Jan 13, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Biden taps ex-UN ambassador Samantha Power to lead USAID

Orion Rummler

Samantha Power speaks into a microphone — Samantha Power at the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas. Photo: Sergio Flores/Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Samantha Power, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Why it matters: Biden's decision to bring Power, another veteran of the Obama years, into the administration is a reflection of his intent to revitalize foreign assistance as an instrument of soft power and to achieve humanitarian goals, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.

The big picture: Biden also named Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall as homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser on Wednesday.

Sherwood served as the White House defense policy coordinator under the Obama administration, and the deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia in the Clinton administration.

Go deeper: More background on Power

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Biden taps ex-UN ambassador Samantha Power to lead USAID

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