Stephen E. Biegun has more than three decades of international affairs experience in government and the private sector, including in high-level government service with the US Department of State, the White House, and Congress. In 2021, Biegun concluded his most recent government service as the US deputy secretary of state, a position to which the Senate confirmed him with a strong bipartisan vote of 90-3. In addition to his government service, Biegun also worked for two decades in the private sector as a corporate vice president with both Ford Motor Company and The Boeing Company.
As the State Department’s second ranking diplomat, Biegun oversaw the full breadth of national security and foreign policy decision-making, reporting to the secretary of state. He led the State Department response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the evacuation of over 100,000 Americans stranded abroad during the travel shutdown. His other principal efforts focused on the Korean Peninsula, US-China relations, the broader Indo-Pacific region, US-Russia relations, Eastern Europe, and arms control.
Biegun began his career as a foreign policy specialist with the US Congress, with a focus on Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Europe, ultimately rising to a number of senior-level positions including chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and national security advisor to Senate majority leader. He spent two years as the executive secretary of the White House National Security Council, serving as an adviser and deputy to the national security advisor. In the early 1990s, Biegun led a Moscow-based technical assistance program working closely with Russia’s first post-Soviet government.
Biegun has volunteered as a board member for several international, national, and local nonprofit organizations and currently serves on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and the German Marshall Fund. He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian language and political science.