USAID Administrator Natsios To Resign Next Month; No Replacement Named
USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios on Friday announced that he will resign next month to be a professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, the Washington Post reports (Kessler, Washington Post, 12/3). President Bush has not yet announced a nominee to replace Natsios, who has headed USAID since 2001 (Reuters, 12/2). "Under his leadership, USAID has implemented important reforms and helped us combat AIDS and malaria, rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq, provide humanitarian assistance in Sudan and assist victims of the tsunami and the recent devastating earthquake in South Asia," Bush said in a statement (White House release, 12/2). Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she tried to convince Natsios to stay at USAID, adding, "The best thing about Andrew is ... I don't ever remember [him] saying, 'No, that can't be done'" (Stockman, Boston Globe, 12/3). Natsios in a statement said, "I am very proud of what we have accomplished in difficult operating environments where our staff has been at risk," adding, "President Bush's transformational initiatives in foreign aid all tested the expertise and operational capabilities of the agency in a way nothing in decades has done" (USAID release, 12/2).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.