Senior Positions: Foreign Service Career vs. Other Appointments

In This Section

Deputy Secretaries and Under Secretaries of State
Statistics from 1975 to the Present Day

Updated February 2, 2022

Post Incumbent Career FS/Other Dates of Service
Deputy Secretary of State
Career: 21.1%
Other: 78.9%
 Robert Stephen Ingersoll Other 1974-1976
Charles Wesley Robinson Other 1976-1977
Warren M. Christopher Other 1977-1981
William P. Clark Other 1981-1982
Walter J. Stoessel Jr. Career FS 1982
Kenneth W. Dam Other 1982-1985
John C. Whitehead Other 1985-1989
Lawrence S. Eagleburger Career FS 1989-1992
Clifton R. Wharton Other 1993
Strobe Talbott Other 1994-2001
Richard L. Armitage Other 2001-2005
Robert B. Zoellick Other 2005-2006
John D. Negroponte Career FS 2007-2009
James B. Steinberg Other 2009-2012
William J. Burns Career FS 2012-2014
Antony Blinken Other 2014-2017
John J. Sullivan Other 2017-2020
Stephen Biegun Other 2020-2021
Wendy Sherman Other 2021-
Deputy Secretary - Management & Resources
Career: 0%
Other: 100%
 Jacob Lew Other 2009-2011
Thomas R. Nides Other 2011-2013
Heather Higginbottom Other 2014-2017
Brian McKeon Other 2021-
Under Secretary of State for Arms Control & International Security
Career: 12.5%
Other: 87.5%
 Carlyle E. Maw Other 1974-1976
Lucy W.P. Benson Other 1977-1980
Matthew Nimetz Other 1980
James L. Buckley Other 1981-1982
William Schneider Jr. Other 1982-1986
Edward J. Derwinski Other 1987-1989
Reginald Bartholomew Career FS 1989-1992
Frank G. Wisner II Career FS 1992-1993
Lynn E. Davis Other 1993-1997
John D. Holum Other 2000-2001
John R. Bolton Other 2001-2005
Robert Joseph Other 2005-2007
Ellen Tauscher Other 2009-2011
Rose Gottemoeller Other 2014-2017
Andrea L. Thompson Other 2018-2019
Bonnie Jenkins Other 2021-
Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy & the Environment
Career: 6.7%
Other: 93.3%
 Charles W. Robinson Other 1974-1976
William D. Rogers Other 1976
Richard N. Cooper Other 1977-1981
Myer Rashish Other 1981-1982
W. Allen Wallis Other 1982-1989
Richard T. McCormack Other 1989-1991
Robert B. Zoellick Other 1991-1992
Joan Edelman Spero Other 1993-1997
Alan P. Larson Career FS 1999-2005
Josette Sheeran Shiner Other 2005-2007
Reuben Jeffery III Other 2007-2009
Robert D. Hormats Other 2009-2013
Catherine Ann Novelli Other 2014-2017
Keith Krach Other 2019-2021
Jose Fernandez Other 2021-
Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, & Human Rights
Career: 0%
Other: 100%
 Tim E. Wirth Other 1994-1997
Frank E. Loy Other 1998-2001
Paula Dobriansky Other 2001-2009
Maria Otero Other 2009-2013
Sarah Sewall Other 2014-2017
Uzra Zeya Other 2021-
Under Secretary of State for Management
Career: 21.4%
Other: 78.6%
 Benjamin H. Read Other 1978-1981
Richard T. Kennedy Other 1981-1982
Jerome W. Van Gorkom Other 1982-1983
Ronald I. Spiers Career FS 1983-1989
Ivan Selin Other 1989-1991
John F.W. Rogers Other 1991-1993
John Brian Atwood Other 1993
Richard M. Moose Other 1993-1996
Bonnie R. Cohen Other 1997-2001
Grant S. Green Other 2001-2005
Henrietta H. Fore Other 2005-2007
Patrick F. Kennedy Career FS 2007-2017
Brian Bulatao Other 2019-2021
John Bass Career FS 2021-
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Career: 76.5%
Other: 23.5%
 Joseph J. Sisco Career FS 1974-1976
Philip C. Habib Career FS 1976-1978
David D. Newsom Career FS 1978-1981
Walter J. Stoessel Jr. Career FS 1981-1982
Lawrence S. Eagleburger Career FS 1982-1984
Michael H. Armacost Career FS 1984-1989
Robert M. Kimmitt Other 1989-1991
Arnold Lee Kanter Other 1991-1993
Peter Tarnoff Career FS 1993-1997
Thomas R. Pickering Career FS 1997-2000
Marc I. Grossman Career FS 2001-2005
R. Nicholas Burns Career FS 2005-2008
William J. Burns Career FS 2008-2012
Wendy R. Sherman Other 2012-2015
Thomas Shannon Career FS 2016-2018
David Hale Career FS 2018-2021
Victoria Nuland Other 2021-
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs
Career: 0%
Other: 100%
 Evelyn S. Lieberman Other 1999-2001
Charlotte L. Beers Other 2001-2003
Margaret D. Tutwiler Other 2003-2004
Karen P. Hughes Other 2005-2007
James K. Glassman Other 2008-2009
Judith A. McHale Other 2009-2011
Tara D. Sonenshine Other 2012-2013
Richard Stengel Other 2014-2017
Irwin Steven Goldstein Other 2017-2018

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Information taken from www.whitehouse.gov and foreign.senate.gov.