Lugar called for a "unity-of-purpose" to achieve food security and other foreign assistance objectives. He said:
“We need to be unified around common purposes for which we can marshal the appropriate level of resources and variety of approaches. There will be situations that call for the involvement of multiple agencies under the direction of one government entity. But, the decision to involve other government actors should be driven by the purpose. Such is clearly the case now in Haiti. The U.S. government and international actors are unified for the purpose of disaster response. That response involves the coordination of hundreds of organizations to rescue people and to provide basic elements needed for survival. At some point soon, the mission will evolve from disaster response to reconstruction to development. We should be asking whether we will be able to maintain a unity-of-purpose even as that purpose changes.