The United States Department of State (DOS),or simply the State Department,is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nations,its primary duties are advising the U.S. president on international relations,administering diplomatic missions,negotiating international treaties and agreements,and representing the U.S. at the United Nations. The department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building,a few blocks from the White House,in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington,D.C.;"Foggy Bottom" is thus sometimes used as a metonym.
William Anthony Kirsopp Lake is an American diplomat and political advisor who served as the 17th United States National Security Advisor from 1993 to 1997 and as the 6th Executive Director of UNICEF from 2010 to 2017.
Paula Jon Dobriansky is an American diplomat,public official,and foreign policy expert who served as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (2001-2009) and the President's Envoy to Northern Ireland (2007-2009). A specialist in Central/East European affairs and the former Soviet Union,trans-Atlantic relations,and political-military affairs,Dobriansky held key senior roles in the administrations of five U.S. Presidents.
Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli is an American political scientist who also served in the Department of State. In 2006,she was appointed as the first Ambassador for women's empowerment by the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State on United Nations Reform. She was sworn in as the First American Muslim Ambassador in July 1990. Dr. Tahir-Kheli was the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy,Human Rights and International Operations at the White House National Security Council,from 2003-2005. She has served three Republican presidential administrations since 1980.
Robert Nicholas Burns is an American diplomat and academic who serves as the United States ambassador to China since 2022.
Katherine Hubay Smith Peterson Canavan served as a United States diplomat and career foreign service officer for 35 years. She retired in November 2011 and has since supported a number of military courses and exercises as a Subject Matter Expert and role player,particularly when they involve an Ambassador,Country Team and the Interagency. She serves on the board of trustees for the Una Chapman Cox Foundation and is on the board of the American Academy of Diplomacy.
James Franklin Collins is a former United States Ambassador to Russia. A career Foreign Service Officer in the State Department,he is a Russian specialist.
Aaron David Miller is an American Middle East analyst,author,and negotiator. He is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,focusing on U.S. foreign policy. He previously was vice president for new initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars,and has been an advisor to both Republican and Democratic secretaries of state. He is a Global Affairs Analyst for CNN.
Paul A. Goble is an American analyst,writer and columnist with expertise on Russia. Trained at Miami University and the University of Chicago,he is the editor of four volumes on ethnic issues in the former Soviet Union and has published more than 150 articles on ethnic and nationality questions. Goble served as special adviser on Soviet nationality issues and Baltic affairs to Secretary of State James Baker.
Farah Pandith is an American academic of Indian descent. She was appointed the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities in June 2009 by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The position was made specifically for her after she briefed Secretary Clinton about her work in the Bush Administration. She had the rare distinction of being a political appointee for two Republican presidents and President Obama. When she was the Special Representative she traveled to almost 100 countries. After serving under both Secretaries Clinton and John Kerry,she left government. She said she came to Washington after 9/11 again and wanted to serve –she left after more than a decade in public service. She worked at USAID and then went to the National Security Council and then the U.S. Department of State. When she left in 2014,she returned to her home state of Massachusetts.
Lee Andrew Feinstein is an American policy-scholar,and former diplomat and senior official at the US Departments of State and Defense. Feinstein held senior positions on leading Democratic presidential campaigns in 2008. He served as the United States Ambassador to Poland from 2009 to 2012,appointed by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate. Feinstein is currently the inaugural dean at Indiana University's Lee H. Hamilton and Richard G. Lugar School of Global and International Studies. His nonpartisan scholarship has been recognized by leading Republicans and Democrats.
The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) is a study by the United States Department of State,conducted beginning in 2009 and intended to be done every four years,that analyzes the short-,medium-,and long-term blueprint for the United States' diplomatic and development efforts abroad. It seeks to plan on a longer-term basis than the usual year-to-year,appropriations-based practice,and to integrate diplomacy and development missions. It similarly seeks to correlate the department’s missions with its capacities and identify shortfalls in resourcing. Finally,it is a precursor to core institutional reforms and corrective changes. The first review was completed by the end of 2010. A second review began during 2014 and was released in April 2015. No further reviews have taken place.
Shamila N. Chaudhary is an America foreign policy expert and academic who is the Senior South Asia Fellow at New America and Senior Advisor to Dean Vali Nasr at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She specializes in U.S. counterterrorism and national security issues,U.S.-Pakistan relations,Pakistan internal politics,and regional issues in South Asia.
Andrew J. Shapiro is an American attorney and diplomat who served as the 17th Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs from 2009 to 2013. Shapiro is currently a Managing Director at Beacon Global Strategies LLC,which he founded with partners Jeremy Bash and Philippe Reines in 2013.
The Special Advisor for International Children's Issues is a foreign policy position created by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and announced on July 1,2010. Susan S. Jacobs is the first person to fill the newly created role of Special Advisor for International Children's Issues. Working with the Office of Children's Issues,the Special Advisor actively engages with foreign government officials to protect the welfare and interests of children.
Evan Maureen Ryan is an American public servant serving as White House cabinet secretary in the administration of Joe Biden. She previously served as assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs (ECA) in the Obama administration (2013–2017) and was assistant for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison for then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Mary Burce Warlick is an Australian-born,American diplomat who was appointed Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency in May 2021. A former United States career diplomat,she served as the United States Ambassador to Serbia from January 2010 to September 2012,as the U.S. Consul General in Melbourne,Australia from October 2012 to July 2014,as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Energy Resources at the Department of State from August 2014 to September 2017,and as Acting Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs from January to September 2017.
Derek Chollet is an American foreign policy advisor and author currently serving as the counselor of the United States Department of State. Previously,Chollet was the executive vice president for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. From 2012 to 2015,Chollet was assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs,where he managed U.S. defense policy involving Europe,NATO,the Middle East,Africa,and the Western Hemisphere for secretaries Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel.
Anita E. Friedt is an American diplomat.
Atul Keshap is an American diplomat and career United States Foreign Service Officer from Virginia who recently served as the Chargéd'affaires of the United States mission to India. He formerly served as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the United States Department of State. In January,2022,he was appointed as the president of U.S.-India Business Council. In 2022,Ambassador Keshap was elected into membership of the American Academy of Diplomacy. In May 2023,Keshap was named one of Washington's most influential foreign policy influencers for his work to shape U.S. relations with India.
