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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Testimony of Ambassador Wendy J. Chamberlin
Assistant Administrator-designate
Bureau for Asia and the Near East
Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate
September 19, 2002
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear here today as President Bush's nominee for Assistant Administrator for the Asia and Near East Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It is an honor to be nominated for this position by our President and to have the support of two men I greatly admire, Secretary Powell and Administrator Andrew Natsios. If confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working with you in managing U.S. foreign assistance to such an important part of the world.
Mr. Chairman, in many ways the intense experience I had as Ambassador to Pakistan this past year - and more broadly over my 27 year career as a Foreign Service Officer - was preparation for the job I seek today. Overseas assignments in Morocco, Laos, Malaysia and Pakistan provided first hand field experience in all of the regional areas covered by the Asia and Near East Bureau. My early assignment as the Human Rights and Refugee Officer in Zaire, now the Congo, especially allowed me the opportunity to cooperate with USAID colleagues.
It is fair to say, Mr. Chairman, that the accomplishments I found most satisfying as I look back over nearly three decades as a Foreign Service professional are those connected with the type of work USAID is dedicated to do. The same point is equally valid as I assess the assignments I have had in Washington. My work on assistance programs for Israel during the eighties when I served on the Israel desk and as acting Director of Regional Affairs in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau of the State Department provided valuable experience with our foreign aid budget process. Again as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement from 1998 to 2000 I helped manage a multi million dollar budget with programs on every continent. My assignment as Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council during another Bush Presidency provided valuable experience in interagency coordination. Postings as a Deputy Chief of Mission in Malaysia and twice as an Ambassador provided management experience.
Mr. Chairman, I don't believe experience alone would make me, or anybody else, a good Assistant Administrator for this important account. There is another quality equally important for ultimate success. During the past several weeks I have met quite a few of the people at USAID as I prepared for this hearing. What I found in the people of USAID, and the quality so clearly exemplified by USAID's leader Andrew Natsios, is a passion for development work.
The young women and men of USAID are committed to the values that make our nation strong. Many have foregone more profitable careers in the private sector or prestigious positions in other agencies so that they could implement programs to help the widest number of people throughout the region. They become animated in describing their work -- and their work represents the best of American values. USAID programs provide jobs to men and women who ask only for an opportunity to feed their families, a voice to those who are excluded by undemocratic governments, access to credit regardless of gender or class, health care to ill children, HIV-AIDS protection to threatened populations, clean water and reliable energy to impoverished urban poor, and education to youngsters who may otherwise never have the opportunity to read for themselves the Koran or the Bible. I am overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of USAID staff I have met.
There are daunting challenges. The Taliban have collapsed and the terrorist al Qaeda are on the run. But the job of providing education to all genders, growing a strong and representative national government, and revitalizing the economy and economic infrastructure so that all Afghans can work and prosper is still a work in process. Mr. Chairman, if confirmed for this position I will work with dedication to complete the job our nation has started in Afghanistan. Similarly I will work with you, other agencies, and the able professionals at USAID to review, adjust and improve established country programs, like Egypt for example.
Mr. Chairman, I believe as we move beyond the competitive years of the Cold War period that we enter an era in which we win if all peoples of the world succeed. The citizens of the United States are stronger and safer when other societies are prosperous, open, and engaged with one another. These are among the outcomes that the U.S. Agency for International Development aims to accomplish. This is the work that truly excites me. I would welcome the opportunity to work in the agency within the U.S. government that is most uniquely suited to implementing programs that promote core American ideals of compassion, enlightenment, security and citizen participation.
Thank you and the Committee for considering my nomination. I welcome your questions.
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Last Updated on: January 02, 2009 |
