Senior U.S. Diplomat Will Lead Kamala Harris’s Running Mate’s Team

Elizabeth M. Allen, a veteran diplomat and political operative, is stepping down from her position as the U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy to take on a senior role in Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

On Saturday, Ms. Allen will become the chief of staff to Ms. Harris’s running mate, whose selection is expected to be announced in the coming days, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ms. Allen, who has held other State Department posts, is a rare figure to transition between the worlds of diplomacy and national politics. During the 2020 campaign, she was the communications director for Ms. Harris’s vice-presidential operations. She also served as a deputy communications director in the Obama White House from 2015 to 2016, and before that she was a communications aide to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

A native of Buffalo, Ms. Allen joined the State Department as a college intern and has handled its public diplomacy duties since April 2022 — first in an acting role, and then after her confirmation in June 2023 — in a job whose mission is to promote America’s image worldwide. Colleagues said Ms. Allen played a larger, intangible role as a key member of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s core team.

The public diplomacy office was created in 1999 and was perhaps best known for promoting the United States’ image in the Muslim world after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and later for countering online propaganda from terrorist groups like the Islamic State. In recent years, its mission has shifted to focus on great-power competition with countries like China and Russia, which rely heavily on information warfare to undermine the United States’ global standing.

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