Joey Hood

Joey Hood has served as the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs since January 20, 2021. Previously, he was the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.  Hood has spent much of his career working in the Middle East, particularly on the Arabian Peninsula. He has served as deputy chief of mission in Iraq and Kuwait as well as consul general and principal officer in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Prior to these assignments, Hood was acting director of the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Hood has also served in Riyadh, where he coordinated U.S.-Saudi military cooperation, and Asmara, where he was a liaison to rebel leaders from Sudan’s Darfur region. He has also been assigned to U.S. embassies in Yemen and Qatar. Prior to the Foreign Service, Hood was a Fulbright Scholar in Burkina Faso and worked at a bank in Vermont. He earned a master’s degree from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College.