前署长：美国国际开发署被解散一年后，民众正在死去

R SINCE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DISSOLVED THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, OR USAID, AS AN INDEPENDENT AGENCY, FOLDING WHAT REMAINED OF HIS WORK INTO THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT. FOR MORE THAN SIX DECADES USAID WAS A CENTRAL TOOL OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY, DELIVERING MENTORING EIGHT, FIGHTING DISEASE, RESPONDING TO INVESTORS AND ADVANCING INTERESTS AROUND THE WORLD. THE ADMINISTRATION CALLED THE MOVIE NECESSARY OVERHAUL.

CRITICS CODED THE DISMANTLING OF ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST IMPORTANT INSTRUMENTS OF GLOBAL INFLUENCE. WE ARE JOINED BY SAMANTHA, THE LAST CONFIRMED ADMINISTRATOR OF USAID UNDER PRESIDENT BIDEN. SHE SERVED AS THE U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. WELCOME TO THE "NEWSHOUR." SAMANTHA: THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME. GEOFF: YOU SAID THE DISMANTLING OF USAID IS SOFT POWER SUICIDE. WHERE DO YOU SEE THE CLEAREST CONSEQUENCES? NOT JUST YOU WERE AID PROGRAMS BUT DIMINISHED AMERICAN LEVERAGE AND INFLUENCE?

SAMANTHA: THE LANCET ESTIMATED 14 MILLION PEOPLE WILL DIE, INCLUDING 4.5 MILLION KIDS UNDER FIVE, BY 2030. IT IS HARD TO QUANTIFY DAY BY DAY THE DEATHS THAT ARE ENSUING. BOSTON UNIVERSITY RAN A TRACKER AND DOCUMENTED 800,000 DEATHS BY FEBRUARY OF THIS YEAR. PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO MEDICINE, CLEAN WATER. THE CUTS WERE DONE NOT ON A PATH AS ONE WOULD DO IF ONE HAD CONDUCTED A REASONABLE REVIEW OF PROGRAMMING, BUT IT WAS A CLIFF.

BY CUTTING OFF RESOURCES ON A CLIFF, YOU DO THE MOST HUMAN HARM POSSIBLE. THE COST TO THE 15,000 PEOPLE WHO WORKED AT USAID, PATRIOTS, PUBLIC SERVANTS, PEOPLE WHO VOLUNTEER TO SERVE MOST OFTEN IN CRISIS ZONES, WAR ZONES, SCENES OF NATURAL DISASTERS, REALLY DIFFICULT LIVING ENVIRONMENTS, THEY DID SO BECAUSE THEY WERE MOTIVATED BY THE CAUSE OF TRYING TO HELP VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN ADVANCE U.S. INTERESTS IN SO DOING, AND THEY WERE ESCORTED OUT OFTEN BY SECURITY GUARDS, GIVEN 10, 15 MINUTES TO PACK UP THEIR OFFICES.

THIS IS LIKE TAKING AWAY ONE OF THE GREAT BRANDS AMERICA HAS EVER PROJECTED INTO THE WORLD CREATED BY JOHN F. KENNEDY. LIKE A NIKE, A COCA-COLA, SOMETHING THAT REALLY ENGENDERED RESPECT AND INFLUENCE ALL AROUND THE WORLD, AND DESTROYING THAT, WHY? IN ALMOST A FIT OF ABSENTMINDEDNESS, WITHOUT ANY THOUGHTFULNESS, WITHOUT ANY PREVIOUS LOGICAL AXE TO GRANT. GEOFF: CRITICS ON THE RIGHT CITY AGENCY WAS BLOATED, SLOW, CAPTURED BY CONTRACTORS WHO CAPTURED A SHARE OF EVERY DOLLAR BEFORE IT REACHED ANYONE IN NEED.

IS THERE A VERSION OF REFORM YOU WOULD HAVE SUPPORTED OR WAS THE AGENCY'S SCALE IMPORTANT AND OF ITSELF? SAMANTHA: MARCO RUBIO SAID U.S. ASSISTANCE NEEDS TO MOVE AT THE SPEED OF RELEVANCE. THAT IS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS IN THE CONTEXT OF DISCUSSIONS ABOUT FOREIGN ASSISTANCE THAT I AGREE WITH MARCO RUBIO ON. IT SHOULD ABSOLUTELY MOVE AT THE SPEED OF RELEVANCE. I THINK WHAT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS DOING, MOVING MORE MONEY THROUGH GOVERNMENTS, THAT IS SOMETHING WE ALSO BEGAN TO PUSH REALLY HARD ON UNDER PRESIDENT BIDEN.

WHAT WAS HARD WAS A SET OF CONGRESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS, C