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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Statement by the Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell
at Swearing-In of Andrew S. Natsios
as USAID Administrator
Department of State
May 22, 2001
Thank you, Father Gregory. And good afternoon or good morning, ladies and gentlemen, as the case may be, and welcome to the State Department. And to the friends of AID, it is a very special day to have this opportunity to celebrate with Andrew and his family this assumption of new responsibilities on his part. And I welcome my good friend, Chief of Staff to the President Andy Card, and Brian Atwood, and all others who are here to join in this celebration.
And I want to let you know, we are doing it just in time--because Andy is off to Africa this evening, starting out in Mali, and in typical Andrew Natsios fashion, he has asked me to accompany him, and I am delighted to be able to do that. And I thank you for that, Andrew. With Andy and Andrew around, I keep mixing them up--Andy and Andrew--but I'll get it straight. But Andrew has been nice enough, when I do slip every now and then and say Andy, he just smiles and his eyes twinkle a bit, and remind me that it is Andrew. And I will try to be faithful to that.
But you know, ladies and gentlemen, the Administrator of USAID must be a special person--must be someone who sees poverty and pain in this world and who responds with compassion. AID's administrator must also be someone who can see beyond the perils and plight of today to the vast potential of tomorrow.
And that is exactly why President Bush chose Andrew Natsios to lead AID in the 21st century because in Andrew Natsios we have a man with world vision. He shares the President's vision of freeing the potential of ordinary men and women all over the world through economic growth and through good governance.
And the presence of so many of Andrew's former colleagues from the NGO family and the U.N. family attest to the fact that he has been a tower of strength within the international assistance world. His dedicated work as vice president of World Vision has eased misery in country after country. And it is no coincidence that earlier this month President Bush also appointed Andrew Natsios as his special humanitarian coordinator for the suffering people of Sudan -- one of the most troubled places on the face of the Earth.
Not only does Andrew know the assistance community from the ground up, he also knows his way around government. He has served as Director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and as Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Food and Humanitarian Assistance.
And Andrew also brings to the job many years of executive experience in state government. Andy Card can personally testify, and I'm sure in a few moments will personally testify, to Andrew's phenomenal crisis management work on behalf of the taxpayers of Massachusetts.
Andrew's gift for management and for building public-private partnerships at the state level will serve our country as well at AID. Using resources wisely and leveraging AID's strength by working with NGOs and multilateral institutions and businesses will be crucial to our humanitarian and development efforts in the years ahead.
Beyond Andrew's experience in the humanitarian arena, in government, in management and with the private sector, I know that Andrew will be an extraordinary success in this job for two final reasons:
One, he is my kind of guy. Twenty-three years in the Army Reserves. Gulf War veteran. Obviously, a winner. He was trained well in the United States Army.
And secondly, he will succeed in this new job because he is backed up by a wonderful family. He will come to the job with the love and support of his wife, Elizabeth, their three children, Emily, Alexander and Philip, who look a little pained at the moment, but this ceremony will not last much longer, I assure you. And we are also very pleased to see as part of the family group here today his loving mother, Eta. And I also know that other members of the family [are] here today, Nick and Mitzi Natsios, as well as George and Alice Stamoulis, who are aunts and uncles of this wonderful extended family.
On behalf of President Bush, before we continue with Andrew, I want to thank the entire family for their willingness to share him once again with the country and with people in need everywhere. I think the family once again, all by themselves, deserves a special round of applause.
Andrew, President Bush looks to you to be his counsel and America's agent of compassion and change in the areas of humanitarian response and development assistance. He believes, and I believe, that a well-administered AID is an indispensable tool for advancing America's interests and values in this world, an indispensable tool for furthering his foreign policy objectives.
AID's efforts reflect not only the strong humanitarian impulse of the American people, their efforts help our government shape an international environment where peace, and prosperity, and democracy can flourish. I look forward to working with you toward those great ends. And I will do all I can and I promise this from the bottom of my heart -- to you and to all your associates -- I will do all I can to make sure that AID gets the resources, and the leadership, and the strategy direction that it needs to be successful under your stewardship.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we look out at the world, we Americans have every reason to feel blessed. We also feel very deeply that the blessings that we enjoy of liberty, prosperity and security are not ours alone, but the birthright of every human being on this Earth. That it is for us, the fortunate, those who are doing well, to do all we can to expend and extend our fortune to others all over the world.
And to Andrew, it is not just President Bush and myself, but rather it is the American people who look to you, our new AID administrator. Look to you to be:
First, a friend and advocate of the world's driven and displaced, of the enslaved, of the sick, ill-housed, the ill-clad.
To be a friend and advocate of every starving child.
To be a friend and advocate of the illiterate, who want to educate themselves and better the lives of their children.
To be a friend and advocate of all those who yearn to plow their own fields or ply their own trades or who dream of participating in the global marketplace that we all talk about.
To be a friend and advocate of all those who are building civil societies, establishing the rule of law and fostering accountable, democratic government.
To be a friend and advocate to the governments around the world that struggle to create conditions that will attract growth-promoting investment and lift their people out of poverty.
Finally, the people look to you, Andrew, to be their representative within the councils of nations around the world. A leader who will shape policies and programs that result in greater well-being, safety and freedom for ordinary men and women throughout the world.
Andrew, I know that you will do all of that and more. The American people are proud of your willingness to serve again. I feel myself privileged to have the opportunity to work with you, and I bring you the heartiest congratulations from President Bush. Thank you, Andrew.
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Last Updated on: January 02, 2009 |
