Changes are in the wind for the U.S. Agency for International Development. President Bush has nominated a new USAID administrator and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants him to wear a second hat, as director of a centralized foreign aid program. USAID recently has had a significant role in construction, overseeing billions worth of rebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan. But whether it will expand that infrastructure activity to other countries, and what effect Rice's proposal will have are open questions.
The White House said Jan. 19 that Bush picked Randall L. Tobias, U.S. global AIDS coordinator, to head USAID. Earlier, Tobias was chairman and CEO of pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly & Co. If confirmed, he would succeed Andrew Natsios, who in early January joined the faculty of Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.