The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA): Origin, Characteristics, and Institutional Authorities

Publication Date: June 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

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Abstract:

Responsibility for overseeing reconstruction in post-conflict Iraq initially fell to the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA). Established in early 2003, ORHA was headed by Lieutenant General Jay M. Garner, U.S. Army (ret.). By June 2003, ORHA had been replaced, or subsumed, by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which was led by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III. On June 28, 2004, CPA ceased operations.

Whether CPA was a federal agency is unclear. Competing, though not necessarily mutually exclusive, explanations for how it was established contribute to the uncertainty about its status. Some executive branch documents supported the notion that it was created by the President, possibly as the result of a National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD). (This document, if it exists, has not been made available to the public.) Another possibility is that the authority was created by, or pursuant to, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 (2003). Finally, two years after CPA was established, a Justice Department brief (see below) asserted that the then-Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) had created CPA. However, considering that the revelation of his role in CPA followed other, somewhat vague and sometimes contradictory explanations or comments about CPA's origin during its 13-month tenure, some might suggest that either of the other two alternatives possibly could still be a valid explanation for the origin of CPA.

Given that its organizational status is uncertain, an examination of selected features of CPA might be instructive in assessing what type of organization it was. The authority was closely aligned with the Department of Defense (DOD); the Under Secretary of Defense designated the Secretary of the Army as executive agent for CPA. Other significant features of the authority included its Office of Inspector General (OIG, or IG), which was expected to work closely with the DOD and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Offices of Inspector General; the extent of its procurement activities; its regulatory authority; and its Program Review Board. An undated organization chart provided some insight into the structure of the authority, although it did not include some key offices and positions, such as the Deputy Administrator, the OIG, and the legislative affairs staff. Provisions in several statutes included reporting requirements that bore directly or indirectly on CPA. These included Sections 2202(b), 2203, 2207, and 3001 of P.L. 108-106 (117 Stat. 1209), and Section 1203 of P.L. 108-136 (117 Stat. 1392).

Subsequent to the dissolution of CPA, the question of its status arose in a lawsuit filed against Custer Battles, LLC (CB), a company that performed work for CPA. Two former employees of CB alleged in a lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act that the company had defrauded the federal government. (The case is United States ex rel. DRC Inc. v. Custer Battles, LLC (E. Va., No. CV-04-199-A).) Responding to invitations from the presiding judge, Justice Department attorneys filed two briefs in 2005 in which they they stated that CPA had been established by the CENTCOM Commander. This report will be updated as events warrant.