Jennifer “J.R.” Littlejohn is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, most recently serving as the Deputy Director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Prior to that, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Skopje, North Macedonia.
In Washington, Ms. Littlejohn has served as the Director for Central and Northern European Affairs on the National Security Council staff at the White House; Director for Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; Senior Advisor on the Secretary of State’s Executive Staff; and Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Overseas, she has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Dili, Timor-Leste and the Executive Secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in addition to assignments in Brazil, Thailand, and Germany.
Ms. Littlejohn earned a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University; a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University; and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Morgan State University. She has studied German, Macedonian, Portuguese, and Thai, and is the recipient of several State Department Superior Honor Awards. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she was a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow in Berlin, Germany.