The Institute of Global Politics at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University today announced the creation of a new task force focused on assessing the strategic rationale for U.S. foreign assistance, reframing policy objectives and developing actionable recommendations for a new era of global competition. The task force, which brings together senior leaders and subject matter experts representing a broad ideological spectrum, held its inaugural meeting in New York City in March.
The task force is led by Jacob J. Lew, professor of international and public affairs at Columbia SIPA and former U.S. secretary of the treasury; Alice Albright, Carnegie Fellow at IGP and former CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation; David M. Satterfield, director of the Baker Institute and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Lebanon; and Sonali Korde, MD Anderson Visiting Fellow at the Baker Institute and former assistant to the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
James A. Baker III, 61st U.S. secretary of state and honorary chair of the Baker Institute, describes the importance of this task force:
“Foreign assistance remains a critical tool of American leadership and statecraft. Carefully designed programs can strengthen alliances, promote stability, expand economic opportunity and advance U.S. strategic interests abroad. At a time of growing geopolitical competition and rising global instability, the United States must think deliberately about how assistance is structured, prioritized and communicated to ensure it delivers meaningful results while maintaining bipartisan support in Congress and earning the confidence of the American public. This initiative brings together leaders from across sectors and political perspectives to help shape a more strategic, effective and sustainable approach to U.S. engagement abroad.”
Over the course of the next year, the task force will convene a series of small group discussions and larger in-person meetings designed to build areas of consensus, clarify trade-offs and stress-test strategic assumptions, culminating in a final report that articulates a forward-looking vision for U.S. foreign assistance with actionable recommendations for bilateral and multilateral engagement.
“Recent events remind us that meeting international challenges requires using diplomacy and development alongside defense, and to do that means modernizing and strengthening all three,” said Hillary Rodham Clinton, former secretary of state and co-founder and chair of IGP’s Faculty Advisory Board. “I’m pleased that the Institute of Global Politics at Columbia University is partnering with the Baker Institute at Rice University to address how development tools can best be used to further American security, interests and values.”
For more than 75 years, Columbia SIPA has been educating professionals who work in public, private and nonprofit organizations to make a difference in the world. Through rigorous social science research and hands-on practice, SIPA’s graduates and faculty strive to improve social services, advocate for human rights, strengthen markets, protect the environment and secure peace in their home communities and around the world.
The Baker Institute is a nonpartisan, data-driven policy research institution based at Rice in Houston. Since 1993, the institute has produced rigorous research and analysis on the most pressing challenges facing Texas, the U.S. and the world. The Baker Institute has earned recognition as the top-ranked university-affiliated policy research institution in the world.
About the co-chairs
Jacob J. Lew
Jacob J. Lew is a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia SIPA. In the Biden administration, he served as U.S. ambassador to Israel. Previously, he served as the 76th secretary of the treasury and White House chief of staff in the Obama administration. Lew has also served in additional roles at the White House and in Congress, including serving twice as director of the Office of Management and Budget, as well as in private-sector roles at Citigroup and New York University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Academy of Social Insurance, and he is a member of the bar in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
Alice Albright
Alice Albright is the former CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and former CEO of the Global Partnership for Education. She helped establish the field of innovative development finance, beginning at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. As founder and principal of Acadia Advisory, Albright advises philanthropic and development organizations as they navigate a shifting global landscape, supporting institutions considering how development models and financing approaches may need to evolve in the years ahead. Albright has served on two G7 Gender Equality Advisory Councils, appointed by the president of France for the 2019 G7 and by the prime minister of the U.K. for the 2021 G7. She serves on the Board of the National Democratic Institute, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the Food Security Leadership Council.
David M. Satterfield
David M. Satterfield is the director of Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and leads the institute’s Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East. He is also the Janice and Robert McNair Chair in Public Policy at the Baker Institute. He has more than four decades of diplomatic and leadership experience, including service as special envoy for the Horn of Africa, assistant secretary of state, National Security Council staff director and ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey and chargé d’affaires in Iraq and Egypt. From October 2023 to May 2024, President Joe Biden appointed him U.S. special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues to lead U.S. diplomacy in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Sonali Korde
Sonali Korde is the MD Anderson Visiting Fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, specializing in humanitarian affairs, international development, global health and foreign policy. She is also a senior Middle East adviser for All Hands and Hearts and an adjunct clinical instructor at the Baylor College of Medicine Center for Global Surgery. Korde serves on the advisory councils of two nongovernmental organizations focused on health and humanitarian assistance. Previously, she served as assistant to the administrator and head of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. Korde also held the position of acting deputy assistant administrator at USAID’s Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs, where she managed strategic engagement with Congress. She has served on the National Security Council staff as director of global health and development and was a foreign affairs fellow in the office of former Rep. Nita Lowey.