On July Fourth, Americans celebrated their Independence Day with fireworks and cookouts. But a few days earlier, on July 1, America’s foreign policy community was not exactly in a celebratory mood.
That’s the day USAID was formally absorbed into the State Department. I’ve heard it called everything from a “merger” to a “hostile takeover.” Whatever you want to call it, the day was an important chapter in USAID’s demise.
“A sad day” is how Susan Reichle, a former USAID counselor, described it during a July 1 Devex Pro Briefing.