Summary: The Agency for International Development (AID) is highly decentralized, with a headquarters in Washington, D.C., and missions in more than 70 countries. AID reorganized its Washington headquarters in 1991 to streamline and improve agency management. This move did not, however, directly affect the agency's overseas operations, which have remained essentially unchanged since AID was founded 30 years ago. In fiscal year 1990, AID activities consumed about 38 percent ($7.5 billion) of the U.S. international affairs budget. AID does not have total control over these funds, however. In fiscal year 1990, for example, it directly transferred $1.2 billion to Israel. The agency had about 1,600 active projects in fiscal year 1990, most of which were run by AID's overseas missions; AID obligated $6.1 billion for project and program expenses that year. At the start of fiscal year 1990, AID had $8.3 billion in funds obligated in earlier years but unspent. AID employees are a mix of U.S. and foreign national direct hires and personal services contractors. About 10,000 individuals not directly employed by AID also perform a wide range of services for the agency. More than two-thirds of AID's overseas work-years (about 7,000) in fiscal year 1990 were expended by U.S. and foreign national personal services contractors, who are not separately identified and reported to Congress.
