Frank Ruggiero is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM).Frank Ruggiero has replaced his late boss Richard Holbrooke as the acting special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan.[1] As the Bureau's second-ranking official, he serves as Acting Assistant Secretary in the absence of the Assistant Secretary and manages directly the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and the Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers. Mr. Ruggiero played a leading role in the negotiation of Defense Trade Treaties with the United Kingdom and Australia and initiated a series of defense trade reforms under National Security Presidential Directive 56. Mr. Ruggiero has played a leading role in the Department on U.S. security strategy in the Persian Gulf and on political-military issues in the Middle East. Mr. Ruggiero has served as DAS in the PM Bureau since January 2007.
Ruggiero is a career civil servant and has served in several positions in the Departments of State and Commerce. Mr. Ruggiero has an M.A. in Middle Eastern Affairs from American University and has completed all requirements for a Ph.D. (but the dissertation) in U.S. Foreign Policy in Asia from the University of Virginia.
Ruggiero was born in Youngstown, Ohio and is a 1982 graduate of Ursuline High School.