Stephenson, James 1946- (Spike Stephenson)

PERSONAL:

Born 1946.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Charlottesville, VA.

CAREER:

Creative Associates International, Inc., senior advisor for security and development. Formerly senior Foreign Service officer and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission director in Lebanon, Serbia, Montenegro, and Iraq; also served in Egypt, Grenada, and El Salvador. Military service: Served in Vietnam; received decoration.

WRITINGS:

Losing the Golden Hour: An Insider's View of Iraq's Reconstruction, Potomac Books (Washington, DC), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Former Foreign Service officer James Stephenson was one of the people responsible for planning the rebuilding of Iraq following the U.S. invasion and toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. In 2004-05, Stephenson lived and worked in Iraq, trying to create and implement plans to help the Iraqis rebuild their shattered nation. As the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in the country, Stephenson was in a position to observe closely the ways in which the various U.S. civilian and military units tried to put the country back together. In his observations, he found bickering, micromanagement, and reluctance to release funds. Nader Intessar wrote, in a review for Library Journal, that in Losing the Golden Hour: An Insider's View of Iraq's Reconstruction, Stephenson "focused on explaining the causes and consequences of the failure of the post-war reconstruction schemes."

With a quarter-century of experience in nation-building, Stephenson understands that there is a relatively short period of time during which a country that has been torn apart by war can be successfully reconstructed. That period, a year before and a year after an invasion, is analogous to the medical "golden hour"—the time during which patients who have suffered major trauma, such as a heart attack, should receive treatment for the best chance of recovery. Stephenson believes that Iraq's "golden hour" has been lost, wasted by bureaucratic incompetence and hubris. The occupying coalition forces had a declared responsibility "to provide security, build democratic institutions and create the conditions for economic growth," stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor. "The failure to do so quickly … meant a vital opportunity was lost," perhaps forever.

Stephenson's particular concern in Losing the Golden Hour is the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), under the leadership of Ambassador Paul L. Bremer III and Admiral David Nash. Bremer and Nash wanted "large infrastructure projects that took considerable money and time to build," wrote John M. Handley in a review for American Diplomacy, while USAID planned to focus on "democratization, economic policy reforms, private sector development, civil society, rule of law, community development, and the empowerment of local governance." The CPA took over financial management of the reconstruction project, giving USAID and other agencies funds only to the extent that they could advance the CPA's stated goals. Stephenson finally had to turn to the U.S. Army for assistance, and it was in partnership with the First Cavalry Division that USAID was finally able to make an impact on the people of Iraq. "In the world of reconstruction and post-conflict transition for war-torn, failed, or failing states," Handley concluded, "this relatively short book provides a number of ‘lessons learned’ that could make future reconstruction operations considerably more successful."