U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated former National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for Asia Allison Hooker as the Deputy Secretary of State. The Deputy Secretary of State is the third-highest position in the State Department, following the Secretary of State and the Director General. Regional policy bureaus, including the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Bureau, which handles matters related to Korea, fall under the Deputy Secretary's jurisdiction.
According to the U.S. Congress on the 12th (local time), Trump informed the Senate the day before of his nomination of Hooker as Deputy Secretary of State. Hooker served as a senior analyst at the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) under the State Department from 2001 to 2004.
Hooker was involved in the U.S.-North Korea summits held in Singapore, Hanoi, and Panmunjom during the first Trump administration (2017-2021) while working in the White House. She also has experience visiting Korea several times as an operative.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas DiNanno has been nominated for the position of Deputy Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. This position is responsible for U.S. global security policy, including nonproliferation, arms control, regional security, defense relations, arms transfer, and security assistance, and it also serves as the State Department's lead for high-level meetings of the U.S.-South Korea Extended Deterrence Strategy Consultation Group (EDSCG).
DiNanno served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Arms Control from 2018 to 2020, overseeing missile defense and space policy. He is currently affiliated with the Hudson Institute, a foreign policy and security think tank in Washington, D.C.