Press Release - President Biden Announces Key Nominees

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration:

• Cara L. Abercrombie, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense
• Tobin John Bradley, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Guatemala
• Jeffery Martin Baran, Nominee for Commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Betty Y. Jang, Nominee for Trustee of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation

Cara L. Abercrombie, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition

Cara L. Abercrombie currently serves as Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Defense Policy and Arms Control at the National Security Council. Prior to this, Abercrombie served as the Acting Deputy Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency and the first President of the Defense Security Cooperation University. A career member of the Senior Executive Service, Abercrombie has held numerous positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense since 2003, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, Principal Director for East Asia, and Special Assistant to Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel. She is a 2022 recipient of the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. At the outset of her career, she managed Eurasia programs for the National Democratic Institute of International Affairs. Abercrombie received her B.A. from Dartmouth College and her M.P.A. from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. A native of Peekskill, New York, she resides in Arlington, Virginia.

Tobin John Bradley, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Guatemala

Tobin John Bradley, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). Prior to that, Bradley served as the INL Director in Mexico City and Consul General in Matamoros, Mexico. He has also served as Director for NATO and Western European Affairs at the National Security Council, Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in London, Special Assistant for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, as well as at the U.S. Missions in Amman, USNATO, and the State Department Operations Center. Bradley also served as the Political Advisor for the Dhi Qar Province in Nasiriyah, Iraq and earned the National Service to America Medal for International Affairs for his work organizing local democratic elections. A native of California, Bradley received his B.S. from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and his M.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He speaks Arabic, French, and Spanish.

Jeffery Martin Baran, Nominee for Commissioner on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Jeffery Martin Baran currently serves as a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a position he has held since October 2014. Prior to his tenure on the Commission, he served as Staff Director for Energy and Environment for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. Previously, Baran served on the Committee staff as Senior Counsel from 2011 to 2014, and as Counsel from 2009 to 2010. He served as Counsel on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2003 to 2008. From 2001 to 2003, Baran clerked for Judge Lesley Wells of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Baran received his B.A. and M.A. from Ohio University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He lives with his wife and three children in Arlington, Virginia.

Betty Y. Jang, Nominee for Trustee of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation

Betty Y. Jang was first confirmed as a Member of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation Board of Trustees by the United States Senate in February 2022. Jang is a distinguished legal executive with over 25 years of legal, compliance, and leadership experience. She has served as general counsel at public and private companies, practiced law at a national law firm, and taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois College of Law. Jang began her career as an assistant public defender with the Office of the Cook County Public Defender. She has served as a scholarship evaluator for the Asian Pacific Island American Scholars program, is an alumnus of the United State of Women Galvanize Chicago Program, and has held numerous board positions in local, state, and national bar associations. She received her B.A. from the University of Illinois and her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Jang is the proud daughter of immigrants from Korea and currently resides in Illinois with her husband and daughter.