By Alexandra Toma and Kenneth Luongo

This article is reprinted with permission from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

"The Obama administration is close to putting in place an overarching development policy.  I suspect some of you might have read the draft," quipped USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah at a U.S.

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah unveiled a broad strategy for elevating and strengthening the agency at a U.S. Global Leadership Coalition-hosted event yesterday.  Shah emphasized the development of USAID staff as "development entrepreneurs," empowered to innovate and take risks to increase impact; the power of market forces to create sustainable change; and strict accountability to the American people.

A draft of "A New Way Forward on Global Development," the White House's global development review, was published yesterday on The Cable.

Nonproliferation and disarmament is in the spotlight with the signing of a follow-on to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and the release of the Nuclear Posture Review.  Here's what Connect U.S. Fund community members had to say about the recent nuke news:

New START

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed "New START," by which both countries agreed to significant reductions in their nuclear arsenals, today in Prague.

On March 11, 2010 the Connect U.S. Fund brought together twenty-six leaders from think tanks, advocacy organizations, and foundations in the environmental and nuclear nonproliferation communities to discuss the potential risks associated with increased support for nuclear energy both here and abroad by the United States.

Fissile Materials Working Group co-chairs Ken Luongo and Alex Toma, along with Elizabeth Turpen and Matthew Bunn, briefed the press about the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit. Watch the full event on C-SPAN.

The following op-ed by Fissile Materials Working Group co-chairs Alex Toma and Kenneth Luongo was published in the Hill on March 11: