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Director of Policy Planning

Position of the United States Department of State

Summary

Position of the United States Department of State

FieldValue
postDirector of Policy Planning
insigniaU.S. Department of State official seal.svg
insigniasize120px
insigniacaptionSeal of the United States Department of State
imageCounselor and Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State Michael Austin Needham.jpg
incumbentMichael Needham
incumbentsinceSeptember 15, 2025
appointerUnited States Secretary of State
formation1947
inauguralGeorge F. Kennan
websiteOfficial website

The director of policy planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the department's internal think tank, the policy planning staff, with a rank equivalent to assistant secretary. The position has traditionally been held by many members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. Former directors of policy planning include two national security advisors, a president of the World Bank, and several presidents of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Directors of policy planning

No.NameAssumed officeLeft officePresident appointed by
1George F. Kennan19471949Harry S. Truman
2Paul Nitze19501953
3Robert R. Bowie19531957Dwight D. Eisenhower
4Gerard C. Smith19571961
5George C. McGhee19611961John F. Kennedy
6Walt Whitman Rostow19611966
7Henry David Owen19661969Lyndon B. Johnson
8William I. Cargo19691973Richard Nixon
9James S. Sutterlin19731973Richard Nixon
10Winston Lord19731977Gerald Ford
11Anthony Lake19771981Jimmy Carter
12Paul Wolfowitz19811982Ronald Reagan
13Stephen W. Bosworth19831984
14Peter W. Rodman19841986
15Richard H. Solomon19861989
16Dennis B. Ross19891992George H. W. Bush
17Samuel W. Lewis19931994Bill Clinton
18James Steinberg19941996
19Gregory B. Craig19971999
20Morton Halperin19982001
21Richard N. Haass20012003George W. Bush
22Mitchell Reiss20032005
23Stephen D. Krasner20052007
24David F. Gordon20072009
25Anne-Marie Slaughter20092011Barack Obama
26Jake Sullivan20112013
27David McKean20132015
28Jonathan Finer20152017
29Brian Hook20172018Donald Trump
30Kiron Skinner20182019
31Peter Berkowitz20192021
32Salman Ahmed20212025Joe Biden
33Michael Anton20252025Donald Trump
34Michael Needham2025Present

References

References

  1. https://www.state.gov/biographies/michael-a-needham/
  2. (January 20, 2009). "Assistant Secretaries and Equivalent Rank". [[U.S. Department of State]].
  3. (March 2014). "Department Organization Chart". [[U.S. Department of State]].
  4. "Mort Halperin".
  5. [https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/191760.htm State Department profile for David McKean]
  6. "Kiron Skinner". state.gov.
  7. "Peter Berkowitz".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

directors-of-policy-planning united-states-department-of-state united-states-department-of-state-officials united-states-diplomacy
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