Administrator Samantha Power at a Swearing-in Ceremony for Adam Schmidt as Mission Director for Burma

ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much, Michael [Schiffer], and thank you for your leadership of the Bureau, but also very specifically on the issue of Burma. I think, yes, every mission is unique, every crisis is unique. But, Adam, you should know you have in your Assistant Administrator for Asia somebody who is deeply immersed in the details and not known for his micromanagement at all.

There is also, across the Biden-Harris administration, I think, just as there is up on the Hill, a lot of knowledge and history when it comes to the country of Burma. And, I think that can be an incredible resource and incredible phalanx, actually, of support for you as you go forward.

I want to start, of course, by thanking Adam's family for their support, for this, the latest family sacrifice and family adventure, I hope. Kelly [Schmidt], Adam's wife, is here with us. Delighted to see you again, Kelly. Their children, Phin [Schmidt] and Owen [Schmidt], I believe, are online. We see that's there.

And Eleanora [Schmidt], their daughter, all three kids are - hey, there we go - all three kids are off at school and so couldn't be here in person, but we're thrilled they, as parents, are thrilled that you are putting school above being here.

We are thrilled that at least two of you were able to join, and above all, just thank you for cheering Adam on through his career journey which has been so significant. This path is not for the faint of heart, and we know it is the families of our team members, the families of our Mission Directors, who make this service possible. And so, I just want to express gratitude, Kelly, to you and your family. But also we have Adam's sister here, Jessica [Grignon], and her three kids: Beatrix, Elsie, and William, and they were a family posted to Ukraine before Putin's full scale invasion forced them to reroute and be based, I guess, in Poland, and are now returning to the DC area. But, thank you as well, and thanks to your entire family and to your parents, really, for instilling in you all this spirit of service and sacrifice. Thank you so much.

There's a little deja vu going on here today because it feels like just yesterday since we swore Adam as Mission Director to Sudan. And, you might remember we went through the "This Is Your Life" of Adam's international childhood, his father's archeology career, taking their family from Connecticut to Tanzania - instilling in Adam, and clearly also in Jessica, an ability to connect with people of diverse backgrounds, a curiosity about the world. He brings, of course, a broad range of experiences in promoting democracy and governance. He has been driving development progress in countries as diverse as Afghanistan, El Salvador, Ethiopia, and beyond.

I hope you remember his high school team's legendary defeat of the U.S. Marines baseball team. If you don't - again, available online is the portrait of Adam's life. I think this is maybe the first or the second time I've done a repeat performance, so we will be selective here.

But, suffice it to say, Adam has been at the forefront of addressing one of the gravest humanitarian crises on the planet over the course of the last year since we were together. It was, as Michael alluded to, in early 2023 that Adam took on the position of Acting Mission Director in Sudan. And, that was in early April 2023.

Of course, on April 15, less than two weeks later, conflict erupted in the capital city of Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, and that just plunged the country into a devastating civil war. It forced millions of civilians to flee, including our beloved Foreign Service Nationals, our team members. Talking to them, as I know Monde [Muyangwa] has done as well, and just, you know, imagining what it'd be like to lose literally everything, you know. Not one family photo, in some cases, preserved because of the violence that came to their neighborhoods. And all of this, of course, leading to the ongoing suffering and the Famine, to which USAID and our partners have been working around the clock to prevent more of and to respond.

So it is common, particularly at USAID, to talk about how somebody works "tirelessly." But after the war broke out, for Adam, this expression was apparently quite literal. One Sudanese staff member described Adam as quote, "not blinking an eye of sleep," as he worked night and day, communicating with every individual who was forced to evacuate - not just USAID staff, but their family members as well. Pushing, pushing, pushing across USAID and other agencies to support the evacuees as best as we possibly could. He did not rest until every member of his team who wanted to leave Sudan was safely out of the country.

As one colleague put it, "When you felt like you were in the middle of an ocean of stress and fear, not knowing where you will be, he was the one to pull you out."

After that very, very intense introduction to the role of Mission Director, Adam went on to lead the Mission, navigating the enormous complexities, the ongoing complexities of a brutal conflict which has led to the world's largest hunger and displacement crisis - with over 25 million people experiencing hunger and one million people now on the brink of Famine. He and his team forged ahead, partnering with the Sudanese people - working, of course, with our colleagues in the Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs - but also trying to keep an eye on Sudanese development, actually looking at food security programming and, of course, the importance of strengthening civil society, especially - not in spite of conflict, but especially - in a time of conflict.

Adam not only steered the ship with a steady hand, but he did so without his anchor: his family. He lived out of a suitcase, packing his things whenever asked, and leading the Mission's critical work from a whole variety of hotels across Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Cairo. Adam has gone above and beyond to facilitate interagency coordination between USAID, the State Department, and the Department of Defense, knowing that this unpredictable environment necessitates rapid and smooth cooperation. Through it all, he has remained steadfastly, fiercely dedicated to defending the interests of the Sudanese people - and above all, of course, his USAID team.

Now, Adam is going to take this hard-won expertise to confront a new set of challenges that will demand that same skilled and steady hand of leadership.

Burma is home to 57 million people and more than 130 ethnic groups. Also, it is home to the longest-running armed conflict in the world. For decades, the Burmese people have sought peace. They have sought self-rule. They have sought dignity. And they have been met with repression.

In 2015, Burma experienced a glimmer of hope when the people successfully elected a civilian-led government, but that hope faded relatively quickly. In February 2021, a military coup deposed the elected government, and Burma has since - and the Burmese people have since - been subjected to violence, intimidation, and the denial of their dignity at just about every turn. The Burmese military regime continues to commit indiscriminate acts of violence against pro-democracy activists and against Burma's Karen, Kachin, Shan, and Karenni, Chin, and other ethnic minorities. Renewed violence in Rakhine has created a reign of terror indeed, in some places, that is reminiscent of the 2017 Rohingya genocide.

Even those who are seeking to flee that genocide, who just want to escape the violence, to flee those atrocities - from those who would burn down their homes and round them up - find themselves in grave danger. Just last week, the regime conducted a series of airstrikes against multiple schools in Burma, including one school operating within an internally displaced person camp. The strikes killed five children and injured at least six others. Across the country, conflict and instability have forced more than three million internally displaced people to flee their homes and left over 18 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Sadly, coming out of working on Sudan, this all sounds very, very sadly familiar.

As USAID and our partners seek to work alongside the people of Burma to address a staggering level of need, Burma remains one of the most restrictive environments in the world for development. A combination of the repression and the armed conflict make it difficult to act swiftly and efficiently, and development and aid workers are often put in harm's way while carrying out their work. The presence of legal and administrative hurdles like Burma's NGO law, which imposes draconian restrictions and requirements, create an environment of uncertainty for humanitarians, but also for development workers, and, above all, the communities that they serve.

USAID is in the heart of the effort to meet the needs of communities who are just simply trying to get by in these really, really difficult times. USAID remains committed to doing everything we can to support efforts to protect civilians, to prevent atrocities, to support democratic governance - and there is a flowering of different models of governance happening in different parts of the country, despite the armed conflict - and of course, to strengthen civil society to put individuals and communities in a better position to govern themselves. We are supporting civil society organizations and the service provider wings of Ethnic Resistance Organizations to provide concrete services like public health, education, and agricultural development. Our goal is for these organizations to grow into models of what governance in Burma can look like - governance that actually looks out for the welfare of the citizens that it is in place to serve.

At this critical moment, USAID remains committed to supporting the Burmese people. There is so much work to be done, and Adam is the ideal leader to guide USAID's efforts. In the words of one of his colleagues, "the Burma Mission doesn't know how lucky they are." And, we are enormously fortunate at USAID to benefit from Adam's years of commitment, his tried-and-tested tenacity, and the care he has extended to every individual that he has encountered.

Adam, welcome back to the podium, and we look forward to hearing your reflections. But, above all, these postings, in short order, are hard on the soul. But, the good that one can do in crises like this really cannot be overstated, and we are really thrilled to hear from you what we can do to support you as you seek to meet the needs of our Burmese staff and the Burmese people. Thank you so much.

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