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Does Foreign Aid Help U.S. Security? (VIDEO)

Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), talks about how $33 billion in U.S. foreign aid contributes to American security.
Nicholas Kralev
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Author and International Affairs Expert

Author and International Affairs Expert
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On the Season 2 premiere of "Conversations with Nicholas Kralev," Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), talks about how $33 billion in U.S. foreign aid contributes to American security.

"In 1990, 44 percent of the global population lived on $1 a day or below. Today, it's about 22 percent. Our target for 2030 is about 3 percent. The question, is it achievable to move 1.1 billion people out of that lifestyle and into a global economy, will only be answered in time, but we have seen huge progress," Shah says. "Today for the first time we can envision accomplishing that goal."

Shah has headed USAID since December 2009, having spent several months as an undersecretary for agriculture in the Obama administration. Before that, he worked for seven years at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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