Out State Dept. official Ned Price to be deputy to U.N. ambassador

Ned Price, the first out gay man to be State Department spokesman, is taking on a new role: deputy to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

He will manage the Washington, D.C., office for the ambassador, Thomas-Greenfield told Politico. “His judgment and expertise will be a tremendous asset to me and the entire USUN team,” she said in a prepared statement.

“I’m humbled and honored to serve Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and the broader administration in this position. America has tremendous capacity for good within the U.N. and broader multilateral system, and I look forward to helping drive our agenda with allies and partners,” Price told the outlet.

Price became spokesman for the State Department in January 2021, when President Joe Biden took office. In March of last year, he was named senior adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Earlier in his career, he worked in President Barack Obama’s administration, in the private sector, and for the Central Intelligence Agency.

He left the CIA when Donald Trump became president in 2017. He said his decision was not political. He had served in the CIA under both Republican and Democratic presidents — George W. Bush and Obama, respectively — and sometimes disagreed with them, but he could not in good conscience work for a president who showed so much disrespect for intelligence professionals as Trump did, he wrote in The Washington Post.

He has lauded Trump’s successor. In an interview with The Advocate in 2021, he praised the Biden administration for promoting LGBTQ+ equality domestically and internationally. “I’m very fortunate to work for an administration with whom I share values,” he said. “There’s a certain symbolism in having someone who identifies as openly gay addressing and speaking from the State Department. I recognize the power of that.”

As Thomas-Greenfield’s deputy, Price will succeed Jeffrey Prescott, who is taking a new job in representing the U.S. to U.N. food and agriculture agencies. Price will move into the deputy position shortly after Prescott leaves.

“Once he begins, Price will attend deputy-level interagency meetings on various topics, giving him more sway over U.S. foreign policy at least through January next year after the presidential election,” Politico reports.

Price is “a seasoned voice in the corridors of U.S. foreign policy,” notes news site BNN Breaking. His new appointment “not only marks a significant milestone in Price's distinguished career but also comes at a time when the United States finds itself under the global microscope on a raft of critical issues, from its steadfast support for Israel to its strategic posture towards Russia's aggressive maneuvers in Ukraine,” the site continues. “Price’s journey to this influential post is a testament to his deep reservoir of expertise and his unwavering commitment to the principles of American diplomacy.”

Price has won praise from many other sources, including Blinken. “Ned has helped the U.S. government defend and promote press freedom around the globe and modeled the transparency and openness we advocate for in other countries,” Blinken said last March. “He’s performed with extraordinary professionalism and integrity.”