Posted: 4:24 pm EDT
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On February 12, Secretary Kerry announced the appointment of Ambassador Kristie Kenney as the Department’s counselor:
I am also pleased to announce that Ambassador Kristie Kenney will succeed Tom as State Department Counselor, taking on special assignments and advising me on an array of issues. The daughter of a public school teacher and a World War II veteran, Kristie has public service in her DNA. She rose through the ranks of the U.S. Foreign Service, and over the course of her career, has served as Ambassador to Thailand, the Philippines, and Ecuador. I know her to be one of the most effective leaders in the Department, with impeccable judgment and extraordinary skill under pressure. Her appointment as Counselor makes her one of the most senior female Foreign Service Officers in the history of our country.
According to history.state.gov:
The Secretary of State created the position of Counselor for the Department of State in 1909 as part of a general Department reorganization. In 1912, the position became a Presidential appointment (37 Stat. 372). Between 1913 and 1919, the Counselor served as the Department’s second-ranking officer, assuming the role previously exercised by the Assistant Secretary of State. In 1919., the newly-created position of Under Secretary of State subsumed the duties of the Counselor. An Act of Congress, May 18, 1937, re-established the position of Counselor of the Department of State (50 Stat. 169). Between 1961 and 1965, the Counselor also served as the Chairman of the Policy Planning Council. The Counselor, who currently under law holds rank equivalent to an Under Secretary of State (P.L. 98-164; 97 Stat. 1017), serves as an adviser to the Secretary of State. The Counselor’s specific responsibilities have varied over time.
Below are Ambassador Kenney’s predecessors:
- Chandler Parsons Anderson (1912–1913)
- John Bassett Moore (1913–1914)
- Robert Lansing (1914–1915)
- Frank Lyon Polk (1915–1919)
- Robert Walton Moore (1937–1941)
- Benjamin Victor Cohen (1945–1947)
- Charles Eustis Bohlen (1947–1949)
- George Frost Kennan (1949–1951)
- Charles Eustis Bohlen (1951–1953)
- Douglas MacArthur II (1953–1956)
- George Frederick Reinhardt (1957–1960)
- Theodore Carter Achilles (1960–1961)
- George Crews McGhee (1961)
- Walt Whitman Rostow (1961–1966)
- Robert Richardson Bowie (1966–1968)
- Richard Foote Pedersen (1969–1973)
- Helmut Sonnenfeldt (1974–1977)
- Matthew Nimetz (1977–1980)
- Rozanne Lejeanne Ridgway (1980–1981)
- Robert Carl McFarlane (1981–1982)
- James Lane Buckley (1982)
- Edward J. Derwinski (1983–1987)
- Max M. Kampelman (1987–1989)
- Robert B. Zoellick (1989–1992)
- Timothy Endicott Wirth (1993–1994)
- Wendy R. Sherman (1997–2001)
- Philip D. Zelikow (2005–2007)
- Eliot A. Cohen (2007–2009)
- Cheryl D. Mills (2009–2013)
- Thomas Alfred Shannon Jr. (2013–2016)
- Kristie Kenney (2016-
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