Tag Archives: Samantha Power

USAID’s Tresja Denysenko Dies Unexpectedly While Serving With DART in Haiti Earthquake Response

August 30, 2021 By in Americans Abroad, Career Employees, Federal Agencies, Public Service, U.S. Missions, USAID, WHA|Western Hemisphere Tags: , , , , ,

 

USAID Administrator Samantha Power released a statement on Tresja Denysenko’s unexpected passing while serving with the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in Haiti. Excerpt below:

It is with great sadness that on behalf of the USAID family I relay the passing of Tresja Denysenko, a tireless disaster response expert with our Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. Tresja passed away unexpectedly on August 19, 2021, while serving on USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) responding to the devastating earthquake in Haiti. I want to express my heartfelt condolences to Tresja’s family, friends, and colleagues.

Tresja first joined USAID in 2005, and during her career she responded to many humanitarian emergencies, including the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the West Africa Ebola outbreak, the Venezuela regional crisis, and the conflicts in South Sudan and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. In all of her postings, she played a critical role in providing aid to the world’s most deprived and marginalized people. In addition to her work on disaster responses, Tresja was instrumental in establishing and refining the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance’s processes for delivering aid into the hands of those most in need. Tresja was also an inspiring mentor, training staff across the Bureau on how to deliver aid quickly and appropriately to save lives in some of the world’s most complex and dire humanitarian crises. Tresja’s legacy will live on in USAID through the work of the many colleagues who learned from her and who now occupy a wide range of roles across the Agency.

Originally from Minnesota, Tresja is survived by her husband and daughter, as well as her mother and stepfather. She is remembered as a beloved wife, mother, daughter, and dear friend. Tresja’s kindness and heartfelt passion for providing humanitarian assistance and improving the lives of people in need touched many communities around the world and here at home.

@VP Kamala Harris Swears-in New @USAID Administrator Samantha Power

May 4, 2021 By in Ambassadors, Federal Agencies, Foreign Assistance, State Department, USAID Tags: , , , ,
The life of a blog has no certainty. In most cases, a blog has a lifespan better than that of a mayfly. A day. But most blogs do not make it longer than winter bees (six months). We have to-date survived through 26 winter bee seasons! So that’s amazing! Whatever is in the horizon, we are thankful to all of you who made these seasons possible. We are on the last few days of our eight-week annual fundraising. We are grateful to over 400 readers who pitched in since we launched a few weeks ago. If you care what we do here, and you are able to help, please see GFM: https://gofund.me/32671a27.  We could use your support.  ❤️❤️❤️ D!

 

 

U.S. Senate Confirms Former @USUN Amb. Samantha Power as 19th @USAID Administrator

April 29, 2021 By in Ambassadors, Biden, Confirmations, Foreign Assistance, U.S. Senate, USAID Tags: , , ,
Once a year, we ask for your support to keep this blog and your dedicated blogger going. So here we are on Week #7 of our eight-week annual fundraising. Our previous funding ran out in August 2020. We recognize that blogging life has no certainty, and this year is no exception.  If you care what we do here, please see GFM: https://gofund.me/32671a27.  We could use your help. Grazie!  Merci! Gracias!
On April 28, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power as the 19th USAID Administrator. She succeeds Mark Green who served as USAID Administrator under the Trump Administration from August 7, 2017 – April 10, 2020.
Excerpt below from her prepared testimony at her confirmation hearing:

“If confirmed, I will work to strengthen the institution of USAID and invest in the capabilities of the Agency’s dedicated 10,000 foreign service officers, civil servants, locally-employed staff, contractors, and other personnel. This means seeking out and amplifying their insights, learning about specific local needs, and adapting our programs. It means urgently addressing the issues relating to diversity, equity, inclusion, and advancement within USAID’s workforce. And it means emphasizing what President Biden himself has stressed: Development is critical to America’s ability to tackle the toughest problems of our time—economic, humanitarian and geopolitical. 

In consultation with you and others in Congress, I will aim to ensure that USAID enhances its longstanding leadership in food security, education, women’s empowerment, and global health, while also addressing four interconnected and gargantuan challenges confronting the world at this moment:

● The COVID-19 pandemic: With decades of development gains shattered by COVID, imperiling progress on everything from food security to gender equality and access to education, USAID’s support to partners will be vital for recovery, including by building more robust and durable health infrastructure for the future.

● Climate Change: With the surge in droughts, storms, food shortages, and climate-associated humanitarian emergencies, USAID can help countries become more resilient, while supporting their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

● Conflict and state collapse: With more conflicts occurring today than at any point since the end of the Cold War, USAID assistance will continue to mitigate suffering, while working with US diplomats and our international partners to address the root causes of such crises.

● Democratic backsliding: With freedom declining around the world for the fifteenth year in a row, USAID’s democracy, rights, anti-corruption, and governance programming must nimbly support democratic and civil society actors as they push back against creeping authoritarianism and seek to build lasting democratic institutions.

In tackling these and other challenges, I want to assure the Committee that I will work every day to expand burden-sharing in the international system. At the United Nations, working with my administration colleagues, I was able to help secure major commitments from other countries to care for refugees, respond to the Ebola epidemic, strengthen peacekeeping, and adopt the Sustainable Development Goals. US investments are catalysts that can be used to mobilize governments, international organizations, foundations, and businesses to help countries achieve their own development goals.

###

Samantha Power Before SFRC on 3/23, USAID Announces 19 New Biden-Harris Appointees

March 23, 2021 By in Appointments, Federal Agencies, Foreign Assistance, Hearings, Nominations, Political Appointees, Realities of the FS, SFRC, State Department, Trends, USAID Tags: , , ,
13 GoingOn 14: Help Keep the Blog Going For 2021 — GFM: https://gofund.me/32671a27
On Tuesday, March 23, former USUN Ambassador Samantha Power will have her confirmation hearing as President Biden’s nominee to be the next Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). A live video of the hearing will be available to watch here.  
Meanwhile, on March 15, 2021, USAID announced almost two dozens new Biden-Harris appointees at the agency:
Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) welcomes Gideon Maltz as the Agency’s Chief of Staff. Gideon joins the growing body of Biden-Harris appointees that continue to build out the Agency with wide-ranging expertise. They look forward to contributing to the world’s premier development agency as part of a vibrant, dedicated workforce, representing the best of the American people.
Together, the team, celebrating 60 years of successes, will build the USAID of tomorrow, leading and always innovating international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty and strengthen democracy.
Senior Staff
      • Travis Adkins, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Africa
      • Jeremy Bernton, Executive Secretary, Office of the Executive Secretariat
      • Natasha Bilimoria, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global Health
      • Nikole Burroughs, Deputy Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning
      • Sarah Charles Phillips, Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
      • Gabi Chojkier, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs, Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
      • Megan Doherty, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Middle East
      • Mileydi Guilarte, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Diala Jadallah-Redding, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs, Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
      • Anjali Kaur, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia
      • Jeremy Konyndyk, Executive Director for COVID-19, Office of the Administrator
      • Zeppa Kreager, White House Liaison
      • Mike Michener, Deputy Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security
      • Raj Panjabi, President’s Malaria Initiative Coordinator, Bureau for Global Health
      • Neilesh Shelat, Deputy Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
      • Michele Sumilas, Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning
      • Margaret Taylor, General Counsel
      • Rebecca Wexler, Special Advisor, Office of the Administrator
Click on the hyperlinks to view their bios.
With the exception of Jeremy Konyndyk who previously served in the Obama Administration from 2013-2017 as the director of USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), all are new political appointees to USAID; some previously worked on the Hill, NGOs, consulting firms, or  think tanks.
Also Rebecca Wexler who is the new Special Advisor to the Office of the Administrator previously served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. when Samantha Power was at USUN.
We’re still looking for the career appointees but where are they hiding them? We haven’t found them yet!

 

 

 

UN Amb Samantha Power Refers to the “Genocide Denial Against the Armenians” in Elie Wiesel Tribute

December 6, 2016 By in Ambassadors, Controversies, Diplomatic History, EUR|Europe, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Social Media, Spectacular, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Posted: 1:29  pm PT
Updated: Dec 7, 9:01 am PT
[twitter-follow screen_name=’Diplopundit’ ]

 

Excerpt from Ambassador Power’s statement, as delivered:

“… How cruel was it, then, that young Elie Wiesel, who was taunted by his perpetrators that nobody would ever know or care what had happened to him and his people, how cruel was it that he encountered a world that again didn’t seem to care what he had gone through. When he was hawking that manuscript, did he feel somehow like Moshe the Beadle, a man who possessed the truth, but was ignored?

And yet none of this appears to have tamed the determination – or even the spark and sparkle – in and of Elie Wiesel. Night of course did eventually find its publishers and after several years, its readership did begin to grow, at first gradually, and then exponentially. Indeed, arguably no single work did so much to puncture the silence that had previously enveloped survivors, and bring what happened in the Night out into the light, for all to see. And yet. Injustice was still all around. Genocide denial against the Armenians, the horrors of his lifetime – Pol Pot, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, Syria, in his later years. He lived to see more and more people bear witness to unspeakable atrocities, but he also saw indifference remained too widespread.”

We should note that Ambassador John M. Evans, a career diplomat who was appointed to Armenia from 2004-2006 lost his job during the Bush II administration after calling the Armenian killings a genocide.  In the waning days of the Obama Administration, we doubt if any reference to the Armenian Genocide as she did here in her tribute to Elie Weisel would make a difference career-wise. She will  leave her post on/around January 20, so it’s not like they’re going to fire her between now and then. Also, that’s a public speech she delivered, which means it has been through a clearance process, and not an accidental or even rogue reference.

For folks who want to read about the Armenian Genocide, also known as the “Events of 2016 1915,” the place to start is the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) from history.state.gov: Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1915, Supplement, The World War  > Page 981

Click here for Samantha Power and what she said about the Armenian Genocide back in 2008 when she was campaigning for then candidate, Barack Obama. Ambassador Power is also the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide” published in 2003.

Turkey has been there many times before, of course, below are some sample reactions just from 2016 alone:

 

 

Related items:

Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1915, Supplement, The World War  > Page 981

“The Inexorable Joyfulness of Elie Wiesel”: Remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Museum Memorial Tribute; 11/30/2016

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power

1915 Armenian Genocide — The “G” Word as a Huge Landmine, and Diplomatic Equities (April 2015)

John M. Evans: The diplomat who called the “Events of 1915” a genocide, and was canned for it (Aril 2015)

$4.2 million to dispute a single word (August 2009)

Trump to Nominate SC Governor Nikki Haley as U.N. Ambassador

November 29, 2016 By in Nominations, Officially In, Political Appointees, Trump, UN Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Posted: 2:58 am ET
[twitter-follow screen_name=’Diplopundit’ ]

 

On November 23, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate SC Governor Nikki Haley as his Ambassador to the United Nations:

(New York, NY) — President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, a cabinet-level position in the Trump-Pence Administration.

Governor Haley is one of the most universally respected governors in the country. After working at her family’s business, Governor Haley turned her focus to economic development and has traveled abroad to negotiate with international companies on behalf of South Carolina. As governor, she has led seven overseas trade missions and successfully attracted jobs and investment through negotiations with foreign companies.

“Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country,” said President-elect Trump. “She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.”

“Our country faces enormous challenges here at home and internationally, and I am honored that the President-elect has asked me to join his team and serve the country we love as the next Ambassador to the United Nations,” said Governor Haley.

Born in Bamberg, South Carolina, the daughter of Indian immigrants, Governor Haley became the first female governor of her home state in 2011 and is currently the youngest governor in the country. Prior to becoming governor, she represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.

A true fiscal conservative and savvy businesswoman, Governor Haley’s leadership drove down South Carolina’s unemployment to a 15 year low by adding more than 82,000 jobs in each of South Carolina’s 46 counties.

Prior to dedicating her life to public service, Governor Haley worked at her family business. In 1998, Governor Haley was named to the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce and named to the board of directors of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003. She also became treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003 and president in 2004.

Governor Haley is a proud graduate of Clemson University where she earned a degree in accounting. Governor Haley and her husband, Michael, a Captain in the Army National Guard and combat veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, have two children, Rena, 18, and Nalin, 15.

*

The Chief of Mission has the title of Representative of the U.S.A. to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Representative of the U.S.A. in the Security Council of the United Nations. The U.S. Mission to the United Nations was formally established with that title, by E.O. 9844 of April 28, 1947.

If confirmed, Governor Haley will succeed Samantha Power who was appointed by President Obama in 2013. She will be the fifth woman to occupy this UN position after Power (2013-2017), Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (1981–1985); Madeleine Korbel Albright (1993–1997) and Susan Rice (2009–2013). Some of her predecessors to this position includes former U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush (1971–1973), six time ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1953–1960), eight time ambassador Thomas Reeve Pickering (1989–1992), five time ambassador John Dimitri Negroponte (2001–2004) and John R. Bolton (2005–2006) who was commissioned during a recess of the Senate in 2005 and reportedly in the running for the secretary of state position in the Trump administration.

Here are some clips to read:

#

Vehicle in USUN Ambassador’s Convoy Hits, Kills 7-Year Old Boy in Cameroon

April 19, 2016 By in AF |Africa, Media, Social Media, Top Ranks, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Posted: 3:15 am ET
[twitter-follow screen_name=’Diplopundit’ ]

 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (USUN) Samantha Power is on travel to Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria from April 16-23 to highlight the growing threat Boko Haram poses to the Lake Chad Basin region.

On April 18, while on her way to talk to refugees forced from their homes by Boko Haram in Cameroon, a vehicle in her convoy struck and killed a 7-year old child. The AP reported that the motorcade was traveling at speeds of more than 60mph. The ABC news report says “the cars were traveling around 43 mph.” The NYT report said that the convoy had been driving at more than 40 miles per hour when the vehicle hit the boy. Also that one of the ambulances that was part of Ambassador Power’s motorcade was dispatched to transfer the boy to a nearby hospital.  She later returned to the village, according to NYT, to pay her respects to the boy’s parents:

This time when the convoy arrived in the village, there were no laughing and waving children running on the side of the road. Instead, hundreds of villagers, surrounded by dozens of black-clad Cameroonian soldiers, stood near the road, staring stone-faced at the motorcade.

The State Department spox was asked during the Daily Press Briefing if there is any discussion for the U.S. Government to provide compensation to the family. Below is Mr. Kirby’s response:

“I don’t know about any plans for compensation. I just don’t have an update for you on that. But obviously, we all here are grieving with the family of that young boy who was killed by the vehicle in the convoy. And as I think you saw reported, Ambassador Power, who certainly is feeling this very deeply, visited with the family today to express her deep regrets over what happened. I don’t have any update in terms of next steps here, but we all share in the grief and the sorrow that resulted from this tragic, just terrible, terrible accident.”

 

#

The Obama Doctrine — @JeffreyGoldberg’s Atlantic Interview, Read the Responses

March 11, 2016 By in Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, John F. Kerry, Media, Obama, Secretary of State Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted: 8:01 pm EDT
Updated: March 14, 5:01 EDT
[twitter-follow screen_name=’Diplopundit’ ]

 

 

Also this —

And this —

 

And over in Foggy Bottom, Mr. Kirby got a grilling. A quick excerpt below. Click here to read the transcript of the entire briefing

QUESTION: Okay. You don’t think that people are confused about what U.S. foreign policy objectives are?

MR KIRBY: I – look, there are constant discussions we have every day with foreign leaders about what we’re trying to achieve. And I can’t – I’m not going to lie and say that there isn’t disagreement.

QUESTION: Good.

MR KIRBY: That people don’t necessarily see things the same way we do, or that people – that there’s some – maybe some leaders that want more information than maybe we’re willing or able to give them. I mean, obviously, we have an obligation as well. And I don’t know how much we’ve talked in this room about operational security in light of the – making all those emails public. We have an obligation to protect sensitive information, and that’s how you look after the American people.

But in general and in the main, the art of diplomacy and achieving foreign policy objectives is through conversation and dialogue and as much transparency as possible. And don’t sit here and tell me that this is not a transparent institution here at the State Department. I mean, we brief every single day. You are able to come in here every day and harangue and harass me, and I keep standing up here and taking it because that’s what we do. We are accountable to not just the American people, but to people all around the world for what we’re doing.

QUESTION: You – yes, you —

MR KIRBY: And we’re not afraid to answer these tough questions.

QUESTION: Well, when you answer the questions, though, you don’t often give substantive answers.

#

Two Ambassadors Ride an Armorless Autorickshaw in India

December 16, 2015 By in Ambassadors, Photo of the Day, Social Media, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , ,

Posted: 2:01 am EDT
[twitter-follow screen_name=’Diplopundit’ ]

 

Via US Ambassador to India Richard Verma/Twitter:

“Showing @AmbassadorPower a true Delhi experience – powered by natural gas!”

Screen Shot

 

#

 

 

Photo of the Day: Ambassador Power Visits Monrovia Medical Unit, Liberia

October 29, 2014 By in AF |Africa, Ambassadors, Americans Abroad, Foreign Service, MEDical, New Embassy, Photo of the Day, State Department, U.S. Missions, USAID Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

via state.gov

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, second from right, receives a briefing from Rear Admiral Scott Giberson, far right, who is the Acting Deputy Surgeon General and Director of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, about the Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU), a 25-bed field hospital that will be used to treat Ebola-infected health care workers, on October 28, 2014. The MMU is expected to open soon, and will be staffed by members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Also pictured, from left to right, are: Liberia’s Foreign Minister Augustine Ngafuan, USAID/OFDA Director Jeremy Konyndyk, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Deborah Malac, and Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) Leader Bill Berger. USUN Ambassador Power is in Liberia to see firsthand the impact of the Ebola epidemic and to press for a more robust response from the international community. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, second from right, receives a briefing from Rear Admiral Scott Giberson, far right, who is the Acting Deputy Surgeon General and Director of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, about the Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU), a 25-bed field hospital that will be used to treat Ebola-infected health care workers, on October 28, 2014. The MMU is expected to open soon, and will be staffed by members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Also pictured, from left to right, are: Liberia’s Foreign Minister Augustine Ngafuan, USAID/OFDA Director Jeremy Konyndyk, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Deborah Malac, and Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) Leader Bill Berger. USUN Ambassador Power is in Liberia to see firsthand the impact of the Ebola epidemic and to press for a more robust response from the international community. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

* * *