Alina L. Romanowski

Alina Romanowski currently serves as acting assistant administrator for the Middle East Bureau. In this capacity she oversees all of the U.S. Government's bilateral relationships as well as USAID's work in the region. Prior to taking on the acting role in March 2013, Romanowski served as deputy assistant administrator in the Middle East Bureau focusing on designing, implementing, and overseeing U.S. assistance programs in support of the political transitions occurring in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco along with supporting USAID programs in West Bank and Gaza. 

She joined the Department of State in June 2003 to establish the Middle East Partnership Initiative Office and serve as its first director. She also served as acting deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Prior to her appointment at the State Department, Romanowski served at the Defense Department for almost 14 years in various senior positions involving the Near East and South Asia. She was the founding director of the Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University; deputy assistant secretary of defense for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and country director for Israel. She came to the Department of Defense from the Central Intelligence Agency in 1990 after serving 10 years as an intelligence analyst on the Near East and South Asia region.

Romanowski is a 2001 recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for Senior Executive Service, a 2008 and 1999 recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award for Senior Executive Service, and a 2005 recipient of the Department of State Superior Rank Award.

Romanowski attended Tel Aviv University in Israel to pursue postgraduate work in Middle East studies and is a graduate of the University of Chicago where she received a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in international relations. She speaks French and has studied Arabic and Hebrew.