what town hall goers will have to say this time. r
In new directive, Obama signs off on development review
President Barack Obama has signed a Presidential Study Directive
authorizing a U.S. government-wide review of global development
policy, according to sources briefed on the review by the White House.
The review, expected to be completed by January, is being formally
co-led by National Security Advisor Gen. Jim Jones and chairman of the
National Economic Council Larry Summers.
Development hands say the new PSD is important because it signals the
intent to reach across government agencies to think through a more
coordinated and strategic approach to development policy, to include
(beyond the State Department and USAID) the Defense Department,
Treasury Department -- which handles U.S. assistance to multilateral
assistance organizations, the Overseas Private Investment Corps,
agriculture departments, etc.
The State Department announced in July that it was launching its own
major development strategy review, in the form of a Quadrennial
Diplomacy and Development Review process, co-led by Policy Planning
chief Anne-Marie Slaughter and Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew,
with assistance from acting USAID coordinator Alonzo Fulgham.
The NSC's senior director for development issues, Gayle Smith, who
reports to both Jones and Summers, is supposed to take a key role in
the development review authorized by the new Obama Presidential Study
Directive. Smith has recently been joined at the NSC by Jeremy
Weinstein, who came on earlier this month as the NSC's director for
democracy. Weinstein, previously at Stanford University (along with
the NSC's Senior Director for Russia Michael McFaul and NSC Senior
Director for Europe Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall), assisted Smith in
coordinating the Obama campaign's expert advisory group on development
and democracy issues. The White House didn't immediately respond to a
query.