Administrator Samantha Power at a Swearing-in Ceremony for Julie Koenen Mission Director for Ukraine

ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much, and again, just reiterating the plea to turn on your cameras if you can, those of you who've known Julie [Koenen] in so many incarnations over her incredibly distinguished career.

It's great to be here, I was really grateful to hear from Ambassador [Bridget] Brink, who is you know, kind of "dream date" as a Chief of Mission Embassy leader, U.S. government leader, for USAID to be able to work with, to brainstorm with. She's completely immersed in the details of what we do, yet has the greatest respect for the expertise that USAID professionals bring uniquely - and that's just the perfect combination. She values the work so much, and will advocate for it with every breath, up on Capitol Hill, within the U.S. government. And she sees it up close - makes that work again the work of Team America, and it's incredibly important.

Ambassador [Oksana] Markarova, my gosh. When I think about the privilege that we feel, as USAID, and whether it's our Foreign Service Officers who serve at this time of great duress, or our FSNs [Foreign Service Nationals], these incredible Ukrainian citizens who could be doing anything, who have so much talent, they could have been doing anything in their country - they could have left and become refugees in Europe, and would probably be running startups and making huge contributions to their temporarily adopted countries. But they are the people who are making this work happen because they are hearing the ideas, the innovation, and the creativity you described, from the Ukrainian people.

Ukrainian people now are so famous, now, for their courage on the battlefield. But when this war is over, the story will be told about their courage and their innovation around every aspect of what it takes to keep a country going in the face of unspeakable, almost unprecedented brutality. So the privilege is ours, the partnership is one that for generations hence is going to be a model partnership that people look at and try to learn from and replicate in different places. But it is really the fiber of the Ukrainian people who are the leaders of the humanitarian and the development agenda, and of course the leaders on precisely how to build a democracy and an economy at a time when bombs are falling, and where there's innovation on the other side in the most destructive ways.

Ukraine's innovation is - on how do we de-risk this financial investment or how do we devise a new use for the Diia app, it's this creativity that is so generative. All the creativity on the other side is about how do we destroy with more precision. And yet, here we are, Ukraine standing tall, fending off these horrors. So thank you for giving all of us, what most of us consider the privilege of our lives, really to be able to do this work alongside the Ukrainian people.

So Julie, no pressure. Low stakes. It's also great - I should also thank the Deputy Ministry of Economy for Ukraine Tetyana Berezhna - thank you for your service to your country, it's great to have you here. You know, one of the things I think that's been really effective as we've sought to build and sustain the constituency dedicated to Ukraine is to have leaders like you coming and describing in such detail the stakes of the support that the American people have rallied behind time and again, even if it takes longer sometimes than it should, to get these investments across the finish line, there can be no doubt about how broad and how bipartisan the support for Ukraine is. But that doesn't come about by accident, it takes cultivation, so we appreciate your visit and your time here.

Jim Hope, is in the house, somewhere, he's waving, ok. So Jim, you know, what happened I think wasn't exactly in the talking points during your swearing-in, and what you've had to adapt to, you and the team, is of epic importance and tragic importance. But you know, you have been just such a phenomenal leader. A leader in terms of spearheading so much of the innovation that the Ambassador described, but a leader of people, a leader of humans who have had many downs as well as many ups over the course of this two and a half years. And you have been there for them, and I hope that you have felt that we have been there for you.

Julie, we will be there for you, for sure, as we have tried to be for Jim. I will say that the whole team's investment in now, the handover and in Julie's success, is testified by the fact that Ukraine is currently playing Slovakia in the Euro Cup, and yet they are here, for this, so I think that's one tribute among several.

I want to thank Julie's family, of course, we have quite the crew with us today, I wish you at Team Ukraine could see Julie's extended family here up close. Of course her remarkable mother, Joanne, who is here with us, so great to have here. Her brother Matthew and his wife Lisa, her sister Amy and her husband Jeff, Julie's daughter Haley and her husband Edward. Julie's daughter Jordan and her husband Steven. And Julie's four beloved, incredibly well behaved, and very glamorous looking grandchildren: Clover, Hazel, Brooklyn and Charlotte. And, you know, some of these family members I think are tuning in online, but most here in person.

We also have here with us Julie's husband, Chris. Chris also a dedicated public servant, a veteran who spent twenty years in the U.S. Air Force before working at the Pentagon. When Julie was Mission Director in Pakistan, he served as Community Liaison Officer in Islamabad. And now, really gratifyingly, Chris is going to make the move to Ukraine with Julie, where he will reprise this role of Community Liaison Officer in Kyiv. Thank you so much for your service, Chris. And thank you also for embarking on this really challenging Mission and assignment together, there are going to be again good days and bad days and for you to be there as you always have been having Julie's back, it's just awesome, not to mention the great work you'll do for the people of Ukraine yourself, thank you.

As you can see from the size of the cheerleading squad accompanying her today, family is everything.

Julie grew up on a ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Her father was a truck driver, and her mother raised the kids and, later, owned a bakery. Though they lived in a fairly remote area, Julie's family often hosted exchange students from around the world - and maybe that's where the seeds were planted. Between her junior and senior years of high school she had a chance to be an exchange student herself, spending a summer in Holland. She went on to get a degree in international studies from George Mason University.

And, one thing Julie that you have in common with my husband, is your love of Star Trek, which I myself cannot exactly fathom. But I gather in Julie's case it's not just because of the space travel or the futurism - though I hear you were particularly thrilled they made the adjustment from "where no man has gone before" to "where no one has gone before." Again, given Oksana's comments - but that's in the Next Generation series, it took awhile. But the reason is not that, the reason that Julie apparently loves Star Trek is because Star Trek imagines a world where Earth has gotten past conflict, and its people live in peace.

From the very beginning of her career in international development, Julie has tirelessly worked to make that happen, to make that future real.

In Sierra Leone, Julie served as Chief of Party for the Office of Transitional Initiatives program there, facilitating negotiations between the government officials, the rebels, and leaders in the diamond industry to create a process that would help prevent illegal diamond mining. Now this is all very familiar now, but at the time this was all a very novel idea. At the time, Sierra Leone was emerging from a harrowing decade of conflict, including civil war and a coup. Part of what was fueling the rebels was this illegal diamond mining - what we now know as "blood diamonds." The team had to address the problem of the illegal gemstones in order to begin the path to peace.

Julie got to work on the ground in Freetown. Leading the negotiations proved to be a particularly challenging task, as many were terrified even to be in the same room as the infamous Revolutionary United Front leader and his top lieutenants. Undaunted, Julie helped them find common ground. What was planned as a two-day discussion stretched into a week as participants worked on a solution. Their solution was a process that became known as the Kimberley Process, a means for the global diamond industry to certify conflict-free diamonds - tracking their legality from the time they are mined from the ground, to the time that they are sold.

Not only did Julie's work play a significant role in stabilizing Sierra Leone, but today, 85 countries participate in the Kimberley Process, and it has largely stopped rebel groups from using diamonds to fund wars. It's really quite incredible.

She demonstrated this commitment to peace again when she served as the Democracy and Governance Director in Iraq in 2007. In 2007, Iraq was in the midst of what we now know, of course, as the "Surge," as the U.S. government invested more than ever before in conflict stabilization and in country development to accompany the war fighting. Much of the work was associated with immediate outcomes: job creation, economic growth, and of course efforts to end the war.

But Julie and her team were in charge of advocating for the longer-term needs of Iraq, and I think we sense the parallel here in our Ukraine work. In that instance, the institutions the Iraqi people would need when the country was stabilized. There had to be attention to a functional election system, to operating courts, a justice system, and local governments - again, something that Ambassador Markarova has had a lot to do with herself in Ukraine, but local governments there that could be more responsive to the needs of the people they represent.

Today, many of the institutions that the USAID Mission in Iraq helped to build are still functioning, and some are really thriving. For example, the independent high electoral commission that Julie and her team worked with the Iraqi people to create still holds free, fair, and relatively secure elections - that is no small feat in a country that has faced the challenges that Iraq has. Julie's team also worked with Iraqis to set up the country's provincial councils, which operate to this day like the state assemblies in the United States - providing services to the Iraqi people in the provinces. And Julie, when you get to Ukraine, you will understand the parallel to everything you worked on in Iraq and institution building and democracy building that is at an even more advanced stage in Ukraine.

Julie's commitment to a more just, peaceful, and equitable world extends of course to her own team. When she served as Mission Director in Pakistan, she faced two events simultaneously that demanded extraordinary leadership: the pandemic and a massive Mission reorganization spurred by significant budget cuts during the previous administration. The Mission expected to cut staff by half - but all the while people were dealing with the fear, uncertainty, isolation, and economic pressures of the global pandemic, which all of us know well. Faced with this difficult situation, Julie took charge.

From day one she worked with Foreign Service Nationals to get the training and support they needed to find employment elsewhere when the time came. She worked with the front office to hire a consultancy firm that met with each Foreign Service National one by one, helping to do everything from update CVs, to enroll in management certification courses. In the end, no USAID Foreign Service National left the Mission without an employment option - and I know from my first meeting with Julie when I was newly in my role as Administrator, we could have talked about anything. But in what I think was a half an hour, 45-minute meeting, I'd say that 90 percent of it was on the Pakistani staff, and what more we could do to ease their transitions, and support those remaining who were also facing the challenge of no longer having their colleagues nearby. Many went on to serve in other roles in USAID, and also went on TDYs, got fellowships at other Missions around the world, and actually third-country nationals still working for USAID working in other parts of the planet. As one FSN puts it: "It was a very hard time and we were very anxious… But Julie was transparent and straightforward. She showed courage and leadership, combined with care and compassion. She went through it with us, and it meant a lot."

Most recently, Julie has served here in Washington as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Conflict, Prevention, and Stabilization Bureau, where she worked hard to bridge the gap between the more academic research that the bureau has sponsored and itself taps into, and the work our professionals do in the field every day. To do this, she pioneered an educational webinar series for USAID employees and implementing partners, bringing in experts to help colleagues and teammates think about how the bureau helps get people around the world the actual practical tools they needed to push toward stabilization - much like she did in Iraq.

Many of you here may have attended them: every single one had hundreds of attendees and covered everything from what localization means in the context of conflict - something very important coming up in Ukraine; to the role disinformation plays in conflict settings - sadly, something very important for the work you will be doing in Ukraine; to how to best address the trauma that citizens are carrying with them in humanitarian settings - and of course this is true not only of the people we are seeking to serve broadly in Ukraine, but also for our own team members, our own staff. One colleague observes, "Julie understood where the missions were, understood what the need was, and filled it."

So when we heard that it was time where Jim Hope needed to move on, we knew exactly who to call. Julie was actually considering retiring, and we can see why, the lure and the pull of these incredible grandchildren is pretty compelling, pretty powerful. She wanted to take more long walks with her grandkids. But when she got the phone call asking if she would be Mission Director in Ukraine, she knew she had one more story to write in her already storied public service career. Ambassador Markarova, I can assure you that you are receiving the best of the best that USAID can offer - no surprise there, we must do that given the stakes and the importance of the work we are doing in your fight for freedom.

Julie is going to take over a USAID mission that has doubled in size since the beginning of the full-fledged invasion. It is very difficult to manage the workload and all that is coming at our team members, not only in terms of the programs, but also the oversight and the scrutiny of those programs. The economic revitalization agenda alongside the reform agenda, basically building the plane as the plane is not only being flown, but also being attacked by the Russian Federation. The needs of our staff and to create space for them to share how they are feeling and to provide them the kinds of support you've looked to provide in prior posts is so important. That is something Jim and the team have done with great care and compassion.

Our team is taking our cue from the Ukrainian people, and the word undaunted comes to mind. It has from the beginning of the full-fledged invasion, as things have become even tougher, as the war has dragged on. It is still just an awesome feature of the courage of those that we have the privilege of partnering with. So far, since the full-scale invasion, the U.S. has marshaled aid to help more than 17 million Ukrainians. That means touching the lives of nearly half of the country's population in some form.

As Oksana described, we've worked with private sector partners, Erin and the leadership team have looked to innovate at every turn. We are given significant resources and entrusted with those resources, but we have a responsibility to leverage those resources to do much more. And so that is where these unprecedented setting public private partnerships and the enlistment of large multilateral development banks, the de-risking, the work with the Development Finance Corporation and others. This is a toolkit that is very expansive, and that will really benefit from you coming in with fresh eyes, to look at which tools to deploy, in which circumstances.

We have helped Ukraine protect the energy infrastructure, and given the recent massive increase in attacks, of course that's vital. We, over many years, got to work with the Ministry of Digital Transformation to develop this groundbreaking smartphone app and digital platform Diia, which provides over 100 government services at the touch of a button. This is something that the Ukrainians have to offer also the rest of the world and we're seeking to make sure that those who can take advantage of such innovation are in a position to do so in the coming months and years.

And we are giving very, very significant attention to oversight and to the anti corruption efforts that the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian government are putting in place and that are absolutely vital, not only to protecting scarce resources at a really difficult time, but to the European pathway that Ukraine is on. So accelerated reform efforts are going to make all the difference to accelerated integration into Europe, even during wartime, that effort has to continue full speed ahead.

It's incredible to see what the Ukrainian economy has managed. It's actually, the word incredible does no justice to how incredible it is. It is staggering. And this isn't just me talking, this is the head of the IMF. To see five percent economic growth in light of what Putin is doing, to see exports up to their pre full-scale invasion levels virtually including in the agricultural sector. This is just unbelievable. Yes, we are there, we offer the helping hand, but this is the Ukrainian people showing that resilience and that determination to get on with it.

We know that the months ahead are going to be hard. But President Biden is committed to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes. And again, the passage of the national security supplemental, the work that has been done to cultivate members of both parties to see the stakes of this war - that work is absolutely vital. And part of that work is sending our very best to Ukraine.

Julie, you will come back and you will translate the work that we are doing as well to sustain this constituency. You've done it before. You're going to be a tremendous ambassador, joining Ambassador Brink and Ambassador Markarova in selling this work.

So, we now get to make it official. Julie is one of our very best. She has delayed retirement because this is the most important thing that she could be doing professionally at this time. There is so much good to be done. The magnitude of this moment cannot be overstated, joining a country and its people in standing against an adversary of this brutality in an existential fight for freedom. This is very high stakes. We are incredibly grateful to you and your family for taking it on. So let me make it official and let me invite you and your husband and maybe some subset of your clan to come up here and let me swear you in as our next Mission Director to Ukraine.

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