WASHINGTON — Leadership of the nation’s bilateral aid agency will fall to someone relatively unknown to the U.S. development community in the midst of an unprecedented global health crisis.
The White House’s surprise decision Tuesday to designate John Barsa as acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development when Mark Green steps down in April caught agency staff, aid advocates, and partners mostly off guard. Barsa, currently the assistant administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean and a former Department of Homeland Security official, is now faced with leading the agency through a period of high stress and uncertainty as the COVID-19 outbreak poses unpredictable challenges around the world.
As acting administrator, Barsa will lead the agency until the administration nominates — and Congress confirms — a permanent replacement for Green. Given the time that process usually takes, it is unlikely a permanent administrator will be appointed before the November presidential election.