Colleen Crenwelge is the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. She previously served in Mogadishu, Somalia, arriving in September 2020 to serve as the U.S. Embassy’s deputy chief of mission and serving as chargé d’affaires, ad interim from July 2021 to January 2022. Prior to arriving in Somalia, Colleen directed the Office of Global Social Media in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs.
Other assignments include tours as the principal officer in Lahore, Pakistan, and as the deputy public affairs officer in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she served previously as the deputy chief of staff. Colleen also served as the political chief and acting public affairs officer in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and as the political chief in Baku, Azerbaijan. Earlier, she served as a political officer at the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and as a watch officer in the State Department’s Operations Center. She was also posted to La Paz, Bolivia, and Lagos, Nigeria.