Barbara A. Leaf is a U.S. diplomat serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs since May 2022. As former Senior Foreign Service officer, she served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 2015 to 2018.

Education

Leaf graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1980 with a B.A. in Government and holds an M.A. in Foreign Affairs with a focus on Soviet Affairs from the University of Virginia.

Career

From 1996 to 2000, Leaf served as the Department's Middle East "Watcher" at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, reporting on French policies on Iraq, Iran, the Arab-Israeli dispute, Libya, and terrorism issues. From 2001 to 2003, Leaf served as Advisor to the Department's Medical Director, in a position created in the wake of September 11 to develop medical and security programs to counter and respond to chemical/biological/nuclear threats to U.S. diplomatic installations abroad. From 2004 to 2006, Leaf served as Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where she helped advance U.S. policy goals on democratization and political reform, counter-terrorism, and regional reintegration among the former combatant states of the former Yugoslavia. From 2003 to 2004, she directed the Regional Headquarters of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina, enforcing implementation of civilian aspects of the Dayton peace accords, including the return of refugees to areas from which they had been ethnically cleansed. Leaf directed the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in the strategic province of Basrah, Iraq, from 2010 to 2011, leaving an assignment as Political Minister Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy, to oversee the PRT's transition to a U.S. Consulate General. She was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Arabian Peninsula in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq from 2011 to 2013. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates until 2018. Leaf was the Ruth and Sid Lapidus Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Geduld Program on Arab Politics from 2018 to 2022.

Biden administration

In January 2021, Leaf was named the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa for the Biden administration. On April 15, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Leaf to be the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on Leaf's nomination on September 15, 2021. The committee favorably reported Leaf's nomination to the Senate floor on November 3, 2021. The nomination ultimately stalled, and was returned to President Biden on January 3, 2022. Leaf was renominated the following day on January 4, 2022. Her nomination was favorably reported by of committee on March 29, 2022. Leaf was confirmed on May 18, 2022, by a Senate vote of 54-44.

Personal life

Leaf speaks Arabic,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian.“Barbara A. Leaf.” ''United States Department of State''

Articles

Washington Confuses Tactics with Strategy: The Perils of Shuttering the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
October 9, 2020.
The F-35 Triangle: America, Israel, the United Arab Emirates
September 15, 2020.
The UAE-Israel Breakthrough: Bilateral and Regional Implications and U.S. Policy
September 14, 2020.
The Gulf’s Calculus on UAE-Israel Deal
August 19, 2020.
The New U.S.-Iraq Strategic Dialogue: Expert Views from Both Sides
June 18, 2020.
U.S.-Iran Tensions: Implications for Homeland Security
January 15, 2020.
Don’t Write Off Iraq
September 24, 2019.
Bringing Diplomacy Back to the Pressure Campaign Against Iran
September 23, 2019.
The Ends of Iran: Next Steps for Tehran and Its Neighbors
May 30, 2019.
A U.S.-Iraq Security Partnership: Avoiding the Pitfalls Just Ahead
March 13, 2019.
Reports from Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Capitol Hill: Middle East Policy Forecast for 2019
February 4, 2019.
It’s Time for a Serious Saudi-Houthi Back Channel
January 9, 2019.
Containing Iranian Proxies in Iraq
September 26, 2018.
U.S. and Iran Ramp Up War of Words Ahead of Sanctions
July 30, 2018.
Yemen Is Not a Sideshow
June 12, 2018.

References

External links

*
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq Barbara Leaf Briefs Members of the U.S.-Iraq Business Initiative
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaf, Barbara Ambassadors of the United States to the United Arab Emirates American diplomats American women ambassadors American women diplomats Assistant Secretaries of State for the Near East and North Africa Biden administration personnel College of William & Mary alumni Living people University of Virginia alumni Year of birth missing (living people)