Atlantic Council

Susan E. Rice, a member of the Atlantic Council Board of Directors, was appointed President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations on December 1.

 Rice was a senior foreign policy advisor to Obama during his campaign and is currently on the board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.  She served under President Bill Clinton on the National Security Council and as Assistant Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001.  Rice is also a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Obama stated that he would restore the UN Ambassador role to a Cabinet position and noted that Rice is an outspoken advocate of genocide prevention.  The International Herald Tribune said:

"President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, to be ambassador to the United Nations, picking an advocate of "dramatic action" against genocide as he rounds out his national security team, Democrats close to the transition said.

[...]

The choice of Rice to represent the United States before the United Nations will make her one of the most visible faces of the Obama administration to the outside world aside from Clinton. It will also send to the world organization a prominent and forceful advocate of stronger action, including military force if necessary, to stop mass killings like those in the Darfur region of Sudan in recent years.

To reinforce his intention to work more closely with the United Nations after the tensions of President George W. Bush's tenure, Obama plans to restore the ambassador's post to cabinet rank, as it was under President Bill Clinton, according to Democrats close to the transition."