A Conversation with Barbara Leaf, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

Free & Open to the Public

Join Barbara Leaf, former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and former US Ambassador to the UAE, for a fireside chat on current and historical developments in the Near East region.

Barbara Leaf served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from May 2022 to January 2025, overseeing 21 diplomatic posts and $7.5 billion in foreign assistance spanning Morocco to Yemen, acting as Secretary Blinken’s key advisor following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and becoming the first U.S. diplomat to visit Syria since 2012 following the fall of the Assad regime. Prior to that she served as Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa and Special Assistant to the President under the Biden administration, U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 2014 to 2018, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Arabian Peninsula, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq, and in 2006 became the first Director of the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs. Earlier assignments included Sarajevo, Paris, Cairo, Tunis, Kuwait, Jerusalem, and Port-au-Prince. The recipient of the Distinguished Honor Award from Secretary Blinken, Ambassador Leaf holds a B.A. from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. from the University of Virginia, and speaks Arabic, French, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian.

Cosponsors: LISD, Near Eastern Studies Department