USAID Redesign Moves Forward, With No Drama by Robbie Gramer and Dan De Luce - Foreign Policy
Unlike ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, U.S. Agency for International Development chief Mark Green has won over his workforce with his reorganization plan.
U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green is rolling out ambitious plans to reorganize his agency, and unlike a similar effort at the State Department, his initiative is enjoying widespread support among his workforce and lawmakers in Congress.
The proposed USAID reorganization plan, obtained by Foreign Policy, stands in stark contrast to bungled attempts by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to overhaul the State Department. Tillerson, who was fired in March, left behind demoralized career diplomats and incensed lawmakers, who felt shut out of an opaque overhaul plan that threatened to gut the department.
Green has walked a precarious political tightrope many deemed impossible: satisfying both the Trump administration and the international aid community, two sides that have often been at loggerheads. Green, according to seven current and former U.S. officials and nongovernmental organization experts, has managed to escape sharp criticism and shore up support within his own agency and among the international development community.
“It really stands in contrast to the way the process was run at the State Department,” says Jeremy Konyndyk, who served as director of USAID’s disaster assistance efforts from 2013 to 2017. “Mark Green has been really smart how he has set this up.”
While lawmakers have slammed President Donald Trump’s steep proposed budget cuts to USAID, they have praised Green and been receptive to his proposed reforms, dubbed the USAID “transformation.” …