The Foreign Service Journal, June 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2021 15 Vaccine Diplomacy F ormer USAID Administrator Gayle Smith has been appointed as the State Department’s coordinator for global COVID-19 response and health security. Smith helped lead the American response to the Ebola crisis under the Obama administration. Announcing her appointment on April 5, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration is look- ing for ways to share more vaccines with other countries. The United States faces two chal- lenges, Smith said. The first is to shorten “the lifespan of a borderless pandemic that is destroying lives and livelihoods all over the world.” The second, she added, is ensuring “that we can prevent, detect and respond to those future global health threats we know are coming.” “We have a duty to other countries to get the virus under control here in the United States,” Blinken said in announc- ing the appointment. “But soon, the United States will need to step up our work and rise to the occasion worldwide because, again, only by stopping COVID globally will Americans be safe for the long term.” He noted that the United States has provided vaccines to Canada and Mexico and plans to work with global partners to make sure there will be “enough vaccine for everyone, everywhere.” The New York Times reported on April 26 that the Biden administration would ship as many as 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries, including India—which the Times says may be experiencing the worst crisis of any country since the pandemic began. But some critics say that is not enough. U.S. diplomatic staff in India have been hit hard by the latest outbreak there. Four locally employed staff have died from COVID-19 in recent months, and more than 100 people in the embassy community have tested positive for the virus, according to multiple media reports. OIG: Pompeo Violated Ethics Rules F ormer Secretary of State Mike Pom- peo and his wife, Susan, directed State Department employees to carry out tasks of a personal nature for themmore than 100 times, violating ethics rules, the department’s Office of the Inspector General said in an April 16 report. Some of the favors included picking up personal items, caring for pets, plan- ning events unrelated to the depart- ment’s mission and mailing personal Christmas cards. The OIG opened the investigation into possible ethics violations in 2019 after a whistleblower complaint. In May 2020, the Trump administration fired State Depart- ment Inspector General Steve Linick on the recommendation of Pompeo, who denied the move was retaliatory. Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security Gayle Smith. U.S.DEPARTMENTOFSTATE J ust Security, founded in 2013 at the Reiss Center on Law and Security of NewYork University’s School of Law, bills itself as an editori- ally independent online forum for the rigorous analysis of law, rights and U.S. national security policy. It publishes several articles a week on “key topics” such as racial justice, immigration, war authorization and the coronavirus, and features “litigation trackers” for both Donald Trump and President Biden. The website strives to promote “principled and pragmatic solutions” to national security problems. Its Board of Editors includes individuals with signifi- cant government experience, civil society attorneys, academics and other lead- ing voices, and its advisory board features four retired U.S. ambassadors. Just Security offers two email newsletters. Early Edition, sent at the start of each business day, features up-to-the-minute news developments at home and abroad. Today on Just Security, sent at the end of the day, features all content published in the previous 24 hours. Site of the Month: Just Security justsecurity.org