Strock (left) spent six months in Iraq in 2003. (Photo courtesy of F.T. Eyre, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Meeting with reporters July 30 at Corps headquarters, Strock said that with the Iraq reconstruction, "Our biggest frustration right now is the fact that we've had the supplemental appropriation for about 10 months now and we have not seen the level of effort we had hoped to see by this point." He said one of his principal aims on his coming trip is to "see how to get this thing jump-started and get some money truly flowing into bricks and mortar and things on the ground.'

Strock, who on July 1 became the Army's 51st Chief of Engineers, had spent six months last year in Iraq as the Coalition Provisional Authority's deputy director of operations. He said that in Iraq, "It's a difficult situation, but we're making some real headway." He also noted that earlier this year, the Corps established a Gulf Regional Division, composed of three districts: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul. Each district is headed by a Corps District commander from the U.S and has military and civil works responsibilities, as Corps U.S. districts do.

Strock said the Gulf division has about 400 Corps personnel now and adds that "as work increases we will ramp up to a larger number. We expect by October we should have a significant amount of construction ongoing."

But doesn't plan to push more work "willy-nilly." He says, "If we do it right, the progress may be slower early on but you should see an exponential increase in both the amount of work that's being done and the quality of work and the effectiveness in term of the quality of life." He adds, "It's a very frustrating process for everybody, because they want to see results now. And if you want it bad, you get it bad." Strock says one reason for the slow pace of turning funds into construction "is just making sure that we're doing it right."

He said that the Corps' main job in Iraq is to oversee construction, under the Project Coordination Office led by retired Admiral David Nash. Nash's office works with Iraqi ministries and develops projects, then hands them off to the Corps to oversee, Strock says.

Strock's comments came during a wide-ranging session at which he also discussed the Corps $4 billion-plus civil works program. In civil works, he said, "We are really emphasizing environmental sustainability," and moving away from a project-centered approach to a watershed-wide view.

The civil works program's strategic plan has five goals, he said: a more integrated water management approach; trying to "go back and right some of the past wrongs" done to the environment by Corps projects; assuring traditional stakeholders that it will continue to pursue its efforts to enhance navigation; maintain readiness to respond to both natural and terrorist-caused disasters; and maintain the agency's technical competence.

Strock also is concerned about the state of the Corps' domestic water infrastructure. He says that although the Corps has not yet had a major infrastructure failure, but adds, "I'll tell you what, we're mighty close. And we are running closer and closer to that risk everyday."

He says that the McAlpine Lock and Dam on the Ohio River will close for repairs for two weeks beginning Aug. 9, closing the river "for the first time in anybody's memory." The closure was triggered by discovery of cracks in important structural parts of a 40-year-old miter gate, the Corps says.