A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, Rafik Mansour is currently the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires/Chief of Mission in Singapore, leading an embassy of 24 U.S. government agencies which strategically strengthened bilateral and regional ties ranging from security cooperation to economic prosperity in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Prior to his assignment to Singapore, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia (2016-2019).
From 2014 to 2016, he was the Senior Deputy Director of Public Diplomacy (PD) in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, helping lead PD efforts, policy, and resources in 50 countries. Other assignments include Public Affairs Officer in Libya and Algeria, Cultural Counselor in Iraq and France, Political Officer in Italy, and Political/Economic Officer in Russia. He started his Foreign Service career as Vice Consul in Haiti.
Mr. Mansour is the recipient of numerous Superior and Meritorious Honor awards from the State Department. The Italian President awarded him the Italian Order of Merit in 2019. In 2009, he was the runner-up for the Edward Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy for exemplary use of soft power in combating violent extremism in Algeria.
Mr. Mansour obtained a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in French Literature from the University of California, Irvine. He later received a master’s degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College. He speaks Arabic, Russian, French, Italian, and Creole.