Deputy Secretaries of State
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Updates to the Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission database are currently suspended. For information about the Department’s current and recent leadership, we recommend visiting the Department of State homepage’s Biographies of Senior Officials and List of U.S. Ambassadors.
Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last
updated March 14, 2024.
Congress created the position of Deputy Secretary of State in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1972, approved Jul 13, 1972 (Public Law 92-352; 86 Stat 490), to replace the Under Secretary of State as the second ranking officer in the Department. The Deputy Secretary serves as the principal deputy, adviser, and alter ego to the Secretary of State; serves as Acting Secretary of State in the Secretary’s absence; and assists the Secretary in the formulation and conduct of U.S. foreign policy and in giving general supervision and direction to all elements of the Department. Specific duties and supervisory responsibilities have varied over time.
- John Nichol Irwin II (1972–1973)
- Kenneth Rush (1973–1974)
- Robert Stephen Ingersoll (1974–1976)
- Charles Wesley Robinson (1976–1977)
- Warren Minor Christopher (1977–1981)
- William Patrick Clark (1981–1982)
- Walter John Stoessel Jr. (1982)
- Kenneth W. Dam (1982–1985)
- John C. Whitehead (1985–1989)
- Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (1989–1992)
- Clifton Reginald Wharton Jr. (1993)
- Strobe (Nelson Strobridge) Talbott III (1994–2001)
- Richard Lee Armitage (2001–2005)
- Robert B. Zoellick (2005–2006)
- John Dimitri Negroponte (2007–2009)
- James Braidy Steinberg (2009–2011)
- William Joseph Burns (2011–2014)
- Antony Blinken (2015–2017)
- John J. Sullivan (2017)
- Stephen E. Biegun (2019)