The administration of President Donald Trump has named Brent Christensen, a veteran career diplomat, as its nominee for the next United States Ambassador to Bangladesh.
According to a formal announcement released via the White House website on Tuesday (September 2), Christensen has been nominated to serve as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
A native of Virginia, he currently holds the rank of Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service.
His nomination was among a batch of high-level diplomatic appointments unveiled the same day, which also included State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as nominee for the US Ambassador to the United Nations, and Sergey Gor for the ambassadorial post in India. All nominations are subject to confirmation by the US Senate.
Christensen brings substantial experience in South and East Asia, including direct familiarity with Bangladesh. He served at the US Embassy in Dhaka as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs from 2019 to 2021. Earlier in his diplomatic career, he was also the Bangladesh Country Officer within the State Department’s now-defunct Office of Pakistan and Bangladesh Affairs.
His extensive portfolio includes a series of key assignments across the Department of State and US embassies abroad. Between 2016 and 2019, Christensen was Deputy Director of the Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Prior to that, he was seconded as a Pearson Fellow to the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Other postings have included Special Assistant to the Special Representative for North Korea Policy, Cyber Coordinator within the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, and economic and political assignments at US missions in Manila, San Salvador, Riyadh, and Ho Chi Minh City.
The US Embassy in Dhaka has been without an ambassador since Peter Haas concluded his term in mid-2024. Since then, the post has been temporarily filled by a series of Chargés d’Affaires. Lisa Jacobson, who assumed the role in January, currently serves as the mission’s top diplomat.
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