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Colombia has been engaged in internal insurgencies for forty years. Only recently has the government, with the heavy support of the United States, begun to make headway against the three armed groups - FARC, ELN, and AUC. The ability of the intelligence agencies, especially the civilian - led DAS, has generally been found wanting. The intelligence community in Colombia has been undergoing reform for two decades though the pace has increased recently in response to a series of scandals. This paper will analyze the reforms and seek to assess their impact in terms of transparency, democratic control, and effectiveness. The views expressed here are the author's alone and do not necessarily represent those of the Department of Navy or the Department of Defense. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, Lutheran World Relief, as an international relief and development NGO, began a peacebuilding initiative in Colombia. They facilitated the formation of a partnership between peace sanctuary churches in Colombia and six communities of faith in the upper Midwest of the United States, coordinated by LWR staff. This partnership, called Sal y Luz (salt and light in Spanish) has the goal of education and advocacy both in Colombia and in the U.S.. Sal y Luz represents a powerful example of transnational solidarity for peace, which may find precursors in past solidarity movements like those in Central America in the 1980s. There are also implications and lessons of this case study for the broader field of NGO peacebuilding work. How should peacebuilding NGOs most effectively help their constituencies in the U.S. understand and become invested in their peacebuilding work? What benefits does this partnership bring in terms of accountability and effectiveness in peacebuilding? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]