The following is a proposed petition, and is by no means complete. Suggestions for additions or modifications are welcomed. -- 2/02/02 -- cgg.

PETITION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AN INDEPENDENT PEACE CORPS

RESOLVED, that we, the petitioners, demand of our government that the following be made law:

That the Peace Corps shall remain an independent agency,

That its applicants will remain to be screened, as they are now, to exclude former or present employees of U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies through a National Agency Check and other means; and that this screening be more rigorously enforced via an immediate increase in funds and staffing, along with simultaneously allowing broader and more flexible policy options to effectively acheive the goal of enforcing the aforementioned screening without exception,

That the USA Freedom Corps, the USA Freedom Corps Council, or any similar initiative, agency, or grouping of individuals, shall not vote or otherwise decide on the mission or policy of the U.S. Peace Corps, and that the U.S. Peace Corps shall retain the right to withhold information from the USA Freedom Corps Council, pursuant to Section 3(f)(iii) of the Presidential Executive Order establishing the USA Freedom Corps, or pursuant to any request to provide the aforementioned Council with relevant information.

This petition is made in the spirit of and in accordance with the people’s first and tenth Amendment rights.

Presented this ___ day of _____, _____.

(Signatures)

NOTE: The text of the Executive Order can be seen at the following link:
http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/usafreedomcorps.pdf

By Colin Gallagher (colin_gallagher) on Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - 11:31 pm: Edit Post

A suggestion was recently received from an RPCV regarding this proposed petition:

That the independence part of the proposal should be more specific, as in "INDEPENDENT OF ANY
OTHER CURRENT OR FUTURE GOVM'T AGENCIES," perhaps.

With respect to the second paragraph:
"SHOULD THIS PART BE SPECIFIC, OR IS IT BETTER TO LEAVE THIS AREA VAGUE TO ANTICIPATE ANY FUTURE CHANGES?"

By Mark Karaczun (karaczun) on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 12:29 pm: Edit Post

That Peace Corps volunteers continue to only be placed in nations which request them.

By Larry walker on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 10:22 am: Edit Post

I strongly agree with Colin Gallagher and others.
The Peace Corps should remain an independent agency. It is one of the few governmental organizations that is highly respected worldwide.

President Bush,like many other politicians and bureaucrats,know little or nothing about the Peace Corps and its mission. Compromising its integrity will lead to dire consequences.
Larry Walker,RPCV,Malawi 1998-2000

By Kevin Hogan on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 3:27 pm: Edit Post

I couldn't agree more. The true reason for the success of the peace corps is its apolitical nature. I think it's very important to note the precise wording of the three goals: to provide skilled manpower where it is needed (and requested), to promote a better understanding of americans on the part of the peoples served, and to promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of americans. In no way is it ever a stated goal of the peace corps to spread american values. I think it is extremely important that we do not allow these original goals to be twisted into something that they never were. As I see it, our goal is _not_ the mass political conversion of other peoples, but rather to provide resources that enable other peoples to make decisions for themselves.
I would definitely make EXPLICIT that the peace corps must remain an independent agency under the umbrella of no past, current, or future government agency, and that the three core goals should never be modified in any way. As stated, I believe that these three goals give us a lot of latitude regarding the manner in which we provide assistance to other peoples, and will eventually do more to promote the acceptance of truly universal ideas - not all of which may be ours as americans...

By Jim Fox on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 8:43 pm: Edit Post

There is now significantly increased risk to remotely located nieve and experienced PCV's due to increased worldwide risk of random retaliation.

1. PCV's MUST be isolated and buffered from U.S. political, military, commercial, and intelligence gathering activities, as was the no-tollerance policy from the beginning.

2. PCV's must NEVER be placed at risk in marginal sites, just to further US political or propaganda objectives.

3. PCV's must only be placed where they have fully committed local host-country protection and support.

4. Only a locally independent Peace Corps Staff, consisting of mostly ex-PCV's and local co-workers can evaluate sensitive local site conditions. This assumes additional information from (but not to) other diplomatic agencies.

By Terry Adcock on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 9:35 am: Edit Post

When the petition is ready to be signed, I'll sign it.

By Terry Adcock on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 3:23 pm: Edit Post

I read the post regarding the activation of the petition, and I have now signed. I urge others to do the same!