WASHINGTON – It's not a college fraternity website. It's the official U.S. government Internet channel for the Agency for International Development, the bureaucrats who give away billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in foreign aid every year.
But there's nothing serious about the way the technology team describes themselves on the contacts page.
Joe Fredericks, director of public information and online services, for USAID, describes himself in his official bio as "a Midwestern guy. Born in Missouri, he was quickly whisked away by his family to the heaven that is Iowa."
"An alumnus of the University of Iowa, he started his career immediately after his stint at the U of I in low-paying political hack jobs on Capitol Hill," the description continues. "Since 1988, he has worked at USAID, first as a Congressional Liaison and since the mid 1990s in public information. Above all else, he likes a good cup of coffee. Outside of work, he can think of nothing better than being on a trail in the west with a tent and bedroll strapped to his back. He is the proud owner of a golden retriever named Trooper and escapes reality during off hours by either reading crime, political or historical novels or hanging-out in various IRC chat rooms on the Internet."
The bio of the executive producer of online services for USAID, Rebecca "Gus" Gustafson, is even wackier – not the kind of satire you expect to see on an official U.S. government website.
"Rebecca hails from Texas, though her career path has taken her across the country and around the world," it reads. "After a short-lived career as an elephant trainer in the early 1980s, she finally landed her dream job as a roadie for Aerosmith on the 1987 Permanent Vacation tour. A scheduling mishap during a stopover in Osaka, Japan, led to her next career change as a traveling Karaoke singer. Her soulful rendition of 'Hard-Knock Life' achieved unexpected popularity, and a brief but prolific television and film career. Upon her return to the U.S. in 1994, she co-founded a small Internet startup named Amazon.com. Upon selling her half of the company to co-founder Jeffery Bezos in 2001, she took a two-year sabbatical, volunteering as a translator for the !Kung tribe of the Kalahari Bushmen. Eventually tiring of this line of work, she eventually accepted a position as executive producer of online services at USAID. She is also a compulsive liar."
The fun and games continues with Jason Beekman – who claims to have twice been nominated for Academy Awards for acting.
"In 1976, Jason Beekman joined Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, newly founded by his friend Gary Sinise," claims the bio. "After that, it would take seven years before Beekman would show up in New York and win an Obie in Sam Shepard's play 'True West.' In 1984, he would appear with Dustin Hoffman in the Broadway revival of 'Death of a Salesman,' which would earn him an Emmy when it was made into a television movie the next year. His big screen debut would be as the blind lodger in 'Places in the Heart' (1984), where he earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. He would be cast as the psychotic political assassin in Eastwood's film 'In the Line of Fire' (1993) for which he would be nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe. Beekman has periodically returned to Chicago to both act and direct."
Andrew S. Natsios |
USAID is the principal government agency involved in administering foreign aid. The agency was created in 1961 by President Kennedy, when he signed the Foreign Assistance Act into law and created the agency by executive order.
The agency is headed by Andrew S. Natsios. Before taking over the agency in 2001, he headed the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and was responsible for managing "the Big Dig," the largest public works project in U.S. history – and one of the biggest boondoggles.