Wendy Sherman, first woman to serve as deputy secretary of state, announces retirement

Wendy Sherman, the first woman to serve as the deputy secretary of state, announced Friday she will retire from her post and government service at the end of June.

Sherman, 73, has worked for the U.S. State Department since 1993. She made the announcement in an email to staff and through Twitter on Friday, May 12, which is the same day she joined the federal agency decades ago.

“As I reflect on the past 30 years, I am proud to know that our State Department family will continue to carry forward our work in selfless service to all our citizens so that we can build a free, open, secure, and prosperous world for our children and grandchildren,” Sherman tweeted.

In her career, which spanned three presidents and five secretaries of state across Democratic administrations, Sherman helped craft U.S. foreign policy during some of the most tumultuous times in American history.

Sherman served as a counselor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was the first female secretary of state, and was a special adviser and policy coordinator on North Korea to President Bill Clinton.

Sherman became the first female undersecretary of state for political affairs in the Obama administration, where she played a key role in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on the U.S. adversary in return for Tehran’s commitment not to develop a nuclear weapon.

In the Biden administration, Sherman has overseen competition with China in the Indo-Pacific and the U.S. support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion last year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Sherman a “friend” and said his second in command “addressed some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of our time.”

“Our nation is safer and more secure, and our partnerships more robust, due to her leadership,” Blinken said in a Friday statement. “On behalf of the Department, I thank Wendy for her service. I wish her and her family all the best in their next chapter.”

Some of Sherman’s foreign policy efforts have been criticized by Republicans, including her role in the Iran nuclear deal, which former President Trump scrapped in 2018.

But on Friday, the longtime diplomat said she was grateful for the work she accomplished in her journey with the State Department.

“I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to address an astonishing array of challenges—Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, challenges in the Indo-Pacific, COVID-19—while uniting allies and partners to advance our shared vision of a brighter future,” she wrote.