F.O.A. Fumble

With sure grip on the nation's billfold, Congress is using its free hand to give the Foreign Operations Administration an unpleasant slap. Dependent on Congress both for money and its existence, FOA is scheduled to go out of business this coming June. In spite of the Congressional decision, however, the National Security Council needs the FOA to prepare the nation's foreign assistance program, and has asked the agency to make plans for the next two years.

Overrating the importance of the FOA's tentative schedule is difficult. Designating Asia as the critical area for communism, the FOA proposes increased expenditures from Pakistan to Japan, with greatest emphasis on Indo-China. The FOA would administer nearly 80 percent of all foreign aid funds in that area, incorporating an Asian equivalent of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation. The program would make it easier for the assisted nations to develop their trade and mutual aid. Unfortunately, the insecure existence of the FOA casts a sad shadow on the future of foreign aid programs.

Not only is it more difficult to offer definite guides for administration, but the lack of Congressional approval provides little security to men like Premier Yoshida of Japan who have repeatedly called for American assistance. Also, there are numerous FOA personnel who must plod through the quick sands of doubt in day to day operation of the program. In Indo-China alone, the FOA has 120 men helping with the long range assistance, involving $100 million for this fiscal year alone.

if Congress wants an effective administrations for its foreign aid dollars, it should now stop juggling control from group to group. The FOA is the result of a continuing integration since the days of the Economic Cooperation Administration. After a temporary shift was made to the Mutual Security Agency, the FOA evolved as the major agency for distributing American money. Further consolidation is unnecessary at present, since the administration of all foreign aid programs is now centered in the FOA. Congress should hasten to reaffirm it faith in this agency, on the basis of a successful record and the FOA's need for definite support in the preparation of future assistance.