State Department spokesman Ned Price is leaving his post, where he was press secretary for the nation’s top foreign policy department.
Price is not leaving the State Department: he will join Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s team at the end of March, the department announced on Tuesday. Until a permanent successor is named, Price’s duties will be handed over to his current deputy, Vedanta Patel.
“For people in America and around the world, Ned Price has often been the face and voice of American foreign policy,” Blinken said in a statement. “He worked with exceptional professionalism and integrity.”
Price broke the record for the longest tenure as a spokesperson for a federal agency in the Joe Biden administration: He began on Jan. 20, 2021, and his appointment came before Jen Psaki, a former House press secretary Blanche, does not get a job in the administration. .
Former Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, now a member of the National Security Council, is now the Biden administration’s communications chief.
In a statement, Blinken thanked Price for resuming daily press briefings, which were sporadic under the Donald Trump administration, and for being clear about the administration’s policy priorities.
Price, a former member of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Council during the Obama administration, publicly resigned from government in February 2017, saying he could not in good conscience serve then-President Donald Trump, because of his criticism of the intelligence community. .
“Ned helped the US government protect and promote press freedom around the world and modeled the transparency and openness we advocate in other countries,” Blinken said. “His contributions will be useful long after his service.”
