This article covers recent developments in the United States Refugee Resettlement Program and discusses the program's future. A formal refugee pollicy is a recent phenomenon, initiated with the passage of the 1980 Refguee Act. With the passage of the Act, greater attention has been paid to developing procedures for resettlement, and the institutionalization of procedures has led to demands for greater accountability, clearer delineation of roles and responsibilities, and more monitoring of resettlement programs. The problem of balancing the need for structure in refugee services with the need for flexibility is considered in the body of the paper. Some of the issues addressed include: (1) preparing refugees for resettlement and how refugee processing centers function; (2) how administrative goals and policies to create economic self-sufficiency among refugees function; (3) whether the policy of dispersal of refugees throughout the country facilitates or retards acculturation and economic self-sufficiency; and (4) the information gap and research efforts aimed at a better understanding of the refugee experience. Challenges ahead are the need for flexibility in responding to the episodic nature of refugee resettlement programs, the need to balance U.S. international/humanitarian commitments and U.S. domestic concerns, and meeting the requirements of a program which is comprehensive in scope. (CG)