President-elect Joe Biden selected Samantha Power to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development on Wednesday morning.
Started in 1961 with an executive order by former President John F. Kennedy, USAID’s primary objectives are to provide civilian aid and assist in the process of foreign development. Though not a Cabinet position, USAID’s top spot serves a major role in U.S. foreign policy.
“Samantha Power is a world-renowned voice of conscience and moral clarity — challenging and rallying the international community to stand up for the dignity and humanity of all people,” Biden said in a statement. “I know firsthand the unparalleled knowledge and tireless commitment to principled American engagement she brings to the table, and her expertise and perspective will be essential as our country reasserts its role as a leader on the world stage. As USAID Administrator, Ambassador Power will be a powerful force for lifting up the vulnerable, ushering in a new era of human progress and development, and advancing American interests globally.”
Before becoming United Nations ambassador in 2013, which she was until 2017, Power served on the National Security Council as a special assistant to former President Barack Obama. Power has spent much of her career focused on human rights and wrote a book about what she sees as American inaction in issues of genocide, which won her a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.
During her time as the U.S. permanent representative to the U.N., she helped rally countries fight the Ebola epidemic, sought support for the Paris climate agreement, and she worked to cripple the Islamic State’s financial networks.
For the January/February 2021 issue of Foreign Affairs, Power wrote an article suggesting ways the Biden administration could reengage with the world. She wrote that such initiatives would “remind the world not of the nebulous ‘return of U.S. leadership’ but of specific U.S. capabilities. These assets, squandered or neglected by Trump, remain core strengths that only the United States has the means to project.”
