Humanitarian Civic Assistance (HCA) is the Defense Department's term for relief and development activities that take place in the context of an overseas military exercise, training or operation. Under the HCA program, U.S. military personnel participating in overseas deployments carry out humanitarian activities such as road and school construction, vaccination of children and animals, and well digging. HCA programs are often executed with the involvement of host-country civilian and military personnel. U.S. National Guard or reserve units are involved in many HCA activities.

HCA programs cannot be carried out solely for humanitarian purposes. The deployment's primary purpose must be training of U.S. forces, readiness exercises or military operations. In describing the deployments which HCA accompanies, DoD states that "Overseas deployments are an integral aspect of maintaining a forward U.S. military presence, ensuring operational readiness to respond to crises, and preparing National Guard and Reserve Forces to perform their wartime missions. These exercises enhance U.S. military operational readiness by providing unique training opportunities in remote and austere environments. During these deployments, U.S. Forces practice command and control procedures, logistical operations and sustainment over extended distances." [1]

HCA activities are now being described as "a key tool in the War on Terrorism." According to DoD, HCA activities "directly support efforts to counter ideological support for terrorism - one of the fundamental elements of our national strategy and security cooperation initiatives. These humanitarian activities are often preventative in nature, focused at the root cause of ideological extremism, and provide access to regions where traditional military-to-military engagement is virtually impossible. They also provide significant training opportunities for U.S. military personnel while also serving the basic economic and social needs of people in the countries supported." [2]

Total spending on HCA programs in fiscal year 2004 worldwide was about $7.2 million. More than half of all HCA expenditures that year were in Latin America ($4.3 million), compared to nearly $1 million in South and Southeast Asia and approximately $2 million in Eastern Europe and Africa. About half of the expenditures on the Latin America HCA program occurred in Central America.

The Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) program falls within the HCA programs authorized by Section 401 of Title 10, U.S. Code. The HMA program trains host nations in clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war, while also providing U.S. military personnel with training and readiness-enhancing experiences by giving them "access to geographical areas otherwise not easily available to US forces."[13] The program is directly supervised by the geographic combatant commanders. In fiscal year 2004, HMA activities were carried out in Chile and Peru.

Funding

The budget for Humanitarian Civic Assistance projects is presented in a yearly Defense Department report. The amounts indicate "incidental expenses" -- the cost of materials, supplies, and some services. The funding listed below does not include costs for transportation, personnel, fuel, or the repair of equipment. Expenses reported as HCA are only those components of a deployment which are directly related to the project at hand. Thus the dollar amounts categorized as "HCA" are very small when compared with the activity's actual expense.

HCA exercise: New Horizons/ Nuevos Horizontes

1. Medical, dental, and veterinary care provided in rural areas of a country;
2. Construction of rudimentary surface transportation systems;
3. Well drilling and construction of basic sanitation facilities;
4. Rudimentary construction and repair of public facilities; and
5. Detection and clearance of land mines.

The Secretary of State must approve all HCA activities, and the Secretary of Defense must determine that the activity will promote:

1. The security interests of both the United States and the country in which the activities are to be carried out; and
2. The specific operational readiness skills of the members of the armed forces who participate in the activities.

By definition, HCA must complement -- and not duplicate -- any other form of social or economic assistance that the United States is providing to the host country. HCA cannot be provided to any "individual, group or organization engaged in military or paramilitary activity."

Report

Section 401 of Title 10, U.S. Code requires the Secretary of Defense submit a report by March 1 of each year including:

1. A list of countries in which humanitarian and civic assistance activities were carried out during the preceding fiscal year.
2. The type and description of such activities carried out in each country during the preceding fiscal year.
3. The amount spent carrying out each activity in each country during the preceding fiscal year.