The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemployment benefits, reemployment services, and occasionally, economic statistics. It is headed by the secretary of labor, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet.
Elliott Abrams is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He is currently a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela from 2019 to 2021 and as the U.S. Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021.
The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) is an intelligence agency in the United States Department of State. Its central mission is to provide all-source intelligence and analysis in support of U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy. INR is the oldest civilian element of the U.S. Intelligence Community and among the smallest, with roughly 300 personnel. Though lacking the resources and technology of other U.S. intelligence agencies, it is "one of the most highly regarded" for the quality of its work.
Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse without the spouse's consent. The lack of consent is the essential element and need not involve physical violence. Marital rape is considered a form of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Although, historically, sexual intercourse within marriage was regarded as a right of spouses, engaging in the act without the spouse's consent is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world, and increasingly criminalized. However it is repudiated by some more conservative cultures.
Assistant Secretary of State (A/S) is a title used for many executive positions in the United States Department of State, ranking below the under secretaries. A set of six assistant secretaries reporting to the under secretary for political affairs manage diplomatic missions within their designated geographic regions, plus one assistant secretary dealing with international organizations and one equivalent as the coordinator/ambassador at large for counterterrorism. Assistant secretaries usually manage individual bureaus of the Department of State. When the manager of a bureau or another agency holds a title other than assistant secretary, such as "director", it can be said to be of "assistant secretary equivalent rank". Assistant secretaries typically have a set of deputies, referred to as deputy assistant secretaries (DAS).
The Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), also known as the Bureau of Near East Asian Affairs, is an agency of the Department of State within the United States government that deals with U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic relations with the nations of the Near East. It is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, who reports to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs (DRL) is a bureau within the United States Department of State. The bureau is under the purview of the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
Michael H. Posner is an American lawyer, the Founding Executive Director and later the President of Human Rights First, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) of the United States, currently director for the Center of Business and Human Rights at NYU Stern School of Business, as well as Professor of Business and Society at New York University Stern School of Business, and a board member of the International Service for Human Rights.
Ernest Warren Lefever was an American political theorist and foreign affairs expert who founded the Ethics and Public Policy Center in 1976 and was nominated for a State Department post by President Ronald Reagan. After his nomination was rejected by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he formally withdrew his nomination.
Jonathan Don Farrar was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Panama from 2012 to 2015. He was previously the Chief of Mission of the United States Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, from July 2008 to September 2011.
Glyn Townsend Davies is a senior advisor at ASG, a strategy and commercial diplomacy firm. A career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations International Organizations in Vienna from 2009 to 2011, as Special Representative for North Korea Policy from 2011 to 2014, and as Ambassador to Thailand from 2015 to 2018.
Daniel Brooks Baer is an American politician and former diplomat from Colorado currently serving as Senior Vice President for Policy Research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Baer served in the Obama administration's State Department, first as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2009 to 2013, and then as United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2013 to 2017. In 2018, Governor John Hickenlooper appointed Baer as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
The Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations is the head of the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations within the United States Department of State, supporting the department's conflict and crisis-response efforts. The assistant secretary reports to the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.
Erica Jean Barks-Ruggles is a diplomat and former United States Ambassador to Rwanda. She was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate in November 2014. On July 14, 2023, she was appointed as the Head of the U.S. Mission to UNESCO.
Robert G. (Rob) Berschinski is currently the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights at the White House National Security Council (NSC) in the Biden administration. He previously served as the Senior Vice President for Policy at Human Rights First where he oversees the organization's work advancing a U.S. foreign policy rooted in a strong commitment to human rights, universal values, and American ideals. He is also a Visiting Scholar at NYU's Program in International Relations. Previously Berschinski served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) at the U.S. Department of State, and was responsible for DRL's work in Europe, Russia, and South and Central Asia. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer and director for Security and Human Rights Policy at the NSC.
Virginia L. Bennett is a retired American diplomat and career Senior Foreign Service Officer who formerly served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. In addition, she served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
Francisco "Paco" Palmieri is an American diplomat who previously served as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, leading the State Department’s efforts to advance U.S. foreign policy goals in the region from January 2017 to November 2018. Palmieri managed the successful 2018 Summit of the Americas in Peru, U.S. engagement with the Lima Group unifying 15 Western Hemisphere democracies in a multilateral diplomatic response to the crisis in Venezuela, the reorientation of U.S. foreign assistance in support of the Colombia peace process, the formulation and adoption of a new comprehensive U.S. political and economic Caribbean 2020 strategy, the launch of the renegotiation of the 50-year old Columbia River Treaty with Canada, and the multi-agency response to the ongoing migration challenges emanating from Central America. He also was responsible for the daily management of the Bureau’s 53 overseas U.S. diplomatic missions, 12,000 employees, and implementation of the Hemisphere’s $1.58 billion foreign assistance and $290 million operating budgets. He recently served as the Civilian Deputy and Foreign Policy Advisor to Admiral Craig S. Faller at United States Southern Command, succeeding former Ambassador Jean Elizabeth Manes in July 2021.
Michael G. Kozak is an American diplomat in the United States Department of State who served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Belarus between 2000 and 2003 and chief of mission at the United States Interests Section in Havana between 1996 and 1999, and was a nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador in 1991. He achieved a measure of prominence in the 1980s for his attempts to negotiate with Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to leave power.
Robert A. Destro is an American attorney, academic, and government official who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from September 2019 to January 2021. In October 2020, he also became the United States Special Coordinator on Tibetan Issues. He previously served on the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1983 to 1989 and as a professor of law at The Catholic University of America.
Robert Stuart Gilchrist is an American diplomat who has served as the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor since September 2023. He served as the United States ambassador to Lithuania from February 2020 to August 2023. He is a career Foreign Service Officer with the rank of minister counselor. He was appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 20, 2019. Gilchrist was the fifth US ambassador from the LGBT community nominated to serve by the Trump administration.
