Barbara A. Leaf

Barbara A. Leaf is the Ruth and Sid Lapidus Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Geduld Program on Arab Politics[1] and was the U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 2014–2018.[2] Former U.S. senior diplomat, foreign policy and national security expert, Barbara A. Leaf specializes in Iran, Iraq, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Arab and Islamic Politics, and Gulf and Energy Policy.

Barbara Leaf
United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates
In office
November 25, 2014 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byMichael H. Corbin
Succeeded byJohn Rakolta
Personal details
EducationCollege of William & Mary (BA)
University of Virginia (MA)

In January 2021, Leaf was named the National Security Council Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa for the incoming Biden administration.[3]

Education

Leaf graduated from the College of William & Mary 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.[1][4]

She is fluent in French and conversant in Arabic, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian.

Career

From 1996–2000, 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.[5]

From 2001–2003, 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.[5]

From 2004–2006, Leaf served as Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where she helped advance key U.S. policy goals on democratization and political reform, counter-terrorism, and regional reintegration among the former combatant states of the former Yugoslavia. From 2003–2004, 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.[5]

Leaf directed the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in the strategic province of Basrah, Iraq, from 2010–2011, 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.[5]

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 erved as U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates until 2018.[5]

Articles

References
  1. "Barbara A. Leaf". The Washington Institute. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  2. "Barbara A. Leaf". Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  3. "White House Personnel". President-Elect Joe Biden. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  4. "Leaf, Barbara A." U.S. Department of State. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  5. "Abu Dhabi, UAE - Embassy of the United States". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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