GUY RAZ, host:
Returning now to the main story we've been following today. The Obama administration is walking a diplomatic tightrope in Haiti, pouring in as much money and support as possible without making it appear as if the U.S. is taking over that country.
NPR's Michele Kelemen has the story.
MICHELE KELEMEN: With U.S. military assets and aid flowing into Haiti and the U.S. Southern Command taking charge of the airport, State Department officials went out of their way this past week to make clear that the U.S. is working with the local government, not supplanting it.
Cheryl Mills, who runs the Haiti task force at the State Department, says the U.S. wants to be a good partner.
Ms. CHERYL MILLS (Counselor, U.S. Department of State): That spirit is the spirit in which people are arriving today. They are not looking in any way to be anything other than a partner to Haiti and ensure Haiti's long-term sustainability and success. And we know that in order to do that well, we can only do that in partnership. We cannot do that by taking over.
KELEMEN: But while U.S. officials say they've stayed in close contact with the Haitian government, many government buildings, including the presidential palace, have collapsed.
And as Mills acknowledged, Haitian police haven't been showing up to work.
Ms. MILLS: Obviously, they've suffered a tremendous trauma themselves. They've no doubt lost family and others. And so, just as any of us in a situation like that would be searching for our families, they, too, are doing that. And I think that is something that is completely human.
KELEMEN: Mills stopped short of saying the U.S. troops on the ground would step in and replace them. She said the U.S. military is there to meet humanitarian needs and to back up the Brazilian-led United Nation's peacekeeping force.
Bob Perito, who runs the Haiti program at the U.S. Institute of Peace, says that's what the U.S. should be doing.
Mr. BOB PERITO (Senior Program Officer, U.S. Institute of Peace): The U.N. has the authority under Security Council Resolutions for Haiti, for Haiti's future and for Haiti's recovery. And I don't think that it would be in the U.S. interest to supersede that authority because we have capacities that other people don't have and that the U.N. doesn't have. We want to be helpful, but I don't think that it's really in the U.S. interest to be seen to be taking over.
KELEMEN: Perito says the U.S. and its partners also need to make sure that they're helping rebuild the government's capacity and not just relying on non-governmental groups to provide services to Haitians.
Perito said that was a topic of a panel in Washington even before the earthquake struck.
Mr. PERITO: Is Haiti really the Republic of NGOs, which is often its nickname? You know, they're about 6,000 NGOs that were working in Haiti and Haiti has very weak institutions. And a lot of the public services that you'd expect to have the government provide, in Haiti are provided by non-governmental organizations - the education, health.
KELEMEN: The new administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, says one of his goals in Haiti is to help the government become more effective. He said Haiti's health minister just asked the U.S. to help develop a hospital network in Port-au-Prince. He said for now, he is sending in disaster medical teams.
Dr. RAJIV SHAH (Director, United States Agency for International Development): And those teams will be placed in the physical sites where the health ministry would like to begin to develop the infrastructure for a longer term and more sustainable health services provision sector. So that's just one example, but that is the way we hope to work in partnership and in responsiveness to requests from the Haitian government.
KELEMEN: So even as the U.S. brings in more food, water and medical supplies, he says, it's also thinking about the long-term.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.