# Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

The under secretary of state for arms control and international security (T) is a position within the U.S. Department of State that serves as a senior adviser to the president and the secretary of state for arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament.
In this capacity, the under secretary (U/S) attends and participates, at the direction of the president, in National Security Council (NSC) and subordinate meetings pertaining to arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament and has the right to communicate, through the secretary of state, with the president and members of the NSC on arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament concerns.
The U/S also leads the interagency policy process on nonproliferation and manages global U.S. security policy, principally in the areas of nonproliferation, arms control, regional security and defense relations, and arms transfers and security assistance. The U/S provides policy direction in the following areas: nonproliferation, including the missile and nuclear areas, as well as chemical, biological, and conventional weapons proliferation; arms control, including negotiation, ratification, verification and compliance, and implementation of agreements on strategic, non-conventional, and conventional forces; regional security and defense relations, involving policy regarding U.S. security commitments worldwide as well as on the use of U.S. military forces in unilateral or international peacekeeping roles; and arms transfers and security assistance programs and arms transfer policies.
By delegation from the secretary, the U/S performs a range of functions under the Foreign Assistance Act, Arms Export Control Act, and related legislation. The bureaus of International Security and Nonproliferation, Political-Military Affairs, and Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance are under the policy oversight of the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security. By statute, the Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, the Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, and the Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs all report to the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security.
According to the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State, the under secretary first received the permanent title "Senior Adviser to the President and the Secretary of State for Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament" when the Clinton administration decided to merge the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the United States Information Agency into the State Department, as well as realigning the United States Agency for International Development with it.

## List of under secretaries of state
### International security affairs, 1972–1993

| # | Name | Assumed office | Left office | President served under |
| 1 | Curtis W. Tarr | May 2, 1972 | November 25, 1973 | Richard Nixon |
| 2 | William H. Donaldson | November 26, 1973 | May 10, 1974 | Richard Nixon |
| 3 | Carlyle E. Maw | July 10, 1974 | September 17, 1976 | Gerald Ford |
| 4 | Lucy W. Benson | March 28, 1977 | January 5, 1980 | Jimmy Carter |
| 5 | Matthew Nimetz | February 21, 1980 | December 5, 1980 | Jimmy Carter |
| 6 | James L. Buckley | February 28, 1981 | August 20, 1982 | Ronald Reagan |
| 7 | William Schneider Jr. | September 9, 1982 | October 31, 1986 | Ronald Reagan |
| 8 | Ed Derwinski | March 24, 1987 | January 21, 1989 | Ronald Reagan |
| 9 | Reginald Bartholomew | April 20, 1989 | July 7, 1992 | George H. W. Bush |
| 10 | Frank G. Wisner | July 20, 1992 | January 19, 1993 | George H. W. Bush |

### Arms control and international security, 1993–present

| # | Name | Assumed office | Left office | President served under |
| 11 | Lynn Etheridge Davis | April 1, 1993 | August 8, 1997 | Bill Clinton |
| 12 | John D. Holum | December 1, 1997 | August 7, 2000 | Bill Clinton |
| 13 | John R. Bolton | May 11, 2001 | July 31, 2005 | George W. Bush |
| 14 | Robert Joseph | June 1, 2005 | March 2, 2007 | George W. Bush |
| - | John Rood (acting) | September 26, 2007 | January 20, 2009 | George W. Bush |
| 15 | Ellen Tauscher | June 26, 2009 | February 7, 2012 | Barack Obama |
| 16 | Rose Gottemoeller | February 7, 2012 Acting: February 7–March 7, 2014 | October 12, 2016 | Barack Obama |
| - | Thomas M. Countryman (acting) | October 12, 2016 | January 27, 2017 | Barack Obama/Donald Trump |
| - | C.S. Eliot Kang (acting) | January 27, 2017 | January 9, 2018 | Donald Trump |
| - | Christopher Ashley Ford (acting) | January 9, 2018 | April 30, 2018 | Donald Trump |
| 17 | Andrea L. Thompson | April 30, 2018 | October 20, 2019 | Donald Trump |
| - | Christopher Ashley Ford (acting) | October 21, 2019 | January 8, 2021 | Donald Trump |
| - | Marshall Billingslea (acting) | January 11, 2021 | January 20, 2021 | Donald Trump |
| - | C.S. Eliot Kang (as Senior Official) | January 20, 2021 | July 21, 2021 | Joe Biden |
| 18 | Bonnie Jenkins | July 22, 2021 | December 31, 2024 | Joe Biden |
| - | C.S. Eliot Kang (acting) | January 1, 2025 | January 20, 2025 | Joe Biden |
| - | Brent T. Christensen (acting) | January 20, 2025 | Incumbent | Donald Trump |