Department of State, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Department/Agency: Department of State
Position:
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Executive Schedule: Executive Level IV - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation
Major Responsibilities:
Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:
Insight:
As the State Department’s top diplomat for Europe, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs helps build and maintain essential relationships with European nations and international organizations such as the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan has underscored the importance of good relations with NATO partners. European assistant secretary Daniel Fried highlighted the importance of the support of NATO member nations in a November 2006 press briefing: “The fact is, looked at one way, if NATO were not in Afghanistan, the United States might be there with very, very few allies. Coalitions of the willing have their drawbacks and their limitations. NATO allies are doing fighting ... in some of the hottest places in that country.”
The assistant secretary is also concerned with the expansion of the NATO roster, an issue that has strained U.S.-Russian relations. Many nations in the Caucasus region have traded communist regimes for more democratic systems and are eager to solidify their ties to their Western neighbors through EU and NATO admission. “In looking at the region as a whole, our strategic interests are focused on several issues: the advance of freedom and democracy; security, including counterterrorism and peaceful resolution of separatist conflicts; and energy,” Fried testified to the House foreign affairs committee.
Encouraging the inclusion of the eastern reaches of Europe into the fold runs the risk of antagonizing Russia. The Georgia conflict reinforces the growing perception that Russia seeks to reassert control over its immediate neighbors. The United States must tread lightly to avoid being sucked into a Cold War-like competition for influence. "The United States does not believe in or recognize 'spheres of influence,'” Fried told to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Since 1989, the United States ... has supported the right of every country emerging from Communism to choose the path of its own development, and to choose the institutions — such as NATO and the European Union — that it wants to associate with and join." This position, created in 1949, originally dealt with European and Canadian affairs; among the diplomats who held that title were Walter Stoessel, Jr., Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Richard R. Burt and Rozanne L. Ridgway. The title and jurisdiction were changed to European affairs solely in 1999; Eurasian affairs was added in 2001.
The next assistant secretary for Europe and Eurasia faces the challenge of balancing the goals of building a more democratic Europe and averting a further deterioration in relations with Russia. He or she must also increase political and physical support among NATO and EU allies for American foreign policy interests elsewhere.
Key Relationships – Within the Department or Agency:
Secretary of State
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Other regional assistant secretaries
Ambassadors to countries in the region
Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs
Director of Policy Planning
Key Relationships – Within the Government:
Permanent Representative, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs
Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, Department of Defense
Counterpart in the Central Intelligence Agency
Key Relationships – Outside the Government:
NATO
European Union
Diplomats and visitors from the region
European cultural organizations
Businesses with interests in the region
Arms control groups
Foreign policy associations
Nomination Referred to:
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Current Position Profile:
1. Philip Gordon (Confirmed: May 14, 2009). Former Director, European Affairs, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President and Foreign Policy Advisor, Obama for America. Served as a Group Member, National Security Policy Working Group, President-Elect Obama Transition Team, Executive Office of the President (2008-2009).
Recent Position Profiles:
2. Daniel Fried, M.A. (2005-2009). Former special assistant to the president and senior director for European and Eurasian affairs. Served as principal deputy special adviser to the secretary of state for the newly independent states. Former ambassador to Poland. Held senior positions on the National Security Council. Master’s degree in international affairs. 3. A. Elizabeth Jones, J.D. (2001-2005). Former ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan. Served as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Near East Bureau and directed the office of Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. Former deputy chief of missions in Germany and Pakistan. Headed the Economic/Commercial Section in the U.S. Mission in West Berlin. Served as deputy principal officer in the U.S. Interests Section in Baghdad and political officer in Jordan and Egypt.
4. James F. Dobbins (Recess appointment, 2000). Former ambassador to the European Community and senior State Department manager for peace operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia. Later U.S. representative to the Afghan opposition. Also served as special assistant to the president on National Security Council staff for Latin America. Served in Vietnam war as U.S. naval officer.
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