WASHINGTON -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Dec. 22 reassigned Michael Michener, the administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service, as his special representative at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations agencies in Rome.
Michener announced his change of jobs in an e-mail to the FAS staff. Michener said his last day in the office would be Dec. 31 and that John Brewer, his deputy and the FAS general sales manager who is in charge of marketing U.S. agricultural products overseas, will become acting administrator Jan. 1. FAS has offices in about 100 countries overseas with primary duties to analyze agricultural production in foreign countries and promote the sale of U.S. agricultural products.
Michener, an Iowan who previously had worked for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, had been a foreign affairs adviser on Vilsack's short lived 2008 presidential campaign. Vilsack selected him to head FAS. The position does not require Senate confirmation.
Criticism
In his e-mail, Michener listed a series of accomplishments during his months at FAS. But a USDA insider said Michener was reassigned after an FAS personnel survey showed low morale at the agency.
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Both current and retired FAS officers have criticized Michener for the amount of attention that he has devoted to agricultural development projects in Afghanistan, saying that FAS's traditional missions of analyzing foreign agricultural production and promoting the sale of U.S. agricultural products were being neglected.
Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Richard Lugar, R-Ind., also had written Vilsack and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking them to explain FAS's role in Afghanistan. Lugar said he was worried that FAS was taking over work that should be done by USAID and neglecting FAS's traditional jobs.
Vilsack and Clinton separately assured Lugar that USAID and FAS would continue to play their traditional roles. Farm lobbyists also said Michener listened to their concerns, but knew little about U.S. agricultural promotion overseas or FAS's function.
New role
In his e-mail, Michener said he was "honored" to take on the new role because the agencies to which the mission is accredited -- the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and the International Fund for Agricultural Development -- "are playing an influential role in the adoption of new biotechnologies and the agricultural aspects of global climate change negotiations, as well as their traditional role in leading UN efforts in global food security initiatives."
Michener wrote, "In my time as FAS Administrator, we implemented a turnaround process that stabilized our agency's budget, allowed a resumption of hiring and travel, and executed a strategic planning process to 're-envision' how FAS does business. We have also led the USDA engagement with the Departments of Defense, State, and USAID to support the expanded deployment of USDA agricultural experts to Afghanistan, a key component of the President's strategy to defeat al Qaeda. This is work I am very proud of and I thank the wonderful and dedicated staff at FAS who supported me along the way."
Michener continued, "The work we have begun will not end because I am headed to Rome. Based on your input and the input of our stakeholders, we have lifted the hiring freeze, established a dedicated training budget, commodity teams, a strategic budgeting process, and additional Country Strategy Statement Funding. The department has also given us approval to proceed with a formal evaluation and 1010 process on proposed changes to the FAS structure based on the hard work of the Re-envisioning Core Team. Major proposed changes include the creation of a third Associate Administrator-level Chief Operating Officer to manage FAS foreign and domestic operations, the merger of ONA and OSTA, and a decrease in the number of program areas, from eight to six."
Michener added that other officials to whom he had given substantial authority -- Suzanne Hale, Lona Stoll, Christine Turner and Michelle Mayorga -- "will continue to serve in their roles in the Administrator's office."
