Senate to Confirm Ambassadors in Key Alliance Capitals

Why it Matters

More than 15 months into the Trump administration's second term, the United States still lacks confirmed ambassadors in Seoul and Canberra, two of its most consequential alliance capitals. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee business meeting scheduled for June 4 will consider a slate of nine nominations spanning South Korea, Australia, Norway, Albania, Tanzania, and several multilateral posts. A functioning U.S. diplomatic presence at NATO's eastern flank, in the Indo-Pacific, and at institutions financing Ukraine's reconstruction has been conspicuously absent with these posts unfilled.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) as ranking member, will convene on Thursday, June 4 at 2:00 p.m. at 116 Capitol to vote on whether to report the nominations favorably to the full Senate before a floor confirmation vote.

The Vacancy Problem

The most striking feature of this hearing is not who is being considered, but how long the wait has been. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul has operated without a Senate-confirmed ambassador since Philip Goldberg departed in January 2025. Reuters and the Korea JoongAng Daily both noted that Michelle Steel's April 13 nomination marked "over a year's vacancy" at a post that sits at the center of U.S. deterrence policy on the Korean Peninsula.

The situation in Canberra is nearly identical. Australia is a core AUKUS partner and a Five Eyes intelligence ally. David Brat's nomination, sent to the Senate on April 27, ended what the Australian Financial Review called "a 15-month wait since Donald Trump's inauguration."

These are not isolated cases. George Holding was first nominated to serve as U.S. director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in September 2025, but his nomination was returned to the President when the first session of the 119th Congress ended in January without action. He was re-nominated and is now before the committee again. The EBRD is a primary vehicle for Western-coordinated financing in Ukraine and post-Soviet transition economies, and the U.S., as a major shareholder, wields significant influence over its lending decisions, but currently without a confirmed director for the better part of a year.

Sen. Steve Daines, a committee member, met with both Holding and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) nominee Darrell Owens ahead of an April 30 committee session, with Daines' office describing discussions about "revitalizing American diplomacy and furthering national security." That statement reflects a broader Republican acknowledgment that the confirmation backlog has become a policy liability, not just a procedural inconvenience.

The Nominees and What's at Stake

Michelle Steel is a former California congresswoman nominated to Seoul. South Korea has been navigating its own political turbulence following former President Yoon Suk-yeol's brief martial law declaration in late 2024, and the Chosun reported that Steel's nomination "aims to restore communication," a phrase that implies the vacancy had created tangible friction in the alliance.

David Brat, a former Virginia congressman who lost his seat in 2018 and has since served as a senior vice president at Liberty University, heads to Canberra. His confirmation would restore a confirmed diplomatic presence in a capital that has been watching AUKUS implementation and Indo-Pacific security developments without a U.S. ambassador in residence.

Eric Wendt, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General nominated to serve in Tirana, Albania, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 20. At that confirmation hearing, Wendt outlined priorities including combating corruption and organized crime, strengthening the U.S.-Albania military partnership, and supporting cybersecurity efforts. Albanian media widely noted the appointment of a retired general, with analyst Petrit Nathanaili calling it "a geopolitical message of power." Albania's NATO membership and its role in Western Balkans security make the post strategically meaningful.

Michael Kavoukjian, a senior partner at White & Case LLP nominated to Oslo, also testified on May 20. Norway is a NATO ally, a critical Arctic security partner, and one of Europe's most significant natural gas suppliers. That gives the Oslo ambassadorship particular weight amid ongoing NATO burden-sharing negotiations and Arctic policy debates within the Trump administration.

Darrell Owens, nominated as U.S. Representative to OSCE with the rank of Ambassador, fills a post with direct relevance to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The OSCE has been a central multilateral body for monitoring the war, and U.S. engagement with the organization remains an active foreign policy question as diplomatic efforts around the conflict continue.

Brock Dahl is nominated as a legal adviser at the State Department, a senior position responsible for advising the Secretary of State on matters of international law, treaty obligations, and the legal dimensions of foreign policy.

Rounding out the slate is William Trachman, nominated to serve as ambassador to Tanzania, and Frank Garcia, nominated to serve on the African Development Foundation board, with the committee also taking up Foreign Service promotion lists.

The Bottom Line

The June 4 Foreign Relations Committee business meeting follows a now-standard two-step process. Nominees testify at a confirmation hearing, then the committee convenes separately to vote on reporting them to the full Senate. Wendt and Kavoukjian cleared their testimony phase on May 20; others appear to have gone through earlier committee sessions in late April. If the committee votes favorably on Thursday, the nominations advance to the Senate floor, where the pace of confirmation votes remains a separate and often unpredictable variable.