: “The U.S. government continues to advance capacity-development programs in Iraq’s ministries and provinces. For the past four decades, Iraq was a statist economy with a highly centralized administration. Baghdad drove budgeting and service delivery through ministries that funded the provinces. The decentralization of authority that the Coalition Provisional Authority initiated following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime had the effect of empowering inexperienced local officials to manage the delivery of provincial government services. The consequences of this devolution in decision-making required the United States and other donors to establish programs aimed at developing local capacities. The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Program is key among these. PRTs provide the best opportunity for U.S. government experts to provide grassroots support in the development of nationwide governance capacity in Iraq.”

: “This review was requested by the Chairman, Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate. In his request, the Chairman stated that a critical element of the reconstruction effort in Iraq is the development of logistics support capabilities for the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) within the Ministries of Defense and Interior. The Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) is using funds from both the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) and the Iraq Security Forces Fund to build the logistics capabilities of the Iraqi Army under the Ministry of Defense and the Iraqi local and national police forces under the Ministry of Interior.”