20 OCTOBER 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Steven E. Hendrix recently retired from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Foreign Service, where he served most recently as the USAID coordinator for the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance and as the State Department’s managing director for planning, performance, and systems for the Office of Foreign Assistance. Earlier USAID assignments include senior adviser for South America, deputy mission director in Ghana, program office director in Nigeria, peace negotiations adviser to the president in Colombia, director of national capacity development for Iraq, and others. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1997, he worked as an attorney, having received his JD degree in 1987 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a member of the FSJ Editorial Board and the principal of Hendrix LLC. U.S. foreign assistance can play an outsized role in more than half the countries in the world. Here are five priorities for USAID in the period ahead. BY STEVEN E. HENDRIX USAID A Critical National Security Tool ON FOREIGN ASSISTANCE TODAY FOCUS As a new administration enters the White House, it is opportune to look at the direction of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the spearhead for one of the essential elements of national security. The March 2006 National Security Strategy advanced the “3 Ds”—defense, diplomacy, and development—as the core components of national security. Since then, all administrations have carried forward this same framework in one version or another. For more than half of the countries in the world, development is the most important tool in the U.S. national security toolbox, despite the fact that defense garners most “national security” interest and accounts for the bulk of the national security budget. This article reviews the role of development, discusses how foreign assistance works, describes what effective foreign aid FOCUS SECTION—ISTOCKPHOTO. GRID—YURA GRIDNEV. GLOBE—KEIKO TAKAMATSU
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