WASHINGTON — State Department spokesman Ned Price will step down this month to take a role focused on department policy.
Price, the department’s spokesman since day one of the Biden administration, will go on to work directly for Secretary Antony Blinken.
Price, who also served as a spokesman for both the CIA and the National Security Council during the Obama administration, says the new political job is a return to where his career began.
“I started out as a public servant as an analyst at the CIA, and ended up in this job through a series of accidents, fatal accidents,” Price said. “I have loved being in this line of work for the past few years. And one of the things I like the most is the connection with politics.”
Correspondents have praised Price for restoring daily on-camera press briefings, a practice that was stopped during the Trump administration.
«It offers an opportunity for the world’s press to question US foreign policy, often critically, and requires the State Department to defend it,» said Shaun Tandon, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse and president of the Department of State. Correspondents Association, said in a statement congratulating Price on his new position. «It is a tribute to the health of American democracy.»
Blinken, in a statement, praised Price’s «firm understanding of the policies underlying State Department messaging» that made him much more effective in his communications role.
Vedant Patel, who has served as senior deputy spokesman at the State Department since last June, will assume spokesman responsibilities after Price resigns on March 17. Price’s permanent successor has yet to be announced.
