Karen Donfried is the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. Prior to her current position, she served as president of the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States from April 2014 to September 2021.
Previously, Dr. Donfried was the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council at the White House. Prior to the White House, she served as the National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Europe on the National Intelligence Council, the intelligence community’s center for strategic thinking. From 2003 to 2005, she worked for the U.S. Department of State’s Policy Planning staff, handling the Europe portfolio. She has written extensively on German foreign and defense policy, European integration, and transatlantic relations.
She became an officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2018, received the Cross of the Order of Merit from the German Government in 2011, became an officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium in 2010, and received a Superior Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State in 2005 for her contribution to revitalizing the transatlantic partnership. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Donfried has a Ph.D. and MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Magister from the University of Munich, Germany. She holds a bachelor’s degree in government and German from Wesleyan University. Dr. Donfried is fluent in German.
