Just over two years into her tenure, Samantha Power has redefined the role of USAID administrator as a key foreign policy figure who represents the White House on the front lines of global crises and wields significant influence within President Joe Biden’s administration.
“She makes AID a player,” said George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
While Power’s high-flying approach to leading the agency has won her accolades, some inside the U.S. Agency for International Development said it has also come with tradeoffs. Workforce-related tensions continue to simmer. Stress is high, morale is low, and the workload is only increasing in the face of mounting international crises.