Assistant Secretaries of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Affairs
NOTE TO READERS
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.
In April 1980, the Department of State, by administrative action, established the Bureau of Refugee Programs. The Director holds a rank equivalent to an Assistant Secretary of State and Serves concurrently as Deputy Coordinator for Refugee Affairs. All Directors of the Bureau of Refugee Programs have been designated, not commissioned. Since Mar 1979, the Department of State has designated certain Ambassadors at Large as Coordinators for Refugee Affairs. The Bureau of Refugee Affairs subsumed duties relating to refugee matters previously exercised by components in the Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, and the Agency for International Development. Previously, distinct units in the Department of State concerned with refugee affairs existed in the Bureau of United Nations Affairs and the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs. Also, between Sep 1966 and Jun 1975, a Special Assistant for Refugee and Migration Affairs, with rank equivalent to an Assistant Secretary served in the office of the Secretary of State. The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration was established May 12, 1994. Prior to this date it was called the Bureau of Refugee Programs, and its Directors were designated, not commissioned.
- John Alexander Baker Jr. (1979–1980)
- Frank E. Loy (1980–1981)
- Richard David Vine (1982)
- James Nelson Purcell Jr. (1983–1986)
- Jonathan Moore (1987–1989)
- Princeton Nathan Lyman (1989–1992)
- Warren Zimmermann (1992–1994)
- Phyllis Elliott Oakley (1994–1997)
- Julia Vadala Taft (1997–2001)
- Arthur E. Dewey (2002–2005)
- Ellen Richmond Sauerbrey (2006–2007)
- Eric P. Schwartz (2009–2011)
- Anne Claire Richard (2012–2017)