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Confirmed: Radelet begins new role at State

Steve Radelet has begun his new job as senior advisor on development in the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Radelet announced his move, which had been reported but not confirmed, in an email to staffers at the Center for Global Development, where he worked until Friday. The development community has mixed feelings about ...

Steve Radelet has begun his new job as senior advisor on development in the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Radelet announced his move, which had been reported but not confirmed, in an email to staffers at the Center for Global Development, where he worked until Friday.

Steve Radelet has begun his new job as senior advisor on development in the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Radelet announced his move, which had been reported but not confirmed, in an email to staffers at the Center for Global Development, where he worked until Friday.

The development community has mixed feelings about the appointment. On one level, Radelet is seen a strong advocate for development, a straight shooter who’s not afraid to ruffle feathers in his advocacy for a strong and independent aid mission. On the other hand, some see Radelet’s placement inside Clinton’s personal office as yet another sign that she is consolidating power over development at State, rather than at USAID.

Here’s his parting email, below the jump:

From: Steve Radelet
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 10:33 PM
To: CGD Staff Announcement
Subject: Moving On….

 

Dear Friends,

Alas, all good things must come to an end, as so it is with mixed feelings that I let you know that Friday was my last day at CGD. I will miss everyone at CGD, but I am excited to begin a new position as Senior Advisor on Development in the Secretary’s Office at the State Department. My apologies for not telling you all in person, but for many of you this is probably not such a great surprise, since it has been reported around town for the last couple of weeks. I am looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge of helping to elevate development alongside diplomacy and defense as a strong pillar of US foreign policy.

CGD has been a great place to work for me, both professionally and personally. I will treasure my memories of working with all of you. It’s a great institution! And I look forward to seeing all of you in the near future!

You can reach me going forward at
Best regards,
Steve

Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.

Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.

A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.

Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin

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