Amy Searight of CSIS to be Asst Administrator For Asia Bureau at USAID

August 5, 2021 By in Nominations, Officially In, Political Appointees, USAID Tags: , , ,

 

President Biden announced his intent to nominate Amy Searight to be Assistant Administrator for the Asia Bureau at USAID. The WH released the following brief bio:

Amy Searight, Nominee for Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Asia, United States Agency for International Development

Amy Searight is currently Senior Associate for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she previously served as Senior Advisor and Director of the Southeast Asia Program.  Prior to joining CSIS, Amy served in the Obama-Biden Administration.  From 2014-2016 she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, and from 2012-2014 she served Principal Director for East Asia Security in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  In 2016 she was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.  Before the Pentagon, Searight served as Senior Advisor for Asia in the U.S. Agency for International Development for two years.

Earlier in her career, she worked in the State Department as an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, serving as Special Economic Advisor for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and on the Policy Planning Staff.  She was assistant professor of political science at The Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University and at Northwestern University.  A native of New Jersey, she received her B.A. in political economy from Williams College, and an M.A. in East Asian Studies and Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University.

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