Rashad Hussain, Indian-American attorney has been nominated by US President Joe Biden as the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, the first Muslim to be nominated to the key position, according to the White House.
Hussain, 41, is currently Director for Partnerships and Global Engagement at the National Security Council.
“Today’s announcement underscores the President’s commitment to build an Administration that looks like America and reflects people of all faiths. Hussain is the first Muslim to be nominated to serve as the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom,” the White House said in a statement on Friday.
He formerly served as Senior Counsel at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division. During the Obama government, he served at the positions of US Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), US Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications and Deputy Associate White House Counsel.
Hussain, in his duty as envoy worked with multilateral organisations such as the OIC and the UN, foreign governments and civil society organisations to develop partnerships in education, entrepreneurship, health, international security, science and technology and other areas.
He also headed the efforts on opposing anti-Semitism and safeguarding religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries.
Hussain also worked on the House Judiciary Committee, serving as a judicial law clerk, before joining the Obama administration.
President Biden also nominated Pakistani-American Khizr Khan as Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
According to the White House, Deborah Lipstadt has been nominated as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism with the Rank of Ambassador and Sharon Kleinbaum as USCIRF Commissioner.
Lipstadt is a renowned scholar of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, the White House said.