Victoria Nuland | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| 24thUnder Secretary of State for Political Affairs | |
| In office May 3, 2021 – March 22, 2024 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | David Hale |
| Succeeded by | Allison Hooker |
| ActingUnited States Deputy Secretary of State | |
| In office July 29, 2023 – February 12, 2024 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Wendy Sherman |
| Succeeded by | Kurt M. Campbell |
| 25thAssistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs | |
| In office September 18, 2013 – January 20, 2017 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Deputy | John A. Heffern[1] |
| Preceded by | Philip H. Gordon |
| Succeeded by | A. Wess Mitchell |
| 22ndSpokesperson for the United States Department of State | |
| In office May 31, 2011 – April 5, 2013 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Philip Crowley |
| Succeeded by | Jen Psaki |
| 20thUnited States Ambassador to NATO | |
| In office June 20, 2005 – May 2, 2008 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Nicholas Burns |
| Succeeded by | Kurt Volker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Victoria Jane Nuland (1961-07-01)July 1, 1961 (age 64) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | Robert Kagan |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Brown University (BA) |
Victoria Jane Nuland (born July 1, 1961) is an American diplomat who served asUnder Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2021 to 2024. A former member of theUS Foreign Service, she served asAssistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs from 2013 to 2017 and the 18thU.S. ambassador to NATO from 2005 to 2008.[2][3] Between July 2023 and February 2024, Nuland served as actingdeputy secretary of state following the retirement ofWendy Sherman.[4]
Nuland held the rank ofcareer ambassador, the highest diplomatic rank in the U.S. Foreign Service.[5] She is the former CEO of theCenter for a New American Security (CNAS), serving from January 2018 until early 2019, and is also the Brady-Johnson distinguished practitioner in grand strategy atYale University and a member of the board of theNational Endowment for Democracy. She served as a nonresident fellow in theBrookings Institution's[6] foreign policy program and senior counselor at theAlbright Stonebridge Group.[7] On March 5, 2024, Secretary of StateAntony Blinken announced that Nuland would retire "in the coming weeks".[8]
Nuland was born in 1961 toSherwin B. Nuland, a surgeon born to Jewish immigrants fromBessarabia, with the last nameNudelman,[9] and a Christian British native mother, Rhona McKhann, née Goulston.[failed verification][10] She graduated fromChoate Rosemary Hall in 1979.[11] She has two younger half-siblings, Amelia and William.[12] She earned a bachelor of arts degree fromBrown University in 1983, where she studiedRussian literature, political science, and history.[13][14] She speaksRussian andFrench,[15] and someChinese.[16]
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Nuland joined theState Department'sForeign Service in 1984.[17] She served inGuangzhou, China, from 1985 to 1986, in the State Department'sBureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in 1987, and helped establish the first U.S. embassy inUlaanbaatar, Mongolia, in 1988, where she served on the Soviet desk until 1990. From 1991 to 1993, she worked on Russian internal politics at theU.S. embassy in Moscow, focusing onBoris Yeltsin and his government.[18]
From 1993 to 1996, duringBill Clinton's presidency, Nuland waschief of staff todeputy secretary of stateStrobe Talbott before moving on to serve as deputy director for formerSoviet Union affairs.[19]
In 1998, Nuland co-founded theneoconservativeProject for the New American Century (PNAC)Lobbying organisation.[20]
From 2003 to 2005, Nuland served as the principal Deputy National Security Adviser to Vice PresidentDick Cheney,[21] exercising an influential role during theIraq War.[citation needed] From 2005 to 2008, during PresidentGeorge W. Bush's second term, Nuland served as U.S. ambassador to theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, where she concentrated on mobilizing European support for theNATO intervention in Afghanistan.[22]
In the summer of 2011, Nuland became special envoy forConventional Armed Forces in Europe[23] and then becameState Department spokesperson.[24]
In May 2013, Nuland was nominated to act asassistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs[25] and was sworn in on September 18, 2013.[26] In her role as assistant secretary, she managed diplomatic relations with fifty countries inEurope andEurasia, as well as with NATO, theEuropean Union and theOrganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.[citation needed]
During theMaidan Uprising in Ukraine, Nuland made appearances supporting the Maidan protesters.[27] In December 2013, she said in a speech to theUS–Ukraine Foundation [uk] that the U.S. had invested over $5 billion on democratic skills and institutions, civic participation, and good governance in Ukraine since 1991. She stated that these were preconditions for Ukraine to achieve its European aspirations.[28][27] The Russian government seized on this statement, claiming it was evidence the U.S. was orchestrating acolor revolution.[27]
On February 4, 2014, a recording of a phone call between Nuland and U.S. ambassador to UkraineGeoffrey Pyatt, was published onYouTube.[29][30][31] The call followed an offer made on January 25, 2014, by Ukrainian presidentYanukovych to include two members of the opposition in his government to calm the Maidan protests in Ukraine, one being that of his prime minister.[32] Nuland and Pyatt voiced their opinions of this offer, specifically on the post of prime minister, giving their opinion of several opposition personalities. Nuland told Pyatt thatArseniy Yatsenyuk would be the best candidate to hold this post.[33][29] Nuland suggested theUnited Nations, rather than the European Union, should be involved in a full political solution, adding "fuck the EU". The following day, Christiane Wirtz, Deputy Government Spokesperson and Deputy Head of the Press and Information Office of the German Federal Government, stated that German ChancellorAngela Merkel termed Nuland's remark "absolutely unacceptable."[34] The president of theEuropean Council,Herman Van Rompuy, also condemned the remark as "unacceptable".[35][36] Department of State spokespersonJen Psaki said the discussion was not evidence of any American plan to influence the political outcome, remarking that "It shouldn't be a surprise that at any point there have been discussions about recent events and offers and what is happening on the ground".[37]
Nuland was the lead U.S. point person for Ukraine'sRevolution of Dignity, establishingloan guarantees to Ukraine, including a $1 billion loan guarantee in 2014, and the provisions of non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military and border guard.[38][39] Along with Secretary of StateJohn Kerry and Secretary of DefenseAsh Carter, she is seen as a leading supporter of defensive weapons delivery to Ukraine. In 2016, Nuland urged Ukraine to start prosecuting corrupt officials: "It's time to start locking up people who have ripped off the Ukrainian population for too long and it is time to eradicate the cancer of corruption".[40] While serving as the Department of State's lead diplomat on the Ukraine crisis, Nuland pushed European allies to take a harder line on Russian expansionism.[41]
During a June 7, 2016,Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled "Russian Violations of Borders, Treaties, and Human Rights", Nuland described U.S. diplomatic outreach to the former Soviet Union and efforts to build a constructive relationship with Russia. During her testimony, Nuland notedde facto2014 Russian intervention of Ukraine which she said, "shattered any remaining illusions about this Kremlin's willingness to abide by international law or live by the rules of the institutions that Russia joined at the end of the Cold War."[42]
Nuland left the State Department in January 2017, amid the departure of many other career officials during the early days of thefirst Trump administration.[43]
On January 24, 2018,The Washington Post published an interview with Nuland where she opined on the work of PresidentDonald Trump and Secretary of StateRex Tillerson. She described an exodus of career foreign service officials and dysfunction within the State Department, and stated that the American judiciary and media were under assault. Nuland also decried a trend towards Americanisolationism, stating: "When we withdraw and say it's every nation for itself, you open the door for countries dissatisfied with their territorial position and influence in the international system—or with the system itself." She encouraged whole-government responses to international issues, stating, "Military leaders would be the first to say military solutions alone result in more and longer military entanglements. The role of American diplomats and political leaders is to work concurrently with the military to bring to bear all of the political tools we have."[44]
In January 2018, the Trump administration began new high-level engagements with Russian government officials by scheduling a meeting between Russia's top generalValery Gerasimov and the NATOSupreme Allied Commander Europe, GeneralCurtis Scaparrotti. Nuland stated, "These channels are especially vital at a time when relations at the leader level are so unpredictable." She said Scaparrotti was "uniquely positioned" to address concerns about Russia's "ongoing military role in Ukraine, itsINF treaty violations, its active measures to undermine Transatlantic democracies and the other strategic tensions that are driving the US and its allies to take stronger deterrent measures."[45]
It was also in January 2018 that Nuland was named CEO of theCenter for a New American Security (CNAS),[46] athink tank andlobbying organisation inWashington, D.C., specializing inUnited Statesnational security issues, with strong ties to theDemocratic Party. The organization's top donors included major U.S. defense industry companies likeNorthrop Grumman Aerospace Systems,The Boeing Company,Lockheed Martin Corporation andRaytheon Company, among others.
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On January 5, 2021, it was reported that President-electJoe Biden would nominate Nuland to serve asunder secretary of state for political affairs underAntony Blinken, who had been nominated to serve as secretary of state.[3] Hearings on Nuland's nomination were held by theSenate Foreign Relations Committee on April 15, 2021. The committee favorably reported Nuland's nomination on April 21, 2021. On April 29, 2021, her nomination was confirmed unanimously by the Senate byvoice vote, and she started her work as under secretary of state on May 3, 2021.[47]
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In July 2021, Nuland met with Belarusian opposition leaderSviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Washington.[48] In March 2022, Nuland expressed concern that Russia would get control of Ukraine's biological research facilities duringits invasion of Ukraine.[49][50][51]
Nuland visitedDelhi in March 2022 and suggested that there was an "evolution of thinking in India." She said that the US and Europe should be "defense and security partners" of India, and that Russia's invasion of Ukraine presents a "majorinflection point in the autocratic-democratic struggle."[52]
At a congressional hearing in early 2023, Nuland stated regarding the2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, "I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now . . . a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea."[53]
In a February 2024 interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Nuland advocated for congressional approval of a $95.34 billion aid package, which is also designated for Ukraine, by delivering the following remarks: "We have to remember that the bulk of this money is going right back into the U.S., to make those weapons."[54]
On March 5, 2024, it was announced Nuland will retire that month. She had hoped to succeedWendy Sherman as deputy secretary of state, but President Biden nominatedKurt M. Campbell to that position.[55][8]
Nuland's husband,Robert Kagan, is a historian, foreign policy commentator at theBrookings Institution. She has two children.[56]
She is sometimes informally known asToria Nuland.[8][57]
Dr. Nuland's first marriage ended in divorce. In 1977, he married Sarah Peterson, an actress and director. Besides his wife, survivors include two children from his first marriage, Victoria Jane Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, and Andrew; two children from his second marriage, Amelia and William; and four grandchildren.
I have two kids. (52:02)
someone who is well known to all of you, Toria Nuland, our Assistant [Under] Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | United States ambassador to NATO 2005–2008 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Spokesperson for the United States Department of State 2011–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs 2013–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs 2021–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Secretary of State Acting 2023–2024 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
