The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

24 NOVEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Q&AWITH USAIDADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHAPOWER COVER STORY S amantha Power was sworn into office as the 19th Admin- istrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development on May 3. She leads USAID as it reaches the 60th anniversary of its founding this month. Priorities today for Administrator Power and the agency include enhancing USAID’s long-standing leadership in areas including food security, education, women’s empower- ment and global health. Power is the first USAID Administrator to also be a member of the National Security Council, where she aims to ensure that development plays a critical role in America’s responses to a range of economic, humanitarian and geopolitical issues. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Samantha Power was the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the WilliamD. Zabel Professor of Practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. From 2013 to 2017, Power served in the Obama-Biden administration as the 28th U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. During her time at the U.N., Power rallied countries to combat the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and to ratify the Paris climate agreement. From 2009 to 2013, Power served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to the president and senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights. At the NSC, she advised the Obama-Biden administration on issues such as democracy promotion, United Nations reform, LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, atrocity prevention, and the combat against human trafficking and global corruption. An immigrant from Ireland, Power began her career as a war correspondent in Bosnia, and went on to report from places such as Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan and Zimbabwe. She was the founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and has been recognized as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” and one of Foreign Policy ’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.” Power is author and editor of multiple books, and the recipient of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Non- fiction. She earned a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Administrator Power responded to questions from The For- eign Service Journal in mid-September in conjunction with USAID’s 60th anniversary this month. On the60thAnniversaryofUSAID