Clinton Welcomed • Continued from page 49
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mike to give an enthusiastic off-the-cuff
pep talk to her new employees. She predicted “a great adventure,” yet also
acknowledged the challenges that lie
ahead. Promising an environment that
promotes teamwork, she continued,
“There is nothing that I welcome more
than a good debate and the kind of dialogue that will make us better.” It was one
of several pronouncements that garnered
enthusiastic applause.
With an exuberant, “And now, ladies
and gentlemen, let’s get to work,” Sec.
Clinton ended her remarks and began her
first day at the State Department.
The ceremony was hosted by AFSA,
working in collaboration with department
management and the American Federation
of Government Employees. The full text
of both Steve Kashkett’s welcome remarks
and Secretary Clinton’s response can be
found online at www.afsa.org/state/012309
afsanet.cfm.
Secretary Clinton Addresses
USAID Employees
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USAID FILE PHOTO
AFSA USAID VP Francisco Zamora (left) welcomes
Sec. Clinton (center), as USAID Acting Administrator
Kent Hill (right) looks on.
AFSANEWSBRIEFS
“Development experts
have to go through miles of
paperwork to spend 10 cents.
It is not a sensible approach.”
Governing Board
Welcomes Susan Malcik
Susan Malcik has joined the AFSA
Governing Board as a State representative. Ms. Malcik’s international experience began in 1980 as a Peace Corps
Volunteer in The Gambia. From there
she accompanied her FSO spouse Ed
Malcik to postings in Douala, Bombay,
Bridgetown, Dakar, Abidjan, Djibouti
and Berlin, working in a wide variety of
positions including as a B&F assistant,
CLO and ambassador’s self-help fund
coordinator. After becoming a direct-hire Office Management Specialist in
2003, she has since served in Kabul,
Stockholm and in the GSO section of
the Administrative Management
Training Division at FSI. She is currently a staff assistant in the Operations
Center.
The day after Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton greeted State Department
employees, she was welcomed enthusiastically by USAID employees, as well as AFSA,
AFGE and agency management. The event
took place at the Ronald Reagan Building on
Jan. 23, Sec. Clinton’s second day of work.
AFSA USAID Vice President Francisco
Zamora delivered welcoming remarks, citing
Secretary Clinton’s “keen interest in development activities” and recalling meeting the
Secretary when she inaugurated a health clin-
ic for women and children in Egypt. Zamora pointed with pride to the fact that 75 percent
of USAID postings are in hardship locations and that, by the summer of 2009, nearly half
of the agency’s FSOs will have served unaccompanied tours in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan
or Iraq. He also expressed the hope that the new administration would streamline foreign
assistance, eliminating “confusion and waste.”
In her response, Sec. Clinton was quick to
point to her strong belief that development
“is truly an equal partner, along with defense
and diplomacy, in the furtherance of America’s
national security.” The Secretary’s own expe-
riences working in developing nations came to
the fore in her remarks, and she addressed
head-on Zamora’s comments about stream-
—SecretaryofStateHillaryClinton
lining foreign aid programs, saying it was “iron-
ic that our very best young military leaders …
are given unfettered resources through the Commander’s Emergency Response Program
to spend as they see fit to build a school, to open a health clinic, to pave a road; and our
diplomats and our development experts have to go through miles of paperwork to spend
10 cents. It is not a sensible approach.”
The complete text of the Secretary’s address to USAID employees can be found at
www.afsa.org/usaid/012609afsanet.cfm.
AFSA, State Department in
Media Spotlight
The arrival of Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton at the State Department, followed just hours later by a
visit from President Obama and Vice
President Biden, drew unusually heavy
media coverage to both AFSA and the State
Department. Live television coverage of
both events was handled by CNN,
MSNBC and other major networks, and
articles popped up in the country’s largest
newspapers the next day. The Washington
Post, the New York Times, USA Today, the
Los Angeles Times and the Federal Times
are among the many newspapers that carried front-page articles. Excerpts from
AFSA State VP Steve Kashkett’s welcome
remarks were incorporated into articles in
the Washington Post and other news
sources, and he was interviewed on NPR.
AFSA President John Naland was quoted
in several major newspapers, as well as in
Time magazine.
