Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau served as the Principal Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense in the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, and assumed this role in August 2021.  In this role, she was responsible for the formulation of communication strategies regarding the release of information as well as the oversight and coordination efforts of the public affairs team in order to ensure the staff is able to execute their portfolios. 

Prior to Ms. Trudeau’s appointment her most recent assignment was in Belfast, Ireland as the U.S. Consul General.  She assumed that position in September 2018.

Prior to Ireland, Ms. Trudeau’s previous assignment was in Lahore, Pakistan, where she also served as the U.S. Consul General. Prior to her role in Pakistan, she served as the Department of State’s Director for Press Operations and as a Department spokesperson in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Trudeau’s other assignments include serving as the Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium; a seconded senior advisor and chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy on NATO’s International Staff, also in Brussels; and spokesperson and press attaché at the U.S. Mission to South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa. She also served in Tunis, Tunisia, and Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 2004, Ms. Trudeau was the director of communications for a private charitable foundation, and before that served as the director of development at a local non-governmental organization.