The Obama Administration has praised Indian American Rajiv Shah for extraordinary leadership qualities shown by him in the rescue and recovery efforts in earthquake-hit Haiti; where tens of thousands of people have been reported dead.
As Administrator of the USAID, Shah is the highest-ranking Indian American in any US presidential administration and is leading the massive US efforts in rescue and recovery efforts in Haiti.
"I think it has been a tremendously positive effect. Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton is thrilled that Raj Shah is on board," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, P J Crowley, told reporters at the daily State Department news conference yesterday.
"Thankfully, he was on board when this tragedy took place. And he has energised USAID," Crowley said in response to a question.
"He has led them ably over the past week as the senior U.S. official designated by President Obama. He has a familiarity with Haiti. But every day, Raj has been pushing to try to do as much as possible for the benefit of our citizens and Haitian citizens. So the Secretary is enormously grateful that we were able to have Raj in place before this started," Crowley said.