By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington - Responsibility for directing U.S. foreign assistance rests with a single new leader within the State Department under an organizational change announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice named Randall Tobias, a former business executive who two years ago launched and led President Bush's emergency plan for global HIV/AIDS relief, to serve as this new director of foreign assistance for both the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Bush announced his intention to nominate Tobias as USAID administrator, succeeding Andrew Natsios; Tobias would serve concurrently as foreign assistance director and USAID administrator if confirmed by the Senate for the USAID position.

"The current structure of U.S. foreign assistance risks incoherent policies and ineffective programs and perhaps even wasted resources," Rice said January 19 in making the announcement.  "We can do better, and we must do better."

The secretary said existing foreign assistance programs are too fragmented to plan coherent policy or align such spending with foreign policy goals, especially the goal of preventing failed states such as Afghanistan was prior to U.S. intervention.

According to the State Department, Tobias has authority over planning, implementing and overseeing all foreign assistance spending by the department and USAID -- about 80 percent of all such U.S. spending, $19 billion or more this year in 18 separate spending accounts.

"We believe that, if we can more effectively align these two agencies, it will be easier to get coordination within the U.S. government writ large" on foreign assistance spending, a senior State Department official, who asked not to be identified, told reporters.

Tobias will develop a coordinated foreign assistance strategy for the entire U.S. federal government, including development of country plans, as well as provide guidance to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Office of Global AIDS Coordinator, according to a State Department fact sheet.

The administration already has acted to redirect foreign assistance spending from an agency outside State and USAID to promote a foreign policy goal.  The unidentified official cited the department's Office of the Coordinator for Stabilization and Reconstruction, which has authority to redirect money from the Defense Department.

"We've made some moves in that direction and we hope to continue to move in that direction," the official said.

The official said that, for now, the administration is not asking for any changes in the accounts themselves, which are dedicated to a wide range of goals including fighting illegal drug trade, promoting economic development and building democracy.

NO NEW LAW NEEDED TO AUTHORIZE CHANGE, RICE SAYS

According to Rice, the organizational change requires no legislation.  She added, however, she intends to ask Congress for legislation allowing the United States to "respond more quickly and effectively to the development needs of weak and poorly governed states."

Later, the unidentified official said the proposed legislation would somehow reorganize the 18 spending accounts.  Even though those accounts support a number of effective individual programs, the official said, "what we haven't had is a way of looking more broadly at what we're trying to accomplish either in a region or a country and making sure that all of the funds that we're using are actually being used in the most effective way."

An official said that Tobias plans to develop coherent five-year, country-based strategies focused on development goals over the longer term.

"We recognize now that development, the promotion of democracy, the promotion of better government, are central elements of American foreign policy and that foreign assistance has to do more than just buy friendship over the short term from other countries," the official said.  "It has to make these countries effective partners with us and countries that are effectively able to serve their own people."

Prior to taking on the AIDS relief position, Tobias was president, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of pharmaceuticals producer Eli Lilly and Company and before that was chairman and CEO of telecommunications giant AT&T International.

"True development requires far-reaching fundamental changes in governance and institutions, human capacity and economic structure, so that countries can sustain further economic and social progress without permanently depending on foreign aid," Tobias said.

A transcript of the secretary’s remarks and a transcript of two senior department officials are available on the State Department Web site, as is a fact sheet. The announcement on Tobias' nomination to USAID is available on the White House Web site.