David Schenker

David Kenneth Schenker (born 1968) is an American diplomat who worked in the Department of Defense during the George W. Bush administration, and was nominated on April 9, 2018, to head the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the State Department.

Early life Schenker is sworn in by U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on August 29, 2019. Schenker was born in 1968 to mother Linda and father Michael Schenker, both Jewish. He grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, graduating from Ridgewood High School in 1986. Schenker earned a B.A. at the University of Vermont in 1990, then an M.A. at the University of Michigan and Certificate, Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA), at the American University in Cairo.

Schenker is a prolific writer, often on Hezbollah in Lebanon and about Syria. He has written two books, Dancing with Saddam: The Strategic Tango of Jordanian–Iraqi Relations (2003) and Palestinian Democracy and Governance: An Appraisal of the Legislative Council (2000).