Barbara A. Leaf

Ambassador Leaf served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from May 2022 to January 2025, overseeing 21 diplomatic posts, $7.5 billion in foreign assistance, and policies and programs from Morocco to Yemen.  Ambassador Leaf led multilateral work with regional and European partners to stabilize Libya; deepen ties with Iraq while contesting the influence of Iranian-affiliated militias; drive a common approach to ending the conflict in Sudan; and increase pressure on Yemen’s Houthis to end attacks on Red Sea shipping. In the aftermath of Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Ambassador Leaf acted as Secretary of State Blinken’s key advisor on intensive diplomatic engagement to foster conditions for a ceasefire and hostage release, address critical humanitarian needs for Gaza and promote a viable approach to post-conflict security and governance there.  The first U.S. diplomat to go to Syria since the the US embassy’s closure in 2012, Ambassador Leaf set the terms for tough-minded U.S. engagement with the new leadership in Damascus following the fall of the Assad regime.

In January 2021 Ambassador Leaf joined the Biden administration as Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa and Special Assistant to the President, where she led interagency decisions to end the conflict in Yemen, recalibrate relations with Saudi Arabia, leverage pressure on Iran to counter its use of proxy regional militias, and realign US policy to enable greater humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria while increasing pressure on the Al Assad regime. From 2018-2021 as Ruth and Sid Lapidus Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy Ambassador Leaf directed the Beth and David Geduld Program on Arab Politics, speaking and writing regularly on Iraq, Iran and Gulf politics, and broader U.S. national security policy.

Ambassador Leaf was confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates in November 2014 and served in Abu Dhabi until March 2018, overseeing a critical diplomatic mission focused on trade, and deepening defense, counterterrorism, counter-proliferation and law enforcement cooperation.  Ambassador Leaf substantially expanded US-UAE bilateral efforts to address the region’s conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Libya and Iraq, and provided counsel to a community of 1,500 U.S. businesses in the UAE.  

From 2013-2014 Ambassador Leaf served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Arabian Peninsula.  As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq from 2011-2013 Ambassador Leaf oversaw the transformation of U.S. Mission Iraq to a wholly civilian-led enterprise, as U.S. combat troops departed the country.  Leaving an assignment as Political Minister Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy, Ambassador Leaf directed the 100-member U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Basrah, Iraq from 2010-2011. Ambassador Leaf became the first Director of the Department of State’s Office of Iranian Affairs in 2006, establishing an overseas network of Iran specialists and Farsi speakers to regain expertise lost across the U.S. government since the 1979 rupture in relations between Washington and Tehran. 

Previous assignments included Sarajevo, Paris, Cairo, Tunis, as Kuwait Desk Officer during the first Gulf War, Jerusalem, the Department’s Operations Center, and Port-au-Prince. Awarded the Distinguished Honor Award by Secretary Blinken, Ambassador Leaf received numerous Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards during her career.  

Ambassador Leaf received a B.A. in Government from the College of William and Mary
and M.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.  She speaks Arabic, French, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian.