REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Republic of Uzbekistan
CANDIDATE: Jonathan Henick
Jonathan Henick, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the U.S. Department of State Chair at the College of Information and Cyberspace at the National Defense University. Previously, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau for South and Central Asian Affairs where he was responsible for the countries of Central Asia, as well as for Press and Public Diplomacy for all of South and Central Asia. Earlier, he served as Acting Deputy Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center where he helped to lead U.S. interagency efforts to counter disinformation from Russia, China, and Iran. He also served as the Principal Deputy Coordinator and Acting Coordinator for the Bureau for International Information Programs. His other assignments include serving as the Minister Counselor for Public Affairs in Turkey, the Deputy Chief of Mission in Timor-Leste, as well as in other positions in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Portugal, and Uzbekistan. He has worked as a Fellow and Visiting Professor at George Washington University and as a Diplomat-in-Residence at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Henick’s deep and substantive background in Central Asian Affairs, fluency in Russian and Turkic languages, experience countering disinformation, demonstrated ability to lead interagency teams, and extensive expertise in public diplomacy, all make him a well-qualified candidate for Ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Henick has received the Public Diplomacy Alumni Association Achievement Award, as well as multiple State Department performance awards, including three Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards. A native of New York, he speaks Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, and Azerbaijani, and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Hawaii and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.