U.S. Senate Confirms Karen Sasahara as Ambassador to Kuwait

She becomes the first ambassador confirmed by the Senate since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel.

In the week since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, obstructionists in the U.S. Senate have been criticized for their widespread holds on U.S. ambassador nominations. These vital positions shape American diplomacy abroad - especially during times of crisis. Because of a number of Republican Senators though, the posts are currently vacant in a number of countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Several of President Joe Biden’s nominations have advanced out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and just require confirmation by the full Senate - including to serve in Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman. Moreover, Biden’s nominees for ambassadors to Israel and Egypt are set to have their confirmation hearings later this week. 

The Senate returned to session today for the first time since the attack. Only one ambassador was confirmed via unanimous consent. As such, roadblocks still persist in the legislative chamber. That continues the trend of Republican obstructionism that only relents after crises emerge. The United States didn’t have an Ambassador to Ukraine until after Russia’s invasion in 2022. The country didn’t have an Ambassador to Niger until after the military toppled the democratically-elected leadership in a coup this summer. The embassy in Gabon is still without a Senate-confirmed leader despite its own military coup this year. The embassy in Azerbaijan is vacant too following the country’s recent takeover of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Meanwhile, two crucial individuals have spent months or years in limbo. Republican Senators have been blocking Biden’s nominees to be U.S. Representative to the African Union since December 2022 and Coordinator for Counterterrorism since June 2022. And finally, the State Department is without a confirmed Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor over a distortion of the nominee’s past statements by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Jim Risch (R-ID) which forced her to withdraw.

In a voice vote, Karen Sasahara was confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait. The posting has been led by a chargé d’affaires since April 2022, when Alina Romanowski resigned to become U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.

Sasahara was nominated to this position by Biden in August 2022. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of Minister-Counselor. She recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for North Africa.