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Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs to Speak on Foreign Assistance


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Elizabeth Richard is a deputy assistant secretary of state in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the coordinator for foreign assistance to the Near East. She will address the topic: "Regional Economic Initiatives, Responding to the Transitioning Countries, and Coordinating the Interagency Process and Consultations with Congress," on Monday, April 27, at 12 p.m., in SPP Rm 185.

Richard oversees a foreign assistance budget of over seven billion dollars, ensuring that programs effectively advance U.S. policy. A career foreign service officer, she served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, from 2010 to 2013. Previously, she was the border coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, synchronizing U.S. government efforts across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Earlier assignments included serving as director of counter-narcotics and civilian police training programs in Afghanistan, deputy to the special ambassador for war crimes Issues in Washington, D.C., and special sssistant to the undersecretary for political affairs, responsible for political-military and non-proliferation issues. Richard's other overseas assignments included Rome, Italy, first as an exchange officer in the Italian Foreign Ministry and then as political officer at the U.S. Embassy. She has also served in Southeast Asia, including as special assistant to the ambassador in Bangkok, Thailand. She is a graduate of the National War College in Washington D.C,. and of the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy. She has undergraduate and law degrees from Southern Methodist University and before joining the Foreign Service practiced admiralty law in Texas.