Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State, recently addressed employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, DC. Her speech entitled: "Setting Forth a Clear Path for USAID To Regain a Global Leadership Role in Development Assistance," notably enshrines development alongside diplomacy and defence, as critical to national security. Mrs. Clinton states that "as we look toward the future, it is essential that the role of USAID and our other foreign assistance programs be strengthened and be adequately funded and be coordinated in a way that makes abundantly clear that the United States understands and supports development assistance." Furthermore, she notes with irony "that our very best young military leaders – captains and majors and lieutenant colonels – are given unfettered resources through the Commander’s Emergency Response Program to spend as they see fit to build a school, to open a health clinic, to pave a road, and our diplomats and our development experts have to go through miles of paperwork to spend ten cents. It is not a sensible approach." Mrs. Clinton insists that the road ahead for USAID, and for the future of US development assistance will not be easy, especially in these tough economic times, but that the strength of the organization and the community, its people, will ensure progress and success long into the future.
