Arms Control and Disarmament Agency - 2005-2006 Reorganization

2005-2006 Reorganization

In 2004, the State Department's Inspector General (IG) conducted a review of three of these Bureaus: NP, AC, and VC. The IG recommended merging AC and NP to move resources from arms control areas that were relatively inactive to higher priority nonproliferation issues. The IG also recommended reducing the VC Bureau to a more focused Office reporting to the Secretary of State. These recommendations were held in abeyance until Robert Joseph was sworn in as the new Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs in June 2005.

In late 2005, Under Secretary Joseph decided to accept the IG recommendation to merge the AC and NP Bureaus into the new Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN). Rather than scaling back the VC Bureau, however, he decided to expand it into the new Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation (VCI). Not only was this contrary to the recommendation of the Inspector General, but by merging implementation with verification and compliance it undercut the purpose of the VC Bureau to provide independent review of implementation. Furthermore, though the ISN Bureau was somewhat larger than the NP Bureau, its mission was also expanded and staff resources available for most nonproliferation functions were actually reduced. A number of senior nonproliferation experts have left the Bureau as a result, further exacerbating the staffing shortage. One of the Office Directors in the new structure told his staff that one purpose of the reorganization was to eliminate vestiges of ACDA from the Department of State. In a Washington Post article in March 2006, an unnamed official confirmed that one reason for the reorganization was to respond to what he called "rank insubordination" by some "disloyal" career staff, contradicting the official statement that the reorganization was intended to realign the organization with changed circumstances and priorities.