US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has named Brendan Hanrahan, a former member of his Senate staff, as the US State Department's top official for Europe, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
The current senior official in the Department for European and Eurasian Affairs, Louis Bono, wrote in an email to staff that Brendon Hanrahan would take over the role.
"Brendon brings valuable experience from the private sector and the Senate, where he served on the secretarial team, making him well-positioned to lead the bureau through reorganization and to successfully advance the secretarial agenda in Europe and beyond," Bono wrote.
The change of the top official dealing with European affairs at the State Department comes at a time when Washington is managing increasingly strained relations with Europe, due to US President Donald Trump's efforts to take over Greenland, while at the same time pressuring allies to increase spending on NATO, Reuters estimates.
The Trump administration has also proposed a major overhaul of the State Department to ensure that it functions in line with Trump's "America First" priorities, the British agency writes.
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