The U.S. Agency for International Development is in charge of America's overseas aid, and Obama
- as well as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - have said they want the agency to play a bigger role in U.S. foreign policy. Obama and Clinton have said USAID is crucial to deploying their preferred "smart power" foreign policy strategy, which envisions more equal roles for diplomacy and development alongside defense.
But leaving the top job at USAID open for so long has some worried about the fate of Obama's goals, from reshaping Afghanistan strategy to parceling out a foreign aid budget twice as large as the previous administration's budget.
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And at a time the president has said he wants to restore America's reputation abroad, there's concern the leadership vacancy is weakening an agency best positioned to win goodwill for the U.S. by improving living conditions for people around the world.
White House officials have not explained the delay nor offered a timeline for a nominee.
Spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama wants to appoint a qualified nominee as soon as possible. He noted that the vacancy has not prevented the administration from launching ambitious development projects, including what Vietor called a "landmark initiative"
- a $20 billion food security program with the backing of some of the world's largest economies.
But with potential candidates facing an arduous vetting process and a job description that's ill-defined, many in the development community believe the administration's problem may be finding someone who actually wants the job.
"By not having a USAID administrator in place, unfortunately, everyone is poorly served," said Samuel Worthington, president of InterAction, a coalition of humanitarian organizations.
The problem could be the most immediate in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As the president mulls an overhaul of the war, a major theme in the discussions with his national security team
- and a point of agreement among most - is the need to significantly build U.S. civilian efforts alongside any military increase.
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Not having a strong USAID leader at the table for those sessions is "undercutting your international development voice," said J. Brian Atwood, a former agency administrator in the 1990s.
Congress isn't happy, either.
Last month, Democratic Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Dick Lugar, the committee's top Republican, jointly wrote Obama to say that their efforts to support the president's development agenda on Capitol Hill are "hampered by a leadership vacuum" at USAID.
To speed things up, the lawmakers suggested Obama choose someone who already has gone through the administration's cumbersome vetting process.