(Editor’s note: In the latest development, the US Embassy has denied that US State Department deputy assistant secretary Mina Chang is being eyed as the next US Ambassador to the Philippines. See story here: https://www.eaglenews.ph/us-embassy-says-not-true-that-us-state-dept-official-mina-chang-would-be-replacing-ambassador-kim/)
(Eagle News) – The next ambassador of the United States in the Philippines could be the current US State Department deputy assistant secretary Mina Chang.
If appointed, Chang will be the second female US ambassador to the country after former US State Department counselor Kristie Kenney who served in Manila from 2006 to 2009.
Chang who is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations is being eyed by Washington as the next US ambassador in the country to replace current US Ambassador Kim Sung whose term ends this year, according to various reports.
Kim was appointed as US Ambassador to the Philippines in November 2016.
Like Kim, Chang is also of Korean descent.
The 32-year old Korean-American has “extensive on the ground experience in conflict areas such as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Nigeria, and the Philippines,” according to US Department of State.
“She has been an advocate for proactive stabilization as a strategic tool of foreign engagement and an investment in a stronger America abroad,” it said.
-Exciting times, says Panelo-
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo who also heard about who could be the next US Ambassador in the Philippines expressed admiration for Chang.
“I don’t know if true, the incoming US Ambassador? Beautiful, also a golfer. Harvard educated. I don’t know, that’s what I heard. Exciting times,” Panelo told reporters.
Chang is an alumna of the Harvard Business School, a graduate of the United States Army War College National Security Seminar, a Harvard John F. Kennedy Senior Executive in National and International Security and a former International Security Fellow at New America.
She has been published in CNN, Fortune, Foreign Policy Journal, Forbes, Defense One and The Hill, writing on issues of policy, humanitarian aid, development, the application of emerging technologies and data science capabilities by the sector and its role in the context of national security and global stability. She has addressed the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, as well as the United Nations, and served as a Fellow with the Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations at United States Military Academy at West Point, assisting in the development of academic programs tied to humanitarian and disaster response, information from the US state department website said.
Chang also served as Civil-Military UN-CMCoord Advisor contributing to the current Common Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination Standards, and was appointed by the United Nations to serve on the Expert Panel for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Humanitarian Response.
Before she served Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO), Chang served as the Chief Executive Officer of an international non-government organization (INGO).
“Applying insights gleaned from a broad range of civilian and military data sets, data analytics, social science and geo-spatial intelligence capabilities to identify and assist vulnerable communities, the organization worked to isolate root drivers of instability, and direct development initiatives to address critical vulnerabilities that non-state actors exploit to further their agenda,” the US State Department said of Chang’s experience with an INGO, Linking the World.
She was appointed to the US Department of States only this April 2019.
