by train, bus and taxi. Since our teachers
were Romanian, we received invaluable first-hand knowledge of what to
do, where to go and where not to go. We also took a three-day trip with
our language teacher to visit volunteers already working with an
organization. We meet their counterpart and visited their office and
apartment.
Near the end of training our group set up a Safety and Security
Committee of volunteers and elected representatives from the major
geographic areas of Romania. These representatives worked closely with
the Peace Corps medical staff and were available to discuss personal
and emotional issues the volunteers were hesitant to discuss with
staff. We were fortunate to have three trained physiotherapists in
Group 10 who were all members of this committee.
Moving to Site
Near the end of training I was introduced to my NGO counterpart and
traveled with her for a few days to site. My counterpart was a member
of the organization I would work with and was responsible for my
welfare at work and at home. My counterpart found an apartment and
after consulting with Peace Corps medical, she rented it for me. I was
given a checklist by Peace Corps medical office to evaluate the
apartment for their review. There were detailed evaluation criteria
concerning health and safety, such as no apartment could be located on
the ground floor unless it had bars on the windows and doors. Peace
Corps medical and program staff carefully evaluated the assessments and
if there was a problem they went to the site to review it.
Soon after I moved to site the Peace Corps medical staff visited me
and reviewed my living conditions. If I had had a problem they would
have come sooner. I was asked to supply a list with addresses and phone
numbers of my close neighbors and the pharmacies, doctors and hospitals
in my area so that they would be on record with Peace Corps in case of
an emergency. My counterpart information was already on file but I
verified it. Medical also visited me at my one year anniversary.
Living at Site
I lived in Galati, a city of 400,000 at the month of the Danube
River as it flows into the Danube Delta and the Black Sea, and worked
in the environmental sector. Other Peace Corps volunteers lived there
and worked in different sectors, but we all had separate apartments.
Galati has a high Roma population and the major employer is the Sedix
steel mill, one of the largest steel mills in Europe. Unemployment is
high due to cut backs in steel production for the world market. My
counterpart was helpful in introducing me to the city and making sure I
was comfortable with my new surroundings.
Peace Corps did not provide cell phones, but I purchased one, as
did most other volunteers, and had good reception. The cost of the cell
phone was well within my monthly living allowance of $188 per month.
Some of the volunteers in small villages and mountainous regions were
unable to use cell phones and relied on internet cafes, which were
abundant in most communities, and land line phones either at home or in
their office or school. When I retuned to Romania for a visit in
November 2003, I found that cell phone service was available country
wide and that the volunteer living allowance covered the cost.
Site visits by Peace Corps program staff and the country director
were frequent. The environmental sector was very active in many
projects and the program staff acted as a conduit for passing
information. Any time I left my site for another location in Romania
(even weekends and holidays) I had to report my destination to my
program director along with all contact information, reason for the
travel and dates. When leaving the country I needed prior approval and
a request for vacation days had to be filed in advance and approved by
my program director and the country director.
The country director did weekly mailings to all volunteers with a
Newsweek magazine and letter. The letter, along with other things,
contained advisories of potential security risks where volunteers lived
and in Bucharest, the capitol city. We also received e-mails to keep us
informed before the weekly mailing arrived. A Peace Corps medical and
program staff were always available by phone 24 hours.
An Emergency Action Plan was in place and it used a tier system of
volunteer contact. Peace Corps contacted the top tiers and they were
responsible for contacting the next tier and reporting to Peace Corps
and so on. The system was tested often when new groups arrived and at
unannounced times. I do not recall the statistics but I do recall that
if it was not fast enough it was done again.
Summary
Judging from my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer the safety
and security of the volunteers is a high priority and with the changing
world situation they have adapted quickly to meet those demands. One
example is in Romania with the formation of a Volunteer Advisory
Committee of elected representatives from each sector to screen
volunteer issues and present them to the country director at a monthly
meeting. I was elected to represent the environment sector and after a
shaky start the participation was remarkable. We were able to give our
country director an insight into volunteer concerns and problems that
he would never have been able to or have the time to address.
Keeping the focus on the volunteers and not letting one issue over
shadow all the others is an important function of the Peace Corps.
Creating more structured and operational peer support groups, while
volunteers are in country as well as addressing effectiveness of safety
and security, site selection and counterpart choices would allow for a
more robust safety net for volunteers.
My experience in Romania was one of the most rewarding of my life.
I feel the Peace Corps did everything possible to insure my safety, but
as always anywhere you travel you must take personal responsibility for
being aware of the dangers and making every effort to avoid them. I
certainly agree and appreciate the Peace Corps safety and security
policies of placing volunteers in their community thus enabling them to
work closely on a more personal level. Being integrated into the
community is of the utmost importance for it allows us as United States
citizens to promote all the great values for which our country stands.
I thank you for the opportunity to appear and I hope my brief
presentation of my Peace Corps experience has been in some way helpful
to your investigation.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Ms. Maloy.
Just a general comment to the volunteers. Thank you for
your service. I have the deepest respect and admiration for
what you do. I reflect on Mr. Quigley and the association you
represent. These are changing times. We live at a time where
the values that this country represents are under attack. We
are involved in a global war on terror. And the fact that we
have folks, young and not so young, who are willing to go out
in the world and present the best face of America, truly a
helping hand, is something that we should applaud and support
and make sure that it is done in the safest way possible, which
is really the focus of this hearing. But again, I do want to
simply say thank you for your service and what your service
reflects. My thanks to all the others who are not in this
hearing room today. Very important.
Mr. Quigley, just a quick question. You were going through
your list of your survey. We did not get the results of the 5-
year rule. What do your members think about the 5-year rule? I
want to talk about that.
Mr. Quigley. On the proposal to do a report to Congress on
the 5-year rule and the rule's potential implications on issues
of recruitment, health, safety, and productive work
assignments, Mr. Chairman, 70 percent of our respondents
supported this provision.
Senator Coleman. Mr. Ford, in your testimony you noted
that incident rates for most types of assaults have increased,
but the report then says they have stabilized over the last few
years. Is there anything that you heard from Director Vasquez's
testimony that is inconsistent with what you found in terms of
reporting number of incidents?
Mr. Ford. No. First of all, they report the incidents I
think in 10 different categories. Some of them have gone down.
Some of them have remained about the same as they have been for
the last several years. I do not recall, looking at the 2002
data, whether any of them had actually increased over the last
few years.
In our report, we show a 10-year trend of incident rates
for several of the key categories. When they started to track
this information in 1990, in most cases the incident rates went
upward, and then they stabilized in many areas over the last 2
or 3 years.
Senator Coleman. You noted that since you have issued your
report, the Peace Corps has taken a number of steps. Can you
give me an overall characterization as to the adequacy of those
steps to address some of the concerns that the GAO report
raised?
Mr. Ford. Sure, I would be happy to. I have to say that
since the report has come out, the Peace Corps has implemented
many of the suggestions that were contained in that report.
They have added quite a few new staff that have a security
mission. They have streamlined and improved their guidelines to
the field in terms of trying to come up with a more
standardized approach, which when we did our work a couple of
years ago, we found was not very standardized.
We have not been back to the field, so we do not know the
level of compliance with the new rules. Obviously, we have
heard from the witnesses that they believe that there is an
active effort on the way to comply with some of the issues that
we raised in our report. So overall, we think that the Peace
Corps has taken a lot of positive steps to increase this safety
and security issue within the organization.
Senator Coleman. That is very encouraging, Director Ford.
Ms. Threlkeld talked about testing the system and noted
that within 32 hours, 100 percent of the volunteers had been
accounted for. Mr. Ford, is that good or bad? Can we do better?
Is there any way to evaluate that standard? And have you looked
at ways in which we can improve it?
It was indicated that within 32 hours we could find out
where all the volunteers are. I am trying to figure out if it
should be 24 hours. Is 32 hours the best we can do? Is there a
way to improve that? Do you have any sense of that in terms of
the tracking down of volunteers?
Mr. Ford. You are asking me this?
Senator Coleman. Yes. Is there anything in the GAO study
that reflected on the ability to identify volunteers where they
are at a given moment?
Mr. Ford. One of the things we did, after we issued our
report, was we went back and studied the response times based
on the testing that the Peace Corps took in 2003. We did see an
increase in the Peace Corps' ability to contact their
volunteers. My recollection is that in 2003 40 percent of their
overseas missions were able to get a hold of all of their
volunteers within 24 hours, and I think another 20 to 25
percent, they were able to get in contact with all their
volunteers within 48 hours. That was an improvement in
comparison to 2001 when we did the same analysis. For that same
time frame, the scores were much lower. So that is an
indication that the Peace Corps is being able to communicate
more effectively with their volunteers.
Senator Coleman. Ms. Threlkeld, you talked about a program
manager. Where do they operate out of?
Ms. Threlkeld. The program managers are based in our
office in Guatemala City, but they spend literally over 60
percent of their time in the field. They are in the office on
Mondays and Fridays to be able to attend meetings, to be able
to do their follow-up and their planning. They are in the field
as volunteers over 60 percent of the time.
Senator Coleman. Does every country have a program
manager? Do you know if throughout the Peace Corps that is a
standard? We have country directors, but every one has a
program manager?
Ms. Threlkeld. Yes.
Senator Coleman. Did any of your folks ever express
concerns that they wanted more visits or more interaction, they
were feeling isolated out there?
Ms. Threlkeld. If a volunteer requests an additional
visit, they will receive an additional visit. The minimum is
two visits in the first year by their program manager, one in
the second year, but that is the minimum. If they are
expressing a concern either about their counterpart agency,
about their personal adjustment, either the program manager
will go personally, a program assistant, the safety and
security officer. I make visits. They will receive attention if
they are asking for assistance.
Senator Coleman. Senator Dodd raised the issue of
individual postings versus clustering folks together.
Particularly I raised the issue with the reports of assaults on
single females. I would be interested to know the opinion of
the volunteers, particularly in rural areas or isolated areas,
whether it is good to have more than one person in an area.
What is their reaction to the idea of grouping or
clustering volunteers for safety reasons? Mr. Quigley?
Mr. Quigley. Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned briefly, in our
survey 90 percent of the respondents strongly opposed the
notion of mandatory pairings or tandem posting of volunteers.
We did not really ask the question in terms of would they
differentiate by gender and by site, whether or not it is
rural, remote rural, or urban.
There is a sense, though, that protection for volunteers is
related to integration in the community, and that is even more
true in the most isolated settings, and a related sense that
pairing of volunteers has a consequence of less integration
into the community. So I think you would have to look at what
the specific circumstances are by country, and our membership
has a strong sentiment that those decisions are best made on a
country basis because there is so much variation by sector, by
parts of the country, by regions of the world.
Senator Coleman. Ms. Threlkeld?
Ms. Threlkeld. I would concur with that analysis. Actually
having another volunteer assigned at your site may be great for
moral support. I do not know that it really increases the
safety and security. But if a female volunteer expresses a
desire to have someone assigned with them, that is taken into
consideration in their site assignment.
Senator Coleman. Ms. Maloy.
Ms. Maloy. Although I had other people at my site, I
rarely saw them. I think if I had been housed with them, I
would have seen them too much and not integrated into the town.
I really feel that getting out on your own is such a benefit to
the country you are in and to you in order to learn what is
going on and help people.
Senator Coleman. The testimony is really helpful. I think
there is a tendency to think that there is greater security in
numbers. Clearly the message here is that the best security is
integration into the community, that the community provides
security if you are truly part of it, and that is the most
effective security that is available. Is that a fair statement?
Ms. Maloy. I agree.
Senator Coleman. Ms. Threlkeld?
Ms. Threlkeld. Yes.
Senator Coleman. Mr. Quigley?
Mr. Quigley. Yes.
Senator Coleman. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. All of you were here to hear Mr.
Vasquez's testimony. Did any of you have any differences of
opinion? As you listened to the testimony, was there something
that stuck out in your mind and said, gee, I would like to
comment on that?
[No response.]
Senator Coleman. I take for the record the answer was no.
Thank you.
Senator Voinovich. That report back in 2002, uneven staff
supervision and oversight, staff turnover, unclear guidance in
efforts to assure quality of services. You highlighted that
testimony before the House International Relations Committee in
March. Is that correct?
Mr. Ford. That is correct.
Senator Voinovich. Would you say that that statement is
true today?
Mr. Ford. As I mentioned earlier, we have not been back
out to the field to find out whether or not the new procedures
have been fully complied with. We have done an assessment of
the Peace Corps Inspector General reports for 2002 and 2003. We
find that the Inspector General for the Peace Corps is, in
fact, finding some problems in the field, similar in nature to
the ones that we found in 2002. However, I do not know what the
order of magnitude of those problems are, but we do know that
issues like good assignments, adequate housing, ability to
maintain good records on volunteers, those issues in fact have
come up in the IG reports.
Senator Voinovich. One of the things that I asked Mr.
Vasquez was the issue of the personnel file. Are those pretty
reflective of things or are they kind of fuzzy?
Mr. Ford. I am sorry.
Senator Voinovich. The point is, a personnel file on an
individual is a kind of a history of that individual--have you
ever seen one of those reports?
Mr. Ford. No, I have not.
Senator Voinovich. So you do not know what is contained in
those reports.
Mr. Ford. Not personnel files, no.
Senator Voinovich. In other words, the number of instances
where they may have complained or have had a problem.
Mr. Ford. I am not aware of any system that the Peace
Corps has that tracks individual complaints, routine complaints
or whatever, other than official complaints based on an
incident that may have occurred.
Senator Voinovich. So that when you do another study, you
are going to go out and just interview people.
Mr. Ford. We will also look at the procedures that the
Peace Corps has in place to determine whether or not those
procedures are being complied with. When we did our work in
2002, that is exactly what we did. We went out and looked at
the procedures that the Peace Corps had in place and tried to
determine whether or not they were being followed in the field.
We found that the performance was mixed.
Senator Voinovich. Ms. Maloy, I thank you for being here.
It seems to me you had a benchmark experience.
Ms. Maloy. No. It was very typical.
Senator Voinovich. If I heard you testify and did not hear
anything else, I would say, boy, things are really in great
shape today.
Ms. Maloy. Well, I feel that way. But there are little
difficulties and the country director is the one that makes
everything work. Fortunately, we had a wonderful country
director who was very available and made sure that he followed
up on everything that happened in the country.
Senator Voinovich. I think what Mr. Vasquez said, I
thought that was pretty good, that he interviewed each director
and then held them responsible. That is a kind of a direct
reporting and says it is your baby and I expect you to take
care of it, which from a management point of view, sounds to be
a good way of getting the job done.
Ms. Threlkeld, the way you have laid things out, that looks
pretty good there too.
I guess probably the next time you look at it, it would be
interesting to see how it varies. Is it responsive to maybe
more difficult parts of the world where things are falling
down?
You were where in Romania?
Ms. Maloy. I was on the Black Sea at the mouth of the
Danube, right on the border with the Ukraine and Moldova. I was
as east as you could get.
Senator Voinovich. Was it an outlying area?
Ms. Maloy. It was a city of 400,000 with a huge steel
mill, gross unemployment. It was not a seaside resort, for
sure.
Senator Coleman. It sounds like Cleveland in the 1970s
actually.
[Laughter.]
Senator Voinovich. St. Paul before you became mayor.
[Laughter.]
Senator Voinovich. Thank you.
Senator Coleman. Senator Dodd.
Senator Dodd. Well, briefly. I apologize having stepped
out of the room, but I thank all of you. It is particularly
good to see Mr. Quigley, Ms. Maloy, former volunteers, and
return Peace Corps volunteers. Thank you very much for your
comments and your suggestions today.
Mr. Ford, just very briefly, it has been suggested by
Senator DeWine and Senator Durbin that we make the Inspector
General position a presidential appointment, Senate-confirmable
position. Do you agree with that?
Mr. Ford. GAO's general view on creating independent
Inspector Generals is that we favor that. We have not
specifically made any recommendations with regard to the Peace
Corps Inspector General, but we do believe that the IG should
be independent and should be able to report independently on
the information that they obtain in the course of doing their
work.
Senator Dodd. Did you discover, just in your assessment,
that the Peace Corps was sort of aware of a lot of the issues
that you were discovering?
Mr. Ford. I think that generally the Peace Corps was aware
of many of the problems that we identified, yes.
Senator Dodd. And have you had a chance to follow up since
that report to do any checking?
Mr. Ford. As I mentioned earlier, the Peace Corps--and you
heard from the Director this morning--has implemented a number
of changes since we issued our report. Many of them are
consistent with some of the problems that we identified in our
report, so we feel that the Peace Corps is definitely taking
action, and in our view it is in the correct direction in terms
of safety and security.
Senator Dodd. Ms. Maloy, let me just ask you. When I
raised the issue of women in rural areas and more remote areas
of pairing--not necessarily with another woman. It could be a
male volunteer. But I was not suggesting it for all volunteers.
I just thought in certain circumstances, particularly when I
look at those numbers where the assaults were occurring. What
is your assessment of that suggestion? Either one of you. I do
not care.
Ms. Threlkeld. Female volunteers, if they feel
uncomfortable being assigned to a site alone, have the option
to express that to their program manager as their site
selection is being made.
Basically we do not believe that having another volunteer
in their site in Guatemala necessarily increases their safety
and security.
Senator Dodd. In rural areas, that is the conclusion?
Ms. Threlkeld. You were talking earlier about what if you
needed to call for help. This is a very low tech way to
describe it, but you have to be within shouting distance of
neighbors in order to have your house be approved by Peace
Corps. So even if you are in a rural area, you need to be close
to other people in a community, somebody that can respond if
you are in trouble.
Senator Dodd. Ms. Maloy?
Ms. Maloy. I think the problem is greater in the larger
cities where there are more people and there is a lot more
crime. The rural areas, at least in Romania, were quite safe.
In the larger cities, you had a lot more crime but more non-
violent crime. To have the Peace Corps and your counterpart
available 24 hours a day was sufficient for safety of the
volunteers. That was better because then volunteers did not
cluster together and ignore the people in the country.
Senator Dodd. Listen, I was telling the Chairman earlier
when the first panel was leaving, having served alone as a
Peace Corps volunteer, I much preferred that service in many
ways, and I think it was better in some ways. The tendency to
sort of cluster together, particularly during the early months
of that service, in terms of language ability and acculturation
and so forth, makes it much more difficult because the
gravitation to someone you can talk with is strong. And
invariably someone gets along better or someone is more
personable or whatever and you get competitions that can occur
within the community that can be difficult.
That is why I was curious to ask the Director whether or
not there is any pattern that showed up, along with these other
statistics, that might warrant giving more consideration to
that as an option for people under certain circumstances.
I must say I got kick out of the GAO report because you
talked about I guess it was the Dayton article. The article was
talking about people not being well prepared and backgrounds. I
was an English literature major and they trained me to work
with pigs.
[Laughter.]
Senator Dodd. As I say, it is a presumptuous notion to
take a 22-year-old, as many of us were--and obviously those
numbers change. But that is not the concern I would have, the
fact that people are not specifically trained to grapple
throughout their life experiences, particularly at that age, is
not any great burden in my view. I found it rather naive for
them to make a suggestion. When you go back and look at the
backgrounds of people and what they ended up doing in the Peace
Corps, what they end up doing could be substantially different.
So I just found that sort of amusing as one of the critiques of
the volunteers' work.
Well, I think we would all appreciate here--and the clock
is running out--any continuing ideas. I would be interested
specifically in any additional suggestions you might make to
the legislation being suggested by Senators DeWine and Durbin.
You have given us, Mr. Quigley, I think some very valuable
information in terms of how former volunteers look at these
issues. I think it is very, very interesting, some of the
survey numbers here. But I would be very interested in any
other suggestions that volunteers might bring to a piece of
legislation. We rarely get an opportunity to look at this. The
5-year rule, again I would be very interested. I do not know if
that came up while I was out of the room or not in terms of how
you feel about that. It would be very interesting as well to
hear your comments.
I apologize we do not have more time, but I thank you all
very, very much.
Senator Coleman. Thank you, Senator Dodd. Thank you,
Senator Voinovich. Again, to the witnesses, I want to thank you
for your service to America and for appearing before this
committee this morning.
Without objection, the record of today's hearing will
remain open for 10 days to receive additional questions for the
record.
This hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is
now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:32 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]