Their principal fields of activities are shown by the chart below:

As the Peace Corps nears its 10th anniversary, it is natural that there should be talk of reassessments and "new directions." The Peace Corps in large part grew out of a congressionally sponsored amendment to the Mutual Security Act of 1960 which called on the President to arrange for a nongovernmental study on "the advisability and practicability of a program, to be known as Point Four Youth Corps, under which young U.S. citizens would be trained and serve abroad in programs of technical cooperation."

Technical skills.-The emphasis on providing technical skills, which was implied in the original concept, is one of the new directions being

discussed by the Peace Corps Director. Since more mature and technically skilled individuals are likely to have families, which fact would normally disqualify them from being accepted as volunteers and able financially to serve, the Peace Corps plans to use the volunteer leader authority of section 6 of the Peace Corps Act. This section authorizes the President to enroll in the Peace Corps qualified persons whose services are required for supervisory or other special duties or responsibities in connection with Peace Corps programs. Volunteer leaders receive a higher readjustment allowance ($125 per month compared to $75 for volunteers) and may under exceptional circumstances be accompanied by their spouses and minor children who would be entitled to housing, subsistence, and other benefits.

The committee has no objection to the use of section 6 authority for a pilot program to attempt to meet the needs of less developed countries for more highly skilled manpower. The act itself limits the number of volunteer leaders to one for each 25 volunteers. But on the basis of experience with such a pilot program, the committee expects the Peace Corps to review carefully its legislative authority before the fiscal year 1971 authorization and propose changes if a radical departure from past programs is contemplated. After all, Congress intended section 6 to be applied to leaders of volunteers, and not to technical experts working in comparative isolation, and it does not construe "exceptional circumstances" to include the possession of higher skills. The Committee emphasizes that without a clear legislative mandate it would not look with favor on the Peace Corps being in competition with, or duplicative of, the Agency for International Development in the field of technical assistance.

Volunteers to America-a binational approach.-In 1966 the Peace Corps requested legislative authority to launch an "exchange Peace Corps" which would involve bringing volunteers from other countries for service in the United States on essentially the same conditions as the Peace Corps. The committee struck the request from the bill "without prejudice," noting that "authority exists *** [in the FulbrightHays Act] for a program of this nature if the administration should find it a worthwhile undertaking." Under that authority, a small pilot program, called "Volunteers to America" (VTA), was begun. Sixtyfour volunteers came in July 1967, 41 in July 1968 and about the same number are expected this year. More than half of them have come from Latin America, the rest from the Far East, Near East, and Africa. The sending country pays for preliminary orientation and international transportation, the U.S. Government pays for domestic U.S. travel and a training and orientation program, and local communities or agencies pay the volunteers' living allowances. The cost to the U.S. Government is estimated at $2,300 per VTA the first year and an additional $200 the second year if he extends his service. Fiscal year 1970 expenditures are estimated at $100,000.

The program has been directed and coordinated by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State. On the basis of experience, however, the State Department has concluded that this responsibility should be transferred to the Peace Corps and the Peace Corps concurs. Accordingly a delegation of authority has been issued by the Secretary of State to the Peace Corps Director. A minor amendment of the act is also involved to enable the Peace Corps to

utilize its funds for programs conducted under the authority of the Fulbright-Hays Act.

Both the State Department and the Peace Corps consider the experience under this small program to have been successful and worthwhile. The Peace Corps in particular believes that it would benefit from its association with the volunteers to America program and enhance its acceptability abroad by receiving as well as sending volunteers. The Peace Corps has been steadily moving toward encouraging the host countries more and more to participate in every aspect of the Peace Corps-programing, selecting, training, and directing the volunteers. Involving the Peace Corps now in a volunteer-receiving activity would seem to be logical.

Toward a multinational approach.-With the binational approach as a first step toward broadening the receptivity of the Peace Corps, the committee searched for other means to broaden the scope of volunteer service. It noted that increasingly in recent years the Peace Corps has become a target of attacks in countries in which it serves. Also, there have been indications, that countries would welcome a multinational volunteer effort, and that recent graduates from American colleges would wecome the opportunity to serve in such an effort. None of this is a reflection of the Peace Corps. Rather the committee was interested in opening new channels for volunteer efforts and lessening the conspicousness of the American role abroad. The committee, therefore, recommends that Peace Corps attempt to work with other countries' volunteer services on team projects in countries interested in this approach.

The experience of working with a nationality mix of volunteers should provide the knowledge with which to determine whether a practical way can be found to give expression to the desire voiced by members of the United Nations to establish an international voluntary service. Such pilot projects would enrich the experience of our volunteers, as well as others, promote international cooperation, and make a greater variety of skills available to the interested countries. American volunteers engaged on such joint projects would, of course, remain Peace Corps volunteers.

To encourage exploration of possible joint projects the committee recommends adding a third purpose to title III, which relates to encouragement of voluntary service programs. This title already states that it is the policy of the United States (1) to encourage other countries to establish voluntary programs like the Peace Corps to help less developed countries and (2) to encourage less developed countries to establish their own volunteer programs. To this, the committee would add that it is also the purpose of the United States (3) "to encourage the development of, and participation in, any international program which seeks to provide volunteers to serve in less developed countries or areas, training, or other assistance in order to help such countries or areas to meet their needs for trained manpower."

The committee amendment would continue the prohibition on the use of funds for purposes (1) and (2) of that title, for which presently only knowledge and skills relating to the selection, training, and programing of volunteer manpower may be furnished. For the new purpose (3), however, the committee amendment would allow the use of up to $300,000 in fiscal year 1970. These funds may be contributed to

educational institutions, private voluntary organizations, international organizations, and foreign governments or agencies thereof, to pay a fair and proportionate share of the costs of international programs designed to provide volunteers to meet the trained manpower needs of less developed countries. What is envisaged here by the committee is encouraging creation of voluntary service programs in the pattern of international consortiums that have been successful in development lending.

While there is no direct reference in the proposed language to the International Secretariat for Volunteer Services, the committee does consider it to be a possible vehicle for the type of effort the committee has in mind. At the present time the U.S. contribution has been the provision of personnel (two or three professionals) and the International Secretariat activities have been largely confined to those of a clearinghouse. There appears to be no reason, however, that the organization could not take a more vigorous part in operations developing joint schemes and putting together teams of volunteers to carry them out.

The committee does want to make clear, however, that the language recommended to the Senate allows the Peace Corps flexibility in deciding where and how to utilize its resources for this purpose.

In this connection, the committee takes note of the device suggested to it of establishing an international register of available volunteers from which countries seeking volunteers could fashion their own teams. It hopes that serious consideration will be given to the feasibility of such a register as a means of encouraging joint projects.

In summary, the committee urges the Peace Corps to seek and develop opportunities both at the country level and at the international conference table to involve itself in multinational volunteer efforts.

OTHER MATTERS CONSIDERED BY THE COMMITTEE

Waiver of claims.-Section 2 of the bill amends the Peace Corps Act so as to make volunteers employees of the Federal Government for the purpose of section 5584 of title 5, United States Code. Peace Corps volunteers and volunteer leaders are already deemed to be employees of the Government for various purposes, such as the Federal Employees Compensation Act, the Federal Tort Claim Act, and the Federal Voting Assistance Act. 5 U.S.C. 5584 provides that the Comptroller General or the head of an agency may waive claims up to $500, against employees who have been overpaid, if there exists no indication of fraud, misrepresentation, fault, or lack of good faith on the part of the employee. Readjustment allowances of volunteers and volunteer leaders will be considered pay for the purposes of the section.

The Peace Corps, during calendar year 1968, processed approximately 200 claims of this nature, involving a total of about $16,000, or an average claim of $80. Not all of these claims will meet the standards prescribed by the Comptroller General for waiver, so the total amount of claims involved will be less than this figure.

Use of excess local currencies.-The committee discussed with the Peace Corps a report by the Comptroller General, April 23, 1969, concerning the opportunity to use excess foreign currencies to pay transportation expenses of returning Peace Corps volunteers. It is gratified