Elizabeth M. Allen is sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, at the U.S. Department of State, on September 13, 2021. [State Department Photo by Freddie Everett/ Public Domain]

Elizabeth M. Allen, Appointee for Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, Department of State

Liz Allen is a partner at strategic communications and public affairs firm Finsbury Glover Hering (FGH), where she specializes in message and campaign strategy, crisis management, and leadership communications. Prior to FGH, Allen served in the Obama-Biden Administration for eight years, most recently as White House Deputy Communications Director and Deputy Assistant to President Barack Obama. She also served as White House Director of Message Planning and Deputy Director of Communications to then-Vice President Joe Biden. In 2020, Allen took a leave of absence from FGH to serve as Vice President Kamala Harris’s Communications Director on the Biden-Harris presidential campaign. Allen previously served at the U.S. Department of State as Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, focusing on U.S. public diplomacy efforts, and in positions in the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and Office of Global Women’s Issues. A native of Buffalo, New York, she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Political Science from the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Geneseo, where she returned to give the commencement address in 2016.

As we have written previously, this position does not require Senate confirmation. Here’s a quick summary of the position according to history.state.gov:

The Department of State created the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Public and Cultural Relations during a general reorganization in Dec 1944, after Congress authorized an increase in the number of Assistant Secretaries in the Department from four to six (Dec 8, 1944; P.L. 78-472; 58 Stat. 798). The reorganization was the first to designate substantive designations for specific Assistant Secretary positions. The Department changed the title to Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in 1946. Initially, incumbents supervised the forerunners of the U.S. Information Agency and the Voice of America. P.L. 112-116, the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011 (signed into law August 10, 2012), removed the requirement for Senate confirmation of Assistant Secretaries of State for Public Affairs.

So now we’re wondering if folks have given any thought about filling in the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs post or is that a case of nah?

Related items:

• President Biden Announces Elizabeth M. Allen as Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs
• Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs: Tenures and Vacancies (1999-Present)
• @StateDept Runs Out of Sr. Officials to Swear-In New Asst Secretary For Public Affairs?
• PR SVP and Ex-Gingrich Aide Michelle Giuda to be Asst Secretary of State for Public Affairs