Randall L. Tobias
Encyclopedia
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...
who became the first United States Director of Foreign Assistance, and served concurrently as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the rank of Ambassador. Tobias resigned on April 27, 2007, after being linked to a prostitution investigation.
Public sector career
President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
nominated Tobias to be the first United States Global AIDS Coordinator on July 2, 2003. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 3, 2003, and sworn in on October 6, 2003.
As AIDS Coordinator, Tobias was charged with distributing the $15 billion allocated to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief was a commitment of $15 billion over five years from United States President George W. Bush to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic...
(PEPFAR). In 2006, he became the first United States Director of Foreign Assistance, and served concurrently as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Tobias was confirmed to the position as Administrator of USAID by the U.S. Senate on March 29, 2006, and was sworn in on March 31, 2006.
In these positions, Tobias was responsible for overseeing all foreign assistance activities of the U.S. Government. In addition to his direct responsibilities for USAID, Tobias was charged with directing the transformation of the U.S. government's approach to foreign assistance. As Director of Foreign Assistance, Tobias was responsible for providing strategic direction and guidance to all other foreign assistance programs delivered through the various agencies and entities of the U.S. Government, including the Millennium Challenge Corporation
Millennium Challenge Corporation
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency created by the George W. Bush administration in 2004, applying a new philosophy towards foreign aid.-Background and formation:...
and the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. He reported directly to Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
and held the rank of Deputy Secretary of State.
Tobias resigned on April 27, 2007. He is currently a member of the board of director of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is an independent agency of the United States Government that mobilizes U.S. private sector investment in new and emerging markets overseas in order to support both the sustainable economic development of those markets and the creation of American jobs...
.
Private sector career
Tobias previously served as AT&TAT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's Vice Chairman from 1986 until 1993, and as Chairman and CEO of AT&T International from 1991 until 1993. In 1993, he left AT&T to become Chairman, President and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...
, serving in that position until 1999.
Tobias also has served on a number of corporate boards, including AT&T, Eli Lilly and Company, Chemical Bank of New York, Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies , or Agilent, is a company that designs and manufactures electronic and bio-analytical measurement instruments and equipment for measurement and evaluation...
, Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle", Scott and Andrex toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes"...
, Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
and ConocoPhillips
ConocoPhillips
ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States...
Petroleum Company. He also served for 12 years as a trustee of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and for 13 years as a trustee of Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, including 3 years as chair of the board.
Tobias received the "Positive Ally Award" from the National Association of People with AIDS in 2005.
He also authored the book, Put The Moose On The Table, which was published in 2003.
Scandal
On April 26, 2007, Tobias was questioned by Federal investigators, regarding any services he received from the escort service owned by Deborah Jeane PalfreyDeborah Jeane Palfrey
Deborah Jeane Palfrey operated Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency in Washington, D.C. Although she argued that the company's services were legal, she was convicted on April 15, 2008 of racketeering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and money laundering...
, who has been charged with prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
-related racketeering
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
. When reached by ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
on April 26, Tobias said he had several times called the "Pamela Martin and Associates" escort service "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." Tobias, who is married, said there had been "no sex," and that recently he had been using another service "with Central Americans" to provide his "massages." The next day, April 27, 2007, Tobias resigned from his U. S. State Department position as Director of US Foreign Assistance and as Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
(USAID). A State Department press release said only he was leaving for "personal reasons."
Denouncements of prostitution
As President Bush's AIDS Coordinator, Tobias was responsible for setting policy detailing which countries would receive monies from various US agencies, how much, and what the rules governing assignment of those funds would be. As AIDS Coordinator, he discussed the rules in an interview with PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
' FRONTLINE where he detailed a legal requirement that recipients of U.S. aid denounce prostitution:
The Congress I think very appropriately has put into the legislation that created this program that organizations, in order to receive money, need to have a policy opposed to prostitution and sex trafficking. I don't think it's too difficult for people to be opposed to prostitution and sex trafficking, which are in fact two contributing causes to the spread of HIV/AIDS. I think when organizations initially became aware of that requirement, some organizations were concerned about what the implications of that might be, but we implemented that in the first year with non-U.S. organizations. We're now implementing that requirement with U.S. organizations. And so far, I really know of no problems that we've had on the ground.
"I think it is somewhat ironic and hypocritical that he would patronize an escort service while he was denying funding to organizations who want to help prostitutes, and supporting a policy that obviously forbids fraternizing with prostitutes," said Jodi Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Health and Gender Equity, Washington, D.C. The Bush administration's policy, said Jacobson and others, has led to the closure of numerous programs that had been teaching job skills to sex workers, forcing many prostitutes out of brothels and into the street.
Advocacy of abstinence over condom usage and 'safe sex'
In his capacity as Director of Foreign Assistance, Tobias encouraged sexual abstinenceSexual abstinence
Sexual abstinence is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social, philosophical or religious reasons.Common reasons for practicing sexual abstinence include:*poor health - medical celibacy...
, and discounted the use of condoms, in preventing HIV/AIDS. "Statistics show that condoms really have not been very effective," Tobias told a news conference in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on April 21, 2004.
Later, in March 2005, Tobias told PBS' FRONTLINE:
"Well, the heart of our prevention programs is what's known as ABC: Abstinence, Be faithful, and the correct and consistent use of Condoms, when appropriate. And it's not "ABC: Take your pick." It's abstinence really focused heavily on young people and getting them to understand that the best way to keep from getting infected is to be abstinent and not engage in sexual activity until they are old enough and mature enough and get into a committed relationship, such as a marriage. B is being faithful within that committed relationship. And A and B, those two things together clearly had a huge impact in bringing the infection rates down in Uganda.
C recognizes the fact that there are individuals in high-risk circumstances who either by choice or by coercion are going to find themselves unable to follow A and B, and therefore they need to have access to condoms, and they need to understand the correct and consistent use of condoms. I think more and more of the experts, the people who really understand the prevention requirements with HIV/AIDS, have come to endorse ABC in a very balanced way as the appropriate prevention centerpiece.
But I would also add that as important as ABC is, the fact is that this is a disease where 50 percent of the people infected in the world are women. When I cite those numbers to people here in the United States, I find most people are astonished. They just have no idea about that. In some countries in Africa, it's well above 50 percent that are women and girls. In many cases this is driven by cultural factors, where young girls are having sex with older men and [are] coerced to do that, where women aren't regarded as equal citizens with men. So there are lots of things that need to be done addressing those kinds of cultural issues also.
See also
- List of U.S. executive branch 'czars'
- List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
- List of state and local political sex scandals in the United States
External links
- OPIC biography.
- Senior Official Linked to Escort Service Resigns, ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, April 27, 2007.