WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American people have a proud and generous history of providing help during times of crisis. USAID remains committed to helping the people of Nepal and the region during this difficult time.
Our thoughts are with the people of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck central Nepal today, affecting more than 6.6 million people and causing widespread damage and destruction.
Nearly 12 months since the first U.S. personnel deployed to West Africa to fight Ebola, the U.S. has marked important milestones in response to the epidemic. In keeping with the President’s charge and keeping Ebola as a national security priority, the U.S. built, coordinated, and led an international response—involving thousands of personnel, both U.S. and international, civilian, and military—to fight the disease at its source.
According to the State Department the United States sent more than 3,000 DOD, CDC, USAID, and other U.S. health workers to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea to assist with response efforts, as part of a 10,000-person U.S.-backed civilian response.
We all know, Blackwater is no more but, Blackwater’s descendants are still scoring big jobs, providing training and embassy security around the world. With fewer contracts coming from Iraq and Afghanistan, consolidation across the security business means that the State Department — which remains heavily dependent on private-sector guards for its embassies and consulates — has a smaller and smaller number of companies from which to choose. That, in turn, means big profits for the remaining heavyweights.
Work on the last major Defense Department contract in Iraq was suppose to be Dec. 15, 2014 when the Iraqi government took over a U.S. facility at Umm Qasr Naval Base. The United States built a ship repair facility there for the Iraqi military back in 2011. U.S. military has continued to try and disentangle itself from Iraq even as a recent surge in ISIS sectarian violence threatens to undo years of hard-won gains.
