Vice Secretary of State of the United States

Seal of the US State Department

Stephen Biegun, Acting Deputy Foreign Minister

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

The deputy foreign minister of the United States (English. United States Deputy Secretary of State ), according to the Secretary of State the most senior representative in the United States Department of State . In the event that the Secretary of State dies or resigns, the Vice Secretary of State assumes his position as Acting Secretary of State until the President has appointed a successor with the approval of the Senate.

The office of Deputy Foreign Minister was established in 1972. Previously, the United States Under Secretary of State held the second highest post in the State Department. The current incumbent is Stephen Biegun , who succeeded John J. Sullivan in December 2019 .

List of Deputy Foreign Ministers

#	photo	Surname	Start of term of office	End of term	served under the president
1		John N. Irwin II	July 13, 1972	1st February 1973	Richard Nixon
2		Kenneth Rush	2nd February 1973	May 29, 1974
3		Robert S. Ingersoll	July 10, 1974	March 31, 1976
					Gerald Ford
4th		Charles W. Robinson	April 9, 1976	20th January 1977
5		Warren Christopher	February 26, 1977	January 16, 1981	Jimmy Carter
6th		William P. Clark	February 25, 1981	February 9, 1982	Ronald Reagan
7th		Walter John Stoessel	February 11, 1982	22nd September 1982
8th		Kenneth W. Dam	23rd September 1982	June 15, 1985
9		John C. Whitehead	July 9, 1985	January 20, 1989
10		Lawrence Eagleburger	January 20, 1989	December 8, 1992	George Bush
11		Clifton R. Wharton Jr.	January 27, 1993	November 8, 1993	Bill Clinton
12		Strobe Talbott	February 22, 1994	January 19, 2001
13		Richard Armitage	March 26, 2001	February 22, 2005	George W. Bush
14th		Robert Zoellick	February 22, 2005	July 7, 2006
15th		John Negroponte	February 13, 2007	January 19, 2009
16		Jim Steinberg	January 28, 2009	July 28, 2011	Barack Obama
17th		William Joseph Burns	July 28, 2011	3rd November 2014
-		Wendy Sherman Interim	3rd November 2014	January 9, 2015
18th		Tony blinking	January 9, 2015	20th January 2017
-		Thomas A. Shannon provisionally	1st February 2017	May 24, 2017	Donald Trump
19th		John J. Sullivan	May 24, 2017	20th December 2019
20th		Stephen Biegun	December 21, 2019

Web links

• US State Department website (“principal deputy”)
• Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Hill: North Korea envoy Stephen Biegun sworn in as Pompeo's No. 2 at State Dept. (December 21, 2019)