Global Development

On Thursday, November 19, please join CSIS and partners in commemorating World Toilet Day. While many people who have access to a toilet might consider this a humorous concept, the global sanitation crisis necessitates that a spotlight be shined on both the severity of the problem and the promising solutions. Join us on the lawn of the United States Capitol to learn about, and give voice to, the 2.5 billion people who lack access to a toilet and the 1.8 million people who die annually as a result.

The Chinese equivalent of Secretary of Defense, General Xu Caihou was here at CSIS this morning. His speech laid out a forward looking defense process the Chinese had just completed, the equivalent of our Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).

President Obama has just taken decisive action to modernize the United States' uncoordinated and at outdated approach to global development by signing a Presidential Study Directive on Global Development Policy. The directive calls for a comprehensive and interagency review of U.S. engagement in international development to be completed by January, 2010.

The foreign assistance agency USAID is known, amongst other things, for assisting AIDS orphans. However, recently USAID has become the orphan. It has been without an Administrator for 204 days…and there remains no parent in sight. Paul Farmer – a Harvard doctor venerated as a global health visionary - is no longer running for Administrator for reasons not made public. He is one of many to take his hat out of the ring. And so, the orphan – with a budget of $13.2billion in 2008 and over 2,000 full time employees – continues to languish in the leadership abyss.

As reported by the AP, the two captured American journalists have been issued a "special pardon" by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The tipping point for the release of the two journalists came from the diplomatic intervention by former President Bill Clinton on behalf of the two American citizens.