Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
The Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs is an office within the United States Department of State .
History of the office
In 1909, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a department for the Middle East, which was responsible for Central, Southern and Eastern Europe as well as the Middle East. From the beginning it was responsible for Egypt and Abyssinia , today's Ethiopia , and in 1937 was given responsibility for the rest of Africa, with the exception of Algeria and the Union of South Africa .
The U.S. Department of State created the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs on October 3, 1949, after the commission on October 3, 1949 for the organization of the administrative branch of the government (Hoover Commission) had requested that various units should be raised to the level of a subdivision and after the US Congress had increased the number of Assistant Secretaries of State on May 26, 1949 from six to ten. On August 20, relations with the African states came under the responsibility of the newly created sub-department for Africa ( Bureau of African Affairs ) .
Responsibility for Greece , Turkey and Cyprus was transferred to the Bureau of European Affairs on April 18, 1974 , while responsibility for relations with the states of North Africa was transferred to the Middle East and Africa on April 22, 1974 South Asia (Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs) . By the law of external relations for 1992 and 1993 (Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993) the appointment of a new was born on October 28, 1991 Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs as Deputy Director-South (Bureau of South Asian Affairs ) , which was founded on August 24, 1992.
The Deputy Director for the Middle East (Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs) to the Head of the Political Department ( Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs ) . The Middle East subdivision is responsible for US foreign policy and diplomatic relations with Algeria , Bahrain , Egypt , Iran , Iraq , Israel , Jordan , Kuwait , Lebanon , Libya , Morocco , Oman , Palestinian Territories , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , Syria , Tunisia , United Arab Emirates and Yemen . Regional policy in the Middle East deals with the peace process in the Middle East, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and political and economic reforms.
The subdivision head is supported in his work by a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs as the first deputy subdivision head and further Deputy Assistant Secretaries , who as heads of division are responsible for the Iraq (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq Affairs) , support coordination (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Assistance Coordination) , press and public diplomacy (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Press and Public Diplomacy) , Arabian Peninsula (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Arabian Peninsula Affairs) , Iran (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran Affairs) , Egypt and Maghreb (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Egypt and Maghreb Affairs) and Levante (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs) .
Official
List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs , 1949–1958
| Official | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires | US President |
|---|---|---|---|
| George C. McGhee | June 28, 1949 | December 19, 1951 | Harry S. Truman |
| Henry A. Byroade | April 14, 1952 | January 25, 1955 | Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| George V. Allen | January 26, 1955 | August 27, 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| William M. Rountree | August 30, 1956 | 6 Jul 1959 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs , 1958–1992
| Official | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires | US President |
|---|---|---|---|
| G. Lewis Jones | 10 Jul 1959 | April 20, 1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Phillips Talbot | April 21, 1961 | September 1, 1965 | John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Raymond A. Hare | September 22, 1965 | November 30, 1966 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Lucius D. Battle | April 5th 1967 | September 30, 1968 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Parker T. Hart | October 14, 1968 | 4th February 1969 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Joseph J. Sisco | February 10, 1969 | February 18, 1974 | Richard Nixon |
| Alfred Atherton | April 27, 1974 | April 13, 1978 | Richard Nixon , Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter |
| Harold H. Saunders | April 11, 1978 | January 16, 1981 | Jimmy Carter |
| Nicholas A. Veliotes | May 21, 1981 | October 27, 1983 | Ronald Reagan |
| Richard W. Murphy | October 28, 1983 | May 15, 1989 | Ronald Reagan |
| John Hubert Kelly | June 16, 1989 | September 30, 1991 | George HW Bush |
| Edward Djerejian | September 30, 1991 | 17th December 1993 | George HW Bush and Bill Clinton |
List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Near Eastern Affairs , since 1992
On August 24, 1992, the Middle East and South Asia Subdivision (Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs) was split into a separate Middle East subdivision (Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs) and an independent subdivision for South and Central Asia (Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs) . The previous Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Edward Djerejian then became the first head of the Subdivision for Middle East Affairs (Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs) , but also acted as provisional until May 30, 1993 First Head of the South and Central Asia Subsection (Acting) Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs .
| Official | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires | US President |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Djerejian | September 30, 1991 | 17th December 1993 | George HW Bush and Bill Clinton |
| Robert Pelletreau | February 18, 1994 | January 24, 1997 | Bill Clinton |
| Martin Indyk | October 14, 1997 | November 16, 1999 | Bill Clinton |
| Edward S. Walker, Jr. | January 18, 2000 | May 1, 2001 | Bill Clinton |
| William Joseph Burns | June 4, 2001 | March 2, 2005 | George W. Bush |
| David Welch | March 18, 2005 | December 18, 2008 | George W. Bush |
| Jeffrey D. Feltman | August 18, 2009 | June 2012 | Barack Obama |
| Anne W. Patterson | December 13, 2013 | January 6, 2017 | Barack Obama |
| David M. Satterfield (acting) | 5th September 2017 | Donald Trump |
Web links
- Entry on the page of the Office of the Historian of the US State Department
- Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs on the US Department of State website (accessed November 2, 2018)
- Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs: Senior Officials on the US State Department website (accessed November 2, 2018)