After months of working quietly behind the scenes, a leaked draft of the Presidential Study Directive on Global Development (PSD-7) suggests the Administration is ready to make a major strategic commitment to elevating development as “a central pillar of our national security strategy, equal to diplomacy and defense.”

The recommendations and changes in the draft PSD reflect key principles of the USGLC’s advocacy agenda outlined in our Report on Reports.  The draft calls for a U.S. Global Development Strategy to be written every four years, the creation of a standing interagency Development Policy Committee to coordinate development policy across the Executive Branch, and stronger partnerships between the Legislative and Executive Branches on development policy issues. For a longer summary of its contents click here.

Questions remain about how these recommendations will be implemented but based on the leaked draft, the USGLC applauds the vision and recommendations of the PSD and looks forward to the President and the PSD co-chairs, National Security Advisor General James Jones and Chairman of the National Economic Council Larry Summers, to make public the final recommendations and to quickly move forward on implementation.