BBG Watch Commentary
Susan McCue is credited with initiating management reforms at Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and saving jobs of Radio Liberty’s human rights reporters in Russia. She is seen here with Russian human rights leader Lyudmila Alexeeva in a photo taken in Moscow in May 2013.
(Photo – from left to right) Radio Liberty human rights reporter Kristina Gorelik, Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Board of Directors Chairwoman Susan McCue, Radio Liberty Senior Adviser Jefim Fistein, human rights defender Lyudmila Alexeeva, BBG member and RFE/RL Board member Michael Meehan, RFE/RL Acting President and CEO President Kevin Klose. May 2013.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Susan M. McCue as member of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors. She is expected to resign soon from her position as a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
Susan McCue has been widely applauded and admired by BBG journalists and other employees for her dedication to the cause of excellence in journalism and support for the work of the agency’s news reporting staff. She has defended their work and pushed hard for reforming the bureaucracy to free up more resources for news programs and their producers. She is credited with saving Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) from a management crisis in 2012 and with helping to save the jobs of Radio Liberty journalists in Russia.
The American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1812, posted recently an article about Governor Susan McCue’s tenure at the BBG.
AFGE 1812 SALUTES A GOVERNOR AND A LADY
By American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1812
The AFGE Local 1812 wishes to salute the dedication, integrity and hard work of Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Board Chair Susan McCue. She has been nominated by President Obama to join the Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and will be leaving her public service at the BBG.
We were not surprised that President Obama would turn to someone as competent as Ms. McCue, and entrust her with additional responsibilities, but she will be sorely missed in her BBG and RFE/RL positions.
Like another former Governor, U.S. Ambassador Victor Ashe, as well as BBG Governor Michael Meehan, and former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine, Ms. McCue was a strong defender of BBG journalists, arguing for more resources and better management from the compromised International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). She played a key role in resolving the management problems which escalated into a diplomatic crisis at the Russian Service of Radio Liberty over the reckless firing of valued and respected reporters and she also helped to recruit Kevin Klose to lead RFE/RL, where he has started to rebuild the broadcasting station’s credibility.
The departure of Susan McCue from the BBG, following that of Governor Ashe, will present a big challenge to new BBG members. The new BBG Chairman, Jeff Shell, and other new BBG members will be tasked to continue the reforms which could prevent the further implosion of U.S. international broadcasting, especially at the Voice of America (VOA). Or be pressured to unravel them. That is, if as we suspect the entrenched IBB executive staff engages in the same type of tactics that resulted in Governor Ashe’s departure.
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We salute Ms. Susan McCue as a Governor of integrity, a fighter for good governance, and the normalization of relations between management and BBG journalists and contractors.Our warmest wishes to her in her new responsibilities at the MCC. Their gain is definitely our loss.
The following press release was posted by the Millennium Challenge Corporation:
Press Release
For Immediate Release
May 20, 2014Contact: 202-521-3850
Email: info@mcc.govU.S. Senate Confirms MCC’s CEO and Board Members
Washington, D.C.—The U.S. Senate confirmed Dana J. Hyde as Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation along with Susan M. McCue and Ambassador Mark Green as members of the corporation’s Board of Directors.
MCC is an independent U.S. agency that is changing the conversation on how best to deliver smart U.S. foreign assistance by focusing on good policies, country ownership and results.
“I am grateful to President Obama for his confidence in me and to the Senate for approving my nomination. I am proud to lead an agency that plays an essential role in fighting global poverty and spreading American values. MCC will continue to be committed to helping a select group of countries make the targeted investments and tough decisions that lead to economic growth,” Hyde said. “As MCC marks its 10th anniversary, I look forward to taking stock of what works—and what does not—and charting a path forward for MCC’s second decade.”
“I am excited for the opportunity to serve the American people as a member of MCC’s Board of Directors,” McCue said. “MCC has a vital mission to help fight poverty through economic growth. This is something I’ve been working on in different capacities for many years, and the MCC model is one that has proven to be uniquely effective on many levels. I look forward to helping select partner countries that share our values, from promoting the rule of law to protecting the rights of women and girls.”
“MCC stands shoulder to shoulder with developing countries that have made a proven commitment to reform, good governance and private sector-driven growth,” said Green. “I’m proud to help the organization stay on the cutting edge of American development policy, and I’m grateful to President Obama and the U.S. Senate for giving me this opportunity.”
MCC is an innovative and independent U.S. agency that is working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Created under President Bush with strong bipartisan congressional support, MCC provides expertise and time-limited grants to countries that demonstrate a commitment to good governance, the rule of law and respect for equal rights.
This is Ambassador Green’s second term serving as a board member while both Hyde and McCue are joining MCC for the first time. All three were confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 20, 2014.
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Dana J. Hyde
Dana J. Hyde, a former State Department and White House official, brings to MCC more than 20 years of experience in law and public policy, with expertise in economic growth and resource management in the United States and around the globe. As Associate Director at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Hyde led a team that managed more than $150 billion in budgetary resources across six Cabinet agencies and helped make difficult choices at a time of increasingly limited resources.
Hyde came to OMB from the State Department, where she led the establishment of the Office of Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources and went on to serve as Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary Jack Lew. At State, Hyde helped bring reform and innovation to U.S. diplomacy and development efforts around the globe, including developing country-owned, country-led initiatives to improve health in the developing world, contributing to the first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review and strengthening the lifesaving work of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Earlier in her career, Hyde served as counsel to the 9/11 Commission, investigating the immediate response of the White House, the Defense Department and the Federal Aviation Administration to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Hyde also worked in the White House, where she coordinated policy and outreach initiatives for federal agencies handling national security and trade policy as Special Assistant to the President for Cabinet Affairs.
As an attorney, Hyde practiced in London as a member of WilmerHale’s international arbitration group and in Washington, D.C. as a litigation associate at Zuckerman Spaeder. Hyde also worked at the Justice Department, serving as special assistant to two deputy attorneys general.
Hyde is a graduate of Georgetown Law School and holds a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is married and the mother of two young boys.
Susan M. McCue
Susan McCue is President of Message Global, a private firm she founded to advance social action campaigns, political advocacy and corporate social responsibility in the United States and globally after having served as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of ONE , the campaigning and advocacy organization launched by U2’s Bono to reduce extreme global poverty.
McCue served as the Chief of Staff for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) from 1998 to 2007, where she developed and managed his leadership, policy and political operations.
McCue was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2010 to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees U.S. international broadcasting, including Radio Free Europe and Voice of America, bringing news and democratic values to people around the world in 60 languages. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Trustee of Humanity United, a philanthropic organization building peace and advancing human freedom globally.
McCue can be found on Twitter @SusanMcCue .
Ambassador Mark Green
Ambassador Green is the president of the International Republican Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing democracy throughout the world.
From mid-2007 to early 2009, Green served as the U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, where he led a mission of more than 350 Americans and Tanzanians.
He served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (R-WI), where he helped craft key policy initiatives including the Millennium Challenge Act; the Global Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Awareness and Treatment Act and the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act.
Ambassador Green served as president and chief executive officer of the Initiative for Global Development. He was senior director at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, where he continues to serve as a board member. Ambassador Green’s first term on the MCC board was from 2010 to 2013.
Ambassador Green can be found on Twitter @AmbassadorGreen .