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: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
CANDIDATE: Yohannes Abraham
Yohannes Abraham currently serves as Deputy Assistant to the President, Chief of Staff, and Executive Secretary of the National Security Council, where he oversees the facilitation of the national security interagency policy process; the White House Situation Room; and the NSC’s budget, personnel, legislative, and public diplomacy teams.
Prior to his current role, Abraham served as the Executive Director of the Biden-Harris Transition, where his duties included managing day-to-day operations and overseeing the teams focused on national security policy, national security personnel, and the review of national security agencies. During the Obama-Biden administration, Abraham served as Senior Advisor to the National Economic Council and Deputy Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement.
In his current role, Abraham is a regular participant in Deputies and Principals Committee policy meetings, including those related to key Indo-Pacific topics. He has helped plan for and execute all major White House diplomatic engagements, including the 2021 and 2022 U.S.-ASEAN Summits, the Vice President’s trip to Vietnam and Singapore, and the President’s first trip to Asia. These experiences and responsibilities make him a well-qualified candidate to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Abraham has also worked in the Vanguard Group’s global investment unit and served on the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. A native of Springfield, Virginia, Abraham holds a BA from Yale College and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.