Gayle Smith reflects on her career in global development, including her service on the National Security Council and as administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) during the Presidency of Barack Obama. Smith focuses on her efforts to elevate the status of development programming within the foreign policy of the Obama administration, describing the process of cla rifying the administration's development goals in the first ever Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, issued in September 2010, and through the language of sustained and inclusive economic growth. Smith also discusses the evolution of U.S.-Africa relations during the period of her service, providing details about important initiatives including the 2014 United States-Africa Leaders Summit, Power Africa, and Feed the Future. Also discussed are the partisan politics surrounding the confirmation by the Senate of agency political appointees during the period of the Obama presidency, the administration's response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic, and USAID's activities during the presidential transition of Donald Trump
Presidents--United States; Presidents--Transition periods.--United States; Ebola virus disease--Epidemics; Smith, Gayle E; Obama, Barack; National Security Council (U.S.); Power Africa (Organization); Feed the Future Initiative (U.S.); United States. Agency for International Development
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2020
Physical Description
59 pages
Note (Biographical)
Gayle E. Smith is a leading expert on global development, having served as a top advisor on development issues for two American presidents. Smith joined the Obama administration in 2009, serving as special assistant to the president and senior directo r for development and democracy at the National Security Council. In 2015, President Obama nominated her to be the new administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She had previously served in the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council. Before her work on the National Security Council, Smith founded the sustainable security program for the Center for American Progress, and co-founded the Enough Project and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. She has also worked as a journalist and with nongovernmental organizations in Africa for more than twenty years. At the time of the interview, Smith is president and CEO of One Campaign
Note
Interviewed by Karida Brown on October 28, 2020. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Gayle Smith, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022