The Trump administration’s return to office in 2025 has brought sweeping changes to U.S. foreign aid policy, notably the dismantlement of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). From sharp funding cuts to mass employee layoffs, U.S. development efforts have been dramatically scaled back. Other major international donors are also reducing their humanitarian assistance budgets. What are the implications for the future of America’s strategic national interests and leadership around the world?
We hosted an armchair dialogue with Andrew Natsios, former administrator of USAID, and David Satterfield, director of the Baker Institute for Public Policy.
This Director’s Office event was co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Greater Houston. It was free and open to the public.
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Agenda
5:00 pm CDT — Reception
5:30 pm CDT — Discussion
6:15 pm CDT — Q&A Session
Participants
Welcome Remarks
Ronan O’Malley
Chief Program Office, World Affairs Council of Greater Houston
Featured Speakers
The Honorable David M. Satterfield
Director, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy; Janice and Robert McNair Chair in Public Policy; Former ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey
Andrew S. Natsios is executive professor and director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University. He served as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2001 to 2006 and as U.S. special envoy to Sudan during the Darfur crisis. A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and Gulf War veteran, he is co-chairman emeritus of the Committee on Human Rights in North Korea and was vice president of World Vision U.S. from 1993 to 1998. Earlier in his career, he served 12 years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and later as the state’s secretary of administration and finance. In 2000, he was appointed CEO of Boston's Big Dig to manage its cost overrun scandal.
Natsios is the author of “U.S. Foreign Policy and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (Praeger, 1997), “The Great North Korean Famine” (United States Inst of Peace Pr, 2001), and “Sudan, South Sudan and Darfur: What Everyone Needs to Know” (Oxford University Press, 2012), and has contributed to 13 other books. His research focuses on food security, famine, humanitarian assistance, foreign aid, and human rights during conflict.