The administration is also expected to name its top elections for senior State Department-based positions at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
The administration’s selection of a predominantly career list of top officials marks a shift from the Trump administration’s dependence on named politicians and shows that the Biden team is doubling its commitment to investing in career diplomats.
According to the list seen by CNN, the administration will appoint Larry André ambassador to Somalia, Elizabeth Moore Aubin for Algeria, Steven Bondy for Bahrain, Maria Brewer for Lesotho, Marc Knapper for Vietnam, Christopher Lamora for Cameroon, Tulinabo Mushingi for Angola and Sao Tome & Principe, Michael Raynor for Senegal and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau and Eugene Young for the Republic of the Congo.
Biden officials plan a higher percentage of career ambassadors than the Trump administration, a senior government official told CNN, and the White House said the nomination of career diplomats for ambassadorial posts will take place before the announcement of politically appointed ambassadors.
Biden was presented with the names of the most important competitors for ambassadors to the European Union, NATO and other high-level positions, including China, and is expected to make a decision on at least some of these positions by the end of this month. CNN.
Meanwhile, most embassies without confirmed ambassadors are run by diplomats who were second in command to the post. At the US Embassy in Moscow, the Biden administration retained John Sullivan – named by Trump – for the foreseeable future.
The average number of politically appointed ambassadors from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama was 31 percent, and that number has risen to 43 percent under former President Donald Trump, according to a Foreign Ministry report written by experienced State Department officials who do now part of Biden’s administration. .
The administration will also announce seven nominees for senior positions in the State Department – three current career diplomats and a former one. Many of these positions have been left vacant or given to certain politicians under the Biden administration.
These nominees are expected to include Marcia Bernicat for the director general of foreign service and chair of the foreign service council, Karen Donfried to head the Europe office, Barbara Leaf to head the Middle East office, Molly Phee to head the Africa office. and be a member of the board of the African Development Foundation, Michele Sison to head the International Affairs Office, Gentry Smith to head the Office of Diplomatic Security and Anne Witkowsky to head the Office of Conflict and Stabilization Operations and serve as coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the countries in which Elizabeth Moore Aubin and Christopher Lamora are expected to be nominated as ambassadors.