J. Brady Anderson

J. Brady Anderson (born 1945) is an attorney, former American ambassador (Tanzania 1994–1997), administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (1999–2001),

It was the intention of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) to oppose Anderson's nomination for the Ambassadorship not based on a lack of qualifications but because “Anderson's nomination is the latest in a series of White House decisions to replace career-officer ambassadors, who have been in their embassies only a short time, with political appointees. In AFSA's view, this practice seriously threatens the unwritten but long-standing rule that a U.S. ambassador's normal tour of duty should be three years.”

Anderson's tenure as USAID Administrator was seen as calm and absent major scandals or breakthroughs. One observer of USAID stated that Anderson was on "cruise control" for most his time at the helm.

Anderson received a B.A. from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967, and a J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1973. He went on to work as a private attorney in Helena, Arkansas, assistant attorney general in Little Rock, Arkansas, as a special assistant to Governor Bill Clinton and as senior law clerk to U.S. District Judge Elsijane T. Roy of Little Rock.