Career At The State Department
On January 23, 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the appointment of Slaughter as the new Director of Policy Planning under the Obama administration. Slaughter was the first woman to hold this position.
At the State Department, Slaughter was chief architect of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review whose first instantiation was released in December 2010. The QDDR provided a blueprint for elevating development as a pillar of American foreign policy and leading through civilian power. Commenting upon the skepticism that often greets such reports, and reiterating Secretary Clinton's strong desire that the QDDR become an essential part of the State Department policy process, Slaughter said: “I’m pretty sure you’re thinking, ‘I’ve heard this before,’ But this is different.” Slaughter received the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award for exceptional leadership and professional competence, the highest honor conferred by the State Department. She also received a Meritorious Honor Award from the U.S. Agency for International Development for her outstanding contribution to development policy.
In February 2011, at the conclusion of her two-year public service leave, Slaughter returned to Princeton University. She remains a consultant for the State Department. She has written that she came "home not only because of Princeton’s rules (after two years of leave, you lose your tenure), but also because of my desire to be with my family and my conclusion that juggling high-level government work with the needs of two teenage boys was not possible."
Read more about this topic: Anne-Marie Slaughter
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