Mr. David S. Sedney
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asian Affairs
U.S. Department of Defense
David Samuel Sedney is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. Mr. Sedney came to the Office of the Secretary of Defense from the UStates Embassy in Beijing, China where he was Deputy Chof Mission from 2004-2007. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan from 2003-2004, serving as Charge d’Affaires from August through November 2003. Mr. Sedney was also Deputy Chief of Mission in Kabul in 2002, after the re-opening of the Embassy.
Mr. Sedney was Director for Afghanistan at the National Security Council (2003), Senior Advisor in the State Department’s Office of e-Diplomacy (2002), Senior Advisor to John Negroponte, United States Ambassador to the United Nations (2001-2002), Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs (1999-2001), and Special Assistant to Stephen Sestanovich, Ambassador-at-Large and Special Representative for the Newly Independent States (1997-1998).
Earlier, Mr. Sedney served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan (1995-1997), Political-Military Officer at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China (1991-1994) and Political Officer, Refugee Officer and Consular Officer at the United States Embassy in Bucharest, Romania (1985-1987). He was a Watch Officer at the State Department’s Operations Center (1987-1988) and Duty Officer and Senior Duty Officer at the White House Situation Room (1988-1989).
Before joining the State Department, Mr. Sedney spent five years as a house-husband in Bern, Switzerland; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Williamstown, Massachusetts, helping to raise three daughters. Mr. Sedney also taught courses at North Adams State College and Williams College. Earlier he worked for the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division after stints as a factory worker, truck driver and taxicab driver.
Mr. Sedney is a graduate of Princeton University and Suffolk University School of Law. He attended Louisiana State University’s School of Law where he studied Law of the Sea and International Law. Mr. Sedney is a distinguished graduate of the National War College. He speaks Romanian, Mandarin and Azerbaijani. Mr. Sedney has received the Department of State’s Superior Honor Award six times and the Meritorious Honor Award twice.
Mr. Sedney and his wife, Diana, are residents of Falls Church, Virginia.