43 years ago this month, President John F. Kennedy signed the executive order for a plan that would send ordinary Americans around the world as goodwill ambassadors in countries that needed help. It was called the Peace Corps.
Recent wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq have many Americans today wondering how they can do more to help. A group of aid workers, politicians and military officers is trying to come up with an updated solution.
Their suggestion is to devise a plan so citizens can work alongside soldiers in places where expertise and resources are already stretched thin. Advocates of the plan imagine it as a Peace Corps for the 21st century. Washington Post National Security reporter Dana Priest discusses the pros, and the amateurs.
Guests:
Dana Priest, Washington Post National Security reporter;
Sheba Crocker, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Nathaniel Raymond, Humanitarian Response Department, Oxfam.