US nominates Obama adviser Anthony Lake to be UNICEF chief

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US nominates Anthony Lake to be UNICEF chief

UNITED NATIONS — The United States is nominating foreign policy expert Anthony Lake, who was an adviser to President Barack Obama, as its candidate to head UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice sent a letter to a number of U.N. ambassadors on Wednesday saying that Lake, who served as national security adviser to former President Bill Clinton, would bring “extraordinary experience, strategic vision and energy to UNICEF’s essential work.”

The head of UNICEF has always been an American, largely because the United States is the largest contributor to the agency, which is active in 190 countries.

Rice’s letter, obtained by The Associated Press, stressed Lake’s long-standing commitment to advancing the rights of children, noting his nine years on the board of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, including serving as chair from 2004-2007.

“As chairman, Tony oversaw a significant increase in private funding for the organization,” Rice said. “In addition to his ongoing involvement with the U.S. national committee, he has seen UNICEF in action in countries across Africa, in Haiti, and elsewhere.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced in late December that UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman, a former U.S. secretary of agriculture who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, would not seek a second five-year term.

Veneman’s term expires on April 30, and Ban will recommend a replacement to UNICEF’s board, which must approve the candidate.

Lake, 70, joined the Foreign Service in 1962, did two tours in Vietnam and in 1969 accompanied then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger on his first secret meeting with North Vietnamese negotiators in Paris. He worked on several Democratic presidential campaigns and was one of Clinton’s chief foreign policy advisers when he ran in 1992 and became his national security adviser when he won.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Lake backed Obama rather than Bill Clinton’s wife Hillary Clinton and became a foreign policy adviser to the Illinois senator. He was considered a contender to be U.S. secretary of state when Obama won the presidency, but the job went to Hillary Clinton.

Currently, Lake is a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Rice, who was Obama’s chief foreign policy adviser during the campaign, said in the letter that in addition to his foreign policy and national security credentials, Lake has “a lifetime commitment in advancing children’s rights, protection, welfare, development, and education.”

She cited his experience as chair of the Marshall Legacy Institute, which works worldwide to eliminate land mines, on the U.N. Panel of High-Level Personalities on African Development in 1998, and as director of International Voluntary Services which has sent a large number of volunteers overseas. He has also served on the boards of Save the Children and the International Committee of the Red Cross.