Disasters & Defense: How the U.S. Responds to Natural Disasters Abroad

Abstract

The US grants more foreign aid than any other country so the stakes for answering questions like why and to whom the US grants foreign aid are only increasing. The US’s disaster response merits closer examination as disasters strike with greater frequency and intensity and more countries call for international aid. Specifically, the Defense Department may be a key player in influencing US foreign disaster aid at the Office of Foreign Disaster Aid (OFDA) since climate change and natural disasters have been added to the Pentagon’s list of top threats to US national security. This hypothesis was tested throughout this thesis using a mixed methods approach where quantitative analysis, case studies, and interviews with OFDA affiliates were employed. Overall, the results of this thesis suggest that the military interests are represented in the US foreign disaster response. For the data analysis, I proxied three variables to represent military interests: US military bases, arms sales, and terrorism threats; I found that arms sales and US military bases in a disaster-affected country increased the likelihood of the disaster receiving OFDA aid. The case study analysis and interviews point to the strategic rivalry with China as a potential explanation for why the US military would be concerned with OFDA aid-giving and thus exert such influence on OFDA aid decisions. These findings imply that US foreign disaster aid is not given for altruistic need-based concerns, but rather for US security reasons.