The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 integrates 140 different goals and
priorities and 400 directives, and is executed by at least 12 departments, 25
different agencies, and almost 60 government offices. Moreover, successive
presidents and congresses have often chosen to work around the act, enacting
more than 20 additional pieces of legislation to achieve their foreign-aid
goals. As a result, the existing system's mission has become muddled and
confused, cluttered with earmarks, special coordinators, and loopholes.