Daniel Kritenbrink

Daniel Kritenbrink
Kritenbrink in 2024
27th Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
September 24, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byDavid R. Stilwell
United States Ambassador to Vietnam
In office
November 6, 2017 – April 15, 2021
PresidentDonald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byTed Osius
Succeeded byMarc Knapper
Personal details
EducationUniversity of Nebraska, Kearney (BA)
University of Virginia (MA)

Daniel Joseph Kritenbrink[1] is an American diplomat who has served as the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs since September 2021.[2] He previously served as the United States ambassador to Vietnam from 2017 to 2021.[3]

Education

Kritenbrink attended Ashland-Greenwood High School, Nebraska, before he earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and a master of arts from the University of Virginia.[4]

Career

Kritenbrink has been a member of the United States Foreign Service since 1994 and has held senior leadership positions at the Department of State and United States National Security Council.[5]

He completed multiple overseas tours in Beijing, Tokyo, Sapporo, and Kuwait City. His Washington assignments have included staff assistant to the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the Department of State. He then served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2013 to 2015, and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council from 2015 to 2017.[2]

United States ambassador to Vietnam

Daniel Kritenbrink speaks to journalists at the American Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on 22 June 2020.

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Kritenbrink was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam on July 27, 2017.[6] Prior to his nomination, he served as senior advisor for North Korea policy at the United States Department of State.[7] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 26, 2017, and presented his credentials to Vietnamese President Trần Đại Quang on November 6, 2017.[3]

Kritenbrink told Vietnamese media shortly after taking office that representing the U.S. in an "important country" like Vietnam was "a dream come true".[8] His ambassadorship is marked by warming relations between the United States and Vietnam, with him being regarded by Vietnamese state media as "the ambassador of the firsts" for his work to advance reconciliation between the former foes.[9]

During his tenure, two U.S. aircraft carriers visited Vietnam. The USS Carl Vinson made a port call off Đà Nẵng on 5 March 2018, becoming the first U.S. aircraft carrier to dock in the country since the Vietnam War ended in 1975.[10][11] Two years later, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its escorts completed a five-day visit to Đà Nẵng on 9 March 2020.[12]

On 27 August 2019, Kritenbrink became the first U.S. ambassador to visit a cemetery of North Vietnamese soldiers killed in the war when he visited the Trường Sơn Cemetery in Đông Hà, Quảng Trị where more than 10,000 fallen PAVN soldiers are laid to rest.[13]

On June 22, 2020, on the campus of Fulbright University Vietnam, Kritenbrink presented a two year $5 million USAID grant to support them with their international accreditation within the following five years.[14]

In February 2021, Kritenbrink made global headlines for an original rap and music video he recorded ahead of Tết celebrations in Vietnam.[15][16]

Assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs

On March 26, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Kritenbrink to be assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.[17] The Senate's Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on his nomination on June 15, 2021. The committee reported his nomination favorably to the Senate floor on June 24, 2021.[18] Kritenbrink was confirmed by the Senate on September 23, 2021, by a vote of 72–14.[19]

Personal life

Kritenbrink speaks Chinese and Japanese.[7] He and his wife Nami are the parents of two children.[20]

References

  1. ^ "PN1085 — Foreign Service". Congress.gov. February 11, 2016. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Daniel J. Kritenbrink". United States Department of State. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Ambassador Dan Kritenbrink". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  4. ^ "U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam: Who Is Dan Kritenbrink?". AllGov. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  5. ^ "The Leaderboard: Daniel J. Kritenbrink". Center for Strategic & International Studies. June 8, 2015. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  6. ^ "PN832 — Daniel J. Kritenbrink — Department of State". Congress.gov. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  7. ^ a b "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts". The White House. July 26, 2017. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2017.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. ^ "Exclusive interview: US ambassador on cooperation, trade, aircraft carrier visit to Vietnam". Tuoi Tre News. November 20, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  9. ^ "Vietnam, US share aligned interests, vision: Ambassador Kritenbrink". Tuoi Tre News. January 21, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  10. ^ "A U.S. Aircraft Carrier Anchors Off Vietnam For The First Time Since The War". NPR. March 5, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  11. ^ "Aircraft Carrier USS Carl Vinson Makes Vietnam Port Call". U.S. Department of Defense. March 5, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  12. ^ "U.S. says completes second aircraft carrier visit to Vietnam". Reuters. March 11, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  13. ^ "US ambassador pays historic visit to cemetery of Vietnam soldiers killed in war". Tuoi Tre News. August 27, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  14. ^ "Ambassador Daniel J. Kritenbrink Launches New USAID Grant to Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) | Program Update | Vietnam | U.S. Agency for International Development". www.usaid.gov. June 29, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  15. ^ "'Boy from Hanoi': US ambassador to Vietnam releases his own lunar new year rap". The Guardian. February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  16. ^ US Ambassador to Vietnam releases a rap video - CNN Video, February 10, 2021, retrieved February 11, 2021
  17. ^ "President Biden Announces his Intent to Nominate Key Members for the Department of State". The White House. March 26, 2021.
  18. ^ "PN494 - Nomination of Daniel J. Kritenbrink for Department of State, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. September 23, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  19. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Daniel J. Kritenbrink, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (East Asian and Pacific Affairs))". US Senate. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  20. ^ "Confirmation Hearing Statement of Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam". U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam. September 28, 2017. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Vietnam
2017–2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
2021–present 		Incumbent