Anne Patterson testifies during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, November 4, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Getty)
Anne Patterson may become the next United States under secretary of defense for policy.
Politico is reporting this week that Patterson is James Mattis’ choice for the position but that he is facing opposition from the White House. The Trump administration has still not nominated anyone to serve as under secretary of defense; the current under secretary of defense for policy is Theresa Whelan, who is only fulfilling the duties of this position until the Trump administration names a permanent replacement.
Here’s what you need to know about Anne Patterson and why the White House may be opposing her nomination.
1. She is the Former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt
Anne Patterson testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, October 28, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Getty)
From 2011 through 2013, Anne Patterson served as the United States’ ambassador to Egypt. She was appointed by President Barack Obama in May 2011 and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in June.
During her time as ambassador to Egypt, Patterson was criticized for being too close to Mohamed Morsi, the president of Egypt who was ultimately removed from office in a coup.
According to The New York Times, Patterson was invited in June 2013 to speak in Cairo about U.S. relations with Egypt; this was in the middle of the demonstrations against Mohamed Morsi, and during her speech, she said that she was “deeply skeptical” that “street action will produce better results than elections.”
When Egyptians took to the streets that summer protesting Morsi, many of them held up banners with Patterson’s face on them crossed out with a red X.
2. She Has Also Served as the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador & Colombia
Anne Patterson speaks during the opening session of the US-Islamic World Forum in the Qatari capital Doha. (Getty)
Patterson had a long career in public service before she was named the United States’ ambassador to Egypt. She started working in the State Department in 1984, first as an economic officer and then as a political counselor at the U.S.’ mission to the United Nations in Geneva. She was then the department’s director for the Andean Countries, and finally the deputy assistant secretary for Inter-American affairs.
In 1997, Patterson became the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador under President Bill Clinton. She served in that position for three years, at which point she became the U.S. ambassador to Colombia under President George W. Bush.
Patterson also in 2004 served as acting representative to the United Nations after the resignation of John Danforth; she ended up holding the position for eight months until a permanent replacement, John Bolton, was named.
3. She Was the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan From 2007 to 2010
Anne Patterson speaks at the National Media Conference November 30, 2007 in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Getty)
In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Patterson to be the United States ambassador to Pakistan. During Patterson’s time in this position, the U.S. government continued to pressure Pakistan to fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
In an interview with Frontline in 2009, Patterson said, “I think there’s been quite a considerable sea change in Pakistani policy, say in the past six or eight months. And that was when there was the dramatic realization that these insurgents or terrorists or whatever you wish to call them, extremists, were a threat to Pakistan as well.”
She also said that Pakistan was having trouble preventing the Taliban from coming across the border and using sanctuaries in the country, saying, “they have a very difficult time controlling that because the border, it’s essentially ungoverned.”
In 2010, Wikileaks released a number of leaked cables that showed that Anne Paterson had some concerns about the United States government’s policy towards Pakistan, saying that it is counterproductive because it “risks destabilising the Pakistani state, alienating both the civilian government and the military leadership, and provoking a broader governance crisis without finally achieving the goal,” according to The Guardian.
Most recently, Anne Patterson served as assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs. She retired in January 2017.
4. She Is Married to David R. Patterson, a Retired Foreign Service Officer
Anne Patterson addresses the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Getty)
Anne Patterson is married to David R. Patterson, a retired officer in the United States Foreign Service, according to All Gov.
David calls his wife a “career diplomat’s diplomat,” according to The Huffington Post. He also said that Anne had been “there a good deal longer than is normal in Pakistan” and that she “had been asking for a replacement for months.”
David and Anne Patterson have two sons, Edward and Andrew.
5. The White House is Reportedy Pushing Back Against Her Appointment
Hillary Clinton shakes hands with Anne Patterson upon her arrival at the Chaklala military airbase in Rawalpindi on October 28, 2009. (Getty)
According to Politico, Anne W. Patterson is who Defense Secretary James Mattis wants to appoint as the new undersecretary of defense for policy, but White House officials are pushing back on this.
This is reportedly due to some of Patterson’s action as ambassador to Egypt, specifically the fact that she was skeptical towards the demonstrations against Egypt’s president, Mohamed Morsi.
“The biggest pushback [from the White House] is that she was ambassador to Egypt immediately before and after the Morsi presidency,” a source told Politico.
This comes a few weeks after the Trump administration decided not to appoint Elliott Abrams as the new deputy secretary of state, even though he was Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s choice for the position.