Ambassador Bonnie Denise Jenkins

Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, PhD, has served as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security since July 22, 2021. As Under Secretary, she oversees three bureaus: the Arms Control, Deterrence and Stability Bureau; the International Security and Nonproliferation Bureau (ISN); and the Political-Military Affairs Bureau. In addition, as of May 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken named Under Secretary Jenkins as the senior official to lead the Department’s efforts on AUKUS implementation. Jenkins has the honor of being the first African American to serve as an Under Secretary of State.

U/S Jenkins previously served in the Obama Administration as Special Envoy and Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the ISN bureau from July 2009 until January 2017. In that role, Ambassador Jenkins coordinated U.S. government efforts on threat reduction programs alongside international programs that prevent non-State actors with intent to do harm from acquiring chemical precursors, biological pathogens, nuclear material, and radiological sources to develop Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). She was also the State Department’s lead for all four of the Nuclear Security Summits held from 2010 to 2016, as well as the U.S. Representative to the G7 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.

From 2014 to 2017, Ambassador Jenkins led diplomatic efforts to promote the Global Health Security Agenda, a group of countries, international organizations, non-government organizations, and private sector companies that build countries’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. During that time, she established the Global Health Security Consortium and the Global Health Security Next Generation Network. As Coordinator, Jenkins also dedicated significant attention to the engagement with Africa to counter WMD threats. In partnership with the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency and U.S. Africa Command, she co-developed the Threat Reduction in Africa program to help ensure that U.S. programs and activities in WMD security are well coordinated and meet the needs of African partners. She also Chaired the International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Network for Nuclear Security Training and Support Centers. For her service as Coordinator of Threat Reduction Programs, Ambassador Jenkins was the 2016 ISN Nominee for the Secretary of State’s Award for Excellence in International Security Affairs.

From its inception in 2017 until April 2021, Ambassador Jenkins was the Founder, Executive Director, and Board Chair of Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS), a leading advocacy organization supporting women of color in the security and peace-building sector. In June 2020, she also founded Organizations in Solidarity, which supports a common vision of a world where all people are treated equally, fairly, and with respect. She also played a pivotal role in the founding of the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP) and has established several mentorship programs. Also, in 2020 – 2021, Jenkins served as the Chair of the Committee on Radioactive Sources: Applications and Alternative Technologies of the National Academies of Sciences.

From 2005 – 2009, Jenkins worked at the Ford Foundation as the Program Officer for U.S. Foreign and Security Policy, and on Conflicts. From 2003 – 2004, she served as Counsel on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission). She was the lead staff member conducting research, interviews, and preparing commission reports on counterterrorism policies in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on U.S. military plans targeting al Qaeda before 9/11. Prior to that, Ambassador Jenkins served as General Counsel to the U.S. Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and worked at the Rand Corporation focusing on Middle East weapons of mass destruction issues.

From 1990 – 1998, U/S Jenkins was a Legal Adviser to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency where she provided advice to U.S. ambassadors and delegations negotiating arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons treaties. Ambassador Jenkins also worked with the administration to achieve advice and consent to treaties and conventions and provided legal advice to related treaty implementation organizations.

Jenkins is a retired U.S. Naval Reserve Officer and has received numerous awards for her military service. From 2006 – 2007, she was called-up for active-duty support of Operation Enduring Freedom at U.S. Central Command where she was the team lead for WMD and Theater Ballistic Missile (TBM) Target Development Teams, and a Certified Target Developer. Jenkins also held leadership positions in the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Military Officers (CIOR).

Ambassador Jenkins has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, the Frank Batten Schol of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, The University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and The University of Minnesota Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Jenkins assisted in designing and leading arms control and nonproliferation simulation courses at Stanford University and in designing simulations at the University of Pennsylvania and Spelman College.

From 2017 to 2020, Ambassador Jenkins was a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution. In 2017 she was a Senior Fellow at the Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania and from 2018 – 2020 was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and School of Veterinary Science. She was also a pre-doctoral fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. During her years at the Belfer Center, she also worked at Harvard Law School in the Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising as an advisor to law students on legal jobs in the public sector. Ambassador Jenkins has a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Virginia; an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from the Georgetown University Law Center; an M.P.A. from the State University of New York at Albany; a J.D. from Albany Law School; and a B.A. from Amherst College. She also attended The Hague Academy for International Law and is a member of the New York State Bar.

In 2023, Jenkins became an Honorary Member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.