EVENT: Please join us on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, for a digital press briefing with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs Assistant Secretary of State, Molly Phee, National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs, Judd Devermont, and Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation, Ambassador Johnnie Carson. Assistant Secretary Phee, Senior Director Devermont, and Ambassador Carson will discuss the progress made over the last six months in implementing the achievements of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and how these efforts highlight the U.S. commitment to the African continent. After brief opening remarks, the speakers will take questions from participating journalists.
DETAILS:
Speakers: Molly Phee, U.S. Department of State Bureau of African Affairs Assistant Secretary of State
Judd Devermont, National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs
Johnnie Carson, Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Time: 16:30 Johannesburg | 14:30 GMT | 10:30 Washington, D.C.
Language: English. French and Arabic interpretation will be provided.
Ground rules: The briefing will be on the record.
Login info: To be provided upon RSVP.
Twitter: Join the conversation #AFHubPress and follow us on @AfricaMediaHub.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Molly Phee
U.S. Department of State Bureau of African Affairs Assistant Secretary of State
Molly Phee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, was sworn in as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs on Sept. 30, 2021. She most recently served as the Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation.
She was U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan from 2015-2017. She previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan. Additionally, she was the Acting Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs, as well as Deputy Security Council Coordinator at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, handling UN engagement in Africa and the Middle East for both portfolios.
Earlier in her career, Phee served on the National Security Council as Director for Iraq and as the Senior Civilian Representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority to Maysan Province, Iraq. She began her career at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and worked at U.S. Embassies in Cairo, Egypt and Kuwait City, Kuwait.
A native of Chicago, Ambassador Phee is a graduate of Indiana University and earned a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She has received the Distinguished Honor Award, the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for conflict resolution and peacemaking, the Baker-Wilkins Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission, the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Order of the British Empire Award, and a Presidential Rank Award. She speaks Arabic.
Judd Devermont
National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs
Judd Devermont is the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). He most recently served as the special advisor for Africa strategy at the NSC from 2021-2022. Prior to the NSC he served as the director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from 2018 to 2021.
Mr. Devermont previously was national intelligence officer for Africa from 2015-2018. In this position, he led the U.S. intelligence community’s analytic efforts on sub-Saharan African issues and served as the DNI’s personal representative at interagency policy meetings. Mr. Devermont also was the Central Intelligence Agency’s senior political analyst on sub-Saharan Africa from 2013-2015.
Prior to this role, he served as the National Security Council director for Somalia, Nigeria, the Sahel, and the African Union from 2011 to 2013. In this position, he contributed to the U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, signed by President Obama in 2012, and managed the process that resulted in U.S. recognition of the Somali government for the first time since 1991. Mr. Devermont spent two years abroad working at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria from 2008 to 2010.
Mr. Devermont has lived in South Africa and Cote d’Ivoire, and he has traveled widely across the continent. He has a master’s degree in African studies from Yale University and bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Johnnie Carson
Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation
Ambassador Johnnie Carson was appointed as the Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation in December 2022. Formerly, he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs from May 2009 to March 2013. Prior to this he was the national intelligence officer for Africa at the National Intelligence Council, after serving as the senior vice president of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. (2003-2006).
Ambassador Carson’s 37-year foreign service career includes ambassadorships to Kenya (1999-2003), Zimbabwe (1995-1997), and Uganda (1991-1994); and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs (1997-1999). Earlier in his career he had assignments in Portugal (1982-1986), Botswana (1986-1990), Mozambique (1975-1978), and Nigeria (1969-1971). He has also served as desk officer in the Africa section at State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1971-1974); Staff Officer for the Secretary of State (1978-1979), and Staff Director for the Africa Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives (1979-1982).
Before joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Carson was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania from 1965-1968. He has a bachelor’s in history and political science from Drake University and a master’s in international relations from the School of Oriental and Africa Studies at the University of London.
Ambassador Carson is the recipient of several Superior Honor Awards from the Department of State and a Meritorious Service Award from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The Centers for Disease Control presented him with its highest award, “Champion of Prevention Award," for his leadership in directing the U.S. Government’s HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in Kenya.
LOGISTICS:
* Participants should log in to join the conference 10 minutes early.
* Participants will be asked to type in their name, press affiliation, and location.
* The speakers will give brief opening remarks, and then the moderator will open the floor to questions.
* Participants will be instructed to type their questions or indicate to the moderator in the chat that they wish to ask a live question. Journalists may also submit written questions in advance when registering on Eventbrite or via e-mail to afmediahub@state.gov.
* If you experience technical difficulties during the briefing, you may send an e-mail to afmediahub@state.gov to alert the moderator to any issues.