WASHINGTON (April 23, 2025)- Yesterday, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced the first phase of a plan to reorganize the U.S. State Department. CNN reported that the change will remove over 130 domestic officers, cut around 700 positions in Washington DC, and close offices focused on war crimes and global conflict.
For more context on the matter, please consider Ambassador (ret.) Gordon Gray, the Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs. Gray worked for the U.S. government for 35 years.
Gray’s public service included U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia from 2009-2012, Senior Advisory to the Ambassador in Iraq 2008-2009, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2005- 2008. His other foreign assignments included Egypt (where he served as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2002 until 2005), Canada, Jordan, Pakistan, and Morocco, where he began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer. He twice received the Presidential Meritorious Service award.
If you wish to speak with Amb. (ret) Gordon Gray please contact Media Relations Specialist Shannon Mitchell at [email protected].
-GW-
