Answer. The World Food Conference adopted a number of resolutions and recommendations designed to strengthen world food security. The main elements of the strategy on food security included an improved policy for food aid; an expanded information and early warning system on crop prospects; expansion of food storage systems in the developing countries; and the implementation of a proposed International Undertaking on World Food Security. In conjunction with the latter, a number of governments agreed to study the feasibility of establishing an internationally coordinated system of national reserves which would be large enough to cover foreseeable major production shortfalls.

The United States has supported the principles, objectives and guidelines contained in the Undertaking on World Food Security and has given this issue high priority. We have also offered a specific proposal for a reserves system for wheat and rice within the framework of the International Wheat Council to improve world food security.

Unfortunately, although all governments recognize the need to help protect developing nations from the vagaries of the weather and to ease production shortfalls, progress toward agreement on an effective system of food reserves has been disappointingly slow. The slowness which has characterized discussion on this question probably results less from a lack of the will to put a grains reserve system into place than it does from the exceedingly complex policy problems involved in designing for an effective system.

Although technical discussions are proceeding, one of the key issues that has been resolved concerns the appropriate trigger mechanism under which the system's reserves would be accumulated or released. A number of the participating countries maintain that the appropriate mechanism should be price related. Others, including the U.S., favor a mechanism based on a production/stocks trend index, on grounds that a price mechanism would not necessarily reflect real changes in the world's physical availabilities of food grains.

We are confident that these differences can be resolved in such a way that the legitimate interests of farmers in the food exporting nations can be protected. While there has been a lessening of the apparent urgency on this issue as a result of the recent improvement in food crop production and considerable progress toward the replenishment of normal grain reserves during the past year simply through an improvement in the international production-consumption balance, the United States will continue to work for the establishment of an effective system of reserves to safeguard the interests of all countries, and especially the developing countries, against food production shortfalls.

NUMBER OF WOMEN PARTICIPANTS TRAINED IN AGRICULTURE

Question 8. Since women form a substantial percentage of small farmers, particularly in Africa, how many women agricultural technicians, farm advisors, etc., have AID Participant Training Programs produced?

Answer. Over the past five fiscal years, fiscal year 1972 through fiscal year 1976, the AID Participant Training Program has trained 104 women in fields such as agricultural technicians, farm advisors, etc. in the United States under non-contract programs. The table below compares women participants trained in agriculture during that period by geographical region.

Question 9. Does the Agency intend to monitor the research and training programs undertaken under the auspices of Title XII of the FAA to see that the Land Grant colleges, who will be the major AID contractors in agricultural development, include women as the focus of, and participants in, research and training programs supported by these federal funds?

Answer. Since Title XII activities are carried out under the authority of Section 103, they are subject to the mandate in Section 113 aimed at integrating women into national economies. This has been made clear in the Agency's discussions with the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development which the President has appointed to assist in the administration of Title XII. The Board's Joint Committees, suggested in the legislation, have on them women and others who are sensitive to the importance of women in development. We do intend to insure that this mandate is carried out.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Question 10. Has AID identified any instances in which human rights violations by a country receiving development assistance have been sufficiently extensive to warrant serious consideration of a reduction in U.S. aid programs If so, which countries were involved?

Answer. The State Department Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs and Human Rights keeps AID posted on the human rights situation in AID recipient countries. We have not been advised that there is a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights in any of these countries within the meaning of sections 116 or 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act. So there has been no case where the statute, by itself, would require serious consideration of a reduction in U.S. aid programs. On the other hand, we have undertaken to review activities proposed for countries where, on the basis of advice from the Coordinator, we conclude that there is sufficient information to indicate that a serious question is presented. In these cases, we assure ourselves that the programs address basic needs of poor people. The Department of State prefers at this time not to identify in public all those countries for which special reviews were made, it is clear that among the countries we reviewed were those on which special reports have been made and hearings held by the Congress, including the Philippines, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Uruguay.

Question 11. Could you elaborate on the criteria AID utilizes in determining whether the direct benefit to needy people of U.S. development programs in a country is sufficient to warrant a continuation of U.S. assistance despite human rights violations?

Answer. The decision on whether assistance will directly benefit needy people is based on the “principal purpose" of the assistance. Needy people do not have to be the initial recipients of resources provided to the project, so long as there is a clear link between the activity and benefit for them. For example, an agricultural research project that is designed to develop hardier strains of grain or better seeds could fall within the category that directly benefits needy people, if its principal purpose is to benefit needy people and there is a sound basis to believe that they will, in fact, benefit from the work. The decision must be made on a case-by-case basis, after analyzing all relevant facts.

Question 12. Do you consider that the enunciation of U.S. policy on human rights contained in existing law requires or encourages you to evaluate the status of human rights in countries receiving assistance from multilateral sources to which the U.S. contributes aid to be taken into account in considering the level of U.S. participation in such multilateral programs?

Answer. The existing law specifically requires such an evaluation with respect to U.S. participation in the Inter-American Development Bank and the African Development Fund. The question of policy and tactics with respect to multilateral aid sources generally is currently under study by the Administration.

THE PRESIDENTIAL REQUEST

Foreign Economic aand Security Assistance Request

THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1977

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met at 10:12 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Clement J. Zablocki, chairman, presiding.

Chairman ZABLOCKI. The committee will please come to order. We meet this morning to continue the committee's hearings on the President's request for foreign economic and security assistance for fiscal year 1978.

Yesterday the committee heard Secretary of State Vance and AID Administrator-designate Gilligan on both aspects of the request.

Today we will concentrate on the military side of the request. Appearing before the committee are the Honorable Charles W. Duncan, Jr., Deputy Secretary of Defense and Gen. George Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Secretary Duncan and General Brown are accompanied by Lt. Gen. H. M. Fish, Director of the Defense Security Assistance Agency and Mr. Benjamin Forman, Assistant General Counsel for International Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Gentlemen, we welcome you to the committee.

Secretary Duncan has a prepared statement which was distributed to the members yesterday..

Mr. Secretary, you may proceed in whatever manner you desire. If you wish to give a summary of your prepared statement and have the full statement made part of the record, or if you want to read the full statement, it is up to you, sir.

STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES W. DUNCAN, JR., DEPUTY
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much.

Mr. Chairman, I thought what I would do is give you a brief summary of that prepared statement, if that is satisfactory.

Chairman ZABLOCKI. It is satisfactory. As a matter of fact, it is desired.

Without objection, the full statement will be made part of the record. Mr. Secretary, if you will proceed.

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you.

FISCAL YEAR 1978 SECURITY ASSISTANCE

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I would like to say I welcome this opportunity to appear before you in order to discuss the security assistance program for fiscal year 1978.

I am very happy to have with me today General Brown and also General Fish, who you have already identified.

Secretary of State Vance described for you and the committee the administration's approach to foreign policy and he discussed the total range of our foreign assistance programs when he testified before this committee yesterday.

Insofar as my part is concerned this morning, I would like to discuss the security assistance program from the Defense Department's perspective, the Defense Department's role in carrying out responsibilities and implementing the security assistance program and some of the more important problems that we face.

As you know, the Secretary of State has the primary responsibility in the policy determination process, and the Secretary of Defense has responsibility for the implementation of military assistance and foreign military sales programs.

The Defense Department and the State Department must cooperate closely during both phases when judging the size and the scope of a given program or even specific sales, for example. The Department of State looks to the DOD for advice and assistance regarding the threat assessment, the need for and the capability of the host country forces to absorb the equipment in question, the danger of compromising advanced U.S. technology and similar matters.

Also, a number of questions may arise during the program's implementation on which the DOD turns to the State Department for guidance.

POLICY OF RESTRAINT ON ARMS

The President has indicated that our policy and arms transfers across the globe would be one of restraint. The DOD shares and fully supports the view that we can exercise restraint at the same time protecting our national security interests.

The essential purpose of the security assistance program is to strengthen the security of the United States by enhancing the defense posture of nations with which we share interests. Through carefully selected sales and assistance, we enable our friends to participate in and share the burdens of collective security. This is obviously true in Europe where we and our NATO allies must maintain a satisfactory long-term balance of forces vis-a-vis the Warsaw Pact if we are to preserve the present peaceful environment that has been indispensable to Western European security and industrial strength. It is for that reason that we have stressed so heavily the concept of standardization for the allied forces within NATO. This concept is going to rely heavily on the purchase of U.S. equipment by European allies and on our use of certain of their equipment for our own forces.

Our security arrangements with Japan and Korea, including sales of defense articles and services, are crucial to lowering the likelihood of hostilities in northeast Asia.