THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2025 51 In the Balance The president hasn’t zeroed out aid to prevent lethal infectious disease from hitting our own people. But let’s look at the balance of foreign assistance beyond that. There appears to be no commitment to sustain the incredible improvements—due to USAID’s long-term interventions—in the following areas: • reducing infant mortality, child mortality, maternal mortality in childbirth; and deaths and lifelong injury from malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis, diarrheal disease, and polio; • preventing and mitigating conflicts that lead to out-migration; • providing rural development and agricultural technical assistance to prevent crop disease or develop new crop varieties in the face of world food price shocks, war-induced scarcity, and weather changes that lead to famine and out-migration; • protecting the environment: reducing industrial, air, and water pollution; protecting coastal fisheries, wildlife, and minerals resources in the face of exploitation that contributes to poverty, dislocation, and out-migration; • offering technical or infrastructure assistance for energy development, efficiency, and diversification of supply, the lack of which leads to instability in aspiring economies; • providing technical and policy assistance for national macroeconomic, fiscal, financial, and trade reforms, private enterprise development, business policy reform, and sanctity of contract—all of which benefit U.S. companies, aid job growth, and enhance stability; • providing technical or infrastructure assistance to education, from pre-K to graduate level to help create self-reliance and sustainability (USAID’s work in this sector has been a success from the beginning—for example, in the early 1960s in India, the agency helped more than 10,000 students to earn PhDs and master’s degrees, changing the face of India today); and • supporting democracy and accountable, representative governance—not just free and fair elections support but party strengthening, women in government, and access to justice. A Proven Capability in Jeopardy Finally, it’s not just USAID’s systems and practices that have assured accountability for both spending and results. It is the development professionals, the people of USAID, who matter the most. In addition to RIF’ing almost 2,000 Civil Service staff The USAID memorial wall was moved next to the State Department Memorial Plaques ahead of the Foreign Service Day plaque ceremony on May 2, 2025. at HQ, we are pushing out almost all of the 2,000 USAID FSOs. These FSOs have advanced degrees in professional fields of international development and decades of experience serving exclusively in the developing world—often in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, and West Bank/Gaza. These experienced officers serve on the ambassador’s Country Team at every post, interact with host governments, businesses, and civil society at all levels, and support congressional delegations. Equally in danger of being RIF’ed are the 4,500 Foreign Service National staff, most of them equally technically skilled, seasoned professionals with decades of experience at our embassies overseas. The administration’s 2026 budget request for USAID is only 15 percent of the previous budget, eliminating most programs and staff. Those of us who have served our country through careers at USAID have been blessed to make a positive difference in the world while protecting and enhancing America’s security, prosperity, and values. Absent a congressional miracle, we’re gone. James A. Bever is a Senior Foreign Service officer who retired in 2017 with the personal rank of Career Minister after 35 years with USAID. He served in Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Afghanistan, West Bank/Gaza, Egypt, Ghana, and Washington, D.C. During his career he served as a USAID mission director four times and in leadership positions at USAID headquarters, including as acting assistant administrator. He is a recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Administrator's Distinguished Career Service Award. AFSA/JOAQUIN SOSA
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