MEDIA ADVISORY | December 12 Digital Press Briefing: U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit – One Year Anniversary of Implementation
EVENT: Please join us on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, for a digital press briefing with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Jonathan Pratt and National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs, Judd Devermont. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Pratt and Senior Director Devermont will discuss the progress made over the last year in implementing the achievements of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and how these efforts highlight the U.S. commitment to the African continent. After brief opening remarks, the speakers will take questions from participating journalists.
DETAILS:
Speakers: Jonathan Pratt, U.S. Department of State Bureau of African Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Judd Devermont, National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs
Date: Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Time: 16:30 Johannesburg | 14:30 GMT | 10:30 Washington, D.C.
Language: English. Simultaneous French and Arabic interpretation will be provided.
Ground rules: The briefing will be on the record.
Login info: To be provided upon RSVP.
Twitter: Join the conversation at #AFHubPress. Follow us on @AfricaMediaHub.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Jonathan Pratt, U.S. Department of State Bureau of African Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Jonathan Pratt is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs. Prior to that he was U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti from 2021-2023. Earlier assignments include Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, Office Director for Pakistan, Political Counselor in Islamabad, Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazzaville, Congo, Political Counselor in Khartoum, Sudan, and Management Officer in Luanda, Angola. He has also served in Amman, Jordan, Kinshasa, DRC, and the Bureau of International Organizations. He is the recipient of a Presidential Rank Award, a Distinguished Honor Award, the Director General’s Award for Reporting, and the James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence. He has an M.A. from the University of California at San Diego, a B.A. from Wesleyan University, and is an alum of Teach for America (Los Angeles) and the Peace Corps (Guinea-Bissau).
Judd Devermont, National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs
Judd Devermont is the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). He most recently served as the special advisor for Africa strategy at the NSC from 2021-2022. Prior to the NSC he served as the director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from 2018 to 2021.
Mr. Devermont previously was national intelligence officer for Africa from 2015-2018. In this position, he led the U.S. intelligence community’s analytic efforts on sub-Saharan African issues and served as the DNI’s personal representative at interagency policy meetings. Mr. Devermont also was the Central Intelligence Agency’s senior political analyst on sub-Saharan Africa from 2013-2015.
Prior to this role, he served as the National Security Council director for Somalia, Nigeria, the Sahel, and the African Union from 2011 to 2013. In this position, he contributed to the U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, signed by President Obama in 2012, and managed the process that resulted in U.S. recognition of the Somali government for the first time since 1991. Mr. Devermont spent two years abroad working at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria from 2008 to 2010.
Mr. Devermont has lived in South Africa and Cote d’Ivoire, and he has traveled widely across the continent. He has a master’s degree in African studies from Yale University and bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles.
LOGISTICS:
- Participants should log in to join the briefing 10 minutes early.
- Participants will be asked to type in their name, press affiliation, and
location. - The speakers will give brief opening remarks, and then the moderator will
open the floor to questions. - Participants will be instructed to type their questions or indicate to the
moderator in the chat that they wish to ask a live question. Journalists may
also submit written questions in advance when registering on Eventbrite or
via e-mail to afmediahub@state.gov. - If you experience technical difficulties during the briefing, you may send an
e-mail to afmediahub@state.gov to alert the moderator to any issues.
