Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

Seal of the US State Department

The Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs ranks third within the US State Department after the Secretary of State and the Vice Secretary of State .

History of the office

Organizational chart : The administrative structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (English)

Since 1949, the political departments have been under the responsibility of a Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs . Prior to the creation of the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs position in August 1959, the Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs assisted the Secretary of State and the Vice Secretary of State in the formulation and execution of US foreign policy . After August 1959, the Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs acted as a mediator for inter-ministerial relations, particularly for politico-military affairs. In 1969 the position of Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs was abolished and a new subdivision for Politico-Military Affairs was created, which today reports to a different Undersecretary, namely the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Arms Control and International Security Affairs ( Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs) .

While the Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State are occupied by politically appointed persons, the position of Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs is usually, but not always, occupied by a career diplomat in the foreign service (US Foreign Service) , making the incumbent the most senior diplomat of the foreign affairs Service will.

As Head of the Political Affairs Division, the Undersecretary of State is responsible for the day-to-day management of regional and bilateral political affairs. Under him are each of a Assistant Secretary of State led subdivisions for Africa (Bureau of African Affairs) , East Asia and Pacific (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs) , Europe and Eurasia (Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs) , Middle East ( Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs) , South and Central Asia (Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs) , the Western Hemisphere (Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs) and international organizations (Bureau of International Organization Affairs) . The respective Assistant Secretaries advise the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs on the work of the diplomatic missions abroad in the context of regional political orientation.

List of Under Secretaries for Political Affairs

image	Surname	State	appointment	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
-	Robert Daniel Murphy	Wisconsin	August 12, 1959	August 14, 1959	3rd December 1959
	Livingston Tallmadge Merchant	District of Columbia	December 1, 1959	4th December 1959	January 31, 1961
	George Crews McGhee	Texas	November 29, 1961	4th December 1961	March 27, 1963
	William Averell Harriman	new York	April 4th 1963	April 4th 1963	March 17, 1965
	Eugene Victor Debs Rostov	Connecticut	October 13, 1966	October 14, 1966	20th January 1969
-	Urals Alexis Johnson	California	7th February 1969	7th February 1969	1st February 1973
	William James Porter	Massachusetts	2nd February 1973	2nd February 1973	February 18, 1974
-	Joseph John Sisco	Maryland	February 11, 1974	19th February 1974	June 30, 1976
	Philip Charles Habib	California	June 16, 1976	July 1, 1976	April 1, 1978
-	David Dunlop Newsom	California	April 13, 1978	April 19, 1978	February 27, 1981
	Walter John Stoessel	California	February 27, 1981	February 28, 1981	January 26, 1982
	Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger	Florida	February 11, 1982	February 12, 1982	May 1, 1984
-	Michael Hayden Armacost	Maryland	17th May 1984	May 18, 1984	March 2, 1989
	Robert Michael Kimmitt	Virginia	March 2, 1989	March 2, 1989	23rd August 1991
-	Arnold Lee Kanter	Virginia	4th October 1991	4th October 1991	January 20, 1993
	Peter Tarnoff	new York	March 11, 1993	March 11, 1993	April 18, 1997
	Thomas Reeve Pickering	New Jersey	May 27, 1997	May 27, 1997	December 31, 2000
	Marc Isaiah Grossman	Virginia	March 23, 2001	March 26, 2001	March 18, 2005
	R. Nicholas Burns	Massachusetts	March 18, 2005	March 18, 2005	February 29, 2008
	William Joseph Burns	Maryland	February 29, 2008	May 13, 2008	July 28, 2011
	Wendy Ruth Sherman	Maryland	September 21, 2011	September 21, 2011	October 2nd, 2015
	Thomas Alfred Shannon	Virginia	February 12, 2016	February 12, 2016	4th June 2018
	Stephen Mull	Pennsylvania	5th June 2018	5th June 2018	29th August 2018
	David Hale	New Jersey	August 28, 2018	August 30, 2018