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Secretary Rice is stopping short of folding the independent U.S. Agency
for International Development, USAID, into the State Department.
But she is giving the new head of that agency the concurrent title of
Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, with an office in the State
Department, in an effort to end what is seen as a lack of structure and
accountability in America's nearly $20 billion a year overseas aid effort.
The secretary of state made the announcement in the second phase of a
broad restructuring of the U.S. diplomatic corps that she has termed
transformational diplomacy, emphasizing democracy building and market
economics.
She is naming former business executive and the outgoing chief of the
Bush administration's global anti-HIV/AIDS program, Randall Tobias, to be
the new foreign aid director, who will have the rank of deputy secretary
of state.
Rice said the move will create a more unified and rational leadership
structure over U.S. aid efforts which are spread across many agencies in
addition to the State Department and USAID.
She said it will focus U.S. foreign assistance on promoting greater
ownership and responsibility for recipient countries and their citizens.
"Our foreign assistance must help people get results. The resources we
commit must empower developing countries to strengthen security, to
consolidate democracy, to increase trade and investment, and to improve
the lives of their people," she said. "America's foreign assistance must
promote responsible sovereignty, not permanent dependency."
There had been reports that the secretary wanted to scrap USAID,
independent since its creation 1961, and fold it into the State
Department. But that would have required legislation and a possible battle
with agency supporters in Congress.
The foreign aid shakeup came only a day after Rice announced a
redeployment of U.S. overseas diplomats from a Cold War-era focus on
Europe to the developing world and emerging powers in Asia.
She told the foreign aid gathering that action will require new skills
and career paths for the 6,400 strong U.S. diplomatic corps.
"We are forward-deploying our people to the cities and countries and
regions where they are needed most. We are moving our diplomats from
Europe and Washington to critical countries like China and India and South
Africa and Indonesia. We are giving more of our people new training and
language skills to engage directly with foreign peoples," she said. "And
we are empowering our diplomats to work more jointly with America's
service men and women."
The secretary served notice that diplomats cannot expect to be promoted
to senior levels unless they have served in hardship and dangerous posts
and are fluent in two foreign languages, citing Chinese, Arabic and Urdu
as preferred examples.
About 100 State Department jobs in Washington and Europe are
immediately being shifted to embassies in new priority countries, and
officials say more than 2,000 positions will eventually be
affected.
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