Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

U.S. government position

United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Seal of the United States Department of State
Flag of an Assistant Secretary of State
Incumbent Mary Catherine Phee since September 30, 2021
Reports to	Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Nominator	President of the United States
Inaugural holder	Joseph C. Satterthwaite
Formation	September 1958
Website	Official Website

The Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs is the head of the Bureau of African Affairs, within the United States Department of State, who guides operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa and advises the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary for Political Affairs.

On July 18, 1958, Congress authorized an 11th Assistant Secretary of State, enabling the Department of State to create a bureau to deal with relations with the newly independent nations of Africa. At first, when the Department of State established three geographical divisions in 1909, African affairs were the responsibility of the Divisions of Near Eastern and Western European Affairs. Department Order No. 692 of June 15, 1937, transferred responsibility for all African territories except Algeria and the Union of South Africa to the Division of Near Eastern Affairs. A Division of African Affairs was created in the office of Near Eastern Affairs in January 1944. When the Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs was created, there continued to be a Division of African Affairs within that bureau.

List of Assistant Secretaries of State for African Affairs

Source:

#	Name	Assumed office	Left office	President served under
1	Joseph C. Satterthwaite	September 2, 1958	January 31, 1961	Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy
2	G. Mennen Williams	February 1, 1961	March 23, 1966	John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
3	Joseph Palmer II	April 11, 1966	July 7, 1969	Lyndon B. Johnson
4	David D. Newsom	July 17, 1969	January 13, 1974	Richard Nixon
5	Donald B. Easum	March 18, 1974	March 26, 1975	Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford
6	Nathaniel Davis	April 2, 1975	July 19, 1975	Gerald Ford
7	William E. Schaufele, Jr.	December 19, 1975	July 17, 1977	Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter
8	Richard M. Moose	July 6, 1977	January 16, 1981	Jimmy Carter
9	Chester Crocker	June 9, 1981	April 21, 1989	Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush
10	Herman Jay Cohen	May 12, 1989	February 26, 1993	George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton
11	George Moose	April 2, 1993	August 22, 1997	Bill Clinton
12	Susan E. Rice	October 9, 1997	January 20, 2001	Bill Clinton
-	Nancy Jo Powell (Acting)	January 21, 2001	June 3, 2001	George W. Bush
13	Walter H. Kansteiner, III	June 4, 2001	November 1, 2003
-	Charles R. Snyder (Acting)	November 1, 2003	July 24, 2004
14	Constance Berry Newman	July 24, 2004	August 26, 2005
15	Jendayi Frazer	August 29, 2005	January 20, 2009
-	Philip Carter (Acting)	January 20, 2009	May 7, 2009	Barack Obama
16	Johnnie Carson	May 7, 2009	March 30, 2013
-	Donald Yamamoto (Acting)	March 30, 2013	August 5, 2013
17	Linda Thomas-Greenfield	August 6, 2013	March 10, 2017	Barack Obama and Donald Trump
-	Donald Yamamoto (Acting)	September 5, 2017	July 22, 2018	Donald Trump
18	Tibor P. Nagy, Jr.	July 23, 2018	January 20, 2021	Donald Trump
-	Robert F. Godec (Acting)	January 20, 2021	September 30, 2021	Joe Biden
19	Mary Catherine Phee	September 30, 2021	Incumbent	Joe Biden

References

"Bureau of African Affairs". Retrieved September 21, 2007.
^ "Assistant Secretaries of State for African Affairs". Retrieved September 21, 2007.
Nathaniel Davis. The Angola Decision of 1975: A Personal Memoir. Foreign Affairs 57, no. 1 (1978): 109-24. https://doi.org/10.2307/20040055
"Snyder, Charles R." 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved June 12, 2017.

v t e United States assistant secretaries of state (and equivalent ranks)
Reporting to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs	African Affairs East Asian and Pacific Affairs European and Eurasian Affairs International Organization Affairs Near Eastern Affairs South and Central Asian Affairs Western Hemisphere Affairs
Reporting to the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment	Economic and Business Affairs Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Energy Resources Chief Economist of the Department
Reporting to the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security	Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance International Security and Nonproliferation Political-Military Affairs
Reporting to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs	Educational and Cultural Affairs Global Public Affairs
Reporting to the Under Secretary for Management	Administration Consular Affairs Diplomatic Security Chief Information Officer of the Department Chief Medical Officer and Designated Agency Safety and Health Official Comptroller of the Department and Director of Global Financial Services Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Global Talent Director of Budget and Planning Director of Overseas Buildings Operations Director, Foreign Service Institute Director, Office of Foreign Missions, with the rank of Ambassador Director, Office of Management Strategy and Solutions
Reporting to the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights	Conflict and Stabilization Operations Coordinator for Counterterrorism, with rank and status of Ambassador-at-Large Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Population, Refugees, and Migration Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking (Ambassador-at-Large) Global Criminal Justice (Ambassador-at-Large)
Reporting directly to the Secretary	Intelligence and Research Legislative Affairs Special Assistant to the Secretary and Executive Secretary of the Department Inspector General Legal Adviser Director, Policy Planning Staff Director, Office of Foreign Assistance Director, Office of Civil Rights and Chief Diversity Officer Chief of Protocol of the United States, with the rank of Ambassador Global Women's Issues (Ambassador-at-Large) Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally (Ambassador-at-Large)

Categories: