3D Security Initiative

U.S. development assistance plays a direct role in addressing the root causes of insecurity. Several national polls show that the public thinks the U.S. should spend 10%--the percentage many religions recommend that their members give to others in need--of the federal budget on development work abroad. In reality, the U.S. spends far less than 1% of the federal budget on this type of foreign assistance even though it plays an essential role in building a more secure world.

What is Development?
Development programs help communities have better access to basic education, healthcare, employment, and democratic institutions. Development provides the resources that people need to help themselves.

Development works with people; it does not do things for them. When people are supported at the grassroots level to help them improve their own communities, the change is lasting. There are thousands of development organizations around the world working with local communities to improve their quality of life. U.S. foreign assistance programs help to fund some of these development efforts. Giving people an opportunity to improve their lives is an American tradition.

Development Strengthens Homeland Security
Hurricane Katrina revealed to many that desperate poverty exists right here in the U.S. Whole communities throughout the U.S. struggle with high unemployment, lack of affordable healthcare, and a lack of hopeful opportunities to better their lives. Communities that face these chronic threats are perpetually insecure. When a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina comes along, communities like these don't have the capacity to help themselves in these times of crisis.

Building strong, healthy communities strengthens overall U.S. security. Development programs that help people out of poverty have a proven track record; studies prove that communities with adequate opportunities and resources really can move themselves out of poverty. Preventing the spread of diseases, preparing for natural disasters, and creating the kinds of neighborhoods where people watch out for each other contributes to greater security for everyone.

Development Builds Global Security
In an interdependent world, helping others ultimately ends up helping ourselves. Working to build peace and improve security for people throughout the world is a significant contribution to U.S. security. Historically, U.S. self-interest helped to stop the slave trade, support countries in their quest to become independent after colonialism, and prompt humanitarian assistance when disasters or wars threatened the migration of large numbers of people. Development efforts in the U.S. and abroad contribute to security in a variety of ways.

The U.S. National Security Strategy states that "A world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2 a day, is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world's poor in an expanding circle of development- and opportunity is a moral imperative and one of the top priorities of U.S. international policy."

Development Prevents Terrorism
Preventing terrorism requires an understanding of the places where extremism thrives. Extremists are a tiny minority in any society, but they are more likely to find a sympathetic audience when the majority shares some of their anger, resentment, and fatalism. They exploit frustration and indignity, no matter what the cause -- be it chronic poverty, political oppression, or systematic exclusion from the benefits, privileges, and respect that other societies enjoy.

Working in partnership with people in other countries to build schools, hospitals, and democratic governments, is an investment in U.S. security. Threats to our security -- like terrorism -- can take root and grow in fragile states where hopelessness and lawlessness prevail. Programs and policies that help such countries become more stable by meeting their citizens' needs are not only investments in a better future for millions of vulnerable men, women, and children. They are also investments in our own future, because the U.S. depends on responsible, capable partners in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to work alongside us to address terrorism and other global security threats.

Helping responsible governments get stronger, offering their people hope for a better future, is a smart investment in our own security. Direct threats to U.S. security (e.g., terrorism) and social threats (e.g., illegal drugs, dangerous new diseases, and tainted foodstuffs) take root and grow in countries where lawlessness prevails. We stop terrorism by stopping its training camps; we prevent diseases like SARS and Avian flu by catching and treating epidemics abroad before they reach our shores. So far, the U.S. has stopped SARS and Avian flu from causing U.S. epidemics by working with well-established governments in Southeast Asia. When we invest in training health care workers or in rebuilding government and civil society institutions after a civil war, we are investing in our own future as well.

Development is Good for the Economy
Investing in a healthy global economy means investing in people. With trade supporting almost a fourth of U.S. national income and one in nine jobs, our economic prospects are more intertwined than ever with those of other countries.